Day 101

Parker had a pretty good day today. Got lots of rest, which Is always good. He did fairly well on his bottles today. Didn't finish them, but close. And considering we gave him a bottle 2 feedings in a row, he did well. They've also increased his feeds to 64cc/3hrs. Gotta keep up with this growing boy. I thought I could squeeze him into one of his preemie tops and I could barely button it and it was riding high. Guess I need to bring more clothes to the hospital. He's getting so big!!

Day 100

100 diapers changed. 100 kisses given. 100 finger grasps. 100 lbs of milk pumped. 100 tears I've cried. 100 sleepless nights. 100 drives to sunrise hospital. 100 gallons of gas. 100 hours of driving. 100 prayers said. 100 phone games played while sitting in the NICU. 100 I love you's said. 100 good night kisses. 100 thanks to all the support for our son. 100 days in the NICU!

Day 99

Today Parker did really well with his bottles. I was nervous that he wouldn't do well with the thickened milk, but he took a full bottle two feeds in a row. The next 2 he did about half. Very proud of him. Hopefully he can keep it up. They took him off Zantac today and started him on Prevacid. That's supposed to work better. His eye exam yesterday still shows stage 2 ROP. As long as it doesn't progress we are happy. Still on the oxygen too. Hopefully he will not need it for home. He's taken it off a few times and has been ok. We'll test him off again once we get closer to going home. Which will hopefully be soon. All on Parker's time of course.

Day 98

Our little boy is 7 lbs now! My how he has grown! His bottle feeds have been bumped up to 3 times a day. He had his eye exam this morning, so he was really exhausted most of the day. We tried twice to feed him and he first had no interest and then he would fight. Tonight though, he took the full bottle with John. He was a little frustrated at first, but after a few attempts he settled in. I think we just need to be persistent with him, but not forceful. The doctor also wants to start thickening his milk to see if that helps with his reflux. Hopefully he will be able to suck that down. We are keeping our heads high. He'll eventually get to go home.

Day 97

Parker had a good morning. Took a full bottle for me at noon and he chugged it! The he had a restless and fussy late afternoon. John tried giving him his bottle tonight and he took half, but was pretty fussy. I could only imagine how painful it must be for him to eat. Hopefully the meds will kick in soon. Doc said it could take 5 days to see results. Praying that it works sooner then that.

Day 96

Well, Parker has severe reflux as we suspected. He had his upper GI this afternoon. I was able to go in while they did the test, and sure enough when they turned him up came that contrast. Poor little man. That's why he hasn't wanted to eat. So he gets Zantac now and we're slowly starting him back on his bottle feeding. I fed him a bottle after his test and he drank the whole 60cc! So now we're back on track towards going home.

Day 95

Parker finally had his swallow test. No aspiration. His suck was a little weak and he had a hard time swallowing but he was able to get some down. They recommended a different nipple. We tried that this afternoon and he took a full 2oz bottle(which is his full feed). I just got done feeding Parker another bottle tonight and he took a bit over half. Slow and steady. Our sweet little turtle will win this race.