Baby Hunter Update

Thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends for all of your prayers on behalf of baby Hunter! 

They are working! Keep em coming! 

Baby Hunter is 5 days old tonight and is still in the NICU.

Apparently he likes it there and thinks all the nurses are really cute, so why the heck would he want to come home right?

Baby Hunter has made awesome improvements just in the last twenty four hours on his eating.

My last post, I explained that Hunter had been on IV's to control his blood sugar levels and that the doctor wanted me to try and start breast feeding. I also explained how excited I was when I was able to give him 4ml by breast feeding. Little did I know 4ml was NOTHING when the guy is being fed 50ml a feeding (every 3 hours).

I quickly realized little Hunter had a LONG ways to go before we would be able to get his feedings to where they needed to be. 

Over the last three days we have met with the wonderful lactation specialist, Kitty, and she has been so helpful in solving our breast feeding problems. Baby Hunter LOVES to sleep and this has been one of our biggest problems. Hunter thinks that when Mom comes to feed that it means its time to cuddle and relax, not eat. 

We were finally able to figure out some ways to make him not so "comfortable" during feeding time to keep him awake and interested. 

With tips from Kitty and motivation from our amazing nurses, we have finally been able to get Hunter to eat at least half of his feedings by breast/bottle.  It is such a wonderful feeling to know that in just three short days (even though it feels like a hundered years) Hunter has gained much more strength and energy to be able to eat when we feed him. 

Today we hit the BIGGEST marker yet in his eating adventures. At his 4pm feeding, baby Hunter was able to get all 50ml from the breast/bottle. NO FEEDING TUBE! With Grandma Shelley's amazing touch, he was able to finish off the whole bottle after he "tired" of breast feeding.

What a wonderful feeling to know that our little guy TOTALLY has it in him to be eating on his own and know that we are well on our way to taking him home.

 

Now, in order for Hunter to come home he has to be off of the feeding tube for at least 24 hours and gain weight.

Tonight when we went to feed him again, he only took 30ml from the breast/bottle and had to be fed the rest throught the tube. BLAH! Just when we think that we are taking HUGE leaps forward, we take a big hop back.

Like I have said before, our wonderful nurses have been so encouraging throughout the whole time Hunter has been in the NICU and our nurse tonight reassured us that 30ml was still AMAZING and that he is still well on his way to going home. We are constantly reminded also that our little guy is still working on developing some of these skills that are developed in the last few weeks of pregnancy. She reminded us that he is still supposed to be inside all cooped up and not using these sucking and eating muscles yet. She said to be patient and it will come. (Also that its's better to keep him here now and get him all set then take him home and have to bring him back when things get worse)

We have been so blessed that our little guy is doing so well. The first couple of days were really scary as we realized our first baby experience was not going to be that magical moment we had been planing for the last 9 months.

Hunter really is making great progress and we know that we will be able to bring him home in no time.

With the eating thing well on its way the doctors have also reassured us that all of Hunter's other vital signs are working well. His breathing and blood sugar are both under control. 

The doctors had also been monitoring a small irregular heart beat that was noticed in the first day. Two different tests were run to see what was wrong and after being reviewed it was found that it was not a structural problem but an electrical problem (specifically his heart was sending out an extra/early little beat every 6th or 7th beat). The doctor said it is not effecting him now but may need to be monitored throughout his life. We were told lots of babies are born with some irregular heartbeat and that most (as far as electrical heart problems) can be fixed over time, with medicine or with a pacemaker later in life.

We were so grateful for this news!

Kevin was able to give baby Hunter a bath tonight. He did awesome and Hunter looked so great. It has been so much better without all of the IV's sticking out of his head. One of our favorite things is to get to see his awesome RED hair.

It has also been so amazing to see him go from the big scary bulky NICU bed to the smaller less scary Nursery bed. A sure sign he is doing better.

Everyday gets a little better for our little guy. We are so grateful that he is healthy and is quickly developing the skills he needs to grow and thrive.

We continue to be amazed at the love and support we have received from all of you and wish we could thank each and every one of you personally. 

Thank you for your prayers and love for us and our little guy and our new family.

Hopefully the next post will be a baby homecoming!