Growth Curve Roller Coaster

What a great day in the NICU!  I got to be there for three feeds, and Joshua did so well with the breastfeeding.  He latched on and went to town with the first and third feeds, and he was all tuckered out for the second one.  His nurse today is a lactation consultant, so she spent a lot of time helping us out.  We're pros now!  In between feeds, we got to do skin on skin cuddling.  I remember how it was doing kangaroo care for the first time, when he weighed 2 lbs 1 oz, and now he seems so huge in comparison.  I already feel so nostalgic about back when he was just a tiny thing, before he "got all growed up" into the little man he is now.  :)

Speaking of little...I have good news and bad news (I know, there always seems to be a bad news along with the good news).  First the bad news...the doctor printed off his growth curve for me, and he has fallen off the chart.  He was trucking along in the 3rd to 10th percentile for weight, almost hitting the 10th percentile line a couple of times.  Over the past week, however, he has gone below the lowest line, which is < 3rd percentile.  To put it in perspective, he'll be 37 weeks tomorrow, which is officially full term.  As of last night, he weighed 4 lbs 3 oz, and that's pretty small for a newborn (Jeremiah was 8 lbs 4 oz at 41 weeks).  She attributes the weight loss to the diuretic use.  She said it sometimes takes up to a week to establish a new normal and start growing again. 

Now the good news:  James was there for his weigh in tonight, and he just called saying Joshua gained 60 grams (2 oz) since last night!  He jumped up to 1980 grams, or 4 lbs 5.8 oz, and his length is 16.9 inches.  Praise the Lord!  I have no doubt it's the prayers from all of you working in our favor.  Unfortunately, the doctor just ordered to double his dose of the diuretic starting tonight because he was increasing his work of breathing a little bit today, so he may pee off his weight again.  We'll see...

Jeremiah got a couple of hours of Grandma time (thanks, Pat and Randy), so James and I could have a mini date in the NICU.  Here is a pseudo family picture.  One of these days, we'll get all four of us together in the same shot.