Tuesday (February 28)

Today was a big day for Silas.  He had another ultrasound of his brain and one of his hips.  These are tests that all nicu babies get.  Everything looked a-okay with both tests and there is no need to retest again.  We are so blessed that he did not have a brain bleed at any point - so many 25 weekers do.  His hips looked great too and there were no problems there.

The eye doctor came and saw him today too.  He technically wasn't supposed to see him until next week but there is a good chance that Silas won't be here next week so they moved up the appointment to this week.  The eye doctor came in, took a look at his eyes, looked at me and said "And he was a 25 weeker?"  I answered "yes." He said "Well, he has done remarkably well.  Unbelievable really.  Almost all 25 weekers have problems and he doesn't."  He went on to say that he doesn't need to see Silas again but that if I ever notice a problem in the future that he would be more than happy to have him as a patient but that most likely I won't need to bring him back.  And that, my friends, is the power of prayer.  Our little man wouldn't have done near as well without all of your prayers.  Thank you.

Tomorrow he is going to be fitted in his carseat.  They have a carseat technician come into the room and put him in his carseat, adjust the straps, and make sure it fits him properly.  He will also have to pass a carseat challenge before he goes home.  He will have to sit in his carseat, in the room, for two and a half hours and make sure that he does fine.  Most babies' carseat challenge only lasts 45 minutes but Silas has a longer ride home, therefore he has to be challenged longer.  He won't do that part tomorrow though, but soon.

Dr. Schwartz told us last weekend that Silas may get to come home this weekend.  The doctors are now trying to decide whether to send him home with oxygen this weekend or wait a little while longer and try to send him home without oxygen.  They are doing a blood gas test in the morning that will indicate how much longer Silas may need the oxygen.  If it indicates quite a while longer then I think they will send him home with it.  If it indicates that he may not need it much longer then I think he will stay until he can come home without it.  If I have to bring him home with it, that's okay but if I don't, that's even better.  The downside to bringing him home with it is that then he will become the patient of a pulmonologist here at the hospital and that will require lots of follow-up appointments and it just seems like it could turn into a long drawn-out affair.  I would like it to be cut and dry - he's home and that's that.  But obviously, I don't always get what I want.

In the meantime, Silas is doing great with his feedings.  He took all of every one of his bottles today except two - which is really good.  I also breastfed him this evening and he ate like a champ then too.  The nurses are all really happy with how well he is doing with his feedings.

The only bad news I have is that my nose is running - again.  I was fine until I got to this hospital but it didn't take long after I got here for it to start running.  I feel fine but I have this crazy runny nose and if it's not runny, it's stuffy.  Ugggh.  I really think I am allergic to something in here.  When I go downstairs I feel so much better!  I bought some Claritin tonight and am hoping that helps.  Praying that I'm not really sick and won't give this to Silas.  There's been so much going on with him that I feel like I need to be here to talk to all of the doctors so I haven't went home.  Hoping that I have made the right decision.  Please pray that I am not getting sick again!

Silas is now 11 weeks old, or gestationally he is now a 36 weeker and is still 4 weeks away from his due date. 

Monday (February 27)

Silas has been doing great since his surgery.  He was a little sore for the first few hours and would cry when he moved his legs but that didn't last long.  He has two small incisions that are healing up just fine.  He has been taking most of his bottles and is working up to taking every one of them.  They took the nasal cannula (that gives him a tiny puff of air) off of him on Saturday.  He went without it until Sunday night but then he had to have it put back on.  He was having too many desaturations (not enough oxygen flowing in his body) without it.  Basically, he just wasn't breathing as well without it, especially while he was eating.  It wears him out to take his bottles.  The doctor compared him taking one bottle to us running one mile.  It takes a lot of energy out of his little body to do that.  But he is working hard on it and if he gets to the point where he can take every one of his bottles, he can go home.  The doctor said maybe this weekend if Silas holds up his end of the bargain.  We shall see.

