After church, we went out to breakfast at Egglectic Cafe in downtown Wheaton. It is always awesome. I have yet to order something there that doesn't taste great. And food always tastes better when Larissa and I are not paying for it. It is fun to go there with my parents, because they used to take me there on weekends when they could come visit for swim meets during college.
Once we had finished a great lunch, we went to the NICU and introduced Dane to his Anderson grandparents -
they'd seen him after the delivery, but hadn't been able to hold him until today. They also came bearing gifts! They brought fresh fruit, juice, some dry munchy-foods and some frozen food. Awesome. They also brought a the rest of the baby stuff we left at their house after the baby shower (thanks everyone for all the gifts! your thank-you cards are on the way...we never dreamed we would be needing all of those things so soon!) and some cute clothes that mom and grandma bought for Dane. He has a little ways to go to fit into them, (He has been wearing some newborn clothes in his isolet here at the NICU but the groin snaps sit all the way at his ankles...) but he's doing well and will be bigger by the time he finally gets to come home.We have also had both sets of grandparents offer to help with some babysitting once Dane is home and Larissa goes back to work. Especially while he is so small, it would feel so much better to leave him with family. We'll see how everything works out, but that would be a huge relief. (Not to mention the fact that we are finding that child care costs ~$300/week around us. That seems really steep but we guess it isn't surprising to people who know about that kind of thing.)
Sunday night we were blessed to be able to talk to Aunt Bethany again on Skype, all the way from Brazil! It was great to catch up and be able to have her see Dane in real time. The wonders of modern technology....
Well, we've told you plenty about how we, the parents, are doing. Dane is doing very well, too. Yesterday morning the NICU moved the feeding tube that goes to
his stomach from going through his mouth to going through his nose, instead. This made him seem more comfortable and let us see his chin finally! He has another echocardiogram scheduled for tomorrow that will examine if any progress was made in closing his PDA with the indomethacin last week (or if it has closed any on its own). Pending the results of that (which we will hopefully have tomorrow afternoon), the neonatologist on service this next week will then decide how he would like to proceed. He told us today there are really 2 options: 1) repeat trial of indomethacin (maybe with a lower dose due to the trouble it caused with Dane's kidneys and him retaining water) or 2) the surgical ligation. We'll see what they want to do. They seem to both have their risks and I almost prefer the surgery because it would be a difinitive once-and-done fix. But I'm not the NICU doctor, so we'll see what he says - maybe tomorrow.Dane also has resumed his tube feedings...they were holding his feeds for several days after the indomethacin because after the dosing they had noted some blood in his stomach, possibly due to some minor ulceration due to the medication. After several days of letting him heal, just to be safe, they resumed the tube feedings yesterday. Initially he was receiving 5mL of breast milk every 3 hours. Because he was doing so well and not having any residual in his stomach prior to the next feedings, he was increased to 10mL every 3 hours today and has been tolerating them very well.
On a side note, as we spend more time with Dane, he really looks like he is dreaming sometimes. While he sleeps, he will twitch and move his little head around or run with his legs...what exactly does a newborn dream about? He doesn't have almost any sensory experiences...he must just be dreaming about being warm and snug and having a full stomach. What else is there for a newborn? He's living a pretty good life right now, even though he isn't home with his parents yet.
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