August 4

Will is starting to look so big and strong! He's up to 4 lbs 1 oz, feeding 13 CC every 3 hours increasing by .3 each time with almost no residual. His dosage of caffiene, which they use to improve his apnea, has been increased since his apnea has been acting up again the last couple days. They think he just got too large for his previous dose. He's been having bradys occasionally which are a bit more worrying, a brady is an oxygen desaturation (which he often has) that comes with a dramatic sudden heart deceleration (which he DOESN'T often have and scares me!!) but hopefully those will respond to the meds too. I held the pacifier for him and he sucked on it pretty steadily while he was getting fed this evening, so that's coming along nicely. The doctor wrote the order for us to be able to start the first experimental nursing! It'll be after I've pumped out at first so he doesn't drown and he may only get a few drops if he'll cooperate at all, and it's written so it's at the nurse's discretion and based on what Will tollerates. So if all goes well we may be able to try tomorrow!

I asked the doctor what qualifications will have to be met before he can come home, and he told me Will needs to be taking all his feeds from either bottle or breast, gaining weight acceptably (we expect his weight gain to slow once he stops tube feedings since drinking takes energy and doesn't get as much down) and go without any major apnea or heart issues for 5+ days. He cautiously estimates 3-4 weeks for the earliest he may be able to come home, and said he'll probably come home with an apnea monitor which makes me more comfortable. That's sooner than I expected so we're not ready, the nursery is a disaster zone since we have so much baby stuff we haven't put away yet and we still need to get an air purifier, water softener and bassinet before he comes home so those are on the list for probably this weekend.

He's wearing a preemie size footed outfit in today's pictures, and the crotch comes to his knees lol. Very cute though, it's novel for us to see him dressed!