2 lbs and 4 weeks old!!

Andrew continues to eat well - his feeds are up to 3.2 ml/hr and he hit a big milestone today - over 2 pounds! He weighed in at 950 gms - 2lbs, 2 oz. Go Andrew! Tomorrow, he will be 4 weeks old - in some ways the time has gone so quickly, but it already seems like he's been part of our lives forever. This is the little man sleeping soundly today, and holding mommy's hand like a good boy!

The last few days have been fairly uneventful in his life - which is a good thing. He is continuing to have desats on the ventilator (when his oxygen levels go down) but they have not been severe, and he usually can recover on his own (without the nurses turning up his vent settings, or giving him manual breaths through the vent). His vent settings are still moderate, and the doctors are ok with them for now. We'd love it if the next several weeks are like this - uneventful - with him just growing and getting stronger. Is that too much to ask?

Yesterday, three of my BFFs came to visit and to meet Andrew. They came with clothes, books and blankets for him, and made J & I a yummy dinner with plenty of leftovers...thank you so much! It was so great to see you all!

I don't know how happy the nurse was to have rotating visitors for a few hours, but it was great for J & I to have them there and to see our son. Andrew was on good behavior, showing off a bit by opening his eyes, displaying his downward dog position, and wiggling away for the girls. He was an active little guy today, and they couldn't believe how much he moved around! Jackie took a short video of his antics:

So, I mentioned in an earlier post that I have been pumping so they can feed Andrew with breast milk. Well, we've reached maximum capacity in our freezer. This picture just shows the top shelf of our freezer - there are multiple bags of milk in the bottom too with less and less space for food. Right now, I'm pumping way more than he can eat, and the NICU will only hold so much in their freezers. J took this as an opportunity to make a purchase - a 7 cubic foot deep freezer for our basement! We'll never fill the thing, but at least we will have a place to keep the milk - and to stock up on bulk meats in the future (hello, Omaha Steaks!!)

Thank you to everyone who has continued to ask about Andrew, and to send thoughts and prayers our way - they seem to be working!! We think Andrew is having a follow-up ultrasound in the next few days on his brain. While he didn't have any bleeding on the brain at birth, when they did an ultrasound at around 2 weeks old they did discover one. It is classified as a Level 2 bleed, which scared the crap out of us, but the doctors aren't too worried about - as long as it doesn't get bigger. Usually, level 2 bleeds resolve on their own, and cause no lasting damage developmentally. The more severe bleeds (L3 and L4) can cause significant problems, so we are nervous and hopeful that there are no changes in this follow up exam. (They have done one other ultrasound since they discovered the bleed, where there were no changes, so let's hope that continues.) I keep you all posted on the results when we get them.