He has been completely weened off the hydrocortisone, morphine, versed and even the IV fluids are being weened. They pulled his PICC line and are moving to higher feeds now to compensate. He's now up to 15 ML of breastmilk per every three hours.
I asked about whether he'd be able to bottle feed anytime soon given that he's taking a pacifier really well now, but they said they master that around 33-35 weeks. They're getting him used to it by giving him a pacifier with the feeding tube to get him used to sucking while his belly is being full.
We are beginning to do kangaroo care each day. Josh is able to snuggle with the baby and I get to do it as well. He really responds well to both dad and I reading to him, especially while snuggled up against one of us.
First opthamological exam is tomorrow to test his eyesight and see how the high doses of oxygen affected his eyesight. They want to try to get him off the CPAP before they can even consider moving him, but right now he's sitting around 35% on CPAP flow. He still has quite a few destat episodes, but they keep saying that is to be expected. It's a little scary to be holding him and have him stop breathing, but the nurses just walk up and start massaging his back to get him breathing again. It's heart stopping, but I guess for them, it's fairly normal.
They are going to be doing an MRI next week as a baseline to measure his brain development and determine whether there is tissue damage. We still need to meet with the developmental team to discuss what to expect with regard to long term developement and what to look for. He's also now 13.78 inches long now, so he has grown a quarter inch since his arrival, and now is 2 lbs 6 oz, so up a half pound since his birth.
More to come... We will talk to the doctor more in depth tomorrow, but so far it seems like the prayers are doing AMAZINGLY well for him! Keep them coming!
Much Love,
Rachel and Joshua
