Day 122

Nate has had an amazing couple of weeks! Here's a little head to toe list of all of his accomplishments.

• Weight: Nate is 7lbs 1.5 oz today! I never thought I'd see him get this big! He is such a cute little boy and is now looking like a normal newborn baby. He's also started to grow a little bit in length too! He's up to 18 inches now :) He has now finally made it onto the preemie growth chart! He's in the 1st percentile for length, and 10th percentile for head and weight. He's going to be our little runt :)
• Brain: They do head ultrasounds on him every once in a while to check for brain bleeds. Bleeding is very common in these micro premies and can cause all degrees of brain damage. They typically do them every week for the first month and then again closer to term. Nate's have always been completely normal but there is still a slight chance that the later one can show a late bleed. He had his final one a couple of weeks ago and it still looked great!
• Hair: We are happy to report that Nate is finally starting to grow some hair! He is still totally bald on the sides but has grown a nice bit of fuzz right on the top of his head. Some Jensen boys grow their hair in to perfect little mohawks for the first year and it's looking like Nate might join the club.
• Eyes: He had another eye exam this week and he is still looking really good. The doctor is letting him go another 2 weeks and said it's pretty unusual for a baby Nate's age to start developing problems. He still doesn't want to say we're totally out of the woods yet but it's looking very good.
• Ears: Nate had his first hearing screen this week. All premies have to have at least 2 hearing screens - one before discharge and one at 6 months. They have also been concerned because there are certain antibiotics that can cause hearing loss and Nate has been on that particular drug multiple times. Good news is...he passed on the first try! They will most likely do one more before he leaves because he will be on antibiotics again after his surgery but this is very good news! He even got a little certificate showing his accomplishment. Todd is very proud of Nate's first award :) 
• Breathing: The little champ is still on room air and has completely stopped having spells! His room is so quiet now without his monitor dinging all day. We never thought it would even be likely that we would be going home without oxygen and caffeine but it's looking like he's going to continue to be good. He is still on his caffeine now but they are planning to try him off of it after his surgery to see how he does.
• Eating: Nate is still an eating machine. They have started to let him nurse for every feeding but have limited him to 20 minutes after they figured out that he was taking about twice as much a he was allowed. Since he is still being limited on his feeds, he is one cranky boy when it gets close to feeding time. None of us are looking forward to after his surgery since he won't be able to eat anything for 1-2 weeks! He is going to be one unhappy little boy.
• Belly: We finally have a surgery date!!!!! This Thursday will be the big day and we have pretty mixed feelings about it. We are super excited to get home and realize that this is the only way that  we can get there but the idea of another surgery makes us super nervous. Everyone seems to think he'll do fine though so we are hoping for a super speedy recovery. His doctor is predicting he will stay for about 2-4 weeks post surgery for healing and getting up to full feedings. We are hoping Nate will be closer to that 2 week mark since he is already eating so well. Please keep Nate in your prayers this week.

Nate playing in his big boy swing. He really likes it but, as you can see, it is a bit overstimulating for him.

Nate's first award :)

His first time in his real clothes. Shirts and pants are a huge pain to put on right now with his IV and ostomy bag so he probably won't wear real clothes again until after his surgery. We are just hoping all of his newborn clothes fit still by then...

Here is how I found Nate sleeping yesterday morning when I came in.  He doesn't hold still, EVER :)

Here's a better look. You can see his binki propping up his face. Crazy kid!