On Saturday Jason and I took our two required classes - a discharge class and a cpr class.  It was not fun at all and I don't think it should be required.  The discharge class was total common sense stuff.  "When you give your baby a bath, make sure the water is not too hot and not too cold.  If the baby's butt is red, you might want to use some Desitin."  This is my third baby, yeah, I got it.  I was a little annoyed by the whole thing.  Especially since the girl sitting next to me (who took notes and totally needed to be there because she had no common sense) smelled like an ashtray.  She gave me an instant headache from her stench and I wanted to puke the whole time I was in the classroom.  It was not a pleasant experience.  As for the cpr class, it was a nice refresher that a nurse could have went over with us in the room in about 10 to 15 minutes.  Instead we sat in a classroom for an hour and a half next to a chimney with bright blue hair that hadn't been washed in a month.   If you smoke like a freight train, you need to bathe regularly.  Soap is cheap.  Heck, it's actually free in the hospital.  I know Jesus loves her though and I should try harder.  I am going to work on that.

We were back home on Sunday and Jason and I and the girls all had a nice lunch with my parents.  After that Jason and my Dad took the girls fishing.  Mom and I hung some uppercase living and a curtain that Mom had made for Silas' room.  (Actually, she hung it all and I watched.)  Then I had to empty out my freezer of all of my breastmilk to make room for this week's breastmilk.  I took all that I had to my Aunt Angie's and filled up her deep freeze.  I now have breastmilk stored in at least four locations across town.  I am always looking for more freezers to fill though.

Now today, I am back in St. Louis.  Silas was glad to see his Mommy today.  He has had a great day.  On Saturday he weighed 5 lb 4 oz but then on Sunday he was back down to 5 lb 2 oz.  Tonight he weighed 5 lb 3 oz.

Here are some recent pictures:

This is one of my favorite little outfits.  It is from his "Aunt Penny"

 and is a size newborn!  He has outgrown almost all of his preemie clothes!

This is on the morning of his surgery.  This is what they put him in

to wheel him to surgery.  Poor baby!

This was taken on Valentine's Day.  I loved this little green sleeper.

It was a preemie size and he was just about too long for it.

Four pounds, 7.8 ounces! 

This beautiful hat was knit for him by his Great Aunt Cheryl.

It just fits and he wears it a lot.  So cute!

In other news, while I drive over here to St. Louis, a lot of my thinking is arranged into facebook statuses.  Although I can not post as I'm driving, here are some random things that cross my mind:

What is so hard to understand about four way stops?  And why do some people feel the need to stop 500 feet behind the white stop line just so they technically stopped first?  That doesn't count!  Scoot your butts on up to the stop sign and wait your turn!

If you are being passed on the right, you are in the wrong.  Get over.  Driving slow in the fast lane should be punishable by up to a year in Mexico and not being allowed bottled water.

Why does everybody from Iuka feel the need to pull out on Route 50 without fully stopping?  Are their lives so busy that they can't wait two seconds for me to drive past.  Does my car have a sign on it that says "I love when people from Iuka pull out in front of me!"?  (This whole statement can also apply to people from Watson who pull out onto Route 45.)

Just because it is called Route 50, does not mean that you have to drive 50.  The speed limit is 55.  Please at least go that fast.

Not all of my thoughts are about other people's driving habits though.  Every time I drive by Barnes Hospital on my way to Mercy I think that they should just add a few turrets and change their name to Hogwarts.  How cool would that be?

Here are some pics from tonight.  This blue outfit I bought for Silas right after I found out I was having a boy.  It is his "coming home" outfit but we are trying it out tonight.  It is a size newborn and is big on him.  Every brand is different in size, that's for sure.  The orange tube in his nose is his feeding tube and he is trying to yank it out in all of these pictures.  He is also hungry and is saying "quit taking my picture and feed me!"

That's all for tonight.  Thank you for the prayers and please continue them for our little man.



