An angel on our shoulders (34 days)

We have a wealth of good news to share! Bryce's progress during the past two days has been near miraculous. The most exciting change for us, but perhaps the least important medically, is that he loves his kangaroo care (skin-to-skin snuggling). Daddy got to hold him for an hour on Sunday, and Mommy cuddled him for 90 minutes today. The staff is encouraging us to make time to hold him for at least an hour each day, and we're happy to oblige.

Also, he is finally off the blood pressure medication. They turned it off at 4:30pm on Saturday, and he has been stable without it ever since. Of course, this means that he can start eating again! The bi-hourly, 1 ml mini-feedings started Saturday evening, and they're going to continue those for five days before they consider an increase. I don't mean to embarrass my son, but given our past experience, we were thrilled that he has "good bowel sounds" and has been "stooling" regularly. He's been growing steadily, too: up to 980 g (~2.2 lbs) today!

Bryce has been doing great on the mechanical ventilator. They've reduced his support several times over the past two days, and the nurse practitioners said that he is currently near "extubatable" levels. That means they might remove the tube and allow him to try breathing on his own! It's probably a bit premature to hope he'll be off the vent for good, but it sure would be nice to hear the cries he's working so hard on (see pic).

They checked his kidneys via ultrasound this morning, and the urologist said they are structurally sound. His only complaint was that they are "small"; I'm guessing he didn't realize the magnitude of his patient. :)

All said, we couldn't ask for anything more from our micropreemie marvel. Personally, I think he must have a certain micropreemie angel watching over him. There's still a long road ahead, but we'll hope and pray for 65 more days like this.

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