10 Weeks Old :)

Bennett is 10 weeks old - which means he is finally 0! Yep, Friday was his due date, and he's moved into a positive gestational age. He really is like a newborn in almost every way. The only thing a little "different" is that he is more alert and engaged than a newborn is in the first two weeks. He's been home for a week now and doing really well. He wakes to eat every 3-4 hours. At night sometimes he'll even go 4.5-5 hrs! Imagine that! Its ok for him to sleep longer as long as he takes more in the next feeding. He's done really well with eating too. In fact, there are about two feedings during the day where he doesn't fall back asleep right away, but is alert and awake (developmental time), and he decides he wants to eat after just two hours! I nurse him first when that happens, and if he is done with that but still seems hungry, I give him a bottle too.

He absolutely LOVES watching this Rainforest thing Carter got for him!

Here he is looking around

He almost dwarfs piglet now!

Just chillin' - look at the chubby cheeks on this kid!!!

He really has just the sweetest little personality. We're enjoying him SO much. Carter especially - it will melt your heart to see how much he adores his little brother! He has taken the transition to siblinghood amazingly well. He is SO calm and gentle with him and SO understanding when we can't give him our immediate attention because we're doing something with Bennett. I must say - we are very blessed :)

So for the medical stuff....Thursday, he had an appointment with his opthamologist who declared that his eyes were matured, there are no signs of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) and he is graduated from his care! He will go see an optomistrist in 4 mos to make sure things are still progressing correctly.

Saturday, we had our first home nursing visit. I was not impressed with the nurse who came to see Bennett. She didn't seem to know much about preemies at all - didn't even know what BPD is and that is Bennett's primary diagnosis! She came in and asked me if I had a baby scale, thermometer, blood pressure cuff, and alcohol swabs. Um....aren't YOU the nurse? Sure, I have a thermometer, but the rest of that stuff isn't normal stuff every parent keeps in the home ya know! So she lugs in this ancient scale which says that Bennett weighs only 6 lbs. I SERIOUSLY doubt that is correct, because that would mean that Mr. Piggie has LOST 3 oz since being home! I almost called his Pediatrician to ask to do a quick weight check on him, but I'm so confident just from SEEING him chub up that the scale was wrong! So, I'm not really sure what utility lies in these home nursing visits, but she comes once a week. He already sees his Pediatrician every two weeks, so its kind of superfluous.

Today he had a visit from a nurse from the County's Infant and Child Program. They track all 34 week-and-under preemies' development until they catch up to actual age developmentally. She said Bennett is doing fabulous and is actually on the upper-end of the scale in terms of developmental milestones for his adjusted age. For example, when on his stomach, not only can he lift his head 45*, he can turn it side to side to look around! It always feels good, when you have a child with a lot of medical issues especially, to hear that they are excelling in something!

He goes back to the Ped. on the 22nd. He also has his first appointment with the pulminologist on 8/28. But that just seems way too far off to just be seeing them for the first time, so my Ped. is going to call and see if they can get him in sooner.