How Far Along Are You?

We didn't really have much to report on yesterday. Pastor Chip stopped by a little after noon to see Lewis again. Kevin and Sarah also stopped by around 6 to check in on the little guy. Lewis didn't get a lot of sleep yesterday, don't really know why. Maybe it's the loud noises in there. There are constant bells and dings and whistles going off on other babies' cribs. Maybe it's the fact that he hasn't seen any other position than on his belly. He seems to get kind of restless sometimes.

Yesterday wasn't a good day for his feedings either. The nurses noticed a squeek when he was breathing in during his feedings and also a raspy breathing just after he ate. An occupational therapist came by to see if she could help out. She explained a couple things: breast milk is very thin and babies get their work out by eating. She described a baby eating as an adult trying to chug water after going on a 5 mile run. Sometimes it doesn't make it down the right pipe. Thats what was causing those sounds. So she added some thickener to his milk to make it more of a "nectar" consistency. The thicker it is the easier it is to swallow. That seemed to help, the squeaking and raspy sounds went away. They think that eating on his stomach is causing the problems so once he can be in another position he probably won't need the thickener anymore. We're hoping that happens soon because it's pretty frustrating and we don't want him to have to eat that nasty thickener for long.

Last night the nurse put the top down on his crib so he could get some better rest - drown out some of the noises. Sounds like it helped because he slept pretty well last night.

Today was a better day for Lewis. He was taking a good portion of his feedings. We fed him around 5 tonight and he took all but about 5 mL. He's getting close!

Lewis also had some more visitors today. Leigh and Emily stopped by to meet him. They both stayed for about an hour talking with us while I had Lewis in my lap. It was nice to talk with them and hear about their experiences in the NICU last year.

One of the nice things about the NICU is all the programs they offer for parents. We've been to a couple dinners, a CPR class, an infant massage class, and tonight Lauren is scrapbooking with other NICU moms. We ordered some pictures today so she'd have something to scrapbook with. In between visits to the NICU we ran out to Meijer to pick up the pictures. While in the checkout line, the guy in front of us noticed Lauren's (post) pregnant belly and said, "Congratulatons, how far along are you?" Lauren just smiled and said, "I had the baby last Tuesday." Oops! Hahaha. It's understandable I guess - we aren't toting a baby around with us yet. (This wasn't the first time this happened either) Hopefully this will happen again because Lauren has a great response for the next person to ask - "June 8." I can't wait to see their reaction to that one. Hahaha.