Milestones...

Can't believe Isaac is 7 weeks old tomorrow...in some ways. And in other ways, it feels like it's been a long 7 weeks. I never imagined Isaac would've joined us before Easter! He has been such a joy to us, and we are so thankful to see how God is growing him. We have settled in a quick routine of travelling back and forth, and relying on lots of sweet helpers from our church which we couldn't have done without!! My family is going to be disappointed when we go back to my cooking all the time. :)

Going to the hospital every day makes it hard to see overall progress at times. But then, the other day I was sitting there holding Isaac, and it dawned on me that his alarms weren't going off for oxygen every few minutes. The doctors remind us all the time that preemies growth is sloooooow. That includes weight gain, regulating oxygen, learning to feed, and probably lots more I don't even realize. I call every night at 8:30 pm for the weight gain report since that's when he's weighed. Last week was a slow week for weight gain, and he even lost a little a couple nights. The doctors look at the big picture though, not the day-to-day ups and downs. Isaac is now up to 3 lb 8 oz. and hardly any air flow. They are working really hard to wean him off the oxygen, and it's been going well. He has been more awake in recent days and yesterday was super active and squirmy while I was holding him.

Today was a milestone. When they start teaching him to feed, they have to go very slow because most babies at this age can't figure out how to suck-swallow-breathe all at the same time. It's very common for them to forget to breathe when they are first taking their feeds. They told me this process can take awhile and since he's still so young to hang in there for a long haul. So when Isaac got his first bottle today, drinking it all the very first time was a big deal. When I got there, he drank another part of a bottle at another feeding. When he can take all his feeds by mouth, he'll get to move out of the isolette to an open crib. We also received his preemie car seat Friday which makes him coming home in a month seem more real!

We are so excited for all these little baby steps. God is doing amazing things in our little boy's life, and we are thankful to Him. This process is teaching us a new form of patience...as he is getting bigger it gets harder to leave him, but we are looking to God for grace these next few weeks as we have the last six!