Big Boy Crib

It has been some time since I last posted because we have been busy helping Landon grow (and working and getting the house ready for him). He is doing well after his surgery . I can't believe how good his incision is healing, the image of his intestines being on the outside is slowly disappearing from our minds.

He is really exceeding our expectations for his recovery after surgery. He is already getting his target for breast milk through a combination of the tube in his stomach, breast feeding, and a bottle. So far he seems to be tolerating all of that food well and has been pooping well! He hasn't had issues with throwing up his food, which was a concern after having a stomach surgery like he did. In fact, he really loves to eat and lets everyone know it when he is hungry.

He hasn't started gaining weight as quickly as they would like, so they will start fortifying his food with extra calories and nutrients. Hopefully, this will be enough to get him to where he needs to be to go home! I was thrilled yesterday morning when the doctors talked about their daily plan for him and said he was working on feeding and growing. Our whole NICU experience we have heard other babies be called 'feeders and growers.' These are the babies that are close to going home because they just need to learn to eat and gain weight. Though Landon isn't totally a feeder grower, he is close and it is nice to finally be in that category!

In typical Landon fashion we have had some speed bumps in the last few weeks. First, the tube in his stomach being used to feed him has developed a leak. The hope is that this will slowly go away as his stomach heals around the tube in the next 4 weeks. In the meantime, he is basically leaking stomach acid onto his skin, which isn't all that comfortable. We have to be diligent about cleaning it off of his skin so his skin doesn't erode. I don't know why we were surprised by the leaking given that between me and my amniotic fluid leak and Landon's ostomy bag leaks, we have been leaking for the last 7 months!

We also get some disappointing news about the state of both Landon's liver and heart. When he had his surgery, the surgeons took a biopsy of his liver to determine the damage that the TPN nutrition liquid caused. The damage was pretty extensive. This wasn't a surprise given how yellow Landon has been. Research shows that once a baby is able to get breast milk or formula and get off of TPN, it is possible for his liver to recover. The liver can recover if there is even a small piece that is intact and not damaged. We will not know if this is the case for Landon for many months. He is currently on medicine to help his liver recover. The surgeons think that he is capable of recovering and we pray that they are right.

Landon also received a test on his heart to determine how it fared after his operation. He had been on the borderline for pulmonary hypertension, which is a beginning stage of heart failure. This is very common when a baby's lungs are so bad that it causes their hearts to work harder. The operation was a huge stress on his body and the test showed that his heart was enlarged and having a hard time pumping the way it should. Luckily, there is a medicine that has been found to help this condition in babies that get the condition because of bad lungs. It takes about 2 weeks to ramp up this medication to the dosage needed for it to best work. We have about another week to find out if the medicine worked. If it does, it is possible that Landon's dependence on oxygen could go down.

Back to the good news! Landon passed his hearing test, a must for NICU babies before they leave. His most recent eye exam looked good as well, giving us hope that he will not have to have eye surgery. Most excitingly, he was moved from the isolette to a big boy crib! It was really hard on me to see him get into a crib. I was anxious for the change, but he has been so happy with the move that I can't be that upset. He can have toys and mobiles in the crib, which is important because he wants to be engaged with the outside world now that he is a big boy.

His doctors say it isn't unrealistic to think that he could go home in September. I hope this is our month because I know he will love his home and we will love to see him there :)