One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Today started off really well. We got a call from the doctor early in the morning saying that if Josh continued to progress as he has, he might be home by the end of the week. They have taken the IV out of his hand. They have a minimum feeding goal of 40mls every 3 hours to go home, so that is what they had us feeding him today. This morning's feed went alright, but he wouldn't eat much from me. The rest of the day didn't go as well as we would have hoped. Josh is acting too tired to eat, from me or a bottle. They had to put a tube down his nose to his stomach so that he can get the nutrition he needs to put on weight. He has been spitting up also. Josh has also shown that he is a gulper. Once he does start to feed, he chugs it down (his father's son...) and then starts to choke (not his father's son...). He scared me pretty good yesterday when he did it for the first time because he turned blue and the nurse had to grab him and make him cry to get the oxygen. They tell me this is all "normal" preemie stuff, but it's still is kind of discouraging after everything else was doing so well. His bilirubin levels didn't go down either, so he's still on phototherapy, but they expect it to go down tomorrow. The phototherapy makes it more difficult for us because we can't hold him as much as we want because he has to be under the lights when he isn't feeding. My milk seemed like it had started to come in, but I'm not producing enough right now even for a single feed. They put me on an herbal supplement that should help with that. So not much good news for today. I just have to keep reminding myself that he isn't even supposed to be here for another month and that he is behaving normally for an early baby. Keep us in your prayers and keep a good thought in your hearts for our little guy!