Longneck Bottle....

Big news today!! If based on the title you think that William had his first beer, then you would be incorrect...I mean come on, he is a preemie for crying out loud.   The big news is that William took his first bottle of milk by mouth! Yep, a whole 9 milliliters.

To lead up to the big news, you first need the feeding update: William’s follow-up X-ray yesterday looked acceptable enough for the medical team to continue to advance his feeds every 12 hours. Yesterday, he was being given 8 milliliters in the morning and 9 milliliters in the evening, followed by 10 milliliters this morning, 11 milliliters this afternoon, and 12 milliliters this evening. Tomorrow the discussion of fortification of the milk will begin again (fortification is often necessary for premature babies to gain weight rapidly), and it is something that is typically added prior to reaching full feeds which is 15 milliliters per hour based on his current weight.

Since William is 34 weeks adjusted gestational age, the occupational therapist came today to try to get William to take a bottle for the first time. Premature babies have a special way they must be held in order to feed correctly from a bottle and oftentimes they are not too eager to take to a bottle. Little hungry William dominated his first bottle though, much like his Daddy dominated his frosty cold Milwaukee's Best Light in the University of Dayton Ghetto. After a few tastes from his pacifier, he gulped down 9 of his 10 hourly milliliters in fifteen minutes time. He did so well that they are going to continue to work with him each day to take bottle feeds.

It was nice to receive positive news regarding William’s progress today.
-Rob and Lori