Time has really flown since Samuel came home! He came home about a month ago now. I can't hardly believe it! Some things important things have happened and I will focus on those in this post.
We went to the eye doctor 3 times since he came home and he has now been declared ROP free! That is great news! He saw less and less each time until he saw nothing of the ROP left. So he doesn't have to go back to that doctor for 4 months. Yippee!
He has steadily been gaining weight since that first bit of weight loss. He is now about 7lb 10oz. We'll get the freshest weight tomorrow!
The pediatricians office has been interesting... They haven't quite figured out that he was born 3 months early and that makes things a little different for him than regular full-term babies. I also thought that his records were sent over from the NICU, but now I question if they truly were. They were trying to get me to schedule a "2 month" check-up to give him his 2 month shots. If they truly were looking at his record they would have seen that he received those before his discharge... So we are in the process of getting switched over to a different pediatrician, who also happens to be a neonatologist. The only trick is he's really good so his schedule is totally booked! We do finally have an app. scheduled with him, though not until the end of the month...
We still have a visiting nurse coming to check weight and he is still on oxygen. We are hoping and praying that he can quit the oxygen soon. I personally don't think he really needs it anymore, but alas, we shall see, when the visiting nurse comes tomorrow I want to talk with her about that more and see what she thinks. She could have some good suggestions about getting in with the doctor and deciding further about oxygen.
That being said, Sam did give us a little bit of a scare last weekend and we ended up at the doctor's office on Saturday (his due date). He kept dropping his oxygen really low just after eating (and just before too because he thinks diaper changes are the worst form of torture known to mankind...). So we went in and the doctor thinks Sam has some reflux. We've been trying some simple remedies at home (like holding him more vertically for about a half hour after eating) and he seems to be reacting well to that.
We also have Sam sleeping on his own again! If you remember when he first came home from the NICU he decided that he needed to be held 24/7, well we didn't completely agree. Though we LOVE holding our son, it is nice to be able to have him sleep without being held as well. So now we have him sleeping mainly in his bassinet and occasionally on us. Let's just say Mom and Dad are now getting a bit better sleep (even if it is just in apr. 2 hour increments...).
As of last check-up we decided to try only 2 bottles of fortified milk a day. This means I get to nurse him one more feeding a day and I don't have to pump AS much. Please pray that he still shows good weight gain with one less fortified bottle a day.
I think that is it with big updates. We are loving having him home though it definitely is more tiring having him home (though I still have not been as tired as I was when I was pregnant). Maybe the next big thing we can work on (other than getting him OFF oxygen) would be getting him to sleep longer at night? We can only hope!
