Definitely not I. We brought Phoenix home on Thursday, January 11th. We are still getting settled into a routine, but he is doing great. His feeding amounts are steadily increasing and everything seems to be passing through his system properly.
Now, if I could just get Jenene to put him down. 
Just before we left the hospital
Talon - Proud big brother
to be continued …
Sorry for the lack of updates folks (all 6 of you), but I have terribly ill. Saturday morning I awoke feeling absolutely horrible. My entire body felt like one big cramp, while my head floated a few feet above my body. Just after my morning tinkle, I refunded the previous nights delectable FireHouse Subs ‘Hero’ Sub. Needless to say, I felt like poop. But I struggled on since I was supposed was supposed to help Katie and Ricky move into their new house
(Congratulations, again!). I was seriously under the impression I had a hangover. The upset stomach lasted a few days, but I had attributed that to an improper diet over the last few weeks (along with the “hangover”).
Talon became ill last night, which obviously means I was not suffering from a hangover. Either way, I’ve sworn off alcohol for a bit. Talon has been resting all day, playing the PSP and sucking down Gatorade. Hopefully his system sorts itself out a bit quicker than mine did.
Phoenix is doing well. We had been worried he might throw-up after having his tube removed on the 5th, but so far he hasn’t thrown up. We were allowed to begin feeding him 5 cc’s of Pedialyte every 3 hours on Sunday. Monday morning we were given the OK to start him on breast milk (yeah!). We have been slowly ramping him up 5 cc’s, 10 cc’s, etc.. every 3 hours. It’s still a slow process, and the little amount of food he is getting is just enough to make him hungry and fussy. But he is doing good great
and we are all hoping to possibly have him home in the next week if all goes well. So far he is keeping every thing down.
Here are a few pictures, they all link back to the larger versions on my flickr account. I still have to get a picture of his sutures from his closure. I swear you cannot even see it. The surgeon was able to shape the suture to the sides of the belly button. You will be shocked. We were.
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So where are we?
We are still waiting. First we were waiting for poop. This would show that Phoenix’s intestines had begun to work properly. The poor boy would strain and strain, turning red in the face, but nothing would come out. The doctors finally decided to help things along with a glyceryn chip (read: suppository). Phoenix did not take too well to the insertion of the chip. He grunted and pushed it right back out. The nurse actually had to hold his little bum cheeks together for a bit to keep it in.
Jenene said, “The look on his face was priceless. He was beet red and straining so hard he was sticking his tongue out. The nurse and I were dying laughing.”
Laughing at the poor little boy. Shame on you! Anyway, the glycerin chip did it’s job. Phoenix had the world’s smallest poop the next day. It was perhaps the size of a BB, but it was a start. He has continued small greenish bowel movements since then.
Unfortunately, our excitement for the event was quickly squashed. We were under the impression he would begin feedings once he pooped, but we were told they wouldn’t begin until the drainage from his stomach turned from the nasty dark green to clear. We figured this would take a long time due to the dark and thick coloring of his output. Jenene and I were extremely surprised that it cleared up in a matter of days.
( Phoenix and Talon )
They removed his drainage tube early this morning and should start feedings this weekend provided he continues to pass his stomach fluids and doesn’t throw them up.
It is possible he could be home in the next couple of weeks!
( In between the changing of tubes )
Before removing your contacts, be sure to completely wash the hot sauce from dinner off of your fingers.
You have been warned.
We’ve been chasing air for the last hour or so. Jenene noticed a few air bubbles in Phoenix’s PIC line. Apparently small bubbles are quite common and nothing to really worry about. Of course, in our case we raced to kink off his PIC line just before a large bubble of air went in at the point where his line enters his hand.
The machine is supposed to sound an alarm when it encounters air in the line. As it has done several times already today, but for some reason or another it has been letting them through. They’ve just switched out his machine. Jenene and I are eyeballing his lines now that we are a bit paranoid. *sigh*
The lines around and connected to Phoenix are such a P.I.T.A. The most annoying one is his outflow line. This is the line that sucks his stomach contents out constantly. The amount that is removed from his stomach is measured so that they know how much fluid to replace. It is so easy to dump the container over when trying to move Phoenix. It dumps into a main container under the counter, so it’s not like it is really lost. Like I said more of a P.I.T.A than anything…
They’ve actually just come back in and will be replacing his lines as well. It seems the line filters aren’t working as well as they should be either.
We just noticed today that his face looks chubbier than it has previously. Looks like he is retaining a bit of water.
