8 am

Today we got to give Lex his first bath! He took it like a champ. The nurse walked us through the procedure but Tim and I got to do everything ourselves. Afterwards he had a great appetite and finished off his entire bottle.

8 pm

Lex gained more weight today and is now up to 4 lbs 11 oz.

To us Lex looks like a completely different baby these days. His cone head is really going down and his cheeks are getting chubby. He’s still very tiny, but is looking more and more like a non-preemie baby.

We had quite a few visitors today. This morning my Dad got to see Lex for a little while because he was in town after attending a Sea Hawks game last night. This evening Lex was visited by his cousins Becky, Ashley and Dayn. This was their first time seeing him.

The following events took place between 11:00 am and 11:30 am

The nurse had quite the 11 am feeding with Lex today. He has a tendency to start peeing once the diaper comes off, so while the nurse was changing him he started to go. She was warned about that by the night nurse and covered it quickly, but then he started to poo as well. As she was taking care of that problem he started peeing again but this time the trajectory was such that he was peeing on his own face. That just pissed him off (no pun intended) so he also ripped out his feeding tube, which she then had to reinsert. That’s our kid!

2 pm 

I’ve noticed lately that Laura is looking more and more radiant.  Motherhood is giving her a very nice glow. =)

Our family and friends have been such a great help these last two weeks. We are so humbled by the generosity and support. This week we’ve had several meals provided for us which were very appreciated!

Today marks Lex’s second week with us. Just 6 more weeks before his official due date. The NICU has a checklist of items that we need to be comfortable with before we can take Lex home. We took an infant CPR class yesterday, which is one of the items on our checklist. Tomorrow we have a Parent Education class which teaches things like poison prevention, car seat safety, SIDS, immunizations, etc. All good stuff that we really need to know.

Lex is still struggling to take a full bottle because it is just so much food. At our 5 pm feeding he took all but about 12 ml out of a total of 42 ml. He’s a champ for trying so hard. Today his doctor called and said that he is doing great and is an “exceptional” baby.

After nearly two weeks in the hospital we’re very ready to take Lex home with us. He had another good nursing session today. The lactation nurse was very impressed with his ability at such a young age. That’s very good news since the only thing keeping him in the hospital is his ability to eat on his own.

His cheeks are starting to get round. Lex is starting to make a name for himself here at the NICU. Several of his former nurses keep coming by to check in on him. Last night one said, “He’s getting so big”, which is funny because he is still so small.

Milk coma.

8 pm

Lex gained more weight again and is now at 4 lbs 5 oz.  He’s already figuring out how to manipulate us.  He’s completely awake before his feeding, but during he starts to fade away and couldn’t possibly drink any more.  Once we take the bottle away he wakes up again and is ready to play.