Day #5 in NICU

So, today is day #5... I'm starting to feel the emotions now of not having our baby home with us. I have butterflies every morning getting ready and the drive to Children's to see him, following the turns and curves of the never ending hallways, the elevator ride to the 4th floor, the long hallway back to the NICU, the wash station, and then the final walk towards his bed to see my bundle of joy wrapper smug as a bug....

and then at night I have to peel away my fingertips one by one sobbing my heart out because he isn't coming home with me. It's been a rough few days for me.

Little guy was asleep when we got there that's what he does best!! They were able to wean off his oxygen. Decreasing his IV fluids as they increase his feedings. He is still unable to control his body temperature but that will just take time. His  IV went bad so they took that out so we can start to get him dressed in nice fuzzy warm sleepers!

BIG BROTHER Eli came to visit. He is so precious with Ethan. My heart melts everytime they are together. So the attn span that Eli has is about 3 minutes! We were introduced to the 'siblings clubhouae'. It's a wonderful place to take siblings where they have volunteers that will play with the kiddo's. They may go twice a day for an hour and half at a time. They have a puppet show, they can paint or color, lots of toys, and games. Needless to say I'm so thankful they have that for Eli so everyone is happy in the end!

I did have a slightly minor problem with a nurse today. So his orders for feedings are pretty straight forward. If he breastfeeds for 10 minutes then no need to supplement, if not then her gets the remainder either bottlefed or down his NG. So little guy will not take a bottle we have tried 10 different ones. But I have gotten him to latch successfully, just wears him out so easily. This is going to be what keeps us there the longest. No plans for discharge at all at this point. The issues with the bottles are probably due to the shape of  his mouth and to learn the right sucking technique... Which I know he can do because he nurses well when he is awake.