Eating by mouth

Wyatt's high flow oxygen was finally weaned down low enough (.3) to be able to attempt feeding him by mouth. I have been so anxious, and nervous, to get to this stage. I know that feeding by mouth is a big step towards being able to go home, but I also know that since he has never eaten anything by mouth, it can be quite a challenge to get him to remember how to do it.

But, my baby boy is a champion! He took right to the bottle today. He sucked adequately, swallowed, and took breaks to breathe like he is supposed to. He did SO good!

He only got to have 10 cc's of pedialyte at this first feeding, and he should have only had 5 cc's but the nurse wanted to watch him and make sure he was doing all the things he needed to be doing. We have to wait 8 hours to see how he does with having something in his stomach for the first time, and then he will get to try again. So far, 6 hours into that 8 hours, there have been no problems. When he gets to eat again, he will get another 5 cc's of pedialyte, and then we will have to wait another 8 hours. I am tightly crossing my fingers that the second attempt at feeding goes as well as the first one did.

Slowly but surely, we are getting there. We have been in the PICU for 13 days now, and Wyatt is 18 days old. While I would absolutely love to be home with DJ and Austyn, I know that we aren't quite finished healing from surgery and getting over all the speed bumps in the road, and I will patiently wait for Wyatt and his body to be ready to go home.

On another note, DJ has been having a rough few days here lately. I think after 2 weeks of this, and consistently being so tough, his first mental "break" finally found him. In addition to worrying about Wyatt every part of every day, our family is a bit torn apart, just to make matters worse. It is difficult for us to be apart all the time, to pretty much only see eachother in passing, and to not have any time together as a family. We haven't slept in the same bed in 18 days, and have probably another 2 or so weeks of sleeping not only in separate beds, but separate buildings and separate cities. I am trying to be the rock right now, because I feel like its my job to do so. I am doing my best to make sure that things run smoothly outside of the hospital, and make sure that life continues to run smoothly, since life refuses to stop while we deal with this hospital stay. It is exhausting, to say the least. And I am constantly trying to find a balance between having my brain be at the hospital with Wyatt, and focused on the other parts of our life that also need handled. I am also trying to make sure I am as present as possible the nights I am at home with Austyn, so he doesn't feel like he's lost his mom. And I know that DJ is doing the same. We will get through this, it will come to an end. I've just got to remain tough as nails until that time comes!