Joshua's Third Week in the NICU

Joshua had a pretty big week! Joshua would have been 34 weeks as of this past Tuesday, so he is moving on up. This week he weighed in at 3 pounds and 5 ounces. Now that he is starting to really put on the weight, the doctors decided it was time to try him in real clothes while still in his incubator. Its so nice to not see all the wires and such attached to him, even if I still know they are there. Before we dressed him up, he got his first real bath. Before, they would bring the bath to him in his incubator, but this time he got to come out into a real tub....well as real as it could be. I think he actually really enjoyed it. He was pretty uncertain at first, but after a while he just relaxed and enjoyed it! He was pretty exhausted after the bath, so he slept really well until his next touch time.

The biggest step this week was the bottle feed, or nipple feed. Until now, Joshua has received full feedings through his feeding tube (the little orange tube through his mouth). He doesn't have to do much, just relax and wait for his tummy to fill up. With the bottle feed, he has to actually work for his food. This is the biggest and most challenging task for the preemies to do. Before he can come home, Joshua has to take all 8 feedings by bottle consistently. This step, according to nurses and other moms, is the one that takes the longest. They start with one bottle a day, and before they can move up to more bottles, they have to finish the previous amount of bottles completely. Joshua and I have been practicing with his binky a lot! Having to suck, swallow, and breathe all at once is difficult and its something that preemies haven't developed the coordination for. Doctors say around 34 weeks gestation is when babies develop this, which is why they chose this week to try. Unfortunately, they gave him the bottle at his 9 pm touch time when he was super tired, so it wasn't more than a few minutes until they called it quits. We were a little bummed, but we know he will do it next time!

Currently Joshua is doing excellent, the only thing he is still having issues with is the bradycardias. Bradycardias are a preemie thing, and the doctors say its usually not until 37 weeks gestation  that they really grow out of them. Most of his bradys have been caused by spit ups. Because Joshua has a feeding tube down into his stomach, sometimes it can cause babies to have spit ups because the tube does not allow the stomach sphincter to close. When this sphincter is kept open, acid from the stomach is able to flow backwards into the esophogus and this is what causes acid reflux. They have put him on a low dose of Prevacid to help with this issue. He still seems to be having spit ups and bradys, so we will continue to pray for healthy growth and development to correct this.

Last Wednesday, I went to a support group at the hospital. Unfortunately Josh was working, but there were three other families that came to listen. The speaker was a mother that spoke about her family's experience in the NICU. The experience was touching, simply because their stories sounded so similar to what we are going through, and to see her son all grown up 5 years later gives you that feeling that there is an end to the NICU. The speaker had twins in the NICU, for over three months. They were born quite early, and had many complications.  One twin, Garret, almost didn't make it and they were told to call their priest to the hospital. Garret was there and he was cute as can be. He was running around just like a typical 5 year old, you would never guess what he went through. She gave us some great advice, and answered lots of questions for the families that were there. The hospital hosts these ever other Wednesday, so I will definitely be a regular there!

Enjoy all the photos, and as always please keep Joshua in your prayers. Check back soon! Lots of love

This video is of Joshua practicing for his bottle. He loves his binky!

Getting his first real bath and some support from Daddy

Joshua posing during his first bath

Getting swaddled after bath time!

Getting his first feel of real clothes...even if they are way too big! Dont worry mommy brought some better fitting preemie clothes the next day

First bottle...Joshua was pretty tired so it was a very short experience =)

All snuggled and warm with mommy

Studying daddy's face

Team Altman