PCH Transfer

Happy 3 weeks to our sweet boy!  It has been awhile, I know.  Austin is doing great so I've been getting lost in his progress and not thinking about much else.  Since he was born, he has been dealing with hyperglycemia and is being treated with insulin.  The doctors at IMC were in constant contact with the endocrine specialists at Primary Children's and the hope was that as soon as he got up to full feeds, his sugar level would normalize.  Unfortunately that never happened so he was transferred to PCH on Monday, May 18th despite mine and Logan's reservations.  We love this hospital and knew he would receive excellent care here but we were approaching the two year anniversary of Eli's passing and we weren't sure how it would feel to be back when much of what we had experienced here was so difficult.  Despite our worries, we wanted the very best care for Austin so we were supportive of the transfer.  Fortunately the nurses are wonderful (we've picked up a couple primaries that we love) and the rest of the team is taking great care of our boy.

It has been determined that Austin has neonatal diabetes but we're waiting for genetic testing results that should hopefully tell us if it's something he will grow out of or if it's permanent.  We won't receive the test results until July so in the mean time we have been focusing on typical preemie milestones like gaining weight and teaching him to eat.  Aside from his wacky sugar levels, Austin is doing really well!  He officially hit 4 pounds a few days ago and is improving his eating skills every day.  Right now he eats roughly 40% of his feeds by mouth and receives the rest through his NG tube.  As soon as he is eating full feeds by mouth and consistently gaining weight then we will have more serious discussions about when he can come home.  We can't wait for that day and hope it happens within the next 2-3 weeks!

Logan and I spend our days at the hospital and thankfully they are pretty boring.  We know what it's like to have "exciting" hospital days and we want nothing to do with them.  We get to hold and cuddle Austin as much as we want (which is basically all day) and we even get to dress him in adorable preemie outfits now that he is sustaining his own body temperature :) For the first couple weeks Austin was really tired, as a preemie should be, so he was super chill but we're finally starting to see his little personality come out now that he's bigger and more mature. He doesn't like getting his diaper changed or temperature checked and he of course hates getting his insulin injections.  We don't like seeing him sad but it sure is nice seeing him act like a feisty baby!

Being back at the hospital has been easier than I expected it to be.  It is great seeing familiar faces and we are meeting many new wonderful people.  May 25th marked two years since we lost our boy so that was a tender day for sure.  Logan and I went to the cemetery in the morning and then went straight to the hospital because there was nowhere we would rather be on that day than with Austin.  I had an emotional moment as we pulled up to the hospital because I really couldn't believe we were doing this hospital thing again but as soon as we saw Austin I felt so much better!  We have felt Eli with us more than ever since Austin was born and we know he takes the night shifts when Logan and I go home to sleep :) The night nurses are great but nobody does the job like an older angel brother!

Enjoy some pictures of our boy from the last few weeks:

Ps...I will try to be better about updating my blog more often but if you'd like more frequent updates you're welcome to follow me on Instagram (@lizrjorgensen) where I post daily about his progress :)