Moving on Up

Just one day shy of one month old and period of time, we've moved on up in this big world!  (Up in the hospital to the "Floor", but it is actually a step down cardiac unit.)  He's met all the criteria to leave the PCICU!  On the floor they basically train Mommy to be his "doctor".  He is still on a very small amount of oxygen through his nasal cannula.  They are continuing to wean him off this and watch how he tolerates.  Somehow he managed to get it in his mouth twice today and was sucking on it.  A speech therapist will work with him on his feeds.  This is a big challenge with Hypoplast kiddos because eating is a very hard exercise for them.  His heart has to work very hard when eating and he wears out quickly.  Right now, all of his feeds go through a NG tube.  We will slowly introduce feeding through a bottle and work towards trying to breastfeed.  He has never had food in his mouth (never swallowed milk, had the ventilator tube down his throat for over 2 weeks, and sometimes the surgery could've damaged vocal chords.)  These factors will all determine how he does and contributes to why the therapist has to monitor him very closely.  They also have to be aware of how many calories he intakes.   I got to give him a bottle for the first time today!!!  The speech therapist's goal for him was to take 5 mL from a bottle today and he drank 14!
I'm so thrilled to finally be able to play the role of "Mommy" with him.... feeding him, changing diapers... it's just a bit more difficult with the lines in him and the fear that when he cries and gets mad, his oxygen drops.  We are in our own room now, and the nurse basically lets me care for him, unless I need her.  I'm not so sure how tonight will go-  sleeping doesn't seem possible!
It's also very boring in here.  Not to sound negative, but I'm not used to being by myself and since Caleb doesn't talk back to me yet  :o), it's super quiet.  I think because this is one big step closer to getting home, I'm SO craving it right now.  I'm sad that I'm not at the boys' baseball game, not taking the girls to dance, or filling out her dance paperwork, missing preschool last days.  It's just a day of excitement but ready for the next step, which I don't know what or when that will be!........  Well, I wrote all of this post this afternoon when everything was super calm.  Since then, little man has de-satted and then gone back up over and over.  He's done this for the last 3 hours.  Not looking like any sleep in my future tonight!  It's one thing to not get much sleep due to a newborn baby that has days and nights mixed up.  It's another to not sleep because his Oxygen monitor keeps going off constantly!