Good News For Leo

Providing Leo continues to do what he is doing, he should be home with us early next week.  The nurse practitioner that follows Leo thinks she'll see him on Monday, but he should be ready to go shortly after that.  We are really excited about the news, but also very cautious as all the other ideas of when he would come home have not been true.  Either way, we are making sure we have everything we need in order to be ready for his arrival.  Others have told me that it will seem like forever waiting to take your baby home and then once they tell you he'll be going home soon, you can't believe how fast it goes.  I believe this to be true.  Only two days ago, we would not have thought about a discharge date, and now it's very close.

They took out his feeding tube and are doing a trial run to see if he can continue to gain weight with the amount of food he intakes via the bottle only.  So far today, he has finished all of his feedings.  If he gains weight, he will continue to only be fed through the bottle only.  They will do this for a few days to make sure he is gaining weight.  It is so important for all babies to gain wait, but especially preemies.  They have a lot of catch up growth they need to do.  Currently, Leo has added fortifications to his milk that also increases the calorie intake.  He will continue to need this when he comes home.

Today he had a brain ultrasound and a test for congenital heart defects.  The ultrasound results hadn't been read yet before we left, but his heart test was great.  The best part was that I got to carry Leo downstairs for his brain ultrasound!  He is always attached to the monitors and I have never been able to walk with him out of the room, so it was so special to me.  He will get a hearing screen sometime this evening too.  All things he needs to wrap up before he gets to go home.  We were also told to bring in our car seat.  Leo has to pass a test where he needs to sit in his car seat for one hour without any monitor alarms going off.  If you were to ask me if he would be able to do this even a week ago, I would have been very hesitant.  But, the last couple of days he has really shown to be stronger! 

Dave and I had our apnea monitor training and infant CPR class today.  We learned about infant CPR and choking.  Leo will have a monitor for as long as he is on caffeine and at least two weeks after they take him off.  The monitor is attached to a belt that goes around Leo's chest and buzzes if Leo has a high or low heart rate as well as if he has stopped breathing for more that 20 seconds (apnea episode).  He actually doesn't have these currently, but it is mandatory to have a monitor if your baby is going home on caffeine. 

We hope for a fabulous weekend for Leo!  We can't wait to take him home!