First week acheivements & new goals

Yesterday was Will's one week birthday, which is hard to believe.  I've adjusted to being home but really still being in the hospital for most the day.  Today I finally feel somewhat functional, generally more comfortable and increasingly independent which are all great things.  I am of course still weak and tired and generally have a LONG way to go given what the bed rest for so long did to my body, but at least the acute pain from surgery is significantly better.  I have had so much swelling from all the fluid they gave me during surgery that my legs themselves are so heavy I get tired just moving them, but I trust my joints/bones will reappear in the next few weeks.  My mind and emotions have been all over the place, plenty of days I still break into tears.  Some times there is a reason, most times there isn't ~ other than lack of sleep, hormones, worry, joy and all the other abstract things floating around in my head.  My personal goals for the immediate future are to walk more, nap more, start slowly working on getting my strength back, tackle a load of laundry or two and mostly just enjoy my family.

My achievements and goals are nothing though compared to Will's.  He has had such a week, and improved so much.  Every day the team cautions us that it wouldn't be uncommon for him to "not fully tolerate" whatever advancement they plan, but that he's doing well enough it is worth the challenge.  And while I know it wouldn't be a failure if he needed some supports back, I can proudly say that so far he hasn't!  His wean from the respiratory support went superbly, and for the last 36+ hours he has been breathing entirely on his own without even extra oxygen.  He hasn't had any more "spells" in over 48 hrs.  His caffeine treatments stopped yesterday, and that will remain in his system for about another 5 days, then we will really see what he does on his own.  They are increasing his feeds steadily & he is peeing and pooping like crazy so his GI tract is working great.  He still needs to start gaining a little more weight, and since he was a big guy to start with they feel he could use some extra calories so are going to fortify the breast milk for a few days.  Hopefully his weight will pick up more, because he is also starting to be alert enough and show feeding cues that we might be able to start formally nursing in the next few days.  They start with "nuzzles" to make sure he'll tolerate being at the breast, because at this age he could expend as many calories nursing as he gets while nursing.  But all are steps in the right direction.   He is getting better at regulating his own body temperature so they are turning down the isolette temps and getting him dressed/swaddled in more layers which is all progress toward being in an open crib.  His goals are similar to mine ~ eat, sleep, get stronger ~ but so much more important and impressive!

Hopefully he will continue to make strides in the upcoming weeks, and if all goes well we might be able to have him home by the end of the month.  It is a wish I entertain briefly, but have to wait and see.  His team said at this point he is basically calling the shots and making the plans, we are all just along for the ride.