Friday, September 4th Update

Sorry for the late update! Cooper had an exciting day yesterday... he breastfed for the first time! We have been working on it for about the last two weeks, and yesterday he latched and ate for about six minutes. :) A developmental therapist was overseeing the process and said he was swallowing and sucking, and he did a great job! We will continue to breastfed once a day for now, and work up to more feedings. All of the many hours of pumping every three hours for the last two months paid off in those six minutes. I'm so proud of Cooper!

Sadly, Cooper lost 20 grams yesterday... luckily not a huge loss, and hopefully he'll gain it back today. His hand is looking better than the day before, but it is still a bit swollen.

Yesterday the attending doctor confirmed that Cooper will have his take down surgery at 5 pounds 8 oz. After telling me that he said "And then Cooper can go home anytime!" I have never heard a doctor use "Cooper" and "home" in the same sentence, so it was pretty exciting. When the doctor says he can go home anytime, that's not entirely true. Cooper has to breathe on his own or on home oxygen settings (which he's doing), eat everything he needs to grow by mouth (still working on that), continue to gain weight, not be on any antibiotics (he's currently not on any), regulate his blood sugar, have safe jaundice levels, go 7 days without an apnec spell, be in an open crib and stay warm on his own (currently doing), pass a car seat trial (haven't done that yet), sleep on his back on a flat mattress (not doing that yet), pass a hearing test, and pass an eye test. He's checked off a lot of the discharge items, but after surgery we'll have a few to conquer before going home.