Almost Home!

Andrew has been moved to the Continuing Care Nursery. This is the last level of care before he goes home.  He is no longer hooked up to monitors.  All he has is a feeding tube.  We are continuing to work on feedings. Now they are feeding him 3 times a day with a bottle for 15 minutes to help his muscles develop.  We have to hold him in a special position to make sure the milk is going in the right place.  They are going to conduct another swallow study next Wednesday to see if they notice improvement. (The last study showed a bit of aspiration when he was in a cradle position.)  The nurse practitioner who spoke with us today made it sound like we were going to get to take him home by the end of next week with a feeding tube!  We are not going to get our hopes up just yet, but we can tell she is really pushing toward getting him home sooner rather than later - that's great!!!  We would LOVE to have Andrew home for Easter Sunday, which also happens to be baby dedication Sunday at our church!  First and foremost we want Andrew to be doing well with his feedings, so please continue to pray that he with have a strong suck and swallow and that the milk will go exactly where it is suppose to be going!  Pray that they will see improvement, and know which nipple (they are working with 2 different kinds) is best for Andrew when they conduct the next swallow study so that they will have greater confidence in sending him home!

Also, in case you are curious - Andrew got circumcised today. :)  They said he did great during the procedure.

Riley got to spend a lot of time with Papa this weekend while we were at the hospital.  She LOVES his backyard!  He let's her water the flowers and pick and eat berries!