Cooper is the world's cutest baby. We love him to the ends of the earth and back. In spite of these facts, he can sometimes be a wee bit mischievous.
Our boy has taken to doing something that is called a "Brady." Whenever Cooper is having a Brady episode his heart rate will drop dramatically, which in turn causes his oxygen levels to decrease. It's a scary thing whenever it happens, and it causes us parents a lot of stress. Most of the time he recovers from these episodes on his own, but on occasion he requires extra stimulation that reminds him to breathe and boosts his heart rate back up.
He has had a few during his time in the hospital, but today he had more than usual. As scary as these sound, and they are scary, they are extremely common and to be expected in premature babies. The nurse thinks they have a pretty good idea of what caused his rough day and are taking the necessary steps to correct it. (For those who are curious, their hypothesis as to the cause is caffeine withdrawals -- Cooper's caffeine medication was given an hour later than usual today. I was pleased to find that Cooper and his old man have something in common).
All that being said, Cooper is still doing quite well. Chloe and Cooper did skin to skin this evening, and Cooper loved every minute. They started fortifying his feeds again today, and he seems to be tolerating it much better than before. The fortified breast milk in combination with a more concentrated and protein-dense intravenous feeds should help him gain weight at a much more accelerated rate. They had not weighed him when we left the hospital, but our fingers are crossed hoping for a big(ger) number.
We sure love this little man, and he is hanging in there strong.
-Taylor
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