Aiden has been steady and growing since the last post. He has been doing so well the doctors moved him to an intermediate room! He spent his first six weeks in a large room with twelve other babies that require the most urgent care.  In fact, during the first week of Aiden’s life the doctors visited him first for rounds.  Now he’s in a back room where he doesn’t require immediate attention.  He continues to have 24 hour nursing care.

He had his first eye test (I was not there, no thank you clockwork orange) and he passed the first zone test.  Oxygen is being pushed into his body and can cause the blood vessels that connect to the retina to grow incorrectly, which ultimately causes vision problems and blindness.  In case you didn’t know, Stevie Wonder is blind because he was a preemie.  For Aiden, all blood vessels in this most important zone are growing regularly. He will have two more follow-up tests.

Our son has gained a lot of weight, he is now 1,577 grams or 3.5 pounds.  His body is filling out, which makes him more tolerant of our touch.  When he’s fussing he responds well to our voices and loves to hold our fingers.

Eric and I are starting to enjoy his eye contact and touch more and more.  He will wake up occasionally and just stare into our eyes.  Sometimes he has a small frown like he’s trying to figure out who we are; he looks at every feature, our eyes, chin, hair, mouth.  Other times he just stares in our eyes with trust and openness. It brings tears to my eyes, we love him so much.

We visited the US Embassy last week to request a passport and CRBA (Consular Report of Birth).  We didn’t know what to expect – and frankly expected it to be like the DMV – but it went smoothly.  We skipped a lot of lines and had a nice waiting room because we are U.S. citizens. VIP!  They were sympathetic and understanding of our strange situation.  In order to receive a passport, the person has to be there, which Aiden obviously cannot do.  They will review his case and either approve the passport or send someone to the hospital to verify his identity.

Cuddling with Mom

Cuddling with Dad