Nicu Day 77

Will had a great day. He gained 40 grams and now weighs 3lbs 8oz or 1580 grams. Slowly climbing the ladder to 4lbs. Will's chest xray, blood gas and blood count all looked great so his flow has been turned down to the magic number of 1. YEAH!! We will see how he behaves on a flow of 1. We hope he has a Good Friday!!

In one of the books we are reading to Will at night the title was God Will Take Care of You and I thought it is appropriate for this big flow change today.

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Psalms 13:6

Jesus loves you and promises to be with you from the very moment you were born. Everything about you is very special to God, and he wants you to grow and become someone who will reflect who He is and bring Him glory. Since the Lord is righteous, He wants you to grow and act in a righteous way. Through His Spirit, He will give you exactly what you need.

Nicu Day 76 & Happy 11 weeks old

Will is 11 weeks old today and weighs 3lbs 6oz or 1540 grams. He gained 40 grams last night. He will have a chest xray and a blood gas in the morning. He has had another bath today and loved it. He then took a bottle and fell asleep. Must be an exhausting life he leads. I've realized all babies do is poop, pee, eat and sleep and then start it all over again. What a life!!

Anyways Happy 11 weeks old big boy! Mommy and Daddy are so very proud of your big accomplishments. We love u very much! Keep marching and staying strong because you are definitely a strong willed sweet boy!!

NICU Day 75

Will had a great night! He gained weight!!!!! He currently weighs 3lbs 5oz or 1500 grams. He is 15 1/4 inches long. Dr Darling has taken over Will today and the only change today is to nurse or bottle feed him once a shift and also if he is showing signs of wanting to be fed twice a shift then it is up to the nurse to decide. He had his eyes checked today. He has Stage 2 ROP which is a moderate form of ROP characterized by the development of a three-dimensional "ridge" at the vascular-avascular junction. There are 4 Stages with 4 being the worse and 0 being the best. Will is at a Stage 2 which is just means Dr Brawner will check his eyes in two weeks but keep a close eye on the "ridge". If for some case, he moves to a Stage 4, which is describes a partial retinal detachment then it is treatable with medication. We are praying that Will's ROP never reaches Stage 4 and that the "ridge" will clear up and go back to Stage 0 which means normal, incomplete retinal vascularization or no ROP present on examination.

He is a little bit behind on his growth chart. Around this time, he needs to be about 1700 grams and we are about 200 grams behind. There was talk last night about taking away the prolacta but he will continue to keep that going to add more protein and calories and try to bump up his growth just a bit.

He will get a chest xray and another blood gas on Friday and then make a decision on whether to turn the flow down to 1.5 or 1. Just an FYI: If Will's flow goes down to 1 and he is on less than 40% oxygen (which he has been on about 26-32% oxygen) then that means we will move to the "step down" care or intermediate care which means CLOSER TO GOING HOME SIDE!!!!!!!!!!! But we will probably take a step back because Will needs to have hernia surgery and they don't think about doing that until he is around 4lbs 4oz. When he does have hernia surgery he will be put to sleep and then back on the ventilator and eventually taken off again.

So all in all Will is doing good! Keep praying!

Mini Easter Photo Shoot

We had a mini Easter photo shoot with Will. We dressed him in his FIRST easter outfit and had fun taking pictures of him and us together. So here is a fun snap shot of our "mini" Easter photo shoot. Enjoy!

Mommy dressing me for the first time

Ahh it's exhausting to be looking this cute

Like my outfit? My mommy and daddy think I look oh so cute!!

Sweet kisses from my mommy

Sweet kisses from my daddy

Our sweet family of three! Our first Easter picture together

"Hey guys, whatcha doing up there?"

Doug hates "kissing" pictures but I guess he will do anything for his son and wife.

Our first Easter bunny.

Yes the Easter bunny came early.

But the bunny is bigger than Will.

Nicu Day 74

Will had a good night. He lost 15 grams and now weighs 1445 grams or 3lbs 3oz. The doctor has not been in to see Will yet so nothing to report. I decided to post a few pictures while we wait.

Nicu Day 73

Will had a good night. He only gained 5 grams and is up to 1460 grams or 3lbs 3oz. He had a chest xray and blood count this morning. All were good. His CO2 level was high so he will have another blood gas in the morning. His feedings were increased to 28ml and his vitamins were increased as well. He took 27ml by bottle this morning which was great. All in all we expect a good day for Will!

Nicu Day 72

Will had a good night. He gained a few grams but still weighs 3lbs 3oz or 1455 grams. He will have a complete blood count in the morning. His feedings have changed a little bit. He wasn't taking a bottle or nursing well every other feeding so a few days ago they changed it back to once a shift or at the nurse's discretion. Now they have changed it back to every other feeding and if he doesn't take up to 28ml then they will tube feed what he doesn't take. He started off really good at feedings but he has gotten lazy at it so they are trying to get him back into the swing of bottle feeding or nursing at every other feeding.

He accidentially projectile pooped on his nurse, Jessica, today so while she was getting new linens for his bed we had a mini photo session with Will. He was passed out, but we got the sweetest pictures of one sleepy and full baby. Enjoy!

Out like a light

Still out with full belly

Fat and happy

Sweet kisses from my daddy

Daddy and Will, his "mini-me"

Momma and Will

Ahhh, life is so rough!