Parkers update

I know I haven't been updating the blog nearly as much as I should, sorry friends. Parker has been doing very well. He is still working on his bottle skills. Sometimes he gets it all down, other times he fights it. Thankfully we have the G tube so we are able to give him the nutrition he needs. There is no set time for how long he will have the G tube. I'm sure he'll have it at least through flu season so that I he gets sick and doesn't want to eat, at least he'll have a way to get nutrition.
Parker had an appt with the eye doctor last week. His retinopathy is improving and is now stage 1, it was at stage 2. He will follow Parker until it is completely gone.
Today Parker has physical therapy. They showed us some exercises to help work on his head and neck control. He has physical therapy once a week at sunrise hospital. Really, all of his progress will depend on us. We really have to work with him to get him caught up to where he needs to be. Even though his corrected age is 1 1/2 months, they treat him like his real age 4 1/2 months. He is a strong kid, so I know he will catch up quick.
Next week we are booked every day with follow up appointments. Makes the days go by super fast!
I will try to update more frequently, no promises though :)

We are officially out of the NICU! We have been home with Parker since yesterday. It has definitely been a change of pace in this house, but so worth it! He has been good about staying on his feeding schedule every 3 hours. I haven't gotten nearly as much sleep as Parker has. Go figure. We went to the dr today and he did gain weight again. 9lbs 1oz. I may not post on the blog as much as I did before, but we for sure will update milestones. Thank you all our followers for the love, support and prayers for our family

Day 118

What a long day!! So we weighted him this morning and he was less then he was last night. We weighed him again tonight and he was more then he was this morning, but less then he was last night. So I really don't know if he'll go home tomorrow or not. We will wait and see what his doctor says in the morning. We are staying the night tonight so that he will remain calm and conserve his energy. Gain weight son!

Day 117

He gained 70 grams! The house has been cleaned, the crib is ready, outfit for home is set, diapers out, diaper genie put together, freezer full of food. We are ready for this boy to come home. Unfortunately I was just notified that Parker did not gain weight tonight, he actually lost 30grams :(. So we will see what tomorrow brings. We pray that the doctors will see his trends in gaining weight and that they will let us go home.

Day 116

Parker had a cranky day off and on today, I think he was gassy. He had an MRI of his brain today. He needs that before he goes home to follow up on his bleeds. He lost some weight last night. Probably because he pooped so much now that he's off all that rice cereal and back on breast milk. As long as he gains weight tonight and tomorrow night we can be home on Wednesday. His nurse said we should put some rocks in his diapers ;) I'm sure he'll gain weight. He's been gaining every day except for today. We're so ready to have him home.

Day 115

Day 115

Parker is doing well with his feedings. He has been taking the bottle first, and whatever he can't finish goes in the tube. Thankfully he's been doing really well with his bottles. He is up to 80cc every 3 hrs. We still don't have an official date for home yet, but I'm thinking Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. Just talking about home seems so surreal. I still have a few things to get together before he comes home. I don't want to be running around like crazy when he gets to come home. Although I'm sure I will be a little crazy.

Day 114

Another father/son day. It's so hard being away from Parker during the day. Thankfully I got out of work on time and got to snuggle with him for a while. We even started him on bottle feedings today. He gets 40cc every 3 hours. He chugged his 40cc like a champ. We didn't thicken it nearly as much as we did before, and he got it down with no problem. They'll continue to gradually increase his feeds until he gets to his full amount. He's still off the oxygen and doing well. Although they did give him Ativan to help him relax and that didn't work, so they gave him morphine right after it and he was out. I think he forgot he still had to breathe. I told John he doesn't need drugs, he just needs his mommy! I can't wait to spend the next few days with him again!