Today they moved Liam into the NICU. The main reason is that he is not eating well and his weight has dropped to 4 lbs 12 oz. He's very lethargic, even for a 35 week baby, let alone a 37 week baby. They're not sure how long he'll have to stay in the NICU, possibilities right now are 3, 5, or 7 days.
Tomorrow (Friday) they're doing a CT scan on Liam for two main reasons. First, they want to get a better picture of his cleft pallet. From what can be seen, his cleft pallet is a small triangle shaped cleft in the rear of the roof of his mouth. From what the doctors can tell so far only soft tissue is affected, meaning that he isn't missing any bone. He will definitely need surgery between 9-12 months old in order to close the cleft. The second reason for the CT scan is to get a better view of his esophagus. The doctors cannot see the opening for his esophagus, so they think his tongue may be attached too far back. It doesn't appear to be attached so far back that his esophagus is completely closed off (he can eat at least a little, and they can successfully insert a feeding tube), but having a smaller opening from his mouth to his esophagus does make it all that much harder for him to eat. Another update coming after the CT scan tomorrow (Friday)...
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