March 29, 2009

Lets start with his weight, he actually lost 2 grams today. And now the GOOD news...They changed him to bottle feeding with cues. This means that if he is awake, alert, and showing signs of wanting to eat then he gets a bottle every three hours. He took 3 bottles in a row through the night and 2 for momma today, but he got tired and only took part of a bottle for daddy. As you see by the picture, Demetri made it to a crib/bassinet today. He has to maintain his body temperature above 36.4 C and gain weight to stay out of the isolette. There is a good chance he will have to go back in, but all was good today.

Because of his great weight gain the past couple of days, they increased his feeding volume to 26 mL. This increased volume proved not to be a challenge for him.

His nurse will be drawing weekly labs tonight to see how his electrolytes, hematocrit, and blood gas are doing.

It should go without saying, but we just pray that Demetri continues to progress, in that he maintains his temperature and gains weight, so the day that he comes home is sooner than later. This will definitely improve our daily lives which directly affects Eleni's and allow us to ALL be together and us not to be torn between the two of them.

Here is big sister Eleni putting her new baby to bed (practicing for Demetri -- we just hope he doesn't end up like her old babies) and singing "rock-a-bye baby in the tree tops" to her.