WOW!  What a great day!  Today was an all around great day for Jimmy’s mommy and daddy.  On route to the hospital after church, Angie called the NICU to let them know that we would be arriving right around 1:30.  We were ecstatic to find our little boy without his IV’s!  This was a great accomplishment for Jimmy.  Our timing was perfect, in that the nurse had Jimmy all bundled up and ready for feeding time.  Before feeding time, Angie was excited to have the chance to give “Kangaroo Care” a try with her Jimmy.

Jimmy was also excited to have visits from his PopPop and Aunt Meghan.  Pop was at the hospital right in time to have the chance to hold Jimmy.

During Jimmy’s 5:00 care session, daddy was on duty for taking his temperature and changing his diaper while mommy watched.  This time, Jimmy left a surprise for his Daddy!  While cleaning up Jimmy, he went on to shower his daddy, which happened to surprise both of us – – that left for a little extra clean-up.   Jimmy’s mom had quite a laugh watching this series of events 🙂 It’s a good thing he’s scheduled for his first bath tonight 🙂

Today, the NICU seemed a bit more quiet then normal, which provided Angie and Jim some extra time to talk with his nurse, Donna.  Donna was very informative in providing us some re-assurance with how well Jimmy is doing – – yet again, she’s reminded us “what a big baby” he is for his gestational age.  In addition, we learned a bit more about Jimmy’s roadmap for what is in store for the weeks to come.  Depending on how Jimmy progresses (we’re told that boys can be a little more lazy/stubborn than girls), he may be upgraded to a big boy crib and aim for bottle feeding.  Also, there is another section in the NICU that Jimmy is technically “eligible” to move to, but he’ll remain in his current home unless the area becomes busy.

To close out a great day, we had a great dinner out on the town.  We were shocked when the musician opened his night with Sweet Baby James as his first song  –  what are the odds of that?

After a ‘good’ night rest at home in our own bed, Angie and Jim were excited to kickoff the day with a visit to Jimmy this morning.  This visit was just in time for his 9:00 care session (diaper, temperature, and food).  We were lucky enough to have spent an hour with the little guy outside of his bed one-on-one.  The exciting news from today is that the doctor said that Jimmy has been breathing very well over the last 24 hours with no episodes to report, and they turned off the air tube that was used to remind him to breath.  Upon returning to see our son this evening, we were elated to see that the breathing tube was removed from his isolette.

The other cute thing about Jimmy is that he enjoy’s sleeping like his mommy and daddy – – on his side :).  At one point during the day, he rolled over from his belly to his side to get a little more comfortable :).

Yesterday, we mentioned that Jimmy was doing very well with his food input, so much so that he was at 14cc’s of food.  Our little boy continued to do well with his food supply, that they have now increased to 25cc’s, which was administered during tonight’s visit — Great Job Jimmy!  If things continue to progress this way, they hope to increase food, and slowly decrease the use of fluids.  It’s possible in the next couple of days, he will be 100% on milk.  Along those lines, since he’s getting great nutrition from his food, there’s a great chance that his IV will be removed — as early as within the next 48 hours possibly.

Finally, one of the more memorable moments from today was seeing a distinct smile on his face.  While we sit and admire our son for hours, we often say how happy he looks.  Tonight, he smiled at his mom during feeding time — it was priceless!

Oh yea, one more thing, today James hit 31 gestational weeks.

Wow, well where to begin!  Today was quite a busy day.  While Angie prepared for her discharge (yay), Jimbo made a trip over to see our son to begin James Xavier’s third day.  While yesterday we informed you that Jimmy was banned from his binky, we’re happy to announce today, that he’s been a good baby and is able to use it once again.  The doctors added an air tube that helps Jimmy remember to take his breaths while using his binky. . . Great Job little man!  The amazing part here is Jimmy actually will hold the binky in his mouth.

We were also informed today that Jimmy’s lab results came back clean, and he shouldn’t need antibiotics for now.  The one thing that still amazes me more and more is how attentive he is when Angie is holding him.  He can’t take his eye’s off of his Mommy’s beautiful face :).

The other ‘neat’ thing was that he actually did a pretty good “Number 2” while Angie was changing him (sorry mommy).  That was reassuring for his parents 😉

A few other details on the day  — we learned that Jimmy’s weight has started to go on the up-and-up and he’s back at his original birth weight.  Tonight, Jimmy got to spend lot’s of cuddle time with his mommy and daddy.  Also, he was quite excited to meet his Aunt Abbie!  I think he’s going to guard his sun glasses closely, Aunt Abbie seemed to have her eye on his cool shades.

So, as for this hungry little fellow, he is now eating 14cc’s of food.  That is double from where he was yesterday morning.  Keep up the good work Jimmy!

Last but certainly not least was Angie breaking the news to Dunder about the new baby that will be coming home.  The Hospital had given us Jimmy’s hat that he wore on Day 1, and tonight the Nurse was nice to have supplied us with one of Jimmy’s blankets.  Needless to say, Dunder went crazy sniffing his new baby Jimmy’s blanket, and his tail was wagging in excitement.  I think he was in awe over the blanket for a few minutes at least, sniffing and licking, but gentle all at the same time.

Welp, time for Angie and Jimbo to catch some shut eye!

Well, Baby James is now 44 hours old!  My how time is flying 🙂

Angie and I were delighted this morning to find our son without needing his air tube! Overall, doctors are very happy with how he’s doing which is quite comforting.  Also, it’s funny to hear them typically have a similar description of how “active” he can be. Amazingly enough, he actually did a “pushup” and turned his head to look at the other side of his bed.

Another great part tonight was Mom was able to assist changing little Jimmy’s diaper, take his temperature, and prep for his food.  Great Job Mom!

So what’s with this Binky Band?   James has established quite the reputation with his nurses :).  It turns out, that when he gets a little fussy, he enjoys his binky which typically calms him down.  The problem is, he sometimes forgets that he needs to breathe while enjoying the comforts of the binky.  Therefore, our baby now has been placed on a “binky band” list.  Ok, that sounds extreme, it’s probably more like a “limited binky use” list 🙂  As he grows more, he’ll be able to rely on it some more.

Oh yea.. . James was very excited to have the opportunity to meet more of his family tonight 🙂  He is quite excited to meet Aunt Abbie tomorrow night!