Progress

Weight: 17lbs 1oz

Length: 25''

Chronological Age: 10 months, 22 days
Adjusted Age: 7 months, 5 days

Days Home from ACH: 202 days

Samuel's scooting in his walker, all snug and warm, as the snow comes down outside.  It looks we have over a foot of snow and it's STILL coming down.  For those of you who read this blog and AREN'T from Arkansas or the neighboring states....that's a LOT of snow for us!!!

It's been an amazingly good week and I've been dying to share our news!

First off, Samuel had an appointment with the pulmonologist on Monday.  After a quick visit with the doctor, we have permission to begin weening his oxygen again!  For the next 10 days, we will put him on a quarter of a liter while he sleeps.  If he does well, we get to drop down to an eighth of a liter for the following ten days.  After those ten days, we can try him off the oxygen entirely.  Not going to lie, I don't think he's ready to come off....but I'll take any progress.  Samuel thinks he's ready though (he keeps ripping the cannula and cannula dots off his face.)  Our oxygen supply company is not generous with them so we are having to use masking tape to hold it on his face...

Our second bit of good news came when Samuel saw the optometrist on Tuesday.  After a quick (and surprisingly painless) exam, he says, "Samuel's eyes are PERFECT. For a 24-weeker to have his eyes is like one in a million. You are lucky."  I am so thankful for all of the prayers that were prayed over his eyes.  I'm also thankful for Dr. Arrington, who made Samuel's eyes a priority.  It's hard to explain how much work went into protecting them.  During those months in the NICU, I posted a lot