Smiles and First Words

It felt like we were in a time warp back to baby days, as today we were rejoicing over some first real smiles from Isaac, and some first words! We had been talking about what word he would say first once he woke up - we were figuring something meaningful like "Mama", "Daddy", or "All Done!". Imagine our surprise when this afternoon, he suddenly said "spoon"! Yep. Spoon. He was watching a show on Treehouse, and the little cartoon character was using a spoon to bang on a drum, and Isaac recognized it. The nurse was there taking his vitals when it happened, and we were all quite excited! This means good things neurologically - he recognized the item, knew the word for it, and was able to articulate it. He gave me a big grin afterwards, as if he knew what an accomplishment this was! We put on Isaac's favorite DVD after that (Baby Signing Time), and he then proceeded to say "bird" and "baby", and sign "more", "milk" and "baby" along with the video. Exciting stuff!

Isaac's temperature was lower today, which is good news. They are still watching his distended abdomen carefully, and he may have an ultrasound tomorrow to check for an obstruction in the bowel. The doctors are fairly certain that his tremors and eyes-rolling-back-in-his-head are related to withdrawal symptoms. They have increased the amounts of morphine and Ativan he is on, and are weaning him more slowly from those drugs. That seems to have helped today. We are still a few days from starting oral feeding, but we did get rid of the oxygen tube today, and the probes on his chest. It's nice to not have him hooked up to so many things!

Overall, an encouraging day! Check back later tonight for some new pictures!