3 Months Old

Jackson day 90: 2411 grams or 5 lbs 5 oz. 3 months old today! Happy due date Jackson. He's getting to be such a big boy. He's 18.5 inches, he's grown 5 inches and gained 3 lbs since birth. Still loves kisses, makes him smile. He's finding his hands more and loves to put them in his mouth. He loves to toot but hates when he has to burp, gets all mad and squirms around. He usually has a couple hour stretch during the late morning or early afternoon where he wants to be awake, look around and play. He's a great cuddler, loves to lay right on your chest. Still working on the eating thing, but we'll get there. He's so strong. He can lift his head up off your chest and turn to face the other direction by himself. He's such a sweet baby and we're so happy he's here and doing so well. Lots of love. FOJSP!  

"Look at me, I'm adorable" Jackson is so strong and can lift his head up now 

"This hand sure looks tastier than my bottle!"

Day 89

Day 89

Jackson day 89: 2403 grams or 5 lbs 5 oz. Doing good today. He's eating a little better again. He's tried every different special kind of bottle the NICU has and we're back to the regular bottle with regular flow. Go figure. 😊 He's doing great though. So happy Grammy and grandpa are here! FOJSP! 

Day 88

Day 88

Jackson day 88: 2403 grams or 5 lbs 5 oz. He's doing good. He didn't eat very much yesterday. He's been eating about half consistently and yesterday he only ate about a 6th of his milk. We're not really sure what the problem was. The nurses kept saying he was too sleepy to eat. I guess at least with all the extra sleep the nurses are giving him he's gaining weight like a champ. He's been much more alert today and his eating has been better for us. It's so fun when he has more awake play time. FOJSP! 

I'm pretty sure he's smiling here, but we all know the 'mean mommy' face I get when I take his binky out so you'll just have to believe me

Day 87

Day 87

Jackson day 87: 2342 grams or 5 lbs 2 oz. Jackson has started nursing better again so Dr. Nold has said he only needs to be fed half of his feeding through his tube after breastfeeding. She did increase his feeding from 40 cc to 44 cc. Nothing like a moving target. ☺️ Jackson is doing great. So happy Dad is home. FOJSP! 

Day 86

Day 86

Jackson day 86: 2276 grams or 5 lbs! Such a big boy! He's starting to really fill out his preemie clothes. He won't be in some of the tiny ones for much longer! This little boy did not want to sleep this afternoon. So we played with the rattle and had bath time instead. He's still not sold on the appeal of the rattle. But he was a much happier, more alert baby today. FOJSP! 

Week 12

Week 12

This is a week I did not think we would see in the NICU. Jackson isn't due until Tuesday but this whole time I just had myself convinced he would be home before then. This has been a week focused solely on eating. As I looked back through my photos of Jackson this week, all I have are pictures of him sleeping! If he was awake for even a second, we were trying the bottle. I would not be talented enough to get a picture while feeding a full term baby but there is no chance with Jackson. Feeding him is work! You have to hold him up right, but not too far. Just the right angle to keep his airway open but not let him reflux. Keeping one finger under his chin to help keep it closed. While another finger on his cheek for gentle reminders to keep sucking. Bottle up and down constantly as he takes little breaks to catch his breath. But don't let it come out of his mouth, because it is a 5 minute battle to get it back in. And burping is a whole other 10 minute battle of Jackson squirming, crying, and fervently shaking his head no as he fights the burp. By the time we're done, we're both exhausted. Tuck him back in and start all over again 1.5-2 hours later. So no wonder all my pictures are of him sleeping. This mom promises to make this week more fun for Jackson, herself, and all of you wonderful people still following our little guys progess! 

Day 85

Jackson day 85: 2244 grams or 4 lbs 15 oz. 12 weeks old. I guess he didn't feel like hitting 5 pounds today. Dr. Simmons doesn't think he's been gaining fast enough. He is limiting him to only 30 minutes on the bottle and that he has to be fed 40 cc through his feeding tube after breastfeeding. Hopefully this helps him get bigger and stronger faster so he has the strength to eat. FOJSP

He's still all boy...I caught him trying to pick his nose!

Day 84

Day 84

Jackson day 84: 2241 grams or 4 lbs 15 oz. He's having a great eating day! Out of his last 7 times eating, he's finished 80% of it himself! Woohoo! Let's hope it continues. Dr. Nold stopped the caffeine today because he hasn't had a bradycardia episode in a very long time. They tried turning his flow down from .2 liters to .1 liters and he did not like that at all. So they've turned him back up to .3 liters. It's interesting how it's such a small difference in support but he can tell and it makes a big difference to him. Dr. Nold and I discussed it and we agree it's better to focus on getting him to eat vs. challenging him with reducing his oxygen support. His settings are low enough that he can come home on them. So we'll just focus on weaning the oxygen later. Hope the great days continue. FOJSP!