The adventures of Joshua Alexander Cobb: Fussy monday

Who really likes Mondays? Apparently even small babies like Josh do not like Mondays. Josh was a lot more fussy today than he has been in the past. It might be because he is starting to explore his surroundings a little bit more. Josh spent the early part of the day reaching up out of his open crib and swatting at the blanket that is placed over the top to shade him from the bright lights. He would push on this blanket until it had enough slack to fall down on his face, and then he would cry. This cycle happened a couple of times until Mommy angled the blanket so that Josh could see out of the crib, and then he calmed down.

Mommy is doing as well. She slept pretty decently on the pull out armchair that is in the little "closet" that she roomed in last night. The nice bigger rooms are still full, but the "closet" was still free, so Mommy is going to spend another night in there. This is a daily ritual, where in the morning she has to ask to see what is available before knowing if she is actually going to have a place to room in. The doctors have told us that this is the absolute best thing for Josh right now, being able to get 7 breastfeedings from mommy each day. Being able to get all of his nutrition orally is one of the steps needed to complete before going home.

In order to help accomplish this, Daddy went out and bought an SNS (supplemental nursing system) today. This is basically a bottle with a tube attached, which snakes down into Josh's mouth as he is nursing, and helps him get more nutrition without working harder to get it. It is a way to avoid bottle feeding while still being able to give Josh more food. So getting this system to work is very important to Mommy and Daddy. The doctors have also switched the fortifier that they are putting into Josh's pumped breastmilk to something called Neosure. This is the same fortifier that Josh will probably be on when he is discharged.

Josh's desaturations have also done much better, and he has not had any apnea in days. These are both also steps towards getting discharged. Josh is getting a little antsy to get out of the hospital, especially when he was told that his cousin Noah is going to be born any minute now. Mommy and Daddy are hoping that with all the steps that he is accomplishing, that Josh will definitely come home during the time period that the Doctors told them.

As far as Josh's progress, he gained 11 grams last night and now weights 2140 grams, or 4 pounds 11.5 ounces! We are getting ever closer to that 5 pound mark! Some important milestones happening this week are that he has his third eye exam on Friday. We are hoping that he grades out at a 3 this time. Josh will also be at an adjusted age of 36 weeks on Saturday, which is almost considered full term.

Prayer Requests:

Mommy and Daddy learn how to operate the SNS system - this is very important to getting Josh home as it is how we can ensure that he can get extra food (calories) while still breastfeeding
Josh's issues with reflux are healed and that he no longer has bradys associated with feeding
Josh go the required 7 days without apnea
Mommy get good sleep in the not-so-ideal sleeping location of "the closet"

Praises:

Josh's apnea seems to be gone (it would have returned by now if the caffeine alone was keeping it away)
Josh's desaturations seem to be coming less often
Josh now weighs 4 pounds 11.5 ounces!
Josh seems to be taking in more of the world around him