Surgery Day (February 23)

Well today was Silas' big day.  Everything went fine and he is doing great. 

I've known that his surgery was going to be today but I didn't find out what time it was going to be at until 6 p.m. last night.  The doctor called and we had a pre-op appointment by phone, since I was unable to be in St. Louis.  (Luckily, I am feeling much better and am not sick anymore.)  He said that he decided to put Silas first this morning and that his surgery would be at 7:30 a.m. and that we would need to be here at 7:00.  Then I talked to the nurse after that and she said that we really needed to be here by 6:30 a.m. in order to do the paperwork.  Yikes!  That meant we had to leave the house by 4:00 a.m. this morning, which in turn meant that we had to wake up at 3:30 a.m.  Double yikes!  Jason and I rolled out of bed though and hit the road at 4:06 a.m.  Our drive over to St. Louis in the dark was very reminiscent of our drive in the early morning hours of December 11th - cold, dark, and not much traffic.

We arrived at Mercy Hospital at 6:20 a.m., and went in to see Silas.  He looked huge!!  Oh my lands, I hadn't seen my boy in a week and I thought he looked way way waaayyy bigger!  That is a good thing but it was a weird feeling at the same time.  I mean this is my son and I barely recognized him.  The nurses were in his room preparing him for transport down to the OR.  They brought in a smaller bed and put him in that for the long ride.  The ride was pretty bumpy for him but I think he liked it.  Some of our favorite nurses were helping today - Jen (the night nurse), Jenn (the day nurse), Nikki, and Karen.  They are all very sweet ladies and they love Silas.

First we went to a pre-op waiting room where we sat and waited on our surgeon, Dr. Caln.  He is a very nice man, probably in his forties.  He has young kids at home and I believe that he truly cares about Silas.  While we waited, I got to hold Silas for the first time in eight days.  I had missed him so much!  The poor guy hadn't been fed all night though because of the surgery and he could smell my milk the minute I walked into the room I think.  He really wanted me to feed him and I couldn't.  I felt like I was torturing him - "Smell this food, honey.  Doesn't it smell good?  Ah, too bad you can't have any."  Oh well, I wasn't able to hold him too long and the surgeon came in, went over everything, answered questions, and the team of nurses, anasthesiologists, respiratory techs, etc all whisked him away.

Jason and I went into a large waiting room for inpatient surgery where Jason proceeded to fall asleep in a recliner and then break said recliner.  The group of ladies sitting next to us got a big kick out of that.  That recliner is probably still reclined and may never go back to an upright position again.  The nurse called us on the cell phone while we were waiting and told us that they were starting.  They didn't have to put Silas under and I was happy about that.  Instead they used a caudal block, which is a lot like an epidural.  He received a shot in his back which blocked the pain and he was numb from his waist down.  This took a while to go into effect so they didn't actually start on the surgery until 8:07 a.m.  About an hour later, it was all finished and the doctor met with us in a private room.  Oh, I forgot to say that the doctor asked us if he could pray with us before they took Silas back in the operating room.  We all had a prayer right before the surgery and I thought that was so nice.  Anyway, so the doctor met with us and said that everything went very well.  Silas had two hernias and they fixed both of them.  I had also requested that they go ahead and do his circumcision while he was numb.  So they did that as well.  He has two little incisions on his belly, one on the left and one on the right.  They told me to expect a lot of swelling.  Silas has not enjoyed his last few diaper changes to say the least.  He has slept the entire day and hasn't even woke up for feedings.  He has gotten all of his food today through the feeding tube. 

Jason headed back to Flora this evening and I stayed here.  Jason will be back on Saturday and I will ride home with him then.  We were both pretty tired this afternoon and took a nap in Silas' room.  Silas was asleep so we might as well be too.  I slept on the couch and Jason slept in the recliner.  This one is in much better shape though and I am happy to report that it still works and he did not break it. 

