Returning to Normalcy?

(If you haven't checked it out yet, there's a picture gallery on the right under "Jeffrey's Bookmarks")
What a whirlwind ride these past days have been. Now that we’ve successfully navigated our first week as newbie parents, it’s time to get back in track. One piece of advice that everyone has given us is the importance of setting up a routine. Of course, he’s been added to our lives, not the other way around – but he really hasn’t learned the whole concept of “compromise” yet. Fortunately for us, since he is still in the NICU, an artificial routine has already been established. The NICU is one of the best babysitting services around, and they’ve got him on a feeding schedule every 3 hours. That’s going to be great once we get him home.
We’ve also got a good schedule going on. I can arrive at the hospital in time for his 9A feeding, and still be on time for my 10 A class at RIT. Danielle’s got a great pumping routine and is ahead of Jeffrey’s feedings by at least a few days. We look forward to each feeding that we attend and the opportunity to hold him.
Here’s his progress for the past few days:

• Gaining weight. Born at 1255g, dropped down to 1090g and is back up to 1190g 1210g!
  


• Increasing feedings. Every 12 hours, the nurses increase the amount of breastmilk that he’s fed by NG gavage. This evening he was up to 17cc.
  


• IV was removed in his hand, and the doctors are optimistic about removing his umbilical line tomorrow or Wednesday. That means no more fluids by IV.


• Bilirubin levels down to 7.6 and off the light therapy. He’s been on and off the lights, and it’s not unheard of to bounce back and forth a few times before the liver is developed enough.


• By the end of the week he may be able to try breast feeding. Since this will change his feeding volume and caloric intake (only 110 cal/kg!), the NICU will be adding a supplement called Human Milk Fortifier. It adds an additional calorie per ounce of milk. We'll need to watch his weight carefully, since there's no such thing as a breast milk nipple meter to determine how much he's getting.
  


• Back on a nasal cannula of room air at 1% for a little while to reduce apneic events.