Milestones

Uh-oh, I spoke too soon yesterday.  Joshua lost 10 grams, down to 1765 g or 3 lbs 14 oz.  Just when I was talking up my dad's amazing weight predicting skills... In his defense, though, I think Joshua would have definitely hit 4 lbs by April 1st if he wouldn't have been interfered with.  He was given Lasix today (a diuretic), so he surely peed off the extra weight.  The Lasix was started because he has a mild case of pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs).  It's not surprising after his viral pneumonia earlier in the week.  They have been unable to wean him from his high flow oxygen.  Every time they bump it down a little, he has to work really hard to breathe, so they turn the settings back up.  He has also had swelling, so those factors warranted a chest x-ray which confirmed the diagnosis.  After 24-48 hours on Lasix, the doctor plans to try weaning the oxygen again. 

Despite all that, as long as he continues on his high flow oxygen, Joshua looks great.  There have been a few minor milestones recently:

1.  Last week, he went up a size in diapers.

2. Yesterday he graduated to a bigger blood pressure cuff.  The smallest sized cuff (which he has been using since birth) popped right off his arm when it was inflated.  You should see his pipes! 

3.  Today he graduated to the big boy binky, a.k.a. the newborn sized pacifier rather than the preemie pacifier (to get him ready for breastfeeding). 

4.  And the biggest of all... today I was able to feed him drops of milk into his mouth while he sucked on his pacifier.  He loved it.  One of the hardest things for a preemie to catch on to is sucking, swallowing, and breathing all at the same time.  He passed that first test today.  The next test was putting a bottle nipple in his mouth and dropping milk through it, but that didn't work so well.  He could suck really well, but it came out too fast for him to swallow it, so it just spilled out of his mouth.   There's room for improvement.  I'm just excited to see him start down that road leading away from the NG tube and toward actual breastfeeding. 

5. Oh wait, I guess this was the biggest of all:  No PICC line in his ankle!  100% of Joshua's nutrition is now breast milk and calorie supplementation (a special formula they add to the milk to get him beefed up a little).  But more importantly, that also means he can wear footie pajamas.  :)  He has had one leg out when he wears those cute little outfits, kind of looking like Flo Jo from way back in the day, only without the long nails.  Remember her one legged spandex tights?  I guess I'm dating myself.   

We still have tomorrow's weigh-in to make my dad's prediction come true (since it will still be April 1st).  Don't hold your breath, though, because he will get two more doses of Lasix before then.  I know, it is so not fair.