Thank you all so much for the prayers.  They mean so much.  I am so thankful that Silas' journey has been such an easy one compared to many other babies here in this nicu.  I know that it is because of the power of prayer and give God the glory for my healthy beautiful baby boy.

I was hoping that Silas would come home in a week.  After speaking with the nurse today I really feel like it is probably going to be closer to two weeks.  Either way, it is still before his due date and I am thankful for that.  This is what needs to happen before he can come home:  he needs to take all of his feedings by bottle or breast (he is getting closer to doing that and for the past week has taken most of them by bottle) and his blood count needs to go up a little.  Right now he is anemic again and he either needs to start making some more red blood cells on his own or get another blood transfusion.  I guess we will see how that goes.  Hoping he comes home soon!!

My Baby Weighs Five Pounds!! (Feb. 21)

Well, he did it.  Silas has hit the five pound mark as of last night!  I am so happy!  He is just doing great!  That is the good news.  The bad news is that I am still sick and haven't seen my baby in a week.  It has been very hard being away from him.  I ran a fever over the weekend and felt awful.  I am feeling better now but I still have a cough and a stuffy nose.  This has got to go away soon!  I really think I will be able to go back to the nicu by Thursday, which is a really good thing because the doctors have scheduled Silas' hernia surgery for Thursday.  They will be repairing the hernia that has allowed some of his intestines to go down into his scrotum.  They consider it a minor surgery but I will be very glad when it is all over for my sweet little boy and he can come home.

Please pray that the surgery goes well and that I get better.  Thank you!!

Friday (February 17)

Silas is doing great.  He had been holding steady at 4 pounds 8 ounces for the last few days.  Last night he weighed in at a whopping 4 pounds, 10.11 ounces.  Yay!  Maleah weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces when she was born at 34 weeks (which is his age now), so that's pretty cool.   He is taking about two bottles every day and doing great with them.  His other meals are still by the feeding tube.  Taking a bottle wears him out.  They took the nasal cannula off of him but it was only off for about ten minutes.  He started to desat and had a heartrate drop so that put it right back on him.  He wasn't ready to give it up.  He will be what they consider a 35 weeker this weekend.  He is still five weeks from his due date.  I am hoping he is home before that but we shall see. The eye doctor has seen him twice and say that his eyes look great.  No problems at all.  The hearing doctor came and said that his ears are fine as well.  Silas is one amazing little miracle man.

I ended up with a little bit of a cold by Wednesday night.  It has now turned into a full-blown sinus infection.  I am taking antibiotics and hope to be completely well by Monday.  In the meantime, I am not going to St. Louis this weekend.  I am very sad about that.  I would feel even worse if I gave him a bug though.  We were supposed to take our two required classes on Saturday - a cpr class and a discharge class.  All nicu parents have to take the classes before taking their baby home.  Even though he is not quite ready to go home, they encouraged us to go ahead and sign up because the Saturday classes fill up fast.  I was able to get us into next Saturday's classes instead so hopefully we can make it by then.  I also had a photographer from The Jeremy Project scheduled to come and take his pictures on Saturday, but had to cancel with her as well.  I sure hope I get rid of this cough soon!!

That is all the news I have.  :)

Monday (February 13)

Here is another video of Silas.  This was tonight right after his bath.  He looked so cute and he was so alert.  His hair was fluffy because I just washed it.  His little preemie outfit looked so tiny until I put it on him and then it looked huge!  It was too big but that's okay.  He is doing great.  He weighs four pounds, 7 ounces now. 

I breastfed him today for the first time.  He has "nuzzled" at my breast before but during those times they always made me pump all the milk out first  But this time I actually got to feed him.  He is a professional.  Neither of the girls ever had a latch like his.  He ate quite a bit and did great. 

I have a lot of pictures to post tonight.  Here is one of Grandma Sherrel holding him for the first time on Saturday.

Here are some pictures of Silas on Saturday with his first bottle.  The nurse got him started and showed me what to do (not the same as feeding a full-term baby) and then passed him off to me.

