Walker update

Time for another update on Mr. Walker.

He's starting to act his age. He really doesn't have the energy to nurse very much. Yesterday I think we only had 1 good feed. My milk is in though, so I am pumping and they put it through the feeding tube which goes down his nose. The tube makes him sneeze, and he'll sneeze 7 or 8 times in a row, but only if it gets irritated. The nutritionists want him to have this stuff called Neosure which has 22 calories instead of 20, but he has spit it up every time. He hasn't tolerated formula at all, so we have been lucky to have him in the NICU where they have pasteurized human breastmilk for him if I don't have enough. He's getting most of his feeding through the tube, but yesterday they took out his iv, so all his fluid is coming from breastmilk.

His bilirubin went down yesterday, but up a little today, so we'll see what happens with that.

His nurses are incredible. I have liked all of them that he has had. There is a group of former NICU parents called Common Bonds that does nice things for the parents there. They leave me goodies and cards, they provide a camera and printer for parents there, they are really nice. We even got a crocheted flannel blanket, it's green and cute. Today they are dressing them up, and they had quite a few little costumes. He is going to be Shrek. We can only keep his on for a picture since he's still on lights, but I can't wait to see some of the other babies in their costumes. There aren't very many babies in there, maybe 3 or 4. Evelyn seems to be doing better now, and I've enjoyed chatting with her parents now that she doesn't scream 24/7.

We are now skipping a feeding to see if Walker will save up some energy for the next meal. I'm on my way down there right now, so we'll see if he performs or not.