Leaps and Bounds...

Noah has had an absolutely great week! He is now 1340 grams (or 2 pounds 15 ounces). He has been more settled in that his heart rate has slowed to the 160's and he is back on the full dose of caffeine. I really think the little hiccup he had was due to anemia and now that he has had that transfusion everything is back to normal.

He has been nuzzling with Kim to learn how to breastfeed and he has latched on a couple of times and given some good sucks. Sometimes he's not interested, but he isn't meant to know what to do at all until he is at 35 weeks and he is still only 33 weeks and 3 days old. In a couple of weeks that part of the brain will mature and he will be searching for the nipple and sucking and swallowing and breathing all at the same time. The nurses say its just amazing how they just switch from not knowing what to do with a nipple to latching on and doing what nature intended.

He sucks his little dummy perfectly, we haven't tried him with a bottle so if we do have any problems at least we can try a bottle with breast milk. Heaven knows we have about 6 months supply in the freezer. Frozen breast milk is better than formula if it comes to that. But i don't think it will. He'll get there. And I don't think it will be too long at all until he does.

Best Laid Plans...

Well it's official. Noah is now 1 kg!!! Yay!!!!!!!! A 1000 grams and we thought we were home and hose when he got to 1 kg. Funny how he was no trouble at all when he was little. This little man has had a few ups and downs the last few days. Firstly his heart rate was sitting in the 190's and often set the heart rate alarm off going above 200 when he squirmed, pushed to poo, during cares, etc.... This was a worry to the nurses so they mentioned it to the doctor on call one evening and they decided do do a full blood count. The bloods came back saying he was a little anemic but otherwise perfect. They let it go and decided to reduce his caffeine.  Heart rate came down a little over a couple of days but not enough. So they did bloods again and his hematocrit levels were lower again so it was time for a transfusion. He got 18 mls of blood and he was really red for a few days. Seems to have settled down now. They'll wait about a week to do bloods again.

His heart rate settled down nicely, only issue is they don't know if it was the blood transfusion or the reduction in caffeine. Now his oxygen saturation levels are lower and he desaturates when he squirms, pushes to poo, during cares, etc... and a couple of bradycardia's are happening now when the weren't before. So they have decided to up the caffeine again. They did a chest x-ray to make sure he wasn't getting chronic lung disease or getting an infection, which he isn't thank god and they got the results to the 4 week head ultrasound and his brain is perfectly normal, no bleeds etc.

So even though we have gotten to the magical 1 kg mark, he has reminded us that there is still a long way to go, like at least another 700 grams before he can come out of the isolette!!  Then he needs to start feeding but Kim's milk supply has halved all of a sudden and she is up every three hours expressing trying to build her supply back up!! She is just a wreck with all the broken sleep!!  Kim has an appointment this Friday to start nuzzle's with the lactation consultant. Hopefully he will like it as much as he likes his dummy and the nuzzling with him will boost Kim's milk supply as well.

I know I planned on making him a home made cake but I didn't get a chance. He put on weight so quick and through all the sleepless nights and working full time and trips back and forth to the hospital, I was just exhausted!! My day starts at 6 am and finishes at 10 pm, in that time we go to the hospital twice and i work full time, but poor Kim has to set the alarm to also get up every three hours to express. She is meant to get a 5 hour break during the night but the lactation consultant told her that until her supply increases she should still get up during the night every three hours.

So I got him a lovely cake from the little passtiserie downstairs from my work. The lovely ladies there wrote "1 kg Noah" on it for me and we shared it around the entire NICU, inviting all the nurses we could find that have looked after Noah since he has been there for the past month!!  Kim cut the cake as i was kangaroo cuddling Noah.

Almost there...

Well today was weigh day again and the goal is 1kg. Once Noah gets to 1kg they will only weigh him every 3rd day instead of every 2nd day. Anyway he has gained another 40 grams so he is now 920 grams! It wont be long now!

The tradition in NICU is for the parents to buy a cake to bring in to celebrate reaching 1 kg. But i'm going to try my hand at making one from scratch myself. Home made is always the best and I can't wait to decorate it! I want to always make Noah's birthday cakes as well! When I was growing up I thought that was the best part of having a birthday!! Watching mum make my cake and then getting to lick the bowl and the spoon and the beaters!

31 Weeks Old / 3 Weeks 3 days Old

I know its a bit confusing, but every Wednesday Noah gets a week older in gestation and every Sunday Noah gets a week older in age. So we keep track of both for now. Note the feeding tube has been put in his nose now. This is because there is no chance really of him having to go back on CPAP and he will need his mouth free to learn how to suck!!

Check out this photo of Noah holding his mama's chin!! It's so cute. He gets more and more coordinated and alert every day!!

Graduation Day!

Well we just got a phone call from the NICU. Noah is doing so well he is being moved from NICU1 down to NICU2!! So our baby is no longer in highest level of NICU!! Yay! Noah looks pretty happy about it too!

Noah was weighed again today and put on another 50 grams!!!!! So he is now 880 grams! If he keeps going at this rate he will be a kilo in less than a week! His feeds have gone up to 12 mls every two hours. We think it has a lot to do with refusing to give the nurses fresh milk and insisting that they defrost all the milk that Kim pumped in the first two weeks. They have it all in the freezer there and there is a sign on the door of the freezer that says that you should give the baby the milk in this order. 1. Colostrum 2. First two weeks of breast milk (whether fresh or frozen as it still has a higher fat content) 3. Fresh breast milk 4. If no fresh breast milk available, then use any frozen breast milk  5. Formula (a last resort).

The nurses are pretty pushy in getting fresh milk off Kim because i think the colostrum is thicker and takes a while to go down the tube, so they have to spend more time feeding him and defrosting milk etc, but she is pretty good at putting her foot down and telling them to defrost the colostrum first. She says that she wont give them fresh milk until the first two weeks worth of milk are used. Luckily she has insisted because it looks as though it is paying off big time. They like to see babies put on 15 to 30 grams every two days. Noah either puts on the maximum or more each and every time!!! But our little man has always been an over achiever!!! Go Noah!!

3 Weeks Old Today!

Well Noah was just a doll all day! There are whispers that he is doing so well that he will be moved out of NICU1 imminently. Will still freak us out when they call just to say that he has moved to another room. It is just so reassuring that he is so well looked after in NICU1 that NICU2 is a little bit scarey.  I know that it means he is doing better and stuff but there is only 1 nurse to 3 babies instead of 1 nurse to 2 babies in there.By the way he put on another 30 grams and so he is now 830 grams!!!!

Visitors...

Nana (my mum) and his Aunty Glenda (my sister) came up for a visit yesterday and had a little cuddle with him. He was wide awake and being all cute. Glenda could not believe how small he was! Mum saw him the day after he was born and although my brothers son was born at 33 weeks, he was still 2000 grams! I don't think she was prepared for our micro-preemie!

Everything is going so well and we are so so so lucky. Spoke to another parent in the tea room and his daughter is still on oxygen and not feeding well at 38 weeks after being born at 27 weeks. She was on CPAP for 9 weeks and they just can't wean her from the little bit of oxygen she is still on and she is only mildly interested in a bottle and not interested in the breast.

Funnily, we had him out for a kangaroo cuddle and he wriggled on my chest so much he got his face first on me and started to lick me with his tongue and then tried to suck on my chest. I said wrong mumma Noah, so Kim and I swapped places but he fell asleep. I don't think we will have too much trouble in that department either!!

He is just doing so well and we are so proud of him and eternally thankful to everyone here and abroad that are praying for him so much. It's working, it is working I believe!

Its the weekend finally!

Now that its the weekend I get to spend more time with the little munchkin! I hate leaving him every morning to go to work! Anyway Noah has put on another 40 grams and is now a whopping 800 grams! I think he put on 20 grams on in each cheek! He has chipmunk cheeks! It looks like he has a marble in his mouth each side! Those little cheeks are so cute. Apparently they are his sucking muscles. Good job we get him to suck on his dummy during his tube feeds to associate sucking with a full tummy!