Big Changes! Day 72!

4 lbs

You see it correctly, he weighs 4 pounds now. How awesome is that. It is really official he is really being considered a term baby and are wanting to really push the envelope with him and get all of his needed issues addressed, fixed, and give him the boot to home in the very near future. 

Changes that have occurred in his feedings at this point are one that he is up to 32 ml of breast milk, they are no longer delivering it over a feeding pump, he is now on gavage feedings and they are just pushing it in his belly by hand or gravity which ever is going to work over 15 minutes. He is taking this well, which means that after he has done it for a few it will be time to breast-feed. They have to get him out of the isolett every 3 hours in order to feed him, this is to encourage him to wake up and get stimulated every 3 hours so that he is practicing to do the same thing when he is strictly breast feeding. Mom is no longer making enough milk to supply Calen with what he needs, so is starting to receive lot's of Similac, but she is trying her best at it. 

Loading him up with some breast milk while Mom holds him. 

With all the big push to get him out more often means that I can hold him now the same day that Holly does. So like today Holly did skin to skin with him for about 3 hours and she gave him a feeding at the beginning of her holding him. After the 3 hours we placed him back in the isolett and the nurse did her assessment, and we changed his diaper. Then I got to hold him but I didn't have to do skin to skin, just cradle hold him and hold the tube in the air. It is really nice to be able to do that, much more convenient and adds more time for us to spend with him. 

So they are now only wrapping him up in light blankets. This is to prepare him for the crib. I think the crib will be happening extremely soon, we are thinking by the end of the week he will be out of the isolett. 

They were able to decrease his flow on his oxygen down. He is flowing at 2.5L now instead of 3. This is great, he appears to be handling it just fine. He stills seems to be having continued problems with gastric reflux and since he is on gavage feeding, they placed a new larger feeding tube down his mouth. 

The goal is that when he is out and being held for feeding's that he try's to stay awake and alert so he can eat. He was doing a great job of it here. 

He is swollen, but still too cute!!