Atticus the Magnificent!

Last night was a great night. First of all, we caught him while he was alert and looking around. So now you can see his beautiful eyes. Here are a few more photos:

Little naked Atty. This picture reminds me of the National Geographic photos of little monkey babies on their mothers' chests, with the big eyes and the hand to his mouth. I guess that makes me the mama monkey. I'm ok with that. :)

Here he's doing his best John McCain impression. I love that little chin!

This is kind of a goofy picture, but I have to add it anyway. It almost looks like he's trying to explain something to me.

Second, HE DRANK HIS FIRST BOTTLE!! They didn't build up to it like I thought they would, but he did a fantastic job. He didn't know what to think of it at first, wrinkling up his forehead and drooling a lot. He eventually caught on, though, and he drank the whole 34 ml. It took him 45 minutes, and he was wiped out afterward. Such hard work. But we cheered him on the whole time, telling him how fantastically he was doing and how proud we were of him. And we were--I wanted to throw a party, I was so excited.

So here's the feeding plan: They give him one bottle per 12-hour shift for two days. (They continue feeding him through the tube for his other feedings.) If he drinks at least 75% of each bottle for those two days, they go up to two bottles per shift. If he does well on those bottles for another two days, they move to "on demand" or "ad lib" feeding: as much as he wants whenever he wants. If he's getting enough food that way, they remove the feeding tube and continue the on-demand feedings, slowly training him onto a 4-hour schedule. Then, once he maintains that for a certain amount of time (I can't remember what it is right now), he's ready to come home. Assuming he hasn't had any apnea episodes for 7 days. So he's making great progress.

They're weaning him off the heat of his incubator, so we hope to see him in an open crib today or tomorrow. He's about too big for that incubator anyway, so this will be a good move. The nurse warned us that he might not eat as well for a couple days after the move, since he'll be adjusting to the change. Any kind of change throws little babies off for a bit, so we'll see how he does.

Here's one more picture, just in case anyone wondered if James ever gets a turn to hold his son:

This was Atty's last day of antibiotics, so he still had the IV in his hand. He knows and loves his daddy.

Oh, one last thing: Atty now weighs 4 lbs. 5 oz., and he seems so much bigger to us that it's hard to realize just how little he still is. Until we compare him to his newest neighbor, who was born full-term and weighs 8 lbs. That girl is HUGE! I just had to laugh whenever I looked at her, thinking, "Oh, so THAT'S what a newborn is supposed to look like!" We're not supposed to ask about other babies, so I don't know why she's in there (they keep her under bright lights so I assume she has jaundice). I can't imagine she'll be there for long.

Anyway, that's the latest. We are so proud of our little boy. He is strong and healthy and sweet tempered. We hope to have him home by the end of the month, but we're willing to wait as long as it takes.