Last Hurdle

11 Weeks - 5 lbs, 5 oz
(without feeding tube)

Jacob is 11 weeks old and doing great.  His corrected age is 36 weeks, so if he was born today he would have been considered full term.

His last hurdle, quoting one of his doctors, is transitioning completely to bottles (vs tube feedings).  He has been cleared by his doctors to bottle feed as often as he can tolerate it.  He has 8 feedings a day (3 hrs apart), and from yesterday afternoon to this morning he finished 7 bottles in a row, quite an accomplishment!  But this marathon did wear him out, so he had to take a break and get a few tube feedings today.  It is completely normal for a baby as premature as Jacob to get tired bottle feeding.  We think he should build up endurance and fully make the transition in the next week.  Preemie bottle feeding is much different than bottle feeding our older babies that had been breastfed, so there is a lot to un-learn.  Instead of baby-led feeding and cuddling up close, we are feeding him sitting up (and not so cozy) with the lights on, and are using various tricks to keep him awake to completely finish the feeding.  If he doesn't finish, he has to take the rest by tube.

Bottle Feeding - 10 weeks

We are getting a lot of pressure to graduate from the intensive section of the NICU to step-down, which is good because that means Jacob is going home soon.  Moving to step-down is a big milestone, but we will miss our current corner which has been Jacob's home for 11 weeks.  In the step-down unit, he could be on a busy and louder main hallway, and the nurse-to-baby ratio is different so I asked to stay where we are a little longer.

Jacob is still on low flow oxygen at 0.02 liters per minute, the lowest amount possible.  We're still praying he will wean off easily, rather than hang onto that last bit of oxygen.