Last Wednesday, Jimmy had his first eye doctor exam.  Since he had his eyes dilated, he wasn’t able eat his lunch.  Therefore, our hungry little boy was a fussy little boy.  He was so hungry later that night that he was able to convince the doctor he was ready to try a bottle feeding.  On his first bottle, he surprised us and completed his entire feeding!  Since then, he has been practicing a bottle for a couple of his feedings each day.  Some of the feeding sessions have been more successful than others — but at least he is getting a chance to practice his “suck, swallow, breath” coordination.  Even with burning extra calories from practicing his bottle skills, Little Jimmy reached the big five pound mark tonight!  All of his time practicing with his binky has paid off!

Although Jimmy is in a clean environment in the NICU, he still caught a cold.   Other than a runny nose, he is doing well.  It is a reminder that Jimmy’s immune system is not fully developed, which is why he will be “nesting” this Winter to hopefully avoid the flu and RSV virus (a type of cold virus).

This past week, Jimmy was gaining an average of an ounce per day. He is currently 4 pounds, 9 ounces! Great Job Jimmy! Keep up the good work 🙂 He now knows his feeding schedule and wakes up routinely every four hours. Although Jimmy is still getting his main course via the feeding tube, he is practicing his coordination efforts of “breathing, sucking, and swallowing” with smaller amounts of milk. Hopefully this week, he’ll have enough endurance to have an entire meal from a bottle. Fingers Crossed 🙂

Jimmy had his first rubba-dub-dub-jimmy-is-in-the-tub bath this week! Although he wasn’t fond of the actual bath, he really enjoyed drying off and cuddling with the towels.

Saturday was a busy day for him, as he enjoyed lots of visits from his Grandparents and Uncle Tim and Mike. They were able to see how Jimmy’s facial expressions are evolving, especially his distinct laugh and grin.

While Little Jimmy has had a remarkably great week, he did catch us off guard with an episode of apnea and shallow breathing – – doctors aren’t concerned over these minor incidents, and are quite pleased with how he’s progressing.

Stay tuned for more to come 🙂