The 'H' Word

Today we met with Lawson's new Attending Physician. We hadn't met with any Attendings since Lawson moved from Room 4 about 2 weeks ago, so it was nice to finally speak with someone 'in charge'. Apparently, when your child is doing well, you get no love! lol Her arrival was actually a surprise. Brian was feeding Lawson his bottle and I was pumping, so we had the curtain pulled around the 'penthouse'. She peeked her head in and began talking with Brian about Lawson's bottle feeding. They chatted for a few minutes before she said, "I'll let you guys finish and I'll be back." As she was leaving, Brian asked if she was with lactation or a nurse . . . since she never introduced herself, we were a little confused.

When she returned she formally introduced herself and said, "OK, let's start by having you tell me about Lawson. You're his parents so you know him better than I do." We chatted briefly about how far he has come and the most recent ongoings. We told her about our desire to breastfeed and the findings of the swallow study. We spoke about the thickened milk and his progress in taking the required volumes. After we talked for a while, she said that within the next week we are invited to stay with Lawson in the Care By Parent room to 'prove' our ability to get him to take his milk by bottle. And then she said it, that word that we've been waiting to hear. She said that within the next two weeks, she thinks Lawson will be ready to go . . . home!! We're trying to digest that information slowly and realize that for that to actually happen, he will need to eat by bottle every time for several days in a row. At the same time, we must do this without forcing him to use more calories eating than he gets from the milk. Please pray for his strength and endurance. By the way, he's up to 6 lbs 13 oz today!!

Sleepy boy!

Here's our view from the 'penthouse'.