Cooper's One Month Old!

Today, August 7th, is Cooper's one month birthday! This is a huge milestone, and a volunteer at Primary's even made a cute sign to celebrate. (I forgot to take a picture, oops!) Cooper had a wonderful day and I felt so much gratitude all day:)

Last night he lost some weight, but tonight he reached a new high of 1195 grams! (Still about 2 lbs 10 oz) Today he was moved from CPAP and put on high flow oxygen, and he did very well with this change. His feeds were fortified again today (FYI fortifying means adding two extra calories), and he seems to be tolerating it very well. They've tried fortifying twice in the past, but both times Cooper produced too much stool and didn't tolerate it well. We're so happy he seems to be absorbing the extra nutrients. Tonight we did skin to skin for two and a half hours, and Cooper's heart rate and oxygen levels were amazing the entire time. It was a great day!

One month ago, Taylor and I could never have predicted what our lives would look like now. I live my life looking for the good and focusing on the joy and positive things each day, but I will say that this has been the hardest trial we've ever experienced.

A dear friend shared a thought that has stuck with me each day since Cooper's birth... where there is great love, there are always miracles. This perfectly sums up my feelings about Cooper's life and journey in the NICU thus far. We are so blessed to be Cooper's parents!