Saturday was also Silas' two month birthday!  Here he is sporting his "two month" shirt...

Here are some more pictures from today  These two are from right after his bath.  I swaddled him up and tucked him into bed.  In the first pic he is getting very sleepy.  Two seconds later I snapped the second pic and he was asleep. 

 

Yesterday we got a lot of work done at home.  We finally got Carissa completely moved in to her new room down the hall.  And it looks fabulous, I must say.  I forgot to take a picture of it though.  But I did take a couple of pictures of Jason and the girls starting to paint Silas' new room.  We were experimenting with shades of green.  (Don't worry the dark green in the corner is not staying.)

Also, tomorrow is Valentine's Day and this year would have been my cousin Bryce's 17th birthday.  Happy heavenly birthday Bryce.  We love and miss you.

Sunday Night (February 12)

Silas is doing great! He had an awesome weekend.  I gave him his first bottle on Saturday.  He did really great with it.  He was alert and took quite a bit of it before he got too tired.  He took the rest in his feeding tube.  That is completely normal and will continue for a while.  He has to work so hard to eat from a bottle that they don't want him to burn more calories than he is taking in.  So for now it is only one or two bottles a day.  He seemed to really like the milk and was very happy.  On Friday night he weighed 4 pounds, 2 ounces.  On Saturday night he weighed 4 pounds 4 ounces.  And tonight he weighed 4 pounds, 5 ounces.  Yay! 

Grandma Sherrel got to hold him for the first time on Saturday too.  Grandpa Clarence, and Randy and Linda Albert also visited with Silas that day.  We all got to see him in his new cute little crib for the first time.  He turned two months old on Saturday.  I took several pictures but will upload those tomorrow.

We have had a big day and I am tired.  We finished the big room switch here today and Carissa is officially moved into the room down the hall.  Her old room is now vacated for her brother.  She likes her new yellow room a lot.  Jason started painting Silas' room and hopefully it will be ready by the end of the week.  I am ready to have everything prepared for this little boy to come home. 

Our friend Calli watched the girls last night, spent the night with us, and then helped me all day today.  She is the best personal assistant ever!  I would not have gotten near as much accomplished today without her.  Maleah and I had a great idea (completely stolen off of Google though) for her homemade Valentine's for her class.  However, my time was limited because I had housework to do plus purging and reorganizing Carissa's things.  So, I put her in charge of the Valentine's and they turned out great.  She did an awesome job plus helped me with some cleaning.  Thank you Calli!

After we worked all day, we went to my Mom and Dad's for my birthday dinner.  We had steak and baked potatoes, mac and cheese, a great salad, bread, and two kinds of pie for dessert - strawberry or coconut cream.  It was delicious!  Thank you Mom and Dad!

The bad thing about today was that Maleah started not feeling well.  She has a horrible cough!  I am praying that I don't get it.  She ran a little bit of a fever early today too.  I have given her some triaminic and tylenol.  I wish I knew if it was just a cold or what.  It sounds like the kind of cough that will want to stick around for awhile.  If I knew what to give her to make it go away completely, I would.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Okay, so today is my 33rd birthday and I had a great day!  And so did Silas.  He is now in a crib!  Woo hoo!  No more isolettes for that little guy.  Also, he kept pulling his nasal cannula out today and the nurse just sort of ignored that fact and he did great without it.  I think the doctor will probably say heck with it very soon.  And, here is the biggest news of all...  I get to give him his first bottle tomorrow!  I am so excited!  They think he is ready so please pray that he does really well with it and can be strong enough to take a bottle at every feeding.  If he gets really good at it, I think he will get to come home before his due date. 

