So as if my life wasnt busy enough, I decided to go back to work for a few weeks to make a little extra money until Rowan comes home (when I will stop working and devote my attention to him). Our little guy has been pretty busy himsellf. He's been doing great since he had his shunt put in! His head circumference has remained stable, and he hasnt really had any alarms at all! hooray for a super strong little boy!
After he recovered from his surgery, we decided to try and feed him orally, both with a bottle and breastfeeding. He latched pretty well, and seemed to enjoy breastfeeding but would fall asleep so it wouldnt really accomplish too much...and everytime we tried giving him a bottle, he would desat. The "feeding team" was called in to evaluate him and they didnt succeed either in giving him a bottle. He would suck and suck, and then desat, so we would remove the bottle, and he wouldnt have gotten much of anything out of it. A baby of his gestational age should pretty much be fine with nursing or bottle feeding, so the occupational therapist deduced that his problem was most likely caused by the PVL. Im not entirely sure how much I believe that this is the cause of his delay, but they seem pretty convinced. They strongly recommended that we have a g-tube placed, so that Rowan can get all the nutrition he needs while still working on feeding orally. To me, it seemed more like they were kind of writing him off because of his neurological status. After some convincing, we agreed to the g-tube, and we plan to find occupational therapists in NY that can help us, because i refuse to have someone give up on my child.
His g-tube placement surgery is scheduled for tuesday, december 20. Unfortunately, this means that we probably wont be able to bring him home by christmas, as he needs time to heal from the surgery, and we need time to learn how to feed him. It was also discovered the other day that Rowan has an inguinal hernia that will be repaired in the same surgery on tuesday. He will also be circumcised while under the anesthesia. We know he does well with surgeries, so we are confident that all will go well! The best news; once he recovers from the surgery, HE CAN COME HOME!
He is currently hanging out in the transitional nursery, in his big boy crib, because the NICU was full, and hes pretty much fine. Once surgery is over, he will go back to the NICU until he recovers. Its nice to have the week of peace and quiet in NTS though, and he gets to wear clothes! He no longer fits in preemie clothes! Hes a gigantic 5 lbs 11 oz as of today, but im sure that will change! he will no doubt be 6 lbs by the time he comes home! He also received his immunizations yesterday, since it was his two month birthday! I cant believe its been that long already! We are definitely ready to bring him home! He needs constant mommy and daddy snuggles, not just a few days out of the week!
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