One Week and Counting

It is hard to believe that one week ago, Noah was born. This week has perhaps been the longest week of our lives. The ups and downs are becoming less jarring as we take two steps forward and one step back.

Last night, after his midnight feeding, Noah had some acid reflux and aspirated a bit of his milk into his lungs. After a chest x-ray, the doctor was concerned that his lungs did not look as developed as they had first thought. He has been put on oxygen (the green tube covering his "nose") with the possibility that it will be pressurized later on.
After pulling out his OG tube (the tube that leads down his throat to his stomach) for the fifth time, the nurses decided he just didn't like it gagging him constantly (how intuitive of them). They changed it to a NG tube (going from his nose down his throat). He seems to tolerate that much better. To help with his acid reflux, Noah is feeding much slower (only 3 ml every hour) and is given some meds. Unfortunately, this means he will not be bottle feeding any time soon. Kc and I were hoping that we could start feeding him in the next few days, but that dream will have to wait.

Both Kc and I suctioned Noah again today. This suctioning involves taking serile gloves, putting them on in such an exact way that they remain sterile, connecting a long, sterile tube to a pump and then putting it down his trach. You must slowly, but not too slowly, twirl the tube as you pull it out of his trach, hopefully taking lots of goo along with it. Because Noah cannot breathe with the tube down his trach, he does not like being suctioned. It typically takes one of us to hold him still while the other suctions. He is suctioned about every four hours, depending on how "junky" he sounds. We are learning to listen to him breathe and determine when suctioning is needed.
Tomorrow, we should have some results from the voiding cystogram (pee test) and spinal ultrasound that were done today. Once again, we cannot thank you all enough for your love, prayers and support. We feel as though we have been out of touch for so long. Our days are spent morning to night in the NICU. This blog allows us to keep everyone in the loop without multiple phone calls. What started out as a way to share thoughts and pictures with out of town family members has grown into a phenomenon known as "Team Noah". Our little man has touched our lives and reinforced our faith. We are humbled to know that his story has touched so many of you. THANK YOU!!!!!