Marco's Journey

 A slow and steady week, ending with an exciting development- we’re finally at a low enough air support to try oral feeding! We’ve been slowly weaning Marco from breathing support with the next big milestone goal of getting down to a level 2 air flow. He's been at 3 for awhile, and they've tried lowering with no luck. So this past week, the doctors decided that he may have water in his lungs which was preventing him from being able to fully breathe. This is supposedly common for preemies but still a bit scary to hear. To remedy this, they put him on a diuretic - essentially draining him of all his excess liquid. Some water weight lost this week - he's down to 4pds 11oz from 4pds 15oz, but it was successful! By Friday he was down to a level 2 flow and holding steady... which means when I get back from MDW with my parents I'll be able to try and breast feed! At first he won't be strong enough to do more than one or two feedings per day, but I'm super excited. Now ...

 Another big week for Marco! Weight: 4 pounds 6 oz. He's starting to get a (very small) bit of chub on him and I'm loving it so much. Milestone reached:  We moved to a crib from the incubator! So proud of my little warrior. They were able to continuously lower his incubator (giraffe) temperature until it matched the outside air, and then yesterday they tried out the crib. Hopefully he'll be able to hold steady and maintain heat. Fingers crossed. Other medical stuff:   Breathing he's doing well - they've lowered his support to a level 3 CPAP (I forget what that means). Once he is down to level 2 he'll be able to try breast feeding or bottle feeding - which they expect will be in about another week. Hopefully I can stay off dairy long enough to give it a shot! (I had a solid 7 days of success and then we had a mistaken egg and cheese sandwich incident - grumble) Infections - somehow Marco got a staph infection this past week in his eyes/ear. They gave him drops ...

We've had a big week! Marco is officially in big boy clothes, is *almost* 4 pounds (3pd 15 oz), got rid of his big CPAP mask and is starting his weaning journey off of oxygen. I'm starting to see the end of the tunnel, even though we are still 2 months from home. The doctors/nurses walked us through the weaning process and they even started talking about breast feeding in a couple of weeks. I know we have a long way to go, but being able to swaddle him and hold him like a normal baby was so soothing to my heart. I feel like I'm finally getting to know him as I can look at his sweet face while we snuggle (no mask - yay!) Big milestones to look forward to: 1. Cradle vs. Giraffe - Marco is currently in a "Giraffe", the fully enclosed incubator that helps maintain a baby's temperature. Once he can do this on his own, he can be transferred to a crib. To build him up to this, they put him in real clothes and lowered his bed temp closer to outside air temp. They will...

 Happy 1 Month, Marco!  This has been the longest, yet quickest month of my life. Definitely the most challenging, but at the same time, I've been so busy that the days have flown by.  Health: Marco continues to do relatively well - he's looking more and more like a full term baby - less red, less wrinkly :).  No scary health hiccups. Not to say we didn't have hiccups this week! The doctors got a bit concerned on Monday when there was continuous blood in Marco's stool. Thankfully, they ruled out any internal bleeding by doing a couple of x-rays, so their next guess is that he may be allergic to cow's milk/protein - as many preemies are. They pulled him off food, and stuck an IV in - not a great site for Mama (see image above with cast-like arm covering the IV). Then throughout the week they have been weaning him back to a special formula that is gentle on tummies. Today (Sunday) they pulled out the IV, thankfully. Mama: What does this mean for me and my pumping adve...

3 weeks old (31 weeks adjusted) I'm happy to report a blessedly boring week for Marco! He continues to do well, holding steady and growing. He's up to 3 pounds - which is considered on the "bigger" side, unbelievably. The docs continue to adjust his breathing support, a little less, a little more, as needed day to day - but aside from that they never have any reports to share with me. I look forward to watching him grow and seeing that support slowly dwindle. A nice thought - now that he's 3 pounds we're allowed to hold him swaddled if want to - like a typical newborn. I have no intention to do that any time soon - because I love skin-to-skin so much and think its the best way to build my bond with him, but it's nice to know we have the option. Makes it all feel a bit more like a normal birth experience. A not so nice thought - two babies went home this week. I know, this is a joyful thing - but for me, it was tough watching other parents leave with their ...