More Baby Steps (no pun intended)

After hearing the good news this morning that Liam's head was stable and a shunt isn't needed yet (he will ultimately most likely need one), we got some more good news as well.  Liam has been having issues maintaining his blood sugar and they were going to try continuous feeding to see if that would stabilize his sugar levels.  Liam has had an IV tube since he was born inserted through his belly button in what remained of the umbilical cord so they could administer fluids.  This central IV line was nearing the end of how long it could remain installed and they really wanted to take it out but they had to wait until Liam's sugars leveled out. They monitored his levels throughout the day and by about 5:00 this afternoon we finally got word that they were going to take it out!

We were able to breathe a little easier today after hearing about his ultrasound results and Liam was putting on quite the show for us.  We learned he has a really good set of lungs; he screamed bloody murder when they took some tape off his belly when they removed the IV.  He had every monitor going off and threw quite the fit.  They've been testing his blood sugar every 1-3 hours and have to prick him and he doesn't even flinch.  Remove a little bit of tape and he goes crazy.  Go figure!

Lounging like a pro!

We have slowly been able to bring some more personal touches into the NICU so everything isn't quite so sterile and generic.  They've let us add our own blankets for his bedding.  However, all the clothes we had packed for Liam were Newborn or larger, but we were able to go out the other day and find a few preemie clothes.  He isn't allowed to wear them yet, but they did let us put a hat on.  Ian of course picked out the monkey hat.  It was a real hit with all the ladies.  Liam is so tiny, even the preemie hats are too big but he still looks adorable.  By the end of our snuggle time the hat was turned completely around.

Two monkeys cuddling.

It's amazing watching Liam try and figure things out and we've been impressed by the progress he's made.  He's gotten pretty good about getting his hands up to his face and we caught him today sucking on his index finger.  He couldn't quite figure out what was going on with the hat.  We could tell that he knew something was on his head but he couldn't see it.  He stared out into space for a long time and we couldn't figure out what he was looking at.  We finally reasoned he must be trying to look at whatever was on his head.

Somebody fix my hat.

Trying to figure what's on my head.

We're hoping that things are settling down a bit.  The big goal is to get Liam bigger.  We're hoping that he gains for five consecutive days so we'll finally be able to get him out of the isolette and hopefully into some clothes.  One day down, four to go!