Two more good days

I missed posting yesterday and the day before because I got home from the NICU so late (once after midnight and last night after 10 p.m.) but both nights were good, long visits.

Yesterday evening, I kangarood with Cayden for just 20 minutes before going to a meeting for NICU parents discussing how to handle holiday stress in times of crisis.  It was sponsored by the Parental Advisory Council, a group of parents of NICU "graduates", and the hospital chaplain.  There were only two other babies' parents who came, but it was nice to meet them and hear their stories and concerns.  One of the other sets of parents was a couple in high school.  I couldn't stop thinking how hard it must be for them.  Although they're young, they seem like they're responsible and committed to each other and so mature for their age.  I couldn't imagine going through this kind of journey so young.

It was nice to meet the graduates' parents as well - they have a lot of insight, advice, and comfort to offer.

As for Cayden's progress, he is eating up a storm!  He's doing so well on his feedings - he is up to his maximum of 13 ccs every two hours - that they are supposed to remove his PIC line later today.  That's the last IV he has, and now that they've stopped giving him the TPN or "nutrition in a bag", he doesn't need it.  The only other thing they were giving him intravenously was caffeine.  As a drug, it helps reduce apneic episodes, but now they will give it to him orally.  (I wonder if Starbuck's has expanded into the medical industry?!)  So he will be free of the last invasive connection and will have one less wire in his pile of spaghetti.

Now that he's getting all of his calories and nutrition from breast milk, they started adding human milk fortifier to it to boost the caloric content.  Time to bulk up, baby!