Today was another milestone for Landon

I went to see him at 7:30 am this morning. The first thing I noticed was his swelling from the fluids were gone in his face. He looked like he did before the surgery, so handsome! I got there just in time to change a very wet diaper. The Lasix they gave him the night before help him flush the fluids out. At 8:00 am Dr. Petty made his rounds and said he was doing very outstanding and said to remove the upper nose tube from his stomach. They dropped his TPN to .7ml per hour to reduce the lipids that were now up to 3. That number has to stay below 3 to be safe on his liver. His blood work showed that his hemoglobin is at 10.9 (norm is 15). Platelets were at 105,000 so, just a bit lower than they had hoped (anything 100,000 or below will require another blood transfusion). But hopefully that want be the case tomorrow. He has gain some weight due to the fluids and lost some as they came out. He weighs 7 lbs and 13 0z a 1 lb gain from his birth weight. He was awake barely at 8:00am but he watched me when he heard my voice. They let me do all of the things that we will have to do daily, when he gets home. Such as cleaning his gastrostomy tubes and buttons, check his TPN lines and replace with new sterile ones. By that time he was gone back to sleep, so I let him rest.
I returned at 3:15pm and his oxygen tube was removed and they had his face washed and clean. It was the first time that I had seen him with out anything on his face! He is so beautiful and well mannered. His pain meds were lower to 2mcg and was also going to be taken off completely. It was time for rounds so I went out to gather info on the 7th floor resource center.
At 4:15pm I got to hold him with out anything on his face. It was so much easier than before. He was still very tired and fell back to sleep close to my chest. At 5:00pm I left to let him get some more sleep.
When I returned at 7:30pm I found out that he was completely off the pain meds and only given antibiotics. It took me 45 mins to get him to even open his eye's but when he finally did it was amazing at the alertness and focus he had on me and his new moo cow I brought him. I held him after he was fully awake. He loved the attention and never looked away. The nose to nose kisses had him smiling and making the sweetest noises. He never got mad or even tried to cry. All of the nurses what to take him home with them. Most all have never seen a baby in his condition survive with all the small intestine removed. Most babies are born premature and have other problems along with the short bowel syndrome. But I couldn't believe it, how much of a calm and gentile baby he is after all that he has been through. It's only the beginning of a long road ahead. But I have full faith that Landons strength to fight and the prayers from all will help each and every day. I have some great pics and movies that I'm tring to uplaod. Shelly will be down tomorrow and boy will see be amazed at his progress!

jj