No longer on the bench

The nurses show up to work every day and tend to whomever is there unless they have a primary patient. They have the option to choose a primary patient, so that any time they work, that is the baby in their care. We've been waiting for Lawson to have a 'primary nurse' since he arrived in the NICU. All of the nurses we've met so far already had primary patients or were night or weekend only nurses. Eventually we just stopped asking. We had a funny conversation with one of them about how it all works. We joked that Lawson was still sitting on the bench. So he's finally in the game. We found out the Cheri, one of the nurses we LOVE, has chosen Lawson to be her primary patient and we're super excited about it!

We had a wonderfully positive experience at the hospital today. We got a chance to talk with Dr. Goldstein, the attending physician. It's great to talk to the nurses, but really nice to talk to the 'big guy/gal'. She was very upbeat and encouraging. She basically confirmed everything the nurses have said so far and spoke of what a fighter Lawson is. The chest tubes and heart catheter will likely be removed soon. His chest x-rays continue to look good. They are able to pull back on many of the medicines and are continuing the slow process of weaning him off the breathing machine. She brought me to happy tears when she said she thinks he COULD be off the breathing machine in one or two more weeks! That is the first step in making real progress!! At that point they will be able to do more tests, begin to make a diagnosis, and depending on a few other factors, maybe even begin feeding him my breastmilk through a tube into his stomach. Baby steps . . .