Jason took me out to lunch today at the NMN Club, along with Mom, Grandma Zelda, Carissa, Maleah (she got to leave school on her lunch hour) and my friend she-who-shall-not-be-named-on-the-internet (Oh, all right, it was Melissa!) and her little boy Carson.  We had a great meal and Phil (the owner) even sang happy birthday to me while wearing a sombrero (him, not me) and holding a banner.  Too funny!  Then I had to run to Effingham to buy some blinds for Carissa's new room at Menard's.  I got that done, then somehow ended up in Maurices.  Happy birthday to me, I guess!  I made it back to Flora before it got slick and Mom fixed me a wonderful supper.  Deee-lish!  And then we came home and Maleah and I made/decorated her Valentine's Day mailbox for school.  I am exhausted, so it is off to bed I go.  I can't wait to see and feed Silas tomorrow.  I have missed him so much!

Hoping and praying that the roads are clear in the morning.

Oh and thanks for all of the prayers for Baby Hank.  I have heard that he is doing much better and is home with his Mommy and Daddy!

If You're Happy and You Know It, Yell "He's Four Pounds!!"

That's right, our little man, Mr. Silas Cooper, is now 4 pounds, 1.3 ounces!!!  Happy birthday to me from Silas!!  What a great present!  He is growing like a weed now. 

The doctors made a few minor changes today:  Remember the tiny puff of air that I said he was now getting, well they cut that amount in half.  So now that tiny puff every so often in his nose is now a teeny-tiny puff of air.  (It is a scientific fact that teeny-tiny is much smaller than just plain tiny.)  It is the lowest setting there is before he does not have a cannula at all.  I think by Saturday it will be gone completely!!

They also went up on the amount of food he is getting every two hours through the feeding tube.  The doctor thought that in the next day or two they will go to every three hours through the tube.  When Silas' belly gets used to that schedule and he proves he can digest that much, then they will be bottlefeeding him.  When he masters that he can come home.  I have been told that this can take awhile - weeks in fact.  So I am still not getting my hopes up for him to come home before his due date (March 22) but it would be really great if he does.  In the meantime, we are trying to get his room done.  We didn't have it ready before I had him because we thought we had months to prepare it and we were busy getting ready for Christmas, etc, etc.  Before we can even start on his room though, we have to move Carissa out of it and that is what we have been working on this week.  She is moving down the hall to a bigger room across from her sister's room.  Jason painted her new room yellow this week and she is very excited about moving into it.  We just need more hours in the day to get everything done.  Oh well.  It will be done in time. 

Tonight Carissa told me this:  "Mommy, I don't think you're old.  Really.  I don't."  Wasn't that sweet? 

Wednesday (February 8)

I hope you guys are as excited as I am about this:  Silas now weighs 3 pounds, 15.4 ounces!  That is soooo close to four pounds!   In other great news, he is now off of the high humidity nasal cannula that was delivering 2 ml of constant air flow to him.  He still has a cannula but it is just delivering a puff of air every so often.  He is tolerating this change just fine.  It's possible that in a few days he won't have a cannula at all. 

We had a great morning together.  I held him and he slept the whole time.  He is so sweet.  It was hard to leave him today but I had to get home because one of my other babies needed me.  Carissa has had a flu bug.  Please be praying that the rest of us do not get it and that we are well enough to go back to St. Louis on Saturday.  She vomited last night but seemed fine today.  She just didn't have any appetite today (but honestly she never does). 

I know you have all been praying for Silas and we are so thankful for that.  I would like to ask you to pray for another baby too.  His name is Hank and he was born about the same time as Silas.  His father is from Clay County and Hank is in a St. Louis hospital too.  He was also premature but not quite as early as Silas.  He is sick right now and could really use some prayers, so please, while you're praying for Silas, please pray for Hank too.  Thank you!!

Tuesday (February 7)

Another great day in the nicu! Things are happening so fast now. First of all, Silas is wearing clothes! The nurse put him in a white hospital-issued shirt earlier today and gave me permission to dress him in something I bought after his bath tonight. So, he had a very nice warm bath tonight, got his hair washed, which made it very fluffy, and then I put a very cute shirt on him. He is not wearing pants for the time being - diaper changes are easier without them. Right now he is all swaddled up in a very tight swaddling blanket (he loves that!) and is sound asleep. He weighed 3 pounds, 13 ounces tonight!!! Can I get a woot-woot? Only three more ounces to go and this boy will hit four pounds. How awesome is that??

