3 Pounds!

Today after his bath. Is his hair getting lighter, or is it just me?

We haven't updated in a few days; things are chugging along.

We've hit a few new milestones:

• 3 pounds!
• 8 weeks old!
• 32 weeks! 

This last one is kind of bittersweet.  He's 8 weeks old, and has 8 weeks until his "due date" of October 20.  It's still sometimes hard to believe the start this boy has had to his life.  We were supposed to have my NJ shower this past weekend.  I was supposed to be sporting a big baby belly, and be excited to meet him in a few months.  Instead, I have a drawer full of maternity clothes (many never worn) and a son whose been in the NICU for eight weeks.  With another 8 to go (at least.)  While many preemies go home around their due date, there is really no telling yet whether this will be true for Andrew.  Right now, he seems on-track, but there is so much more developing and growing he needs to do before then - respiration, nutrition, and regulating body temperature being the main ones.  We can only hope that this NICU journey is about half over - since mom and dad are running on empty already!

Cubby cheeks, chin, legs and arms!  Love it!

The past week has brought more of the same regarding his progress.  A few changes up/down with his CPAP machine pressure.  Fairly steady oxygen requirements of around 30 - 40%.  More tubes pulled and/or tongued and/or slimed out.  Desats and some A's & B's - mostly small, but a few larger spells that continue to scare mom and dad when they are there for them.  Feeds are up to 7.4 ml/hour, and they've increased the calories to 26 cal/oz.  They really want this boy to grow!  A few more fat rolls are developing...even beginning to see a double chin on the boy! 

One possibly concerning thing is that in his eye exam yesterday, his ROP had progressed to stage 2 (from stage 1 last week).  This means the eye blood vessels are continuing to develop abnormally.  They will monitor him again next week, and hopefully it will stop progressing.  If necessary, they can do laser eye surgery, but we are hoping it doesn't lead to that.

In fun news, J got to help give Andrew a bath this morning!  Too bad all this baby stuff doesn't come with directions!  Luckily, Nurse L was there to help and to provide the QA (quality assurance) J wanted to ensure he was doing everything correctly.  Andrew did great during the bath - high-satting the whole time.  We left soon afterwards, but we're sure he'll be out like a light for most of the afternoon in a deep, clean sleep!

Budda belly and even some fat rolls on his legs!

I mentioned in the last post how much more alert Andrew has been.  For the past few days, he's stayed awake for almost an hour after hands-on.  He mostly just looks around, taking it all in.  Sometimes, he does his best to pull off his CPAP headgear (but he's not that dexterous yet, thank goodness!)  And, sometimes when we are not looking, he pulls on his tubes.  We can't wait until he gets bigger and all that comes off!  He'll be a lot happier too.  The other cute thing is that he's begun to smile.  We know they are not directed at anything/anyone but they melt our hearts.  We tried to grab some on video today, but he wouldn't perform for us.  Here is a quick clip, though.  One nurse commented yesterday that he is looking more and more like J everyday.  I'm still not so sure (behind all that gear, who knows who he looks like!)  What do you think?