Visit from big brother Barrett

Today Jerry and I spent all day with Barrett which is a first in more than a week since Benjamin was born. We took turns visiting Benjamin in the NICU step down unit and had a very peaceful day! Barrett was so excited to draw a picture for the baby and deliver it himself. He loved seeing Benjamin and when I was holding him as he came into the cubicle we are in he asked if Benjamin was going to pop back into my tummy! I'm sure he is a little confused because it has been over a week since the LAST time we introduced him to little Benjamin. We did have the chance to get a few pictures of the boys and then Barrett was ready to roam the hospital...so the visit was short and sweet.

Benjamin had another amazing day (I will NEVER get tired of saying that)! When the PIC line (central line) in Benjamin's scalp became clogged Dr. Barnhart decided to discontinue the line and remove it. I thought we might get another IV but to our surprise they just changed his medicine to a liquid that could be taken in his bottle. So now 7-days after major surgery Benjamin has no IVs and is only taking one medicine for his possible reflux (which we aren't really sure he has yet)! We also got to try nursing this morning at the 11:00 a.m. feeding and he did so well...I then nursed again at 1:00 and then this evening at 7:00...each time he did great. We are so thankful that he is feeding well from the bottle and nursing and at his weigh in tonight during bath time his weight was very good and he had not lost any weight since yesterday which is great. We have had friends ask when we think we might be out of the hospital and for right now all we know is that it will take 5 days for the chest tube site to heal and that would need to be watched and cleared before we leave. They also want him to be eating a certain amount before he can go home. We will also probably room in with him in a private room at Children's before they let us go home so we can get ready for the transition to having him on our own.

We had a chance to ask the doctor about the possible cyst on Benjamin's spine last night and he said on the scan it was so small that they would want to re-ultrasound the area but that he was not concerned at all and more importantly Benjamin doesn't have a tethered spine (tied down by nerves) which is common with the TEF group of anomalies. This would be something that could be corrected later but luckily that is not something we will be dealing with.

We enjoyed every minute of holding Benjamin today and are so hopeful that we will be bringing him home soon! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement and please keep praying that his body will continue to heal and would be free of any infections, ect. and that he would keep eating and growing!