I had a great day here with Silas. I held him for a long time this morning and early afternoon. He practiced nursing some more and was very serious about it. He was all business. He knows what he wants. No surprise there really. I mean, look at his sisters, I don't have indecisive kids. I ordered a BLT for lunch from the sandwich counter downstairs that usually has better food than the cafeteria. It wasn't good today. By 3:30 I was starving. So I called Dominos Pizza and had them deliver a pizza to me. The $2.00 delivery charge was well worth it. I didn't want to get out and drive anywhere. The pizza was delicious! Good food makes me much happier. But then I ended up with a headache. I took two tylenol and laid down. I took a two hour nap and woke up feeling so much better! It's funny, you would think my days here in the hospital with Silas would go by slow, but really they go by so fast! They just zoom by and before I know it, it is bedtime. I guess that's just another blessing.

I didn't blog over the weekend but on Saturday Jason and I came to visit with Silas and so did Grandma Debby and Aunt Patty. We all had a good visit. I got to walk down the long hallway to the yellow nicu for the first time. It was very exciting. It took us a few minutes to find Silas' room because the yellow nicu is pretty big. Our new room isn't as big as the last one but the window is nice. Tonight I can see the snow outside. It is very pretty. Grandma Debby got to hold Silas for the first time when she was here. The picture of that is at the top of the page.  Here is one of Jason holding him that day too: 

I also took a very short video of Silas after he got his shirt on tonight.  I ran out of space on my sd card though and it stopped.  But here is what I have:

 

 

Monday (February 6)

More good news! Silas is doing great. He has continued to improve since his move to the yellow nicu. He has went down from 4 ml air flow to 2 ml air flow on his high humidity nasal cannula. This is huge! Last week he was on 5 ml. He is slowly coming off of that altogether. When it is gone completely (hopefully by the end of the week) he can a.) be moved to a real crib, b.) start wearing clothes, and c.) start bottle and breastfeeding. Yay!!!!

Also, he is off of the continuous feedings through his feeding tube. They are now feeding him every two hours through the feeding tube. Next, they will work up to every three hours for feedings. This will get him ready and on a schedule for his bottle/breast feedings.

All of these things add up to a very exciting week ahead for Silas. He will have some things to adjust to but the nurse today said that he is doing so well that it wouldn't surprise her if he was in a crib, wearing clothes, and taking a bottle by the end of the week.

I held him for a long time this afternoon. We visited. He nuzzled at my breast. (He's a natural, I tell ya.) He fell asleep. I watched Midnight in Paris starring Owen Wilson on my Kindle while he slept. We had a great time.

And then he went back to his bed, I talked to the nurse, and then I pumped more milk. The whole afternoon flew by and I realized that it was past supper time. So, I headed downstairs to eat. He is on a schedule where he gets his bath and "hands on" time at 8:30. I made it back upstairs before 8:00 (I got caught up watching The Voice while I was in the cafeteria). There had been a shift change and the new night nurse had a lot to do tonight so she already had his bath and care times done while I was at supper. I was majorally bummed! I love helping with his bath! He was already back in bed and swaddled in a sound sleep when I got back. I wasn't gone that long! Anyway, he weighed 3 pounds, 10 ounces tonight. And, guess what? He grew another inch this week! That is an inch a week for the past three weeks! He is now 17 1/4 inches long! Praise God for answered prayers because our boy is really growing now!

Other fun things about today: I discovered the best hot chocolate ever at the coffee shop downstairs. Yum. I was brave and turned the cafeteria tv to something other than ESPN. I'm not sure if that's ever been done before. And, I listened to Harry Potter on the audiobook all the way to St. Louis today and let me just say, that it was awesome!

