Lucas is constantly smiling back at us and looking around. His favorite thing to stare at is the ceiling fan. Numerous times a day, he likes to laugh and giggle at the fan. Ha! We love seeing Lucas’s big and happy smile! As Bryan says, “if cuteness could solve medical issues, then Lucas would be cured”. 🙂

On Thursday, we had an appointment with a GI Doctor and nutritionist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The GI doctor said Lucas is progressing well on the Neocate formula and agreed to allow us to do a test run with the Similac Elemental formula to see if Lucas can handle a less broken down and less expensive formula without getting blood in his stool. We may do a test run in a few weeks. Right now, we’re enjoying a stable & happy baby.

The nutritionist was impressed with Lucas’s weight gain given he was a preemie and had the esophagus surgery. He weighed in at 11 lbs and 2 ozs! Based on Lucas’s corrected age of 3 weeks, he is in the 90 percentile for weight and 60 percentile for head size.

We had to take a picture of the 1st time Lucas held his head up high for a considerable amount of time (many minutes) while on his tummy. We’re amazed at his head, neck, and back muscles. Lucas is one strong boy!

On Sunday, July 14, Lucas turned 2 months old. He is looking adorable and doing great! Now, he weighs 11 lbs. He was born weighing 5 lbs 2.8 ozs. All of the doctors are amazed at his healthy growth considering most babies after an esophagus surgery have an extreme issue gaining weight. At birth, Lucas was in the 2 percentile for weight. Fast forward to today, Lucas is in the 32nd percentile. This preemie wants to show the world that he is a big boy who is ready to fly off the charts!!!

Throughout the pregnancy and after Lucas was born, our family and friends have given us an abundance of support. Whether it be visiting us in the hospital, chatting via phone/text, bringing us food, doing our laundry, cleaning our house, babysitting Skyler (our dog), giving us a place to rest our weary heads, or most importantly praying, all of your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!

To our parents, sisters, & immediate family members, thank you for walking closely by our side through this trying time. We realize this experience is just as stressful on you as it is on us. But you never stop encouraging us and giving us your love. We are blessed to have each of you in our lives! In the end, the big reward will be seeing Lucas have a lifetime of happiness. THANK YOU!

On Sunday afternoon, Lucas was cleared to go home! The doctor said we can expect to have a dsat (when the oxygen level goes below 88%) every once in a while since Lucas may have a soft trachea (usually strengthens by 1 – 2 years old), the esophagus repair is still healing, and Lucas has not mastered the art of sucking, swallowing, & breathing during feeds.

To resolve the bleeding and possible milk allergy, we are now on an elemental formula called Neocate which is thought to be the “Cadillac” of formulas. Nothing but the best for Lucas!

While at the hospital, we had 5 meetings with speech therapists to gather valuable information on how to improve Lucas’s feeds. Prior to our stay at PCH, we had a dsat about every other feed. After therapy started, we’ve only had 2 dsats in over 6 days. Vast improvement! The most exciting news is that Lucas is starting pace himself during feeds. Until he becomes a pro at breathing while feeding, we must keep Lucas attached to an apnea monitor (shows his heart rate & breaths per minute) and an oximeter (shows the % of oxygen & heart rate). I have faith the day is coming soon when all of the monitors and wires will be gone!

“I’m a big boy who can hold my own binky at just 7 weeks old!”