Stepping Down

Aaron's second attempt at no cannula began again on Thursday (07/02/09) and is still going strong!! He had been down to 0.1L for a couple days and taking him off was a piece of cake. He even seemed to do better without it since it had been annoying him so much! It was so wonderful to see him with NOTHING on his face and to be able to pick him up out of the crib with nothing holding him down! The cannula was pretty much his last big hurdle, since he had already been taking 100% of feeds by mouth for almost a week at that point. So, the countdown to home began! Here's a picture from that day: no cannula and ready to eat. I just absolutely love his big brown eyes!
On Friday morning, Aaron actually became a big cousin for the first time. Baby Micah was born at 3:22 am and weighed in at 8lb 10oz and was 19.5in long! One day, Aaron will be as big as his baby cousin.

Saturday was pretty uneventful, which is always a good thing in the NICU. Aaron continued to do well without his oxygen support and we continued to ask when he is coming home!

This morning, after his noon feeding, Aaron was transferred to the intermediate nursery, which is a step down from the NICU. He can actually be discharged from this nursery. It's a little quieter here and he is getting less attention from the nurses. It's good because he no longer needs it but I know he misses all the love he received from the nurses he's been with for the past 113 days. For Clayton and me, it's nice to feel more free with Aaron. And, we know we are one step closer to him coming home.

Tonight, he was unofficially 5lbs, weighing in at 4lbs 15.5oz. He actually fit into his first "newborn" onsie that his aunt Kathy got for him. It will never cease to amaze me how big he is getting compared to where he started from.
Hopefully tomorrow we will be getting a more firm discharge date. Although he is actually 3.5 months old, he is only 1 week old adjusted since his due date was last Monday (06/29/09). Not too bad of a hospital stay when you're born 15 weeks early!