2 weeks old!

Today Benjamin is 2 weeks old...how the time flies. You look at him and would never think he just went through major open heart surgery. He is eating better. This morning he took 10 mL of breastmilk, which is up from his average of 5 mL. They are only feeding him through the bottle now and not his feeding tube because they want him to start waking up when he's hungry. His suck reflex is great, the nurse said, so now it's just a matter of getting him to eat more. They also took out his pacemaker wires yesterday so now the only line he has left in him is his cardiothoracic line, which will probably stay in a little while longer. Once that is out, we can probably hold him! I can't wait! The doctor told us yesterday that he's doing well and now it's just time that he needs to get his feeding right. He's only on oxygen because he's there and it's available to him but he doesn't really need it. It just makes the load on his lungs a little easier and why not give him the rest if we can!

We found out this morning that they moved him from the cardio side of the NICU to this small room they call the ECHMO room. It's not used for ECHMO (not quite sure what that is) it's just another space to put some beds. We haven't gone to see him yet today but we'll see if he got a big boy crib or not. Most babies in that room have little cribs. They moved him because they were getting in a really sick baby and needed the space and Benjamin is probably the best looking baby on the cardio side...which is good news! If anything changes I will be sure to post tonight!