Doctors Appointments

These past several days have been filled with doctors appointments, visits from friends, eating, sleeping and pooping.

On Monday, we went to see Dr. Gerardi, the orthopedic surgeon. Noah had new casts put on and screamed (without any sound) the whole time. The doctor was so kind, gentle, and patient. We have scheduled his next minor surgery for the 13th of March. Dr. Gerardi will clip Noah's achilles tendons which will allow him to flex and point his feet. Following that surgery, he will have casts for one more month before he moves into braces. The braces will be worn until Noah starts to walk.

After the doctors appointment, we had our first shopping excursion to Target (one of my most favorite places). We ran into many familiar faces there and picked up a gift for Noah's cousin who is due in June.

Tuesday started out with a visit to Dr. Hodge, the colostomy doctor. Everything is looking good and the doctor thinks he will be able to reverse the colostomy early in the summer. Noah will have a few studies done to determine "what his insides look like" (my wording, not the doctors) before the surgery is done. Later that day, we had our second shopping excursion to Gottschalks followed by a visit from a group of Nana's friends who laughed, cuddled and brought loads of desserts.

Noah definitely has a routine established. He is a good sleeper at night and we frequently have to wake him up to change and feed him. During the day, he spends his time sleeping, eating and pooping. He had an extended period of time in the early evening, right after Daddy gets home, where he is awake and playful. He loves to lounge in his Boppy, watch the ceiling fan and suck on his Wubba - it is a pacifier that is attached to a small stuffed animal (thanks to Fletcher, Baily and Parker Kapic for telling us about the Wubba Nub). Before we left the hospital, Noah had a hearing test. Our friends Mary and Dave were there to witness the awesome technology. Many different sounds are transmitted into the "headphones" that Noah is wearing and then sensors detect any minor muscle movements he makes. We are pleased to announce that Noah passed the hearing test with flying colors.
We continue to work on feedings and are hoping to slowly increase the amount he eats to 90 ml (which is 3 ounces). He does not like his NG tube and is getting good at grabbing a hold of it and pulling it out. Unfortunately, Noah is not able to take all of his milk from the bottle and therefor needs the NG. Thus, Daddy is getting very good at putting it back in.
We are still waiting to hear from Dr. Song's office about an appointment for Noah at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. We should know later on this afternoon.

It's just about time for Noah's 12:00 feeding and he is letting me know. Thank you for your encouragement and concern. I will keep you all posted.