Oh, and P.S. The Yellow Nicu is where all of the crying babies are. Wowza! You can tell these babies have good lungs.

Movin' On Up... To The Sky? No! To The Yellow Nicu!!

They moved Silas today (February 2) to the Yellow Nicu! This might not sound like a big deal but it is!!! He has been in the green nicu, which is the acute nicu. The yellow is for "feeders and growers." It is a big step in the right direction. And I am one happy mama. The yellow nicu is located just down the hall on the same floor as where he has been but it has been a "place of mystery" for me because I have never actually been there. It has always seemed so far off and not really in our reality. Our reality has been in the green nicu with the respiratory therapists and ventilators. I think that is finally in our past though. Since I am not in St. Louis today, the nurse told me over the phone all about the move and how it is a nice big room with a... wait for it... a window!! There are no rooms with windows in the green nicu. This is very exciting for me because I usually feel pretty cut off from the outside world while I am staying in the room with Silas. It should also help with cell phone signals. But the important thing is that Silas is now considered a "grower!"

And the other exciting news tonight is that he now weighs three and a half pounds! Yep, that's right. 3 pounds, 8.6 ounces!!!! The nurse weighed him three times she said because she was surprised by such a big jump in numbers. I just can't believe how fast we're flying through the whole three pound range. It seemed like it took forever just to get him back up to two pounds. And then hoping for three pounds felt like so far away. And now four pounds feels like it is within reach. The nurse said that they will probably start trying to feed him by bottle in about two weeks (usually around 34 weeks, he is considered a 32 weeker right now). Exciting stuff, let me tell ya!

Okay, in other big news, my Harry Potter audio books have arrived at the library. For those of you who know me, you know that I love me some Harry Potter. I have read all of the books but since I have been in the car so much I decided that I should listen to them on audio. I think the sound effects and voices will be awesome! I have xm radio in the car but I am even burnt out on that. My country stations play the same ol' songs over and over. There are about ten country songs that I have heard waaayy too many times. So lately I have switched over to the 80s on 8, the 90s on 9, and the 70s on 7. They don't play near enough Meatloaf, Guns n Roses, or Paul Simon for me. They do play way too much Genesis and Phil Collins, which are basically the same thing but I think the station thinks that we want both. We don't. Trust me. We don't. Maleah broke my Meatloaf cd and my New Kids on the Block cd is already boring me. I just can't listen to Hangin' Tough as many times a day as I used to. I know, it's sad, isn't it? Anyway, I had to do something differently and so that brought me to audio books. Interestingly enough, xm has an audiobook channel, but here is the weird/frustrating thing about it. They only read an excerpt of a book, not the whole thing. It really leaves ya hangin'. Half the time, I don't even know the title of the book being read so if I'm really interested to see how it ends, I can't even find the book at the library. I don't get why they do that. Anyway, I am really psyched about the Harry Potter audiobooks. I'll let you know if I like them as much as I think I will...

All in all, it has been a great day for the Coopers! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Thursday (February 2)

I am so happy February is here! Yay! We made it through December and January. Spring is right around the corner and that means we are getting closer to bringing Silas home. Double yay!

He now weighs 3 pounds, 6.8 ounces. He is really growing now! They have went up on his feedings again too. So that means probably even more weight gain. He is now getting 10 ml/hour continuously through the feeding tube.

I left St. Louis yesterday to come home for a couple of days. I held him for a long time before I left. The physical therapist came in and worked with me on massaging and stretching his little legs. He really liked that. He became super relaxed and fell asleep. Before we did the massage, we got to do some "practice" breastfeeding. I had to pump all of my milk out before we practiced though. Surprisingly, he latched right on and acted like he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. I was super impressed. He was so alert. It was a great bonding experience. I really hope I can breastfeed him eventually.

That's really about it for today. Keep prayin' for him because it is working!! God is good!