Four!!!

Four kilograms, that is. Or for those of you used to pounds (as I was until I finally got annoyed with always having to google the metric conversion chart in here), Samuel is now just a little over nine pounds. He has gained back the weight he lost after extubation when he had to expend so many calories just to breathe. Yay!

The aim is for him to be consistently gaining 20 to 30 grams a day on average. He might just have gotten there this week. At that point, we can pause his continuous NG feeds for short periods so that he feels some hunger and will be more motivated with the bottle feeding. He should be taking all his food orally when he comes home, although he may still need an NG to top up his calories at night.

Saturday I spent the day moving furniture in our bedroom at home, cleaning the carpets, washing the bassinet linens, setting things up for Samuel to be here sleeping next to me. It will likely still be four to six weeks before he is discharged but I needed a little sense of movement, a little feeling of getting ready for him to come home to us.

The bassinet we hope he won't have outgrown by the time he gets home.
There is space behind it for the oxygen converter. Come home, Sam.

We also did our pizza night with Samuel on the weekend. Chris took the boys bowling and then brought pizza and drinks to the hospital. We put Samuel in the swing next to us and set ourselves up on a big mat on the floor. After eating, we did some Lego as the Child Development specialist left some things for my boys to do over the long weekend - thanks Sue! Felt good to have my family of six doing something so normal together - even if it was at the hospital.

All my boys.

These things mean a lot to me right now. I am wearing out from months of my family being divided plus months of angst before that. Hours a day in that little room will drive a person mental and it gives me a lot of time to focus on things like our ongoing concerns that Samuel's vision is impaired, possibly his hearing also. There is no way to know how much at this point. We will deal with whatever comes our way - as we have all along - but some days it is tougher to hold my resolve. One foot in front of the other....

Lots of cuddle time with Mum.

And lots of smiles.

Samuel even smiles when sleeping. I suspect he is dreaming of being back in ICU when he was on Ketamine (known on the streets as Special K). As far as I could tell, that was some good stuff.

My beautiful boy.