Moving On to Bigger and Better Things

Yay! Paxton was moving to a new room today. Susanne and Moppy made a breakfast to go so that they could get to the hospital as soon as possible. Paxton had a pretty uneventful night, but he was still battling occasional episodes of discomfort. All of the nurses made sure to monitor him closely. If there were any signs that he was in pain, they would give him medication that would provide some relief.

Since being switched from intravenous nutrition over to continuous feedings of breast milk through his G tube, Paxton seemed to be uncomfortable. He was experiencing something called ileus, which was a disruption and slowing down in the normal movement of the gastrointestinal tract. The decrease in motility caused him to digest his food less quickly, which resulted in him having some difficulty passing stool. He had a very serious, concerned look on his face and he would actually grunt as he tried. He really seemed to have to focus on the task at hand. These were all new behaviors that Susanne had never seen before. It was all quite funny to witness.

Moppy bought Paxton two new books to read. He immediately fell in love with one called "Sheep in a Jeep". He loved the pictures and thought the story was so silly. He was very engaged the entire time. He couldn't get enough of it.

Paxton had difficulty getting comfortable. It was hard to know exactly what was causing the main problem. He was irritable and needed a lot of consoling. Thankfully, he had awesome nurses. They didn't give up until they solved the problem.

Moppy and Susanne decided to bring over all of Susanne's belongings from the Devon Nicole House to the hospital. Now that he was out of the CICU, she wanted to stay with Paxton in his room. It was such a relief that she would be able to get back to more of their normal routine. She would be able to hold him when she wanted, change his diaper if it needed to be done, and most importantly, comfort him the way he knew so well when he cried. The freedoms that came along with moving out of the intensive care unit were always a sign that things were heading in the right direction. It was one step closer to being able to go home. Susanne made sure to make up all of the lost time that had occurred over the last few days. Paxton didn't seem to oppose. It looked like they were back to being peas and carrots.