Before and After

ok so a little late

Cooper has been home for a little over a month. He came home on Feb. 24 and it was the most exciting, terrifying day of my life. But now its hard to remember when he wasn't home with us. Cooper has doctors appointments every week for one thing or another. His last doctors appointment was this past Thursday, he's growing so much. Hes come a long way since the 2 lbs 1.5 oz. He weighs 9lbs 14.5 oz. He's growing so fast and changing so much every day. We are so blessed to have him and he is our miracle baby. Thank you all for the prayers and the great friendships. We love you all.

Jan. 23

Another big day for Cooper. They are letting him eat twice a day, breastfeeding and bottle feeding. He hasn't been taking the bottle too well until two days ago. Now he's taking the whole bottle. I'm hoping they will up his bottle feedings tomorrow. He does ok breastfeeding, its just going to take some time. They also lowered his oxygen. So we are getting closer and closer to him coming off the oxygen. So for him to come home he has to come off the oxygen and take 8 bottles in a 24 hour period. So we are slowly getting to the date he comes home.

His weight today is 4lbs 11oz.

January 4, 2010

Big day for little Cooper. Today he was moved from the critical care unit of the NICU to the special care unit. He's still in the isolette but the regular crib will be coming soon. He weighs 3 lbs. 6 oz. now and is 15-3/4 inches long--growing so fast. And he looks like a little baby now as opposed to a little old man just 5 weeks ago. The opthamologist came in and checked his eyes, and so far everything is ok there--the eyes are just immature (imagine that!). We're so thankful that everything seems to be progressing on schedule and we're that much closer to his due date when hopefully he'll be ready to go home. Thanks for all your prayers.

December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! This Christmas day is a bittersweet one--sad because Cooper can't be home with us for Christmas, but happy because this week he has made so many positive accomplishments. He's back on the nasal canula and they keep reducing his oxygen levels which means if all goes well he'll be breathing entirely on his own before long. He's handling his feedings well and they're upping the amounts he gets every day. He will probably have his IV's removed this week--yayyyy! Matt and I have been able to hold him almost every day, but only for a short time. We hope all these good things continue and we won't have to endure any other serious "bumps in the road". He'll be 4 weeks old on Sunday and now weighs 2 lbs. 11 oz. Thanks so much for all the prayers and please keep them coming.

December 17, 2009

Talk about being on a roller coaster, that's the way the last few days have been. We got great news on Monday--the small hole in the valve in his heart has closed and he's beginning to gain weight. I guess the mommy milk agrees with him. Then on Tuesday nite they had to put him back on the ventilator. He was having to work too hard to breathe and they didn't want him to overtire. They ran a blood culture to be sure all this grief wasn't due to an infection. Well, it was an infection, apparently coming from his "broviac" (central IV). He's on antibiotics and they're checking his blood again to make sure the antibiotics are working. They will remove the broviac but would like to wait until the first of next week when they feel they can take him off his "gatorade and fat" cocktail and feed him with only mother's milk. I sure hope so. Thanks so much for the prayers and good wishes. It sure makes the rough times a little easier to go through.

December 10, 2009

Little Cooper is doing well. He still has some "destats" which means lapses in his breathing, but the nurses say that condition will improve as his lungs mature. He's eating again-mama's milk-2 cc's 4 times a day-and if that goes well they will increase his feedings this weekend. He's still a bit under weight but hopefully the milk will put some fat on his little bones. In the meantime he has a yummy cocktail of electrolites and other nutritional stuff and lipids (fat) by IV. He likes sleeping on his tummy but they want him to be able to sleep on his back. So he tolerates that for a while and then the "wiggle worm" in him comes out and he moves his legs and arches his back trying to roll over. We catch him trying to put his thumb in his mouth which is ok with us because we want him to perfect his sucking reflex. Thanks for all the encouragement and prayers. It means so much to us.