"Getting Close"

Max had a great day today! I hate to say that out loud, because I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it's true.

He had his first full day of sucking therapy. Three sessions at noon, three and six o'clock feeding time. I was there for the noon and three p.m. and he was a rock star! He sucked for 20 minutes taking breaks to swallow and breathe and his oxygen was perfect!!!

This is a big deal, because they'll cut his feed time down to just 30 minutes tomorrow and then, by Friday, they'll start letting him take some milk by mouth.

They did add iron to his diet today. It will help his body with the red blood cell production.

The doctor this morning, told me that we are "getting close" to his final bowel repair surgery and that he expects another good 2 weeks after that surgery before he'll be off the ventilator, back up to full feeds, and ready to go home.

I asked, because I want to book Ella's birthday party BEFORE Max comes home so we don't have to worry about who will care for him. I asked if I would be safe to schedule it in early August and he said, "schedule it in July." WOW! That makes it sound really soon. Granted, still at least a month away, but it's the first time any doctor has been able to get close to a time frame.

They also gave us information on the "discharge class" which we'll take before we "room in" with him for a couple of nights, learn about all the monitors he'll take him, oxygen if needs it, etc... Both Troy and I are taking our infant CPR class next week, so lots of education for Mommy and Daddy this month.

We still have some big steps ahead, he's got to get completely off the nasal oxygen, learn to take his full feeds from a bottle, and get through the surgery and do it all over again. But we're making slow, steady progress, and in my book, that's how we're going to win this race.