My Little Fighter

Today my little fighter turns one week old. His progress so far has been amazing.  Touching and holding him still brings on a wave of emotions. I am happy to be holding him but only being able to for a short period of time is still hard to get over. July 1st was my first time holding him and Ali got his first chance on July 4th. We also got to get a good look at him without his cpap on on the 4th as well.

The nurses are all amazing. I couldn't ask for him to have better care than what he is getting.

His Progress So Far:

Faris was born on June 28 by C-Section weighing 2lbs 7 oz & 14 1/2 inches. He is doing well breathing on his own but with the aide of a cpap machine. It is basically the same thing that someone with sleep apnea uses to keep the pressure in their lungs. He started out at a level 5 and has been weaned and doing well at a level 4. He is on Oxygen but it is the same amount that you and I are breathing in at this moment.

His feed started out at .03ML per hour and has been upped almost daily and is at 1.8ML per hour as of this morning. He is taking breast milk in his feed as well as a mixture of lipids, electrolytes and fat to help beef him up. I am pumping at home and then they store it in their freezer for three days to make sure any bacteria or germs are killed off. It feels so good to see that little tiny tube full of breast milk going into his little mouth.

He has had two head sonograms to check the size and structure of his brain and will continue to have those done throughout his stay in the NICU. So far, they have both been normal. His brain is looking good and there are no signs of bleeding.

Today he was taken off of light therapy which was to help his bilirubin levels come down. They started out in the 5s and had come down to 3.8 as of this morning. There is a chance that he will go on and off that during his stay, which is fine. His skin looked so amazing when we saw him yesterday! He started off kind of reddish and was really starting to get newborn baby skin.

He had lost a small amount of weight but was back up to 2lbs 6oz. The nurse said it takes a full term baby about a week to get back to their birth weight so they were all very pleased with his progress. I think he was just showing off.

I am so proud of my baby boy and I love him so much. I never could have imagined being faced with this but I am so happy and thankful to God that he is doing so well. We are headed down tomorrow and get to give him his first bath as long as he is still stable! I can't wait to share that moment with him!