Gunner Day 13

The emotional roller coaster of the NICU is not a ride I am overall excited about, but today is a great high!

Gunner decided last night to shock everyone and eat some record amounts. Early AM feedings has been his weakest and not done very well...last night he was a completly different baby. He ate 50ml, 46ml and 44ml. Remember they want him to get 54ml, but will take the feeding tube out if he at least averages 40ml (75%). Well the doctor was impressed and said lets get it out of there!

NO MORE FEEDING TUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning he proved himself worthy of being "feeding tubeless" by eating 44ml from Becky and taking an additional 15ml from a bottle!  Yes I said that right, he ate more than 100% of what he is required to do, but that was just one time. So far his average for today at 4:00pm is 94% of what they want him to take. This far exceeds the 75% they want him to be at!This sudden jump is a huge step, so much so they ordered his hearing test and asked us to bring in the car seat. The car seat test is the final step before going home! This is exciting, but we are still in battle with the bilirubin levels and he will get rechecked in the morning for that. His color improved and the doctor was happy to see that.

Assuming he keeps his eating up, and his bilirubin goes down and stays down for Thursdays check, we might be going home by Friday!

But keep in mind this is a roller coaster. I wont be convinced until we walk in the door with him!

He now weighs 6lbs. He had passed his birth weight by one ounce...he gained 3oz yesterday. The doctor was happy to see that but said she would not be surprised or worried if he lost 1 or 2 ounces after going to eating without a feeding tube, but so far I don't think he will be losing any weight if he keeps up his eating like he has today!

Thanks for your continued prayers