One Week on 5th Floor

Well, we've made it a week now on the 5th Floor of the UNC Children's Hospital. After a few days of trial and error, and making various changes to Brett's nutritional calories, volume, and rate of administration, he finally gained 20 grams at his weight check yesterday! At his weight check this morning he had gained another 40 grams, which puts him at 4.12 kilos, equivalent to 9 pounds and 1 ounce! We are so encouraged to finally see a little bit of progress after a week. The events of the day haven't changed much - he still gets his various breathing treatments several times a day, various medications, his enzymes, and chest pats 4 times a day. We are able to feed him a bottle every 6 hours on top of his continuous feeds. He eats around 10 milliliters in each bottle. Gantt and I (Jennifer) pretty much hang out all day - it's almost like it would be at home, except we are in a hospital. They eat, they play, they nap. We just get a little cabin fever being stuck in this tiny room, just like you get cabin fever when you're stuck at home with one or two babies. But it isn't home, so we don't have the comforts of home, and we don't have the whole family together. Can't wait until that day!

Since Brett started coughing on Sunday, they did a throat swab to see if there is any bacteria growing in his lungs. The doctors wanted to hold off on giving antibiotics first because sometimes antibiotics can complicate what is going on in the bowel. Second, they want to see exactly which bacteria is growing so they can use the appropriate antibiotic - not start something without information, then get the information and have to change the medication. But each day Brett has been coughing a little more, so today they pretty much decided that they do want him to go on an antibiotic, but they still are going to wait to see what antibiotic they are going to give him.

Thank you all who have come to visit and made my days a little better. Thank you all who have volunteered to come sit with Brett and give us a break as well. We appreciate everyone's support! New updates soon!!