All Smiles

We had a pretty good day yesterday. Tuesday night, Rowan weighed in at 800 grams or 1 pound 12 ounces. And tonight he weighed 810 grams.  They measure everything in grams here which is kind of nice because sometimes he will gain some grams but it won't be a full ounce.  There weren't any major changes yesterday.  They continued to wean him off the vent and confirmed that the plan of action to treat what they are pretty sure is medical NEC.  They will treat Rowan with antibiotics for at least 10 days and also continue to rest his bowel (no food, just IV fluids) for at least 10 days.  Hopefully this will take care of everything and we will be on our way back to Topeka.  The surgeons come and check on Rowan each day and so far they don't see anything that would lead them to doing surgery.  They've been able to suck lots of yucky gunk out of his belly through his GI tube and his belly was a lot softer yesterday.

Rowan was awake a lot yesterday and seemed to be feeling much better.  He's a little bit pale, but they had to draw a lot of blood when he first got here, so hopefully his body will regenerate the blood that he lost soon.  There hasn't been any talk of a blood transfusion.

Rowan looks more and more like his daddy each day.  John was a preemie too and the two of them look pretty similar.  I think that maybe Rowan has my eyes and nose, but that might just be wishful thinking. :)

The big development yesterday was that I saw Rowan smile for the first time.  I didn't catch it on camera, but I saw some good smiles!  Every time I had John come look, Rowan stopped smiling, so John thinks I'm just crazy.  :) Goal for today: get a picture of Rowan's smile.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever and I can't wait to show you!

We are currently waiting for the doctors to make their rounds today.  It is a very interesting process.  In Topeka, the doctors did their rounds in a conference room and then the nurse practitioner came and told us the plan for the day.  Here, they all come to Rowan's bedside and discuss his progress and their plan.  Since this is a teaching hospital Rowan's team includes the neonatologist (Dr. Oshodi), a Neo Fellow, sometimes a resident, a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist, a nutritionist and his nurse for the day.  It is all very overwhelming and a little confusing, but they do a good job of explaining their plan when they are done with their discussion.  I sometimes feel like I am on an episode of Grey's Anatomy... I'm just waiting for Dr. Karev to walk through the door. 😊😉

On another note, John and I have started a Go Fund Me page for Rowan's medical expenses.  This is very out of our comfort zone as we really prefer to just work hard and do the best we can to live within our means.  We didn't exactly plan for a 100+ day NICU stay (who does??) and we know that the bills are going to start rolling in.  If you find it in your heart to make a donation, we would really appreciate it.  You can find Rowan's Go Fund Me page here. Words will never be able to express how thankful we are for all of the help and support that we have been given.  It is incredibly humbling. Thank you. ❤️