Transferred to the ICC

Elijah is an incredible little man. He did so well today and we’re so proud of him. He continues to amaze me. I know I’m his mother and I’m supposed to think this, but he is beautiful! And I seriously am madly in love with him. I love to watch Elijah with his daddy too. I can see how much Andy loves him and it warms my heart. Being a parent certainly does change you and I guess I didn’t know how much it really would. Elijah has the nurses wrapped around his finger too, because some of them request to take care of him. And some of the nurses laugh when I tell him what to work on over night. He keeps listening to me and keeps getting better day by day. (Okay, I know that I can’t really take the credit!)
Today when we got to the NICU, Elijah was all dressed up and the warmer was turned off. It was so great to see him all snuggled up in a blanket instead of just laying there under the warmer. The nurse had given him his first bath and then got him all dressed up. I’m sorry I missed it, but there will be plenty of time for more baths.
The great news is that Elijah was transferred from the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to the ICC (Infant Care Center) today. This is the next step to going home. The ICC is so much better than being in the NICU. Elijah is now in a crib and shares his room with one other baby instead of five babies. There is one nurse per room and the two nurses we met today were really great. The atmosphere is much better being that there aren’t sensors constantly going off, there is a window in his room, it’s so quiet, and it seems more like home. I feel much more comfortable leaving him in that environment.

Elijah was sleepy for most of the day today. He has been put back onto Phenobarbital since his levels have come down. I wish he could be off of the drug because it does make him sleepy, but we certainly don’t want the seizures to come back. The doctors compared it to taking Benadryl in that at first it will make you sleepy and then after a few days or a week most people will get used to it. I believe they want him to take the drug for his first two months of life. I’m hoping Elijah will start to wake up more often. I know newborns sleep a lot at first, but we need him to wake up when he’s hungry so that he can eat. Today Elijah did just that. He gets his feedings every three hours and so we try to be there before those times so that he can attempt to eat. At around 5:45 tonight he woke up and was alert for almost two hours. We attempted to nurse and it went well. His nurse said that it was a very good first attempt and how it usually goes the first time around. It’ll take some learning but I know that the two of us can figure it out together. I’ve never done this before either, after all! This is the only hurtle that is preventing us from coming home at this point. If he can’t figure out how to nurse, then they would try a bottle, and if that doesn’t work, he would need a feeding tube surgically placed in his belly. Of course we don’t want that and based on today I’m sure he’ll be able to figure out how to nurse. He’s a smart little guy.
Other fun things that happened today were that he made a bit of a crying noise with his crying face and he did it shortly before one of his feedings. This should indicate that he might be feeling a little hungry and should help him wake up to feed I hope. Another thing he did was suck on his hand a bit. We also noticed that he really seems to watch what is going on when he is alert. We have a really good video today (that I posted below) when he was in his alert state. He was watching Andy while he was videoing and he looked at his hand when I was touching it. These are all great things in my mind because it shows he has some self-awareness and awareness of his surroundings.

Elijah’s temperature has been lower than they want it to be today. He did just get taken off of the warmer so I’m hoping his body can figure out how to stay at the proper temperature. Please continue to pray for our little man. I absolutely know that God is listening. Elijah’s daily progress is proof positive. Pray that he and I can figure out how to nurse. It seems the doctors and nurses have been kind of doubtful that he could do it, but I know that he can. Today was a step in the right direction. We need him to wake up when he’s hungry and we need him to “talk” when he is unhappy. I never thought I would long to hear my baby cry, but I have to admit he made me cry today when he made his crying face. I just want him to be happy. He is our little miracle man and every day I am overjoyed that God gave him to us.

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