The finish line is within sight

Wow, we are almost there. We should bring Loki home tomorrow morning. All he needs to do is to pass the car seat test, in which he sits in our car safety seat for one hour without any problems. This is because some babies are not able to sit somewhat upright without a blood oxygen desaturation. I am not worried about it.

Coincidentally, yesterday Loki only got food via breast feeding. This is quite a development, as Mom has been working on this for two months. However, there is no way to tell how much milk he got, and there is a good chance that he's not getting enough. It is more difficult to get food this way, and he gets tired. He's also lost a small amount of weight in recent days, probably due to the adjustment to breastfeeding.

This development had a big impact on our overnight last night in the hospital. Because he may not be getting enough food at each feeding, it was critical that he at least eat every three hours. Well, Loki decided that he would rather be a troublemaker than a baby, and preferred to sleep all night instead of feeding. Most "new" parents would be very happy if their baby had this preference. But we needed Loki to eat. So Mom tried to wake him for him to eat. First some talking, then some movement. But he would only slurp once or twice, and then doze off. She had to escalate up to tickling his feet, and then to placing a chilly wet wash cloth on his face. That certainly woke him up! As a result, between feeding Loki, waking Loki, some breast pumping, and just being nervous, Mom did not sleep at all last night.

My mother, or "nana," arrived today. She was extremely excited to see big boy Loki. She had previosuly visited right after his birth. But he was so very tiny then, and she was unable to touch him as he lay in his isolette. (That is like an imaginary different world to me now.) This time, she held him, and she and I have him a bath.

I forgot to mention that, a few days ago, Loki had an eye exam. His eye condition - ROP - was previosuly stage 3 (moderate) in both eyes. But the doctor reported that it decreased to stage 1 (mild) in one eye, and disappeared in the other! I hope this is accurate. In so many ways, he is ready to leave the hospital.

A couple photos are below. There are some better ones coming soon.

Tomorrow promises to be a big day in our family.

Happy family:


Loki says, "Oh, Hi Mom!"