FOUR MONTHS OLD!

So our Samuel is four months old. To celebrate, he got his oxygen weaned to a half litre. (For reference, he was on eight litres when he first went from BiPAP to high flow on April 18th.) Three months ago, we still thought he might die. Two months ago, we weren't sure he would be able to manage extubation. One month ago, he had just come off high flow and moved out of ICU. Now here we are with him on just a half litre of oxygen and getting ready to go home.

We mark a few other milestones now:

• Samuel has officially been extubated for as long as he was intubated; there are two months and three days on either side of that amazing moment.
• He has a weaning plan for his last three medications and has come off of his Ursodial. Blood tests show that the damage done by his prolonged time on TPN has been reversed and his liver enzymes have returned to normal. 
• Samuel had his second visit home on pass. He was home for four hours, snuggled and fed and got to sit up at the dinner table with his brothers and parents and grandparents. We said grace and sang Johnny Appleseed together. "Oh the Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord..." indeed.

Samuel has dinner at home with his family.



Sam is teasing us by dancing with that 10 pound marker. He gains a little and then loses a little and then gains more than he lost. He's nine pounds 14 ounces today. Little stinker. He has developed some chub on his thighs but still has teeny little chicken ankles. Somehow I find this to be desperately adorable.

One of my favourite things about being with Samuel is feeding him. There is no mistaking that hunger cry. I waited more than two months to hear my baby make a noise and I am so grateful for his voice now. He gets stronger every day and takes more and more by bottle. As he tuckers out, he'll forget to drink and I will gently pull the bottle back to see if he's actually done. Usually, he wakes up and sucks it back into his mouth. This makes me giggle every time as it reminds me of when my dad used to fall asleep watching tv; we'd try to slip the remote out of his hand and he'd startle and grab it back with that "I'm not done with that!" indignance.

Samuel loves going for walks. He is very content in the Baby Bjorn carrier smushed into his mama. Me, him and a portable oxygen tank are getting pretty cozy together. He is off of 24-hour monitoring now so no more sat probe to take. We visited the ICU a couple of times last week and had some lovely moments with the people who took care of him there. One of his regular RTs got to hold him. He looked into Angel's face and put his tiny hand on her cheek. She teared up and said, "this is why I do my job."

Thank you.

Samuel also likes to have his hair brushed. (I know that referring to it as hair is rather optimistic but cut this mama some slack.) He becomes very still and his eyes roll back and he makes all these little squeaky sighing sounds. And I laugh. Sometimes I show other people and they laugh too. Sam has become entertainment. In fact, one day Nana and Boppa and I were laughing so much at him kicking and smiling that the nurses came in to see if we were having a party. Joyful, simple, no-nonsense pleasure. Isn't that what babies are all about?!

Frolicking naked on the quilt made for him by NeeNee (Arlene).



Found his hands.