Joel - 9 weeks and...

DOUBLE his birth weight! Joel hit 3lb, 8oz tonight! He's worked really hard and been through a lot to get to this point. We're pretty excited for him and his little double chin!

They rearranged his feeding schedule today. He was up to 28mL every 3 hours and doing bottles when awake. Unfortunately, he followed his previous pattern of breathing setbacks on the 3rd day of bolus feedings. This is the 3rd time this has happened, so they decided to try cutting back on the quantity of food he gets at each "meal" to 20mL. He also will only get 4 bottles maximum per day for now, and the rest of his food will be through the NG tube. This should give him some time to rest between bottles. Also, the lesser quantity will cause his stomach to be less full and push up on his diaphragm less (in case that is causing any discomfort). His breathing is not horrible, but it's a step back from where he was. He is up to 0.7L and his breaths are more shallow and faster. Hopefully, with some rest, he can get back to where he needs to be. At least he's not being cut off as in previous setbacks! This boy likes his food!

The eye doctor came to check on him late tonight. She was very optimistic (as opposed to optomistic, haha) about what she saw. His right eye appears to have some clearing on its own. The left eye is still healing from surgery, but she is confident he is getting more light in both eyes than a couple of weeks ago. She changed his drops around and got rid of the patch. We still have several weeks to resolve the eye issues, but I was happy she was so pleased with what she saw.