Making STRIDES!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I haven't updated lately, things have been BUSY!! Bennett is on a roll these days! Monday, his doctor wrote orders for him to take one bottle a day and be put to the breast once a day. No one expected much from him really. His first bottle Tuesday morning, his nurse put 20 mls in there for him. I said "feeling optimisic?" - thinking MAYBE he'd take like 5 mls (I've seen other babies go through this process and very few take much their first try). She said she didn't want him to think we didn't have any faith in him. Well that bugger took 23 mls (we had to refill him)!!!!!!!!! We were stunned!! A full feed for him right now is 37 mls, so that is 2/3 of a feed by bottle on his VERY FIRST TRY!!!!!!! I was silly with happiness!!!! Since he did so freaking fabulous, his doctor today said to do two bottles a day! He took 20 mls from his bottle this morning, which is awesome. He could have done more, but he stopped in the middle to poop, and I didn't want to keep him awake for too too long, so I gavaged the rest. I'm SOOO proud of my little guy!!!

I finally got my claws into the NICU lactation consultant today. She'd been away on vacation lately. She helped us SO much. She actually got Bennett to latch on and he sucked for a good 10 mins. I think he was tired from this mornings' activities though, so I didn't push it. Feeding by mouth is a huge hurdle for even the healthier preemies, so I'm beyond thrilled that things are starting off so well for us.

Bennett is gaining weight really well. As of last night, he was 4 lbs 3.4 oz!!! I am about to head over to the hospital now to give him his bottle for his 11 pm feeding, so I'll see what he weighed today. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he lost a little since he's exerted so much energy learning how to eat. That is actually normal, so we won't be worried about that.

As for respiratory issues, things are going REALLY well - knock on wood!!! Sunday night, he was having some deep desaturations, so they suctioned him out good and got gobs and gobs of thick mucous and blood that is caused by the CPAP (it really dries him out even though it is humidified). That seems to have resolved the issue, but they did a bunch of blood work on him anyway. His hematocrit level (red blood cells) is borderline, so they are watching that daily and if it goes down anymore, he'll get another blood transfusion. Sometimes, preemies can't make new red blood cells as quickly as they use them, so transfusions are rather common. Bennett was a whole new baby after his last one. The doctor halved his diuretic he's been getting to relieve fluid in his lungs. If he tolerates that well, she will discontinue the diuretic all together and if that goes well, she will start cycling him between CPAP and the nasal cannula!!!! He was on the cannula for a good amount of time today since we had him out for the feeding marathons and he did REALLY well. He was on 1 liter of flow with 30% oxygen the whole time and only desated for things that we would expect anyone to desat for, no true desats! 30% sounds like a lot, but with the cannula, a lot escapes out the nose, so he's probably only getting about 25%. Anyway, I have a good feeling about it. He's getting bigger and more mature. He'll be 36 weeks tomorrow!!! I think he's finally starting to "get" things. I'm wary saying that though because this kid likes to keep us on our toes.

So here are some precious pictures!!



We had a nurse the other evening who was SO great with Carter. She really involved him in Bennett's care - listening to his heart, taking his temperature, helping change his diaper. It meant so much to Carter!!