Lungs - he is off the CPAP. It left his eyes and nose bruised, but he is doing great breathing on his own. His oxygen levels are high. He does have some apnea though, where he just stops breathing for a few moments, causing his heart rate to drop. Then he breaths and it goes back up. Because he recovers without help, they aren't concerned about it. Apparently that's just what little babies do...and he'll grow out of it.
Liver - his bilirubin went down from 8.4 to 7.9 today without any phototherapy lights. So he's done with that!
Digestion- for the last few days, he has been trying to nurse. He wears out after about 5 or 10 min. The rest of the feeding he receives through a feeding tube which now runs through his nose to his belly. Previously he hadn't been digesting all of the milk and wasn't pooping much. He got up to 24 ml per feeding and was able to digest it all and poop regularly on his own. Just tonight he spit up for the first time. So we'll see how fast he reaches a "full feeding" which is about 40 ml. Once he can hold 40 ml he can get off the IV because he'd have enough milk to stay hydrated and maintain his body weight. Then we could move over to the parent village in the NICU where we could all stay in the same room until he got all that milk by nursing, without the feeding tube.
More to come, including some pictures!!
Keep up the great work, lil' Owen!
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