PT with Daddy

It's been a long time, but Jason and I were finally able to get to the NICU together without Jamison (he was back in daycare today).  Jason took advantage of his time there to do Cayden's physical therapy with him while I was otherwise occupied, pumping.  I found it so nice to sit back and watch the baby/daddy interaction - it's the first time Jason has really had a chance to handle him more than just a quick touch.  He says it was fun and that it was nice to be involved and finally have some hands-on time.  :-)

He's getting one more cc of breast milk at each feeding (so he's up to 28 ccs every 3 hours) and his weight tonight was up a couple ounces to 3 lbs. 3 oz.

Over the last couple of days, the nurses and doctors have not been able to hear his heart murmur.  I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but the murmur is related to what's called a PDA or patent ductus arteriosis. The ductus arteriosis is a valve in the heart.  In full-term babies, the valve is mature and closed.  In preemies, the valve often hasn't had a chance to close as it should ('patent' means 'open') which can lead to problems with blood pressure, oxygenation, and other things.  Cayden's PDA was diagnosed at birth as mild to moderate and they told us they would continue to monitor it to see if it would close on its own.  (If it doesn't close on its own, he will need surgery.)  To date, he hasn't shown any signs of problems related to the PDA and they've been hopeful that it would close on its own.  Now that the murmur is undetectable, it's a good sign that the valve is closing or maybe even already closed, so that's great news!