11.5 Weeks or 80 Days

That's how old this squirt is already. I keep forgetting to take pictures when he's awake because we're busy talking. But here's his weekly pic with Monkey. His eyes are barely opened. This was taken when I put him back to bed.


Jake and I spoke with the doctor today. She agreed to let Justice be on the low flow cannula while he's breastfeeding. He nursed for 10 minutes tonight (then he got sidetracked pooping, typical man, doesn't multi task well) without any bradys or de-sats and his sats were in the high 90s the whole time. I'll take 10 minutes with no alarms over 17 minutes with 3 alarms any day. Even after he was done eating his sats stayed in the 90s while I held him. When I put him in his crib before I left he dropped to 85. He usually just needs a minute or two to recover after being moved, but his nurse was going to put him back on the high flow anyway.

The girls are going to visit Grams and Pops for a week, starting Tuesday, to allow me to spend as much time as possible with Justice. So we'll see how he does over the next week with breastfeeding several times a day. My goal is to get him to nurse for at least a couple full feeds a day before the girls come home.

The doctor did mention the possibility of a G-tube, feeding tube in his belly, and I told her no. We're not to the point of really considering it yet anyway. We asked about fixing his hernia now rather than later. I believe that the pain the hernia causes him every couple days when it pops out exhausts him and causes him to need more oxygen. It's a vicious cycle. His doc said it's something to think about but she didn't know if a surgeon would do it since Justice isn't taking all his feeds by mouth. Mostly because if he ends up needing a G-tube (still don't think it's going to be necessary) they would do it at the same time as his hernia repair. Again, we'll see how the next week goes.

Justice has a swallow study on Monday. They will take him to radiology and x-ray him as he's eating to make sure he's not aspirating. It should be interesting since he still won't take a bottle. I just hope they put him on the low flow cannula for the study. I don't think we'd get accurate results on the high flow since I'm sure it's making him aspirate since it forces his trachea to stay open.

He seems to have some reflux which is probably adding to his aversion to bottles. He's on two different types of medicine for it right now.

Justice weighed 6 lbs 14 oz last night, and he is now in size 1 diapers. He's growing well, his lungs just don't seem to be growing as fast as the rest of him. So the solution for his lungs and oxygen requirements right now is just MORE TIME.

This pic is a little blurry, but I just had to share it. Just think, when Justice was born Monkey's head was the same size as his, possibly slightly larger.