Pictures!

I've finally found time to upload some pictures and have a lot to update. Tuesday night Ashwin was weighed and had only gained 6gms over 2 days (they like to see about 20gms) which was disappointing. I talked with the nurses and we decided to go back to just 2 suck feeds a day. He's been doing very well with the morning feed but when I feed him in the afternoon he's often quite tired so doesn't do as well and the times I don't feel he's had enough I've asked the nurses to top him up with a tube feed. Friday morning we arrived to find during the night he was weighed and had gained 82gms this time over 2 days! Then Friday my Dad visited and got to hold Ash for the first time.



He's very alert for now and the staff are always commenting on how unusual it is and how much they love to see him just looking around taking everything in. We arrived this morning to find they'd removed his last monitors (it's always interesting in the mornings to discover what changes have occured while we're away) so finally we were able to move him about without worrying about leads everywhere. The doctor said she had checked him over thoroughly listening to his heart and chest and was confident he was past the need for the monitors now, though they did take regular checks of his chest today to be sure. For the first time our little man was free of all leads, tubes, and wires and he finally feels more like a normal baby and less fragile.




Because he's been maintaining his temperature so well we also got the go ahead to give him his first bath. He absolutely loved it, looking at us and floating blissfully in the warm water. When I began to lift him out of the water he got upset so I lowered him back in and he settled immediately. As much as he enjoyed it he was then exhausted and slept for most of the day.

The doctor also changed his feeding schedule and he is now on 2 suck feeds followed by a tube feed round the clock. This will take more energy so we're expecting him to have a few smaller weight gains as he adjusts. He's currently 1550gms, so 450gms till we can think about bringing him home.