Introducing Food

 Lots of fun progress has been happening since my last post.

Introducing foods (DAY 29)

Sunday evening they decided that he was ready for food!!!! This is a big step for him. Because he hasn't had any food yet; they wanted him to take it nice and slow. For the week in advance they had told me it would be administered by a feeding tube. But Sunday Bridger got a new doctor that thought he could handle swallowing and allowed us to feed him by bottle. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it was a big deal. Many of the babies here become lazy and dependant on feeding tubes because they get the nutrients they need without putting forth the effort to suck. I was thrilled when they told us he could just start off with the bottle (yes one day we want him to breast feed but for now they must measure it very closely).

It kinda felt wrong like we were teasing him because he wasn't able to start with much. His first feed was 4mL

Sunday 4mL

He gets to eat every 3 hours as he handles food well they increase the amount he can eat.Today, Tuesday morning he is up to 10 mL. He will need to be up to around 60mL (I think thats 1.5-2oz) before he can come home.  It is common for most Gastroschesis babies to do really well with their feeds at the begining but then it becomes too much for the stomach and we have to wait (days or weeks) to continue increasing the amount of food. (He gets breast milk in the bottle and they still deliver additional nutrients via Picc Line.)

Pooping

Unfortunately he is not pooping as much as we would like and as much as he was last week so we are hoping for more poops. (He is receiving glycerin suppositories every 12 hours for that).

His Cold

He has had a cold (RHINO VIRUS) since day 13 so he has been in isolation (away from other babies, and the nurses take extra measures to make sure they don't transfer the cold to other babies). Well yesterday evening they tested him again and it came back Negative! (Day 30) He is over his cold! Yippie Bridger.

New Bed (DAY 30)

He can maintain his own temprature so he has been moved out of an open warmer bed and now his has a crib like a real baby.

 Meds

They are continuing to ween him off his meds and he is handling the lower doses really well.

Oxygen

He spends a couple hours a day with no oxygen support but it is nice to have it close to give him a little extra support when he needs it.

No cords on his face

The Hole

The hole is his belly is healing up well. They have a vacuum and a sponge on his belly that will suck the skin closed and help it heal faster. He will probably need the "Wound Vac" for another month.

The hole- the yellow is a patch that was sown in during surgery.

This is an older picture- but it shows the wound vac.

Overall

This little guy is doing great. We think if he continues to progress we could have him home at the end of September.

We sure appreciate the grandparents watching our 2 yr old, Carter. The meals that have been brought over have been awesome and I've loved my Young women from church doing chores at my house. Thank you for the thouhgtful messages, and most importantly all the prayers that have been said for our family.

The only bad news to report is that my car decided it wanted some attention so it started smoking on the way home from the hospital last night and we had to take it in today. I hope it gets out of the car hospital soon. Luckly the car hospital is cheaper than the NICU 😉. This hasn't tripped us up too much, my parents have an extra car they are letting me use for now. My parents are always taking such good care of me.

Well thanks for caring

Love,

The Taylor's

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Bridger's Steps of Progression

✔Intestines put in Silo (day 1)

✔Closure Surgery (day 12)

✔Off the ventilators (day 21)

✔Held by mom and dad (day 21)

✔Weened off sedation (day 23)

✔Weening his pain meds

Off paid meds

✔Weening his oxygen support

Off oxygen support

✔Hear bowl sounds (tummy grumbles)

✔Poop

✔Introduce food(day 29$

*Tolerate food (digest food)

Increase foods to full feeds (60mL)

Remove Wound Vac

Nursing

Take our baby home

*We are praying that his digestive system will work properly and that he won't need any further surgeries.