I'm so thankful!!

Yesterday was such a good day filled with lots of new information and an action plan I think will help Jackson feel better and progress. At 2pm today, my little man had his swallow study and it showed us some interesting new information: Jackson has been silently aspirating his food. This means that instead of going down into the stomach, some of the milk has been going into the lungs. This explains his desats during feeds, his regression back to the cannula, and his refusal to take all of his bottle or take his bottle period. This also explains why he looked so uncomfortable during his feedings and possibly why he has the stridor-like breathing. Silent aspiration is very serious and if left undetected can lead to a serious infection called aspiration pneumonia or other serious complications. Luckily, we caught it early and can treat it by thickening his milk. We were told that his milk needs to be thickened a lot (apparently the max amount that they like to thicken it at our hospital) but this should help and make him safe while eating! I'm so thankful that our wonderful PT/OT recommended to do this test and find out what was wrong! This does mean, however, that I have to stop breastfeeding because we can't thicken my milk at the source. If he weans off the thickener then some day I may be able to breastfeed again, but there are no promises. So, it looks like I'll be "visiting the bat cave" for at least the next 2-3 months. Great.
Jackson has taken two full bottles since they thickened his milk. It's the first two bottles he's taken in days, and the first two full bottles in a row since Thursday! I'm so happy!

In other Jackson news, the doctor wrote an order to take him off the nasal cannula in the morning! She also called an ENT for a consult about his crying. She was going to just put him on reflux meds to see if that would help, but Jackson began to make the crying face not long after she went to the next room, so I called her back over and she looked at him. She decided then to call for the consult and hold off on the meds until we see what the ENT says. Jackson also had an eye exam last night, and everything came back immature with no ROP! (That's what is normal at this point). That's great news!! We were told earlier that if he was going to develop any ROP it would have developed by this point, so yea!

Overall, yesteday was a very successful day because we started the ball rolling on quite a few issues and have started getting some answers! :)

I also put together his bouncer yesterday at the hospital. We're going to try it out later today!

Current Stats:
Weight: 5 pounds 14 ounces!
Respiratory: Oxygen tank. Nasal Cannula. 1/64 liter. Few desats. Off the cannula in the AM!
Feeds: 45 cc every three hours. Reduced to 2-3 PO feeds per day until we see how the thickener helps. Took a full bottle at 8pm and 2am! :)

Goals:
1. Keep on gaining weight! Six pounds here we come!
2. Get results from ENT and fix his vocal cords as directed.
3. Keep on taking bottles! :)
4. Successfully wean off nasal cannula! Few desats only!
5. Try out bouncer seat! Hopefully he'll love it!
6. Come home soon!

With love,
Anna