Four Pounds!!!

Last night when Oliver was weighed at 9pm, he weighed 4lbs (plus one half ounce). This meant he surpassed his birth weight for the first time, and weighed more than 3 lbs for the first time. What made this really impressive was that he accomplished these feats on the day that #1 he was moved to a bassinet (and it takes more energy to maintain one's own body temperature) and #2 the quantity (ml) of his tube feedings was cut in half due to the fact he is now nursing. On the rounds this morning the doctor said, "He's breastfeeding like a rock star." Way to go, Oliver!!! All that is standing in the way him being discharged is for him to switch to all his nutrition coming by mouth (while still doing well with his weight). Once he gets off the feeding tube, he'll be coming HOME! They'd like for him to be off the oxygen, but it's not a requirement. He's only receiving a tiny puff (.025), but his O2 saturation levels don't stay within the desired range (85-95%) when he's not on the oxygen. He might be coming home on oxygen. Because of that, Paul and I need to attend a class at 8pm tomorrow in the NICU. Thankfully a woman from our church has agreed to come over to our house and watch the kids for about 2.5 hours tomorrow night so Paul can attend the class.

Oliver won't have to do the car seat test in the NICU like Nadia and Ian did because #1 he's too small (the minimum weight for being in a car seat is 5 pounds) and #2 if he's still on oxygen that's another reason he'll have to come home in a car bed. The hospital will rent a car bed to us for $25, and if we return it then we get $10 back so it will only cost $15 in the end. I've never seen a car bed before. I'm hoping Oliver can come home without oxygen, but I'd rather be at home with him on oxygen than extend our stay in the NICU. The doctor said he thinks Oliver can come home in the "early part of next week." WOW! The initial estimate (at birth) was that he'd be in the NICU for 6 weeks (until he hit 38w). On Monday that was changed to 4 weeks, but if he's discharged on Tuesday, that would mean he would have only been in the NICU for 3 weeks! Woohoo! What a relief it will be not to need to find more babysitters for Nadia and Ian, especially as several of the ones we've used are college students, and they are going back to school next week. They said I can probably stay in the "demo room" on Sunday night and Monday night. They have two rooms in the NICU in which parents can sleep in the same room as their baby. I stayed in the demo room in 2008 and 2009. I'll definitely get more sleep those nights as it takes time to travel to and from the RMH before and after each feeding. Paul was supposed to be giving a talk at PSU on Tuesday. Today his advisor gave him permission to reschedule that in light of the fact Oliver might be discharged on Tuesday. Please pray that Oliver will continue to improve in his nursing skills so that we can come home in a few days!!!

Nadia and Ian were at Paul's parents' house on Wednesday and Thursday, and unforutunately Nadia left her beloved pillow at their house. It was a challenge last night to get her to sleep without it. Today I met Paul's mom in a town about 15 minutes from the hospital to retrieve the pillow. I also stopped at a consignment shop in that town that I haven't ever been to before although I've wanted to go there for years. I bought things for each of our three children. Nadia was over the moon regarding the $5 bag of princess dress up goodies I got her (fancy shoes, tiaras, dresses, etc.). Paul had to leave PSU early because Nadia had her first ever yeast infection. Today was actually her very first doctor appointment that wasn't a "well baby/child" visit. Not bad considering she's 4 years old! It was Paul's first experience taking the kids to the doctor by himself. He took them from the doctor's to the RMH so they could play, see me, eat dinner, and of course get the pillow to take it home. It was great to see the kids for a little bit. They are going to come down for longer visits tomorrow and Sunday. There is a nice play room as well as a playground here at the RMH. The kids didn't want to leave when it was time for them to go home. Ian had a total meltdown because he was really enjoying playing with a pirate ship toy.