First time holding him

We got a surprise today. The doctor said that heather could briefly hold the baby. After a flurry of nurses moved wires, machines and hoses around, they lifted him into her arms as she sat in a chair. His system didn't handle it very well and his oxygen saturation dropped low. So they had to put him back in the incubator after a couple minutes. We didn't have our camera today, but we have some polaroids that the nurses took. Next time we'll get some pictures to upload.

Calories

Here's an updated pic from a couple days ago. He's currently getting 20 calories per day through his feedings. They are starting him on a powdered supplement in his milk to add 2 more calories. Think about that next time you have your 650 calorie BigMac.

3 weeks old today

From Heather: Cole is doing well. They have upped his feedings to 3.2cc's every hour for 3 hours with one hour off in between. They are hoping to remove one of his IV's, the one that provided his nutrients in a couple of days, probably early next week. Once they remove that he will be getting all his calories from my milk. He is really starting to chunk up. I did ask the doctor today when we would be able to hold him and he said that won't happen until he stops getting so mad when the nurses touch him, change his diaper, give him medicine, or flip him over. He just get so mad that his sats go down. I was there when the nurse gave him a shot this morning, and it was cute, but sad, because you could see he was letting out a cry, but since they have a tube down his mouth there was no sound.

Weight Gain

With the increase in feedings, Cole is back up to his birth weight of 1lb 12oz. He's doing great, but he's become very sensitive to being handled. Everytime the nurses go in to change a diaper, take blood, or whatever, his vital signs drop. Frankly, I don't blame him. Nobody likes to be poked and prodded, especially when they're sleeping.
Heather and I have had very good luck in touching him, resting our hands on him and talking to him. This morning, we spoke to him and Heather touched him through the incubator and he did fine. But when Heather pulled her hands away his vital signs dropped. He does eventually recover, but it's very touching to see a little parental bond developing.