Met with the Doctor

She just happened to be at the hospital last night while we were, so we don't have to wait until tomorrow to meet with her. Basically, Justice should be breathing on his own by now. He's big enough. However, she seemed unaware of the complications in the 6 weeks preceeding his birth and when we told her everything that went on it seemed to make more sense as to why he's still needing breathing assistance, but they'd still like to see him breathing on his own.

So, how to we get him to that point? Well first, he needs to gain some weight. The past week his weight has stayed between 2 lbs 10 oz and 2 lbs 14 oz. A lot of times babies just need to bulk up to strengthen their lungs. He's getting 26 extra calories of formula powder mixed with his breast milk right now. If that doesn't work, he'll get straight formula.

Next, if gaining weight doesn't help we'll talk about steroid treatment. The doc is not ready to give him steroids just yet. She just wanted to mention it now because there are side effects to using the steroids. Studies seem to show that babies' brains stop developing while on steroids. So there's a lot to think about there. She's supposed to print out some literature for us to read.

The longer Justice is on the ventilator the more damage it can cause to his lungs which is why they are wanting to get him off sooner rather than later.