Johnny's Eighth Week

8 Week Update - Johnny’s BEST update yet!

We are excited to announce the homecoming of Little Johnny! 🥹💙

Last week our little guy had a big week with many twists and turns. Our first impression of his weekly care plan was that we would potentially have a little longer in the NICU. With an impending swallow study and a couple of previous room air trials that left him still depending on oxygen support, even just at the lowest setting of the nasal cannula, we were unsure of how much longer Johnny would really need. There was even some talk about bringing him home on oxygen support. 

But, miraculously, with a little patience and a lot of hope, he continued to do incredibly well. On Wednesday, his team elected to give room air another go, even though he had not yet reached the five day buffer they would normally follow. After 24 hours, his team felt confident he would be able to make the 48 hour benchmark, at which point they notified us to go ahead and bring in his car seat. Normally, a baby would need to meet 48 hours on room air prior to having their car seat test, but because of how well Johnny was doing, they fast tracked him and went ahead with the test Thursday night, ahead of his Friday noon, 48 hour mark. And he passed!

Lastly, the care team had some concerns with his feeding, particularly his swallowing. He had been eating well, but seemed to be having some minor difficulties that his Speech Therapy nurse felt were worth investigating. Even with this concern, he continued to make some incredible strides throughout the week, but they still wanted to complete the swallow study to make sure there was nothing else going on. His swallow study confirmed that what we were seeing was related to some issues from prematurity rather than there being any reflux issues, which was the final confirmation we needed to bring him home.

He also did well on his hearing test and OT milestone test. With that, the care team was confident in sending us home without an overnight stay at the hospital. They rushed the paperwork through, and we were able to have the sweetest homecoming this weekend. 🥹💙

We are so thankful to our family, friends and incredible support system. Thank you to everyone who has loved, supported, prayed for, and encouraged us and Johnny throughout this journey.

We are so happy to finally have our little guy home. 🏡💙

P.S. We are not sure when our next update will be as we take the time to transition to Johnny being home and give him all our love and attention. He will continue to have follow up appointments with speciality doctors to ensure his well being and growth. 

P.S.S. Cali LOVES her little brother!