Day 11 - Continuing box of blue light, but with a few reprieves

Well, last night Aidan's parents were too tired to post and a bit distraught that progress can be so slow. Honestly, we were having Aidan withdrawal. He wasn't exactly happy either because we couldn't have much contact and he was still masked under the lights. You try being blindfolded for several days and see if you're happy.

Today was more of the same except that they started him on formula again. Small amounts only because we're trying out his tummy to see how it handles the food, but he's scheduled for every three hours and we saw him get 3 feedings today with no spitting up. There was a bit left in his tummy when they checked each time, but they noted it was 'mucusy' so that may just be stomach fluids, not formula. It sounds disgusting, but it's another of those things that we're learning about babies.

He's really not happy to be still masked under the lights, but the bilirubin counts are slowly decreasing and hopefully with the food, the poop will return. He gained 40 grams in 24 hours so we expect something will probably come out soon. Meanwhile he is learning to appreciate the little times he can get the mask off - either because the nurse gives him a break from the lights and allows his parents to hold him while he eats, or because he's squirmed his way out of them when no one is looking. Still being attached to all the monitors, you can see his heart rate soar when he's escaped for a few minutes and someone tries to replace the mask. We saw his first real screaming tantrum today, but once again, we really can't blame him.

The great news is he had his first feed from a bottle tonight - his first food by mouth! We were a bit hesitant because no one had mentioned that yet, but the nurse said we could try. Mom was a bit inept, never having done this before with anyone under the age of one, but Aidan managed to coordinate suck, swallow, and breathe, still without spitting up or developing the hiccups that seem to frequent his days. Yay! He was also very happy to sleep in Daddy's arms for a half hour afterward.