No news is good news

So not too much new to report.  In Noah's case no news is good news.  He is doing really well!! Just growing which is all we want him to do right now.  He is up to 2lbs 4oz now, only 10 more grams and he will be double his birth weight (520 grams), he is 1030grams now. We are super excited that Joe gets to "swaddle hold" Noah at our nighttime visits now, and Mommy still gets to kangaroo pretty much everyday.  We each get our special time with him each day.  Wyatt loves to be there for the swaddle hold, its seems more real to him since he can get so close to his little brother.  He is in love with his baby brother and talks to him and tells us all the time about all the things he is going to teach him. We are so blessed that Noah is doing so well, and truly appreciate all the support from family and friends!!

Our boys looking at eachother up close, Wyatt is in love with Noah :)

2 POUNDS!!!

Noah has passed the 2 lb mark!!! He now weighs 2 lbs 2 oz!!! He has gained a whole pound since he was born (actually more since he lost his water weight after birth).  He is so "big" now, we are very proud of him.  His blood and urine cultures came back negative, so he is off the antibiotics.  He is still having more breathing episodes than usual, but not as many as he had been having that caused the concern.


Noah sleeping and growing

One month old

So yesterday Noah turned 1 month old! yay!!!!! He is such a cutie. They say that the NICU experience is one step forward two steps back, we had our two steps back today.  Since yesterday Noah has had more apnea episodes but seemed to be acting normal otherwise, so they did some tests today to try to figure out the cause.  In the morning they gave him a simple blood test to check his red and white blood cell counts, which came back pretty good.  Then they gave Noah an x-ray to make sure that it wasn't something in his lungs causing him to stop breathing, and his lungs and his stomach both looked great.  They waited a while and after some more up and down with his oxygen levels they decided that it was time to do more searching and did a urine (poor guy) and blood draw.  So, we are waiting for those results which will take 24-48 hours.  They also re-did the blood test from the morning and the results came back "suspicious" so they decided to go ahead and start antibiotics in case he does have an infection somewhere. They didn't want to wait the 24-48 hours for concrete results so that if there is something it wouldnt get worse.  Long day for such a little guy.  He was supposed to get his first REAL bath today, but we'll have to wait until he is feeling better.  Please keep him in your prayers to make sure it's nothing too major and he gets through it easily.
Mommy holding Noah while the nurse gave him some clean bedding

Wearing clothes!

Noah is still doing great.  He had a little setback with his feedings, his tummy wasn't tolerating so much food so quickly, so they slowed them down until he was doing a little better.  They have started to increase his feedings again, but by .5ml every 12 hours now like they had been before.  He is still gaining weight and is up to 800 grams (1 lb 12 oz)!!  Last night Noah got to wear clothes for the first time.  He kept pulling on his nasal prongs so the nurse put a shirt on him to his hands could be free but not able to pull on his oxygen.  He seemed to really like being cuddled in the shirt (which was so big on him) and he went right to sleep!!

We had to put up some pictures of him in his shirt...and big brother Wyatt hanging out, he loves to visit Baby Noah!

3 weeks old!!!

Noah is 3 weeks old today!!!! He is doing great!!! He is up to 1lb 11oz, so he has gained 9 ounces so far.  Today they took out his IV line.  They were giving him nutrition through IV but as he has been getting more milk at his feedings they have been weaning him off the IV nutrition. He is almost to his "max feed" and is getting 13ml right now and it goes up by .5ml every nine hours.  They are also fortifying his milk, they add a powder to add calories and calcium to the milk to make it have 24 calories an ounce (normal breastmilk and formula generally have 20 calories and ounce)  He seems so happy to be having his arm free of that IV and the protective cuff that covered it.  We are very grateful to the Grandparents for keeping Wyatt entertained so that Mommy is able to go visit Noah and do our "kangaroo time" where we can hold him, and he benefits from the skin-to-skin contact. We don't know how we would juggle this without their help!!

Thanks again to everyone for all the love and support!!

BIG yawn, and his arms free from the IV!!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!! Noah got a couple Easter baskets with some baby goodies.  He is doing really well... They have removed his CPAP machine and just started using a nasal canula to blow air, so his face is getting a much needed break from that mask!  He seems to be doing really well with that, and is tolerating it great.  Also, since he is tolerating his feedings, they are continuously upping his feeding amount. He seemed content tonight.

Wyatt had a great Easter. Lots of goodies, and lots of fun looking for eggs.  He also got to make another trip to the driving range for being such a good boy with all of these hospital visits. Such a good boy!

Noah loves holding Daddy's hand and looking at him...so sweet.