Today Owen went on a road trip through the hospital to visit speech pathology to do a barium swallow. This procedure has him drink barium so they can watch how he sucks and swallows to make sure that those are working correctly. They said they looked great for a 25 weeker, just gets a little uncoordinated at times, but nothing that won't get better with practice. The procedure also watches where the barium goes as he swallows. We found out the he is aspirating a little bit (fluid goes into lungs-could result in pneumonia), he has reflux, and also has slow emptying of his esophagus (the muscle don't contract to push it to the stomach). We are told this will correct with time. We have also concluded this is why he is dropping his heart rate and his oxygen levels during feeds. Owen was out in 2 medicines to help his stomach digest quicker and take some acidity away. Hopefully this will cut down on his pain.
Owen is now three times his birth weight at 6lbs 3oz. We plan on giving him more feedings orally and less through his tube to his stomach. He gets pretty tired quickly so we have to take this slow. He is slowly getting stronger.
We are still waiting on the echo results from yesterday.
Strapped in... Clifford goes everywhere with Owen
Taking the bottle like a champ!
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