A Champion and a Superstar
Greetings and hello to everyone.
Xavier had a good day today as he approaches his first full week of life outside mom's womb. (Only a week? It seems months ago!) He had his first BM today (we strongly encouraged him to make this goal yesterday and he did not disappoint). It was only a small amount, but a great milestone. It means his bowels are kicking in. His high-flow air amount was dropped to 1.5 liters/minute; that's a drop of 1.5 liters/min over the last three days! Xavier lost 5 grams since yesterday, but he is still 10 grams heavier than his birth weight. His up and down weight is to be expected for his first two weeks. However, his weight drop was a good thing as it precipitated his food intake (mom's milk) to go from 2 ml every three hours to 3 ml every two hours.
I spoke with one of the doctors who helped deliver Xavier this morning, Jess, who came over to re-introduced herself. She is following Xavier's progress and will be until (at least) he leaves the NICU. She gave a glowing report of his progress. She called him a champion and a superstar; she was very happy with his progress.
I picked Rebecca up this afternoon and drove her to the NICU so she could visit our son. She kangarooed Xavier for ninety minutes and he was as quiet during his movement from pod to mom as he has ever been. When the time came to return him to his pod, Rebecca wept deeply; it gets harder every day to leave him for the day. Today was especially difficult because Xavier was so alert, looking around, wrinkling his brow, tugging at the pads which hold his nasal tubes in place.
We continue to pray for Xavier's growth and development. We are saying he will suffer none of the developmental issues the doctors have suggested he may have--he will continue to prove the doctors wrong! It's a great tag line for him. We are also praying for Rebecca to produce more milk; the lactation coaches continue to encourage us that it takes as much as 10 to 14 days and we (where "we" means Rebecca) have only been at it a little over five days.
Thank you all for your support and your prayers. As Rebecca noted yesterday as we considered Xavier while he slept. He is the embodiment of many answers to those prayers.