April 13, 2013:

RJ is still doing great!! I wanted to give a quick update before turing out the lights. He's still on low oxygen via the nasal cannula. They went up to 0.06 liters yesterday. Yesterday he did well with breastfeeding in the morning. At noon he was tired and we tried giving him a bottle. He took about 10cc. He didn't seem very interested. He was too tired at 2:30pm to feed either, so he got that feeding through his NG tube as well. Last night we came back and gave him his bath. Dad held while I washed. :) RJ put up a stink and then we got him all snuggled up. I was gonna have Robert hold him and then feed him a bottle. I tried getting RJ started on the bottle, but he started sucking too vigorously and choked. He dropped his sats and heart rate. He recovered, but scared us for sure. Anyways, Robert just snuggled him while I went to pump. They looked sooo cute together. :) Before we left we talked w/ one of the PA's about when RJ would be ready to come out of his isolette. She said the bed temp needs to be below 80 degrees for 48 hrs and RJ be able to keep his temp above 97. As we were walking out of the hospital Robert got a call on his cell and it was our night nurse. She said the team had just done night rounds and Dr. Shook, the head of the NICU, said to just bring RJ out and put him in a big boy bed. Since she's the attending and the boss, she's able to go around the policies. :) We were super pumped.

Our lil man is still maintaining his temp in the big boy bed. It's now been over 24hrs. It's like a lil wooden bassinet they would bring into our room after deliver, if it had gone normally. Anyways, he did great with breastfeeding as well!! He fed for 30 min this morning, only about 10 in at noon, and then 25 min at 2:30pm!! He got 2 complete feedings and didn't have to get milk down his NG tube!! When rounding today Dr. Pore asked how many times I would be in for feedings. I stated 9am, noon, and 2:30pm. The team ended up putting in an order for me to breastfeed 3 times a day!! We are very proud of our lil guy. Who knows, the rate he's going he might be home by the end of the month!!

We called tonight to check on him and he's up to 5lb 9oz!! He's getting more chubby and fun to hold!! He did have a poopy diaper, so that's always encouraging. He didn't do well w/ the bottle at his 6pm feeding. Only took about 18ml, so tonight at his 9pm feed his nurse just put it in the NG tube. Speech/OT is supposed to come work w/ him and the bottle. Probably won't be until Monday. I'm so glad he's catching on quick w/ the breastfeeding!!! In order for him to get enough nutrition and the proper calories for growth, he will have to get some supplementation from extra calories added to my milk and given to him via bottle, so he needs to learn to drink one. That's just what they have to do for the preemies.

Okay, it's way past my bedtime once again. Nighty night family and friends.