Our Little Rangers

Ryan had a fairly uneventful night. Thankfully he had just enough food in his tummy that he slept through most of the night (that is after I pleaded with the nurse to please NOT wake him up during the night! Yes I know that means he will soil his diaper but sleeping through the night is the ONLY thing he does well and does NOT take well to being woke up!)His CO2 levels came down drastically after stopping his bottle feeds. Unfortunately this means there is most likely an issue somewhere with his feeding.

We were very blessed today that Dr. M was able to secure us a spot in radiology for a swallow test!!

I’m used to swallow test I’ve been with many post stroke/vented patients so thankfully I was able to tell a good bit of what was going on, on the screne.  

Fortunately, But Unfortunately we did see some aspiration on the X-rays. He wasn’t aspirating all the time but just enough to make it unsafe for him to bottle feed.

He did do well however on the baby food. They didn’t see any aspiration with the food but again there is that but word, he isn’t coordinated enough yet to solely take his calories from baby food.

Dr. M came by shortly after Ryan’s XRay tests and told us that this problem isn’t uncommon in micro preemies. After reviewing our history again with the added knowledge Ryan has been most likely aspirating since the NICU at Baptist. He said the first indication would have been when Ryan was off of his oxygen for a complete month then all of a sudden had to go back on his oxygen after starting a higher frequency and amount of oral feeds.

This is honestly discouraging but it was a truth we learned even while in NICU at Baptist. They are amazing at keeping our little ones alive and thriving but are not the best when it comes to being as diligiant in the step down units with their feeds.

Dr. M says that he wants to take the next few days to get to know Ryan and see his trends. Ryan will still be fed through the TPT tube and his oxygen will remain the same for now.

We were very blessed to have a room full of visitors today.

Ryan LOVED sleeping in his Daddy’s arms.

No day would be complete without a good
bit of spoiling by his Sissy!

Its hard when your little one is sick but I dare to say it is even harder when your little one is otherwise ok and you stick him in the hospital and make him feel crumy in order to figure out hotw to make him feel better.

This is how we’ve spent the majority of our day. Ryan curled up in Mommy’s arms rocking, walking, singing, and attempting anything we can to keep him calm/comfortable. He is receiving his feedings through a tube that puts the food just below his tummy.

The worst part is that his poor tummy is feeling hungry and Ry doesn’t understand why his tummy ‘hursts’ so bad and Mommy nor anyone else will help make it stop (not to mention poor baby is teething feverishly).