My Babies

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  And although we were not technically all together, we were all at the hospital.  We took turns watching our daughter and visiting our baby boy.

She played...

and explored...

and was very patient as we wished her brother a happy Thanksgiving.

Our little boy is doing well.  He seemed to enjoy his pacifier, and although the nurses and doctors have told me that he doesn't know how to suck and swallow yet, trust me, he was sucking on that paci! 

He is now gaining weight well, and up to 3 pounds, 4 ounces.  They had increased his feedings to 30 ml every three hours, but he was having some trouble with reflux (spitting up his food, etc.).  So just when we've gotten used to his schedule and worked out a schedule of our own, they change his.  Of course.  To help with the reflux, he is now on continuous feeds, meaning they feed him 10 ml of milk every hour, all day long.  But that's ok.  It is definitely helping him keep his food down, and helps him keep his oxygen saturation up.     

The nurses have also told us that his heart murmur has gotten significantly louder, but although that sounds bad, it is actually a very good thing.  As the hole in his heart gets smaller, it is harder for the blood to push through it, making a louder noise.  So, because the murmur is louder, that means his ductus arteriosus is closing.  This is great, but is only part of his heart condition.  He also has Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which is a hole in the wall between the two bottom chambers of the heart.  I have heard different opinions of whether this hole will close on its own or not, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens, see how big it is, and if it begins to affect his heart or breathing.  It is a possibility that he will need surgery to close this hole. 

In other news, the nurse had him in some really cute airplane pajamas yesterday, and he looked absolutely adorable!

So peaceful.

So snuggly.