Monday, November 30th Update

Sorry for the absence of posting! A week and a half ago we had an appointment with the nephrologist at Primary Children's. Cooper's blood pressure continues to be above normal, so we slightly increased his blood pressure medication dose (from .7 ml to .8 ml). The doctor told us to not be overly concerned about his hypertension. While it is above normal levels, it's not at an extremely high rate that could cause damage. They did a few tests to eliminate any serious problems (like protein in his urine, etc) and those all came back negative. His doctor thinks that Cooper will grow out of the high blood pressure by the time he's one year old. Right now we're keeping a close eye on it, and we'll have a follow up appointment in January, where they will do a kidney ultrasound and some blood work.

Today Cooper is officially about five times his birth weight... he's exactly 10 pounds! Double digits:) He's not on his age chart for his weight or height percentiles, but he's officially in the 2nd percentile of head size for his age! I'm so happy about his 2% head size and being on the chart in one thing!

For once, today at his weekly check-up his blood pressure was well within the normal range. It seems that the increased dosage of medication is working. He's getting stronger and more active each day, and we're thankful for the wonderful progress he is making. :)

Monday, November 16th Update

Today we had Cooper's weekly pediatrician appointment, and our little man weighs 9 pounds 6 ounces! His blood pressure was a bit higher than it should be, but we'll follow up next week. Cooper has an appointment with the nephrologist at Primary Children's later this week, so we may learn more about the state of his kidneys/blood pressure at that point.

Overall he's doing great! Yesterday we had his baby blessing, and I will do a separate post with some pictures. We can't get enough of our mini coop :)

Tuesday, November 10th Update

As of today, Cooper has been home from the NICU for one month! As I suspected, time goes waaaaay too fast at home. This last month has been amazing, and we feel so grateful to have our boy home with us!

Today we had Cooper's 4 month (1 month adjusted) pediatrician visit. Cooper had his circumcision and four month shots today, and handled both amazingly. He is a brave boy... he only briefly cried when he had the shots. His blood pressure was totally normal (he's still taking the blood pressure med twice a day) and he gained half a pound since last week. He now weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce. His length today was 21 1/4 inches. With his adjusted age (1 month) Cooper is 50 percentile for weight and height!

Cooper loves to be held and snuggled all the time, and we can't get enough of his cuddles. He is learning to grab things and is getting better at eye contact and following objects with his eyes. We do tummy time every day, and Cooper's neck is getting incredibly strong! Most of the time when we have him on our chest he arches his neck back and holds his head up. He is incredibly mellow, and is only upset when he's hungry.

He's becoming a good little eater, and now takes about 18 ounces a day with the bottle! He wasn't gaining enough weight when I was doing pumped milk and bottles combined with nursing a few times a day (because we have to add formula for extra calories to the milk I pump) so right now I'm exclusively pumping and Cooper takes bottles for all of his feeds. I could write an entire other post about pumping and my love/hate relationship with it for the last 4 months:) We are officially done with the NG tube, and it's so nice to not have any tubes/wires/lines! 

I just finished packing up his newborn clothes and got out the 0-3 months... sometimes I really can't fathom that our tiny 2 pound baby is nearly five times his birth size. He is truly a miracle, and I can't help but cry sometimes when I think about how far he's come since his scary entrance into the world. Thank you for your continued love and support for Cooper!

Monday, November 2nd Update

(Meant to post this yesterday!)

Today Cooper had his surgery follow up clinic. His surgeon, Dr. Myers, who performed both of his surgeries  at Primary Children's examined his incisions and said that they look great! If she had any concerns she was going to have us come back in a year, but she said everything looked excellent and that we don't have to come back for 3 or 4 years. (Hard to imagine a 3 year old Cooper! Haha)

We also had Cooper's weekly weight and blood pressure check-up with his pediatrician. Cooper gained 10 ounces since last week! He now weighs 8 pounds 9 ounces, and he's 19.5 inches long. His blood pressure was a bit high, but it was time for his next dose of blood pressure medication, and Cooper was starving and crying. Next week he has his "1 month" (4 month) check up.

Taylor and I continue to feel so blessed to have Cooper home. Now that he's here, I don't know how we ever lived without him.

Tube Free Cooper

On Halloween night, Cooper pulled out his NG (feeding) tube from his nose. We weren't really having to use it much for a few days prior, so we decided to see how he did on Sunday before putting it back in. Cooper took his full amount of feeds with a bottle, so he is now officially tube free! It's kind of surreal to not have any tubes/lines/monitors attached to him for the first time in his entire life. He's like a real baby, or something:) We're so happy to be done with the NG tube!

I thought the timing of going NG free was interesting. If you remember, the first nurse practitioner in the infant unit told us she thought we would be home by Halloween without the NG tube. Thankfully, the second practitioner sent us home two days later. But she was right... Cooper did it by Halloween!

Cooper's First Halloween!

Halloween was Cooper's first major holiday... and it was so fun! We didn't do much (#germs #RSV) but Cooper wore a cute little pumpkin outfit and went to Grandma K's house for her annual Halloween lunch. We love our little pumpkin!

Cooper and cousin Charlotte