Almost home!!

Well its been a while between posts and really not a lot has happened. Noah has graduated from High Dependency to Special Care Unit. Last stop before home. Noah is still wonderful and stable and growing and he is now off all monitors except heart rate and oxygen saturations!!! He is on the same dose of caffiene as he always was so by getting bigger he is growing out of the dose. But he hasn't been having any brady's or apnoeas.  He is now 1720 grams ( or 3 pounds 13 ounces!!) and so he will hopefully be taken out of the isolette into an open cot today!!! They have gradually been turning down the temperature in the isolette to get him used to maintaining his own body temperature and putting little outfits on him and they graded up to 3 hourly feeds yesterday. He is on one breastfeed attempt a day still and it depends on how awake he is and how hungry he is as to whether he is interested. They reckon that now he will have a chance to get hungry he will soon learn where the food is!!

One night i noticed some little lumps under his arms. The doctor was called and they are lymph nodes. So he ordered a blood test which came back fine, but he gave him one dose of Lasix because he was getting a bit puffy. He peed all that extra fluid out and looked much better and started breathing a little less rapidly as well. He also did well on his last eye exam and he will be having another one tomorrow, just to make sure his vision  is developing normally. He had to have a little bag stuck to his little fella yesterday for a urine test. All these tests freak you out but they are just so careful with these little babies at the Mater Mothers its amazing the care they all receive. It's a relief to come home and know that he is being so well looked after.  One of the nurses put him to bed after a cuddle and as she put him in she gave him a little nurse and a kiss on his soft hair  before she put him back. These nurses really love looking after the babies. It must be hard for them with a really sick baby. But they say babies like Noah make the job worthwhile. Seeing a baby that would normally not survive being born at 27 weeks grow into a healthy bub is their reward.

And healthy he is just look at this little chubby cherub!!