Too good to be true

The title says it all, everything around here was going too good to be true.  Preemie parents never get a break.  We've had a few doctors appointments the last couple days and it just seemed like nothing was going as well as it should.  Our pediatrician says that Brian looks great, he is meeting his milestones (YAY!) but...he is not gaining weight.  The first thing she said when she came in the room was that she is "concerned".  Never fun words to hear.  Our little guy's weight has been the same for the last three months.  His head and length are growing (good signs) but he doesn't have any left over.  The growth curve for him is more like a flat line, pointing towards the "failure to thrive" baby.  So, we upped the calories in his formula and added in two more feedings over night.

Our little guy turned 10 months!  There were 1,000 cute pictures ... and I think he has red hair :) 

Lung doctor visit was today.  I went in excited that we would finally get the OK to go off oxygen completely.  Turns out we're back to square one.  The pulminologist says we should go back on O2 full time.  Along with now needing another swallow study and a heart ECHO.  UGG...  Swallow study to make sure his food is properly going into his stomach and to rule out reflux and to make sure it is NOT going to his lungs.  And then an ECHO to see if he still has pulmonary hypertension (high pressure in his lungs) that might be putting extra work on his heart.  The thinking would be that if his heart and lungs are working extra hard maybe the oxygen back on will give him a much needed rest and finally let him gain some weight.  So we would be putting all those extra calories to weight gain instead of breathing harder.

He's starting to sit up and play during walks instead of sleeping.  

Snuggle time with Daddy

It makes sense, it all does.  It's just frustrating and tiring for us as parents when we were finally getting to the "normal" baby stage.  Now we're back to the newborn phase it seems, every three hour feedings with full time oxygen.  (Sigh) But...everyone still says how awesome he is doing!  Our little champ is sitting up, playing with toys and wonderfully interactive.  No one would ever know he started out at 1 lb if you looked at him now.  He laughs and he "talks" and he is just the sweetest thing ever.  We really are so lucky to have him doing as well as he is.  Again, we just need patience! A few years from now we will look back and this will all be a blur.

We went to a birthday party/4th of July celebration on Saturday.  Brian got all decked out and was really excited to see his girlfriend Juliet... Two babies are hard to take pictures of.  :) 

We also took Brian to church for the first time!  He had on a way cuter outfit but needed a wardrobe change about 10 minutes into the service.  These super cute babies both had accidents (floor cleaning required!) during the 1 hour service.  What are friends for if you can't make messes together. 

 

Bath time outside. 

We are all heading up to the lake again this weekend.  All of our old NICU pals are coming out to visit on Satuday!  It will be so nice to see all the nurses who took care of him for so many days.  He has changed a ton!