Moving on up!

Nurse Gina stopped by Carter's room today to inform us that they were moving him to the transitional care nursery! This is the step down nursery that they send babies to before they discharge them home. We are very excited about the change. When we got there tonight, we were met with a MUCH quieter atmosphere (except for the sounds of Carter crying, you could otherwise hear a pin drop). After he finally settled down, Carter seemed to like his new digs as well. So, tonight, for the first time in his life, Carter is not in an intensive care unit! Kellie didn't even get to say good-bye to the ICN because she was on her way back to Duke when Carter was moved.

One of the benefits of going to the TCN is that they work on feeding a lot more than they are able to in the ICN. At Carter's first feeding time, he was showing all of his usual signs that he was ready to eat; being fussy, sucking on the paci, etc. We did some oral stim, then Carter's awesome new nurse, Cheryl, suggested that we lay him on his side and try a small amount of milk from THE BOTTLE! We were both extremely hesitant to pull out the bottle, but we have begun using the Nuk orthodontic low flow nipples that closely resemble the paci he likes. After holding him in left side lying and warming his milk (thanks for the suggestion Lindsey!), Carter latched right on and began sucking! No adverse reaction, no gagging, only the occasional pause to come up for air. He ended up taking 5 cc's from the new nipple, which doesn't sound like much, but it's a huge turn around for Carter! Mom, Dad, and nurse Cheryl were all extremely happy to see Carter's new skill...while Carter couldn't care less. Cheryl will be making more attempts with the bottle feeds tonight, so hopefully we'll be making a post about how well the bottle feeds are going tomorrow. Lots of progress today! Let's hope it continues!
~Brad