Can you believe Aiden’s been in the NICU for three months?  What a terrifying, wonderful journey.  He is a true survivor, a miracle.  We are close to bringing our boy home.

Aiden has worked his way through many milestones:

• He weighs 6 pounds, 3 ounces. He almost fits into newborn size clothing!  (For everyone that sent cute outfits, we’ll soon have photos to share – Mom, Teri, Bebe, Aunt Sandy, Jessi, Lauren, Tanya XOXO.)
• They took out his feeding tube yesterday because he is feeding by bottle or breast. He’s not gaining weight as quickly as we’d like, but they told us to expect that in the beginning.  They’ve added HMF back into his bottles to continue with his calories and told us we may need to do that when we take him home.
• He no longer needs a protein additive.  We hope this reduces his gas and straining.
• The entire NICU is taking precautions for MRSA.  A baby in every room has tested positive, so nurses are required to wear gloves and yellow gowns when caring for the babies.  Luckily, Aiden’s test was negative.  We need to get out of here!
• Aiden took the car seat challenge today.  He had to sit in his car seat for 90 minutes without desaturating. He passed!
• He had his final head ultrasound (which is standard for all premature babies) and everything looked great.
• We thought he was going to have his final eye test today, but they are still immature.  We will need to go to a children’s hospital in LA and get his eyes checked in 2 – 3 weeks.

There is still one outstanding concern we have: his blood pressure has been high for a while now, even while resting.  Nephrology is involved.  They conducted an ultrasound on his kidneys and everything looked healthy.  They are talking about another echo to check his heart, but there is unlikely changes from the first echo they took when he was born.  They said if they don’t see a major issue, they will likely discharge us and have our pediatrician at home monitor it (the medical records for Aiden will be a fun read!).

We heard today that Aiden could be discharged early next week.  It all depends on the Nephrologist.  This is really happening!

We are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.  I was emotional last weekend and may have snapped at a nurse for stopping me from breastfeeding…I’m just to the point where I’m ready to start the life we should have had with Aiden.  Three months away from home is wearing.  The NICU is hard.  Breastfeeding is impossible without showing every parent, nurse, nurse aid, doctor, you name it, my goods. And the last thing I need is a nurse fresh out of school telling me how to care for our son.

I remind myself daily that through every frustration we have a beautiful boy.  And he says goodnight.