On the sunny side of the street......

I am now the proud parent of a 5 pound butterball......Well ok so he is only 4 pounds 15.9 ounces, but if you threw a feather on the scale it would have read 5 pounds. YIPEEEEE. I realized looking back at writing this blog, that it seems kinda somber. When I started writing it only a couple of weeks ago, my intention was only to update people on Thurstons medical progress really, but somehow, within one day, it turned into a very cathardic outlet for what we had been through. I didnt realize how rough it really was, mostly for Thurston poor little guy....I still need to write about his birth and first few months in the nICU....more somber moments to regale you with....so I thought I would change the mood and give you all some extremely positive news.....

My little man is 5 pounds. He is now a sumo-wrestler of the preemie world or even the size of a small newborn, a very small tinee tiny newborn, but a newborn nonetheless. He is still on the cpap as his lungs are just still needing that extra help, but the doc says its just a matter of time(hopefully a week) that they will try him back on the nasal cannula.....which means hopefully within the next couple of weeks we move on to trying to orally feed him where he gets to practice his suck, swallow and breathe technique, something he needs to master before they send him a packin!!!!!

His ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) is now RESOLVING....more yippppeeeee. It had been zone 2 stage 2 which is a little scary and they had to keep coming back to check his eyes, and if it continued to progress they would have had to do laser surgery on him. Now the eye doc says it is in zone 2/3 which is great(zone one is the center of the eye and the most dangerous zone for rop) and is 0-2 stage which means its regressing. So hopefully it will continue on this path. Whew, one less thing to worry about.

Also, the doctor had been concerned with his muscle tone last week. He has been pretty stiff in his legs and arching his back, both of which could point to some neurological issues(cp being one of them) although this could also be just a preemie issue, or what I have always thought, an issue related to how stressed out he is on the cpap, with reflux and gas bubbles from all the air pumped into his tummy. Well last night, the doctor came in when I was holding him and wanted to assess him. As she was bending his legs, checking his body she said, "Hey, I am really liking what I see here". She had told me that his muscles seem far more relaxed and his flexion is much better. She said she had never seen him relaxed before because she always does his assesment when the nurses are messing with him(in other words when he is stressed out and tense). She had a huge smile on her face and was very pleased. I of course am ecstatic. It is more common for preemies, especially IUGR preemies, to have developmental issues, sometimes mild, sometimes more severe, and Thurston from day one has pretty much been in the highest risk category as he is both IUGR and a preemie. So far, he seems to be developing great(for being born 1 pound 4 ounces)so the future just keeps looking brighter and brighter. I guess we can start looking on the sunnyside of the street!!!!