12 Weeks

I think it actually does feel like we've been in the NICU for nearly 3 months.  I know just about every nurse by name and most of the staff know us.  Dylan has come SO FAR!  But this home stretch is really hard.  He's making a little bit of progress eating, but it's not going very fast.  And it's a very real possibility that he'll need a couple of weeks past his January 18th due date.

After I posted that Dylan was without Oxygen, he went back on it.  I think the whole Santa visit was a bit much for him.  But it's pretty normal to go back and forth.  Today he went off it again so hopefully he'll stay off this time.

Can you guess how much Dylan weighs now?  4? 4 1/2?  Nope.  He's 5 pounds, 4 ounces!  Well...that was without pooping for two days.  He's probably 5, 2 after all the work he did today! : )  I can't believe how fast he's putting on weight!  He should definitely be at a small but normal birth weight on his due date.  The nurses all comment on how cute he is and how he looks like a regular little boy...not a preemie baby.

Dylan is getting 44mls of fortified breast milk every 3 hours.  He's trying the bottle 2 or 3 times a day.  The max he's taken by bottle is 22 mls.  Yesterday he took 17 twice.  But sometimes it's just 10 or even 5.  He'll get it eventually...

I'm there for 2-3 of his feedings.  Usually 11:00, 2:00, and 8:00.  If he's awake at those times, then I feed him.  If not, they just give him his whole feeding through his feeding tube.

We also had a bit of bad news this week.  Dylan's last eye test showed some Stage 1 ROP (retinopathy or disease of the retina).  Stage 1 is not severe and because it's showing up so late after his birth, he's probably going to be okay and not need surgery.  ROP is a problem with how the blood vessels grow in the retina and  in severe stages can cause the retina to detach.  Surgery prevents that from happening.  ROP does not really have anything to do with his overall vision so we'll still have to wait until about 6 months to see how well he can see.  He will continue to have his eyes checked weekly and we will hope that the ROP does not progress.

That's about it for now.

Thanks Grandpa Paul for this angelic picture...  I know I already posted this, but not with a caption.  Read below. : )

This was on Santa's visit day - before Dylan threw up all over his shirt and my sweater...so basically our only picture with the clothes I had meant for us to wear : ).

And here are his tootsies: