Smiles!

We’ve been home for over a week now. Everything has been going pretty well. He has been eating well about every 2-3 hours he takes 50-60 cc’s so just about 2 ounces. His breastmilk still has to be fortified with NeoSure so he is taking all feedings by bottle at this time. The doctor said that when he gets to 40 weeks we might be able to stop fortifying it, which would make things a lot easier. We took him to his first doctor’s appointment here in Huron and it went well. The doctor was pleased with his weight gain and didn’t really have any concerns. He now weighs almost 5 ½ pounds and is 18” long! He has been sleeping pretty good in either his cradle or his crib, we are lucky because after having been in the NICU for so long he is used to sleeping on his own. The hardest thing is not being able to take him out of the house really. We have to avoid crowds and limit visitors because his immune system is still immature and it is still RSV season. I did take him out for his first ride in his stroller. He must have enjoyed it because he slept the whole time!

We're Free! (sort of...)

It’s been quite the week! He started doing better with his bottle feedings so they moved him up to being able to take his full volume 6 times a day and then the next day they moved him up to 8. He got us a little worried though because he lost weight one day because he was using so much energy to eat. Luckily though the next day he gained again so it didn’t throw us off schedule for being able to go home. He was really happy when they started letting him be able to eat on demand. He was getting hungry before he was able to eat so he’d get pretty upset. Shaun came up on Thursday night which was nice so he could help get everything ready before we went home, they had told us it would be Saturday unless he didn’t gain weight so we had a few errands left to do before we went home. His hematocrit had been low so one of the doctors had thought he might need a blood transfusion before he went home. We had the labs redrawn on Friday and even though they decreased a little bit more, the doctor was confident that he didn’t need a transfusion. He wasn’t showing any signs of needing one; he didn’t have any problems with his breathing or anything and the level that showed the new red blood cells he was making was pretty high. We were very glad that he wasn’t going to need to get blood. On Friday he had his car seat trial where he had to sit in the car seat for an hour and make sure his heart rate and breathing stayed okay. He passed the test and luckily he was just big enough to be able to fit into his car seat. If he had been any shorter we would have needed one made especially for preemies. He had his circumcision Friday night and the doctor did his discharge exam later that night so we would be ready to go on Saturday. Saturday morning he was given his Synargis shot to protect him from RSV. He also had his eye exam on Saturday morning and it went pretty well, we just have to go back in 4-6 weeks because the blood vessels in his eyes are still a little immature. That is pretty normal though considering he wasn’t even supposed to be born for another 4 weeks. The doctor told us that this is as early as they let babies go home and most of them aren’t ready to go that early. Once all of our stuff was packed and ready to go, we were discharged. It was exciting to finally have him unhooked from all his machines & monitors! He did really well on the 2 hr ride home; he pretty much slept the whole way. When we left the NICU he weighed 5lbs. 2 oz, so finally over the 5lb mark! At home we settled in pretty well, just had a ton of stuff to put away. He is still too small to fit in most of the baby gear we have like the swing and bouncer. He stayed on his schedule pretty well and is eating about every three hours and he has been sleeping well in either his cradle or his crib. Hopefully he stays this laid back! We had a pretty quiet Easter with him although we did dress him up in his Easter outfit and bunny ears. This week we have our first appointment with our doctor in Huron.

One Month Old!

Wow, a lot has happened since the last update. He would have been 35 weeks last Thursday and he also turned one month old that same day. It’s hard to believe that much time has gone by already. He’s changed so much! He now weighs 2130 grams or 4lbs 11 ounces. He is also now 43.2cm in length so he’s grown nearly two inches since birth! He is in the 50th percentile for length and head circumference. But he is only in the 12th percentile for weight. He got to go into an open crib finally last Wednesday night. He had a little issue with maintaining his temperature at first and we thought he might have to go back into the isolette but then he figured it out and has been fine ever since. He’s been doing pretty well with his bottle feedings. He is at 40cc’s now which is his full volume. He gets that 4 times a day and if he does well he’ll move to 6 times a day and then 8. He fell asleep during his last feeding so hopefully he’s more alert this evening. We’re hoping to be able to leave early next week if all goes well with his feedings. That would be amazing! They keep saying that he’s doing really well for how little he is; he’s about two weeks ahead of where he should be for feedings. So if he takes a few extra days to get his full volume down that’s okay. He had his one month head ultrasound and it came back normal so we don’t have to worry about that. He will have his eye exam on the 11th and his circumcision will be done sometime this week. I’m finally feeling close to back to normal, just waiting for my incision to close completely. I’ve been putting wound gel in it everyday and it would be nice if it were healed by the time of my 6-week postpartum checkup, which is coming up soon.