14 weeks

Look at those cheeks!

Oliver is 14 weeks old today.  He weighs 6 pounds, 3.8 ounces, and is 17 inches long.  He's also extremely more alert these days.  Yesterday, we moved Nathaniel from half days at daycare to full days so that I can spend more time with Oliver.  Yesterday morning when I arrived at the hospital, Oliver was waiting a ready to eat.  After nursing (taking well over half of his feeding, a new record!), he remained awake, just looking at me and around the room, until his physical therapy session at noon.  Usually after PT he's pretty tired, but at that time he was still very alert, so we nursed again for his 12:30 feeding.  And he still didn't fall asleep!  He finally passed out around 2:30, so when his 3:30 cares rolled around, neither myself nor the nurse thought we should wake him up.  He had another eye exam around 5:30, which further wore him out.  He slept off and on throughout the rest of the evening and pretty much all night.

This morning when I arrived, he was still sleeping.  I had gotten there at 9 am for his PT session.  We mostly focused on massage, trying to get him to relax.  He still likes to keep his shoulders tense and up near his cheeks, which is not only bad for his muscles, but also his neck... gunky stuff is getting into the rolls and he's not letting it air out.

The NICU - 's bringing out the Christmas outfits

Oliver is still on the high flow nasal cannula, but he's down to 2 liters of pressure, which means he's getting really close to moving to low flow.  In rounds this morning, they discussed moving it down even more, but they want to try to wean the percentage of oxygen he's getting first.  He's been right around 40% for a few weeks now, but during feedings and PT he needs an increase, sometimes up to 50% or even more.  Until he gets back down into the 30s, they probably won't move him to low flow.  Oliver's eye surgeon reported that his eyes are making progress.  His left eye no longer shows any sign of Plus Disease.  His right eye is still improving.  They've decided to wait a full week until his next eye exam, which is a relief.  He really, really hates those.

Check out this adorable baby - Oliver says hi

In the past week, several of the nurses he's had hadn't seen him since he was teeny tiny.  Everyone exclaimed that they couldn't believe how big he's gotten.  He's looking more and more like his  brother every day.  Look at these adorable little feet:


Such cute little piggies



With my ring, for perspective

The big question I get asked is when will he come home.  And the answer is still we don't know.  He has to eat better, he has to breathe better, and he has to get through surgery.

Nathaniel, for the second time since we moved here, has brought a cold home from daycare.  He spent all night last night coughing.  He's currently coughing his way through a nap.  Colds scare the hell out of me now.  I'm scared to hold Oliver, for fear I may pass it on, but I also still need to spend time with him, feed him, learn how to care for him.  It would not bother me at all for him to need to stay in the hospital through most of cold, flu, and RSV season.

Forget these pears, more cheese please!