...1 Week...

Wow! It's hard to believe our little guy is 1 week today. That's 7 days old. Just 7 days ago he entered our world and stole our hearts. Seems like he's been here forever, but also seems just like yesterday. Such a weird feeling. I suppose those of you who have children will tell me that this is just the beginning.

Today we got the results of the MRI, which was exploring the cyst on the brain and checking the pituitary gland. All of their findings were in the normal range! This is EXCELLENT news! We also spoke with the pediatric cardiologist when he was on his rounds, who confirmed that the tiny murmur they heard is just that, tiny. He said he will continue to monitor him while he's in the NICU (I think because he knows just how cute our little guy is!) but he believed things were just fine. We asked if there would be long term impact from the murmur, or if it would be something that would preclude him from obtaining certain jobs, participating in contact sports, etc. He assured us that he could be whatever he wanted to be, except maybe a fighter pilot but he was pretty convinced not many people are qualified to be fighter pilots. 

You may be able to see from this photo, our little man has gained 40 grams since yesterday! He almost looks chubby in this photo! His total weight is now just over 4 pounds. They increased his feeds to 10 cc's an hour and will begin to wean him from Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) and replace with fortifiers in his breast milk. This will begin the process of attempting to go off the continuous feeds and begin oral feeds, which is a requirement to be able to go home. We were warned that sometimes this process can be arduous, as the little fighters just sometimes take a few steps back before going forward as their little bodies just get overwhelmed with remembering all that is required of them. So we remain cautiously optimistic that he will tolerate the transition. 

Mommy doing kangaroo care (skin-to-skin) with Baby Wyatt. This practice is supposed to help baby grow big and strong by keeping the baby warm, helping to regulate his heart beat, helping him to gain weight, and spend more time in deep sleep. The best part of mommy's day is kangarooing with Wyatt. 

Just a shot of his hair, as I know all of you reading are very impressed with that full head of hair. Even his daddy is a bit jealous of that hair! 

For those of you who are looking to support us in prayer, good vibes, positive thoughts, whatever... please pray that Wyatt continues to gain weight, continues to regulate his temperature (so he can bust out of that incubator! Mommy wants to access him ALL the time!) and tolerates the decrease in his temperature support. We are also hoping that he will continue to decrease the cardiac events. All of these are pieces toward being able to come home. 

Love and Hugs to all of you,

Lori, Brian & Wyatt