Today

I wanted to post a quick update about Brooks today. He is 4 weeks old today! He was 4lb 2oz  today (or technically 9pm last night) so he was up 40 grams-wohoo! He doesn't always gain every day, which is fine because they really look at the trend over a week. The last week he did average a weight gain of 30 grams/day which is what they consider ideal. Since he hit the 4lb mark, he actually got to have the top of his isolette popped, so it's high in the air and isn't providing any heat for him. He has to stay bundled and keep a hat on all the time. After 48hrs of proving he can keep his temp up they move him to a big boy bed:)

I talked to the Nurse Practitioner for a long time yesterday. I was a little worried that his weight gain may fall behind with having to keep his own temp up. We don't want any set backs! She just said they watch his weights and if he falls behind they put the top back down. So far, he has done good with keeping his temp up and it seems like he will continue to gain:)

We talked about the feedings and I explained that they tried to switch him to 30 minutes this weekend and he didn't tolerate it. She agreed that there was no need to stress him right now so she will make sure they stay the same for now.

I also asked her about a head ultrasound. They do these to check for hemorrhage since the brain is not developed fully. He did have one at 2 days old since he wasn't really responding the way they expected him to and that one was normal. I only asked because I wasn't sure if there was a protocol for checking them throughout their stay. There really isn't, it just depends on the baby and how they have done over the course of their stay. Since he had a rough start, they decided to do one now (one month is typical for the 2nd one). He had it done today and it was normal-yay!

He still has some increased work of breathing at times. It was seeming a little better and he had an episode today while I was holding him:( Nothing had to be done about it, but I just hate to see him uncomfortable at all. Anyway, she said those times that he has those shows her that he isn't ready to come off of the 1L flow yet so that's staying on for now.

I did do some taste testing with him today. I just dipped his pacifier in formula and put it in his mouth. He did well with it, but there was a new baby that was admitted and it was very noisy so it was a lot of stimulation for him so we just tried it a few times.

He had lots of smiles today:)  His feeding tube tape looks icky from his spit ups, but there will probably be more (a big one on me today) and it's not fun getting the tape taken off so I haven't pushed for it to be changed.

I posted this on facebook-it looks like he praying, probably to come home soon!

He is really so so sweet. I love snuggling him and I miss him so much when I'm away.