Another Exciting Day!

Wow, today was another exciting day with a lot going on.  After several days of not much happening, today a ton of big steps were made!  We think Liam overheard us talking to the nurses about not having much to write about on the blog and he'd take matters into his own hands.  We got to the NICU shortly before the doctors made their rounds and we were able to get an update on his progress.  We had missed these the past few days.  Liam had gained another 80 grams and weighs a tremendous 4 lbs 2 oz!  His head circumference is still stable, he's pooping and peeing like a good little boy, and he's been doing well with his feedings.

Liam is now at a gestational age of 34 weeks, which is a big milestone for preemies.  The neonatologist felt he was doing well enough to challenge him to see how he does.  He had been taking caffeine to help control his apnea episodes and since these have been less frequent over the past few days they felt it was time to stop giving it to him.  They are going to monitor him and see how well he does.  If he goes off it completely then he won't have to wear a monitor when he comes home!

Liam before the day's festivities.

Liam has been doing so well with the pacifier so they felt it may be time to see how well he does breastfeeding.  His sugar levels have been stable over the past few days and they've been condensing his feeds to a normal schedule so they thought they'd see how well he takes it.  If nothing else, they felt it would be good for both Liam and Allison for bonding and to help Allison's milk come in.  We gave it  a shot, but it wasn't all that successful.  It was a bit awkward for Allison to hold him with all his wires and he's not quite strong enough to create enough suction to pull milk out, but it wasn't a complete waste.  They bonded as only mother and child can and Liam showed that he has the motion down, just not enough strength yet.  This was also the first time that he's been out and not snuggled up on our chest so we think he got a little distracted.  He was looking around like crazy and every time something beeped he'd get distracted gain.  Liam did show enough promise though that the nurse thought it would be a good idea to step it up a notch......she took his feeding tube out and gave us a bottle! We finally got to see his cute face without tape or tubes attached to it!

Hooray!  No more tube and tape!

Liam took to the bottle like a champ and showed us just how much he's improving.  Ian was lucky enough to get to feed him and after a little coaxing Liam went to town on the bottle!  He took his entire feed without any issues and burped loud enough to make Daddy proud, all without throwing up!  Afterwards he went into a little "milk coma" and hardly budged until we put him back in his isolette an hour later.  He was in such a deep sleep that his monitors went off a couple times because his heart rate dipped.  Everybody likes a full tummy! The doctors say the heart dip is a preemie thing and he will hopefully eventually grow out of it (he might have them more frequently at first since he is off the caffeine). Luckily, he pulls it back up quickly and they only last for a couple of seconds. So far there has been no need for the nurses to interfere and help him. If they don't go away then the monitors get to home with us. We are still a long way from coming home but we are hoping no monitors come home with us!

Daddy is a natural.

Monkey hatted milk coma.

All the nurses were impressed by how well he took to the bottle for as young as he is.  At the next feeding the nurse felt it was time to finally get some clothes on our naked baby!  Liam had been gaining weight consistently and met other requirements that she felt it was time to give it a shot.  We were only able to put him in a plain white shirt; the cute clothes will have to wait.  Liam didn't know what was going on when Allison was putting the shirt on him.  While Allison was dressing him, another milestone was reached.  Liam's belly button finally fell off! We aren't sure if the clothes are going to be able to stay on him all the time. The nurses hadn't decided yet, but at least he wore a shirt so he wouldn't get cold while eating.

What is this on my arms?

Allison got to feed him next and we think he set a new world record for emptying a bottle. It probably took him less than two minutes to completely drain his bottle.  The nurses were flabbergasted by how fast he ate.  Another "milk coma" followed and he slept like a rock.

Mommy's turn!

Complete concentration.

The physical therapist came in near the end of the day.  She continues to be impressed by how well Liam is developing.  However, the past couple of days we've noticed that one of Liam's feet has been turned out at an angle and the toes on his other foot have been curled under and have remained this way for a few days.  The physical therapist said this could be the result of positioning and just lack of movement.  She is going to tape them up like an athlete's so they can maintain proper alignment and she'll keep monitoring them to see what progresses.  She's first going to do a 24-hour tape test to make sure he doesn't have a reaction to the tape and then she'll tape his feet and ankles to make sure they are correctly aligned on Friday.

All-in-all today has been quite eventful and a little exhausting.  It was nice to return to the Ronald McDonald House with several packages and letters from home.  We'd like to thank the choir at Mill Creek for their generous gift; we continue to be blessed by our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We'd also like to thank the Rookstools for the care package full of goodies from home.  The hats are absolutely adorable!  And Ron and Dorian, your box of goodies was the icing on the cake.  Ian particularly enjoyed the monkey puppet book.

Let's continue to pray that Liam passes his tests tonight and he can continue with the bottle feeds and stay in his clothes.