It has been a good week. We really we haven’t had a bad day. There been little dips where Aiden has lost weight but that’s to be expected. Its not always a increase everyday.

Our first highlight is Aiden’s umbilical IV was removed today. He now has just his air support and monitors. Aiden was lucky to not have another IV put in. Babies his age would usually have an IV put in their hand or arm for support, but our little superstar didn’t need one. The umbilical IV can only stay in up to roughly 8 days of age before it has to be removed.

Aiden now gets his daily caffeine, flora baby which is a probiotic and he was started on HMF which is a human milk fortifier. HMF is kind of like a baby protein powder providing increased calories and vitamins to the babies. NICU babies burn more calories than newborns as they have to work harder to breathe, stay warm etc. The doctors find that breast milk does not have enough in it to really support growth in preemies. Aiden is now fully on my breast milk and off of donor milk! Its been very challenging getting my milk to come in, so it makes me soo happy to have Aiden just on my milk! Aiden’s been having some gassy issues and spitting up. He’s lost weight some days, and gained weight other ways. The doctor said that babies tend to not grow well on donor milk, so we are hoping now that Aiden is on my milk these issues will subside.

The second highlight of the week is Aiden’s air support was turned down to 4! This means that in the next couple weeks, we can introduce Aiden to my nipple! I cannot wait for this day. The suck, breath, swallow is one of the most difficult things for a baby to learn, and you do not want to risk breathing in milk. Therefor the babies are started on a dry breast. So I would pump first, then let him explore the nipple. We started giving Aiden drops of breast milk in his mouth. He LOVES to suck on my finger. I give him my finger and we drop 1 drop of milk at a time onto my finger and let him suck on it. This is slowly introducing Aiden to the taste of breast milk, and sucking with a very minor swallow. On Sunday Aiden really started to show an interest to begin nursing. George was holding him and he kept trying to suck on his shirt. That’s when I introduced him to my finger. He sucks on a soother a bit, but will latch onto my finger for an hour. I like to think of it like i would my dog training. Im exposing Aiden to skin feel and sucking while his belly is getting full. I don’t want him to only want my finger, and still give him some soother time. My theory is any way i can help expose him to pieces that will eventually be put together into a behavior, or skill would be beneficial.

The final highlight of week 2 in the NICU – Aiden passed his birth weight! Aiden was born at 1004g and today he hit 1025g!! Such an exciting milestone.

We continue to be so grateful for Aiden’s progress. He truly is a little trouper. Each day his personality shows more, and Aiden’s interactions grow with us. He recognizes us, responds to our faces and voices. We love his little smiles. Each week we get a little closer to hopefully moving up to the Nanaimo NICU at 32 weeks, and then eventually home.