Happy New Year!

Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should, not a whole lot has changed so I didn't feel like there was a lot to share.  Ryan is doing well, and he seems to be over the worst part of the virus.  He's much happier and more playful, really back to his old self.  The feverish symptoms seem to be gone.  He does still have that pesky lingering cough and wheeze, but he's getting better at coughing the gunk up himself so he doesn't have to get suctioned as often.  He's back to his regular feeding routine, but they still have him on plain, unfortified breastmilk.  I keep asking if they want to add the fortifier back in, and they keep saying he doesn't need it.  I swear if I get in trouble from any of the specialist docs, I'm going to have them call the PICU!  But he is tolerating the feeds really well and doesn't seem to be affected by his reflux as much lately.  In fact, I haven't seen him spit up once since he's been there!  It could be that we aren't moving him around as much, so maybe that helps, but honestly if he's going to be less gassy and refluxy without the fortifier, I might have to talk to them about keeping him off it for now.  All the nurses comment on how he's the chunkiest ex-25 weeker they've seen, so it's not like he's not a healthy, sturdy size.  But we shall see.

They've been slowly trying to wean down his oxygen, but it seems like anytime they get anywhere he ends up needing to get bumped back up.  Yesterday they had him down to 6 liters of flow all day, then last night he was hanging out with sats in the high 80s (he's supposed to be over 94), so they had to bump his flow back up to 9 liters.  Then today they slowly weaned him down again and he made it back down to 7 liters.  So, it's the old game we're so used to...a few steps forward, a few steps back.  We are just thankful that he's doing better overall, but we're getting a bit anxious about going back to work in a week.  I don't know what we are going to do about that one, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

We started the new year off right with a nice visit from our good friend, Christina.  It was good to see a friendly face, especially since we were both able to commiserate about having to miss our good friend's wedding last night.  Congrats to Bev and Brian, so sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate your big day!  The pictures look amazing.  Other than that, people keep asking how WE are holding up, and honestly, we are just in a routine.  The switching off spending a night here at home and then a night at the hospital is working out well, but it's rough not getting to spend any time together on our winter break.  The good news is, Ryan has one of us there with him full time, and Dani is adapting to it all really well.  In fact, it's been a good bonding time for Dani and her daddy on the nights he stays with her.  We're thankful for all we have been blessed with in 2012, and we are really excited for the hope and potential of 2013.  We wish all of you a very happy and healthy 2013!