February 9, 2009 Update

It was a big weekend for Nathan! He reached 6 lbs (6 lbs 1 oz today) , had his car set test (Saturday), and was circumcised (Sunday).

The car seat test requirement was for him to sit in his car seat all strapped in one hour (or longer depending how far away home is from the hospital) without any breathing issues because of the angle of the seat. The nurse temporarily put the pulse oximeter back on his foot for this test and watched his monitor for that hour. And....he passed! He did really well in his car seat; he just fell asleep. I thought he would look really tiny sitting there but actually he looked like a big boy! Pictures are below. The nurses are also required to check the model and manufacture date of your car seat to make sure there are no recalls (ours was fine).








Nathan did well with his circumcision Sunday evening. I was here at the hospital when the doctor performing the procedure was getting ready for him. The nurses rave this doctor because he does such a good job and is very caring. He takes all the measures to make the procedure as painless as possible and actually encourages parents to stay to prove that Nathan would be okay and not screaming his head off. We elected to not stay but I made a point to call the hospital afterwards to get a report and make sure he was doing okay. And yes, he is doing just fine and Mommy can calm down now!

The doctor increased the number of times he can either nurse or bottle as tolerated. Before it was important to not nurse/bottle two in a row because of the energy it takes for him to eat on his own instead of just getting milk through the feeding tube. He is getting so much stronger and is showing interest every time that he wants to suck on something when he is waking up to eat. Hopefully he can have his feeding tube removed soon since he is taking full feedings (or close to) so well on his own. The doctor recently increased the amount of milk he gets to 50 mLs.

The doctors and nurses think that he is towards the end of his stay here. Right now that makes us more nervous than excited because there will not be a monitor or nurse going home with us. But the doctors know what they are doing and they have taken care of many premature babies.

Here are some other recent pictures to enjoy......



Daddy holding me on February 4.

















See me without my feeding tube (due for changing on February 6).