May 29th

We have been having a TON of friends and family asking us when Jett gets to come home and we have always been replying with, "we don't know yet, time will tell". Which is partially true. For a while we were never given exact times or days on when Jett could come home. Why? Well because he's a baby and baby's do things on their own time. Meaning, Jett could get sick again or something could come up which would keep him from coming home. Jett is driving the plane at this point and really, only he will tell us when he is ready.
BUT-yesterday, we had something called a "Care Conference" with all of Jett's doctors and nurses and we sat down and talked about where Jett is at health wise, what we for see happening in the following days/weeks and of course, when he can come home.
So far, Jett continues to be tolerating his full feeds and is still breathing with assistance from the nasal cannula. He is not eating from a bottle yet and is still being fed by a tube through his mouth or nose. We haven't moved to oral feedings because of ONE, yes ONE issue. That issue is his breathing. As you all know, Jett is now considered a full term baby or an ex-preemie. But he had been intubated (breathing with a ventilator) for majority of his life. When an infant is finally able to breath on his own it can be somewhat difficult to transition because of the damage the tube can cause to his lungs. A baby that is considered full term at 36/37 weeks plus and is still in need of breathing assistance, means that they have something called Chronic Lung Disease. Unfortunately, Jett does have this. This is not something that is life threatening and will not cause life long issues. It simply means, he's been intubated for too long and that damage from that is making it more difficult for him to breath without any assistance. Obviously, there is nothing that can solve this problem except growth and time. This can take up to weeks and/or months to go away.
In order to eat from a bottle or breastfeed you must be able to show the ability to breath without little to no assistance. If we were to start breastfeeding, Jett could aspirate and the milk could get inside his lungs. This happens when baby's do not know how to multitask while breathing, sucking and swallowing.

So what do we do now?

We wait. Everyday Jett is being weaned from his nasal cannula and is gradually learning to breath without it. Once he gets the breathing down, we can start feeding from bottles and breast. This is SUPER exciting news because we now know that Jett is in really good health and these are just the last minor things that he needs to learn how to do. In our eyes, there are no health problems with our little dude and that makes us SO HAPPY!

So when can he come home?
Doctors suspect that he can come home anywhere from 4-6 weeks! (This is no longer happy dancing, it's leaping through the air like we are 3 years old)

Jett's now 6lbs. 3oz. and 17 inches long. He stays awake for 3-6 hours throughout the day at a time and loves being cuddled by momma and daddy. He flirts with his favorite nurses, enjoys bath time, but dislikes having his diaper changed 

Keep praying for us! Our NICU journey is almost done and I know Jett needs a few extra prayers to help him get through this very last hurdle!