The nurse asked me at 7pm if I wanted Oliver to be weighed at 9pm or midnight. I picked midnight as I thought it gave him a little more time to gain weight. I began to second guess that decision when I found out at 9pm that they were going to stop his supplements (tube feedings). He nursed at 9pm, but that was it. His last tube feeding was at 6pm. As I was changing his diaper a little before midnight for his weigh-in, he had a small poopy diaper. However wiping his bottom stimulated his bowels and a massive amount of green stuff exited his body. I was really, really wishing I had picked the 9pm weigh-in because I knew his weight had just dropped with all that just came out of his body. However, my fears were quickly resolved when the nurse told me that he had gained twenty grams! WOOHOO! He had lost 12 grams on Saturday so this means altogether he gained 8 grams over the two days. Last night he weighed 4lbs 1.2 oz. YAY! 
When the doctors did their rounds today, they said that if he gains weight today, he will be going HOME tomorrow, which I think is pretty amazing as he'll be 34w6d tomorrow. His x-ray this morning still shows that his lungs are "hazy." He still has the lung disease (from prematurity). He'll be going home with oxygen and a medication for his lungs. A nurse will be coming to our house on Wednesday, and he'll be seeing the pediatrician at 12:45 on Thursday (if he is discharged tomorrow). If he doesn't gain weight today, then starting tomorrow the doctors will want me to offer Oliver a bottle (of my milk) after I nurse him as a way of boosting his caloric intake. I'm hoping that isn't necessary, but I will cooperate with that plan if he doesn't gain weight today. If that happens, then he'll probably be discharged on Wednesday. Please pray for Oliver to gain weight today!!! I would LOVE to be home with all three children tomorrow night!!! 
I have been nursing him every 2 hours whereas up until last night he had been fed every 3 hours. I did skip pumping a couple of times though. It's one thing to pump every 2 hours (when not nursing) or to pump and nurse every 3 hours, but to pump and nurse every 2 hours is just too much. My left side still is far out pacing the right. The gap between the two outputs has greatly increased. The one exception to that was on Friday morning when I pumped at 6am (after nursing Oliver) and I pumped 2 ounces from each side, whereas my usual output is 2 ounces total. Thus far that was a one time occurance (to pump 4 ounces at one time). I'm sure they will be sending us home with QUITE a supply of frozen EBM. I am not certain it will actually be used though if I am able to stick with my goal of avoiding bottles. My aversion to bottles stems from the fact that at 7 months old Nadia went on strike with nursing because she preferred the bottle. I nursed Ian until 14 months even though he also had bottles from four months onward. I really, really, really want to nurse Oliver for at least 12 months so I'm hoping to avoid bottles to make sure he won't decide he likes bottles better than nursing like his big sister.
After his midnight weigh-in, I dressed him in a onesie I bought at a consignment shop as well as a sleeper that was a gift from Grandma. It's fun to dress him in his OWN clothes (not that the hospital doesn't have some cute clothes). He only wore his own clothes one other time. For a few hours the morning of his transfer (August 15) he wore a sleeper that Ian wore in 2009. I thought it would be his "transfer" outfit, but they took off his clothes prior to putting him on the ambulance. The onesie and sleeper he's wearing are both preemie size. This size fits him nicely, and my guess is that he'll wear this size for another month or two.
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