 |
| Asher’s first hat |
 |
| such a goof already with the looks |
 |
| so much love |
 |
| his first outfit ever! and his bonding hearts |
 |
| an amazing soft blanket - the other side says “tiny but mighty with the strength of a warrior” |
 |
Asher turned two weeks old yesterday ❤️
Overall he is living well in his incubator so far. He is tolerating 24ml feeds that are fortified to increase the calories up to 24cals and he is slowly but steadily growing week by week! He is spending more and more time enjoying skin to skin with his mom and dad which always help him to relax and enjoy a long peaceful nap. We are reading a book to him - The Midnight Library. He finds some chapters more entertaining than the others 😁
There have not been any major setbacks yet which feels like a miracle to us so far. We know it is because of the incredible care from the experienced nurses here who know just the right amount of everything needed to nourish him. Julia and I saw firsthand a couple days ago how finely tuned all of his support is when the nurses were ready to try to lower his air flow rate just a bit. Asher’s respirations jumped from 40-70 to 90-110 within a few minutes, so we listened to what he was telling us and adjusted the oxygen back up to 2l/m. Patience is the key to knowing that he will be incredible in due time, and gratefulness is helping us to appreciate and stay present with the many positive parts of his health and growth.
He’s also still taking a few supplements in addition to his proten fortifications - iron, calcium and sodium - all to help him remain dialed in to the optimal growth requirements. His weight has gone up and down throughout the week as to be expected and he’s comin in at a heavy 1105g today (2lb 7oz). The latest estimate from the nurse practitioner is that Asher will be able to go home in 5 more weeks when he’s 37 weeks old. We are of course so excited to bring him home whenever he is ready, and we understand that there is no rush and he will be ready when he is.
We have started to find a good routine of spending about 3-6 hours in the room with him every afternoon which gives us both time to hold him and change his diaper a few times while we’re here. We are starting to feel more normalized to everything that’s going on but there are still days where we feel totally exhausted. It is still surprising to us how tiring it can be just to sit in a room in the nicu. there’s so much commotion all around from the nurses, the alarms are going off every few minutes and every time Asher moves or does anything we have to make sure he can still breathe well.
With all of it though we are enjoying and soaking up every precious moment with this little man. It’s absolutely incredible how he’s a whole and complete human - just super super tiny. The cutest thing we have noticed him doing so far is when he starts to sneeze. Tiny preemie sneezes are so tender. I will try to catch one on video next week.
As always thank you to all of our friends and family for the outpouring of love and support. Each day it warms our hearts and nourishes our spirits. Julia is recovering really well and already trying to do more than I want her to. So please feel free to text her and tell her to relax and let everyone take care of her 🙂
