Day 30: Bright and Alert

On Susanne's way to the hospital today, she stopped and ate lunch with a good friend from work. Elissa (Thorny) was so supportive and the quality time with her was much needed.
When Susanne got to the hospital, she noticed that Paxton was so bright and alert. She thought he looked better today than he had looked since the day he was born. He was awake for a long period of time and spent a lot of it looking at his mom. What a treat! He was also cooing, crying, yawning, hiccuping, and sneezing throughout the day. It was starting to feel like he was a real baby. He appeared to have good control of his tongue for the first time, which was excellent for a child that has Pierre Robin. He also proved to have an impressive suckle reflex when offered a pacifier. These were all steps in the right direction!
Overnight, the nurses had taken out his enodotracheal tube, which was such awesome news. This was what Scott and Susanne had been waiting for. They also pulled his arterial line because his bloodwork was looking so good that they would not need to continue to get multiple blood samples everyday. He was started back on breast milk through a tube that goes through his nose all the way down to his intestines. The amount that Paxton receives per day will gradually increase over the next week. He was finally producing large amounts of stool again. The doctors decided to run a fecal occult blood test which is a test to look for evidence of blood in the stool that is not visibly apparent. They decided to run this test because of his history of bloody stool in the NICU. Unfortunately, the test came back positive. The doctors were still unsure of the cause because all of the cultures that had previously been done came back normal. They still had to consider a milk protein allergy, but this was lower on their list of concerns. This was great news for Susanne because having to be on a really strict non dairy diet would be very challenging. The mystery continues...
The occupational therapist stopped by today to assess Paxton. She was very impressed with his progress especially since he had just had surgery on Monday. He passed his test with flying colors. She said he was a little weak, but that was to be expected. Way to go Paxton!
Susanne had a wonderful day with her baby boy. She feels more and more like a mother everyday. It was getting more and more difficult to leave the hospital, especially without him. When Susanne got home later that evening, one of her wonderful neighbors brought over a great book for Scott and Susanne to read to Paxton. They also got a gift card for food to help them utilize their time more efficiently with Paxton and not with worrying about cooking. How thoughtful.