Greetings to everyone.

Today was a little less stress-filled than the past few. Xavier had another two Bradies today, so it's official. Five more days in the NICU. I think he likes the NICU. There he has several grandmothers, aunts and older sisters taking care of him 24x7.

He ate well for Rebecca and for his first two feedings earlier in the shift. He took another 50 cc from me about 2 and a half hours after Rebecca left, then another 20 cc from me before I left two hours after I fed him the first time.

After feeding, he has started more often than not to look around or just lay there with his eyes open. He's acting like a term baby his age.

As I held Xavier today, I noticed his wrists have taken on a little bit of a chub. He is getting a little brown fat on him finally.

He was in a good mood for his hearing exam today. He passed. This is a screening only, and not a true measure of his hearing. Remember back to grade school: the line into the gym, the booth, the headphones, the high-pitched tones, the raise your right hand, raise your left hand? That's what this screening was, only (supposedly) more high-tech.

We expected Xavier to pass the screening; he follows sound around with his eyes and has for weeks. When I speak to him while he eats, he looks up at me. When mom speaks to him from a different direction, his eyes move over to her. Not only is he hearing well, he associates correct direction for the sounds he hears.

As I opened with, not too stressful of a day today. Thank you for your prayers. Our God reigns!

Greetings to everyone.

As you may have picked up from yesterday, Xavier did not come home today. The reason was he had two Bradies yesterday, one during his car seat challenge and one laying in his crib. He also had an apnea event. As the medical staff say it in rounds, he had one A and two B's on Sunday.

Ordinarily, his "A and 2 Bs" would reset the clock to him needing another five days of observation. This still may be the case. However, the doctors are considering releasing him sooner, perhaps this week still. It is possible his A and Bs were related to his immunization shots he got on Saturday. We'll know more later on, hopefully with a notice not so dramatic as last Saturday.

We will be given a car bed by the NICU. They will hold on to our car seat until we return the bed. It seems Xavier will have his next car seat challenge in a car bed.

Other good news: the doctors have taken Xavier off his "three hour" ad lib schedule and let him return to a true ad lib schedule for eating (not to exceed four hours without eating, however. Apparently, no baby his age and size should be going more than four hours without eating). The "three hour" modification to his ad lib schedule was to try and get Xavier to take an extra feeding during a shift as a way to help him gain weight. He's doing well enough with his feedings, the extra one being "snuck in" is no longer necessary.

Tomorrow, Rebecca and I will meet with the oxygen guys at the NICU and get Xavier's mobile oxygen tank. They will instruct us how to use it. This is exciting because it means Xavier is getting that much closer to being home!

Tonight, Xavier weighed in at 1712 grams, a loss of 4 grams from yesterday. The nurse had not measured his length yet when we called, but will do so during his next set of cares.

Rebecca drove down from Cheyenne late in the afternoon and met me at the NICU. We learned how to mix formula. Xavier will be coming home on 26 calories per ounce, but is expected to be weened down to 24 calories per ounce later on. We have recipes for both, and now the (academic) skills to make it happen. Next on our agenda: rocket science!

I had a chance to speak with this rotation's attending physician. I asked him about Xavier's lungs; they were of great concern through most of the last eleven weeks leading up to his delivery, and for some weeks after. He even participated in a (now de-funded) study involving preemies and lungs.

Dr. Jim did not think there will be any complications or problems with Xavier's lungs (Thank you, Jesus!). He may be a little more sensitive to pet dander and dust for a while. He may also have a slightly more difficult time if he contracts any respiratory issue (like a cold or something). As he grows and continues to develop, even these sensitivities will disappear.

The one lingering issue developmentally that we know about is Xavier's liver. His bilirubin count has consistently been high, around 2.4. Any of the fluctuation we have seen has probably been within the standard error of the lab tests.

What happens frequently with IUGR (in-utero growth-restricted) babies is a major artery feeding the liver (I think this is the hepatic artery) develops differently. The artery actually starts to bypass the liver. This is what Dr. Jim thinks happened with Xavier, he developed a partial bypass. A day or two before his delivery, this very liver artery was checked via ultrasound and Dopplers examined. Everything looked good. However, the ultrasound cannot detect a "splitting" of the artery. Because the artery partially bypasses the liver, the liver cannot clean the blood as efficiently, and hence the high bilirubin count.

Did this artery take a partial bypass in Xavier? That is unknown at this time, but likely based on the history of bilirubins and its common occurrence in IUGR babies. Dr. Jim explained that they (doctors) haven't gotten very good at being able to measure this kind of issue. However, the liver is a strong organ and very good at regenerating itself. The artery, Dr. Jim said, will likely self-correct over time.

Not wanting to leave Xavier's liver health in the hands of the unknowns, maybes and mights, we are asking Father to intervene.

On Saturday, Rebecca and I discussed circumcision with the doctors. Wow, what an education in how that is done! There is a special device called a plastibell which fits up underneath the foreskin, both protecting the head of the penis while creating a tiny operating area where the blood vessels can be clamped off and the foreskin cut away in a very precise and clean manner. Part of the plastibell stays in place to help protect the area while the area heals. The device looks much like its name suggests: a plastic bell.

Xavier is a little small for the procedure (the smallest plastibell was just a little too big). Also, the doctors did not want to do it so soon after his immunizations were given.

Thank you all for your prayers. Awesome is our God!

Hello everyone.

What a day! We started the morning visiting Xavier. Rebecca changed his diaper and held him a while before driving to Cheyenne. I stayed behind to feed him and wait out his car seat challenge (we brought in the car seat this morning).

Xavier passed his room air test last night with flying colors, but we had expected that. He did, however, drop 5 grams in weight, bringing his weight to 1680 grams. His weight drop is due to the fact Xavier did not sleep much last night, probably a reaction due to his immunizations. This is common for the first day or two after the shots.

His hearing screening got scheduled this morning, but it did not go well. Xavier was just too fussy, so it had to be rescheduled for tomorrow morning. I was expecting something like some finger snapping and response observation, but not so. Three electrodes are attached to his head, one behind each ear and one to the front of his head. A little sonic emitter is placed in his ear and a computer program took over. It's reminded me of an automobile emissions test.

Xavier no longer has his isolet. It was nowhere to be seen when we walked in this morning. He made it into a crib. Finally, at the end of his stay, he got into an open-air crib! His gel pad (used as a shape-conforming head and should pillow) he has known the last ten weeks was also gone. I was sad to see it go, but it's one of the things not allow in a crib. The open crib environment is supposed to be as close to a normal crib as possible. The only thing allowed in a crib is Xavier, on his back, swaddled or in a sleep sack. That is how we found him in his crib (he was swaddled and gone was his sleep sack)

I spent the rest of the day tracking down a reasonably priced, functional bassinet. Finally found one that will work for our needs. One would think this task would have been simple. Apparently, you can't just get one multi-functional bassinet; you must buy several single-function bassinets.

Xavier's car seat challenge did not go on schedule. He was just too fussy this morning and this afternoon. It would be done later in the day. I waited until 9 o'clock to call the NICU to find out how he did. Sadly, Xavier failed the car seat challenge. He bradied.

This was an important test (sitting, not laying down in his car seat for 90 minutes with his oxygen). The penalty for not passing this test is a stiff one: another five days in the NICU. At least that is how it is looking now. We will know more after rounds tomorrow morning.

We also learned our car seat (the smallest we could find) is still too big for Xavier at the moment. That means a car bed to bring him home (unless he bulks up in the next few days). The good news is the NICU has four new beds coming in on Tuesday and the NICU will loan one out to us. That's exciting, and cheaper: we don't need to buy something we are only going to need for a couple of weeks. (Although, I am bummed we don't get to buy one, use it, then donate it to the NICU).

Still, in the midst of this, Xavier weighed in tonight at 1716 grams (3 pounds 12.5 ounces), an increase of nearly an ounce, and a breaking of the 1700 gram milestone.

We thank you all for your prayers. Our God reigns and He is good!

Xavier in his crib. You can see (very darkly lit) his car seat in the background. Even though Xavier did not pass the challenge today, we are many steps closer to bringing him home!