A Week of Accomplishments!

This past week Lincoln has been doing great! Three major accomplishments I want to make note of are...


1.  Lincoln is finally off of all narcotics!! This past Monday was Lincoln's last dose of morphine. He had been on a very small amount (0.1 ml every 4 hours) since about 2 months of age. He was initially put on morphine to prevent withdrawal of his discontinued Fentanyl drip while still in the hospital. The plan was to wean Lincoln of the morphine within 10 days, but he became dependent on it very quickly and had trouble weaning while he was still admitted. After three failed attempts, his doctor decided to send Lincoln home on the morphine and let him out-grow the dose. Over the past month I weaned his dose to every 12 hours, then once per day, then once every other day, then once every three days. This week Lincoln has been a bit more irritable, but he hasn't shown any major signs of withdrawal so I pushed ahead with the wean. I'm so proud of him! He kicked his habit! I will still be watching him closely for about a week before I get rid of the morphine, just in case!

2.  Lincoln has been doing much better with his feedings. ( A good sign that he is feeling better.) Yesterday he ate 830 mls! (His goal is about 840.) Aside from his short growth spurt just before his oxygen wean, Lincoln has never eaten so much! I am hopeful that Linc will continue to feel well and eat well. If he keeps it up, another oxygen wean will be in the near future!


3.  Lincoln is now able to roll from tummy to back! The other day I was doing tummy time with Lincoln (which he still absolutely hates!) and he was so angry that he pushed himself all the way up and he was so stiff that he just rolled over onto his back! I thought it may have been a one time thing, but he has continued to do this at several tummy time sessions. He only does it one way so far, to the right, but I am ecstatic none the less. Lincoln is struggling with tummy time and is beginning to fall behind on his achievements in therapy. Tummy time is the major hurdle to conquer in therapy since it leads to all other milestones, so it is just wonderful to see Lincoln accomplish rolling! It was not even on his list yet of goals for physical therapy, but his therapist quickly made note of his new ability! He was not able to show her yesterday, but she was able to see him roll to his side to reach a toy. Another big step for my little guy just this week!