Good news

Our regular surgeon is in Seattle this weekend, so today Braxton was seen by his partner. She's a girl doctor. And you know what? I think I love her.

First of all, she really liked the look of Braxton's abdomen...soft, small, no redness. That's especially good news since he's been breastfeeding since the middle of the night, and on pedialite the few feedings before that. So his stomach is finally receiving food and not freaking out over it. Good news.

The other good news is even bigger, but I'll summarize as brief as possible. Braxton's NG (feeding) tube is out, and we're going to keep it out for now (in the past we were using it to supplement after each breastfeeding). Also, we are weaning him off his oxygen. In fact, as I write this, he has been on room air for over an hour, and O2 saturation is holding steady at 100%.

Basically the doctor explained that it's possible that he's been getting more oxygen than he needs, which has been creating extra work for his lungs and blood vessels, which in turn could be affecting his appetite, which might be why we've had to supplement his feedings. Not to say the oxygen wasn't neccessary for a while; but just that we may be beyond that now.

So the next couple of days will tell us a lot as far as whether we can ditch the feeding tube and the oxygen or not. Pray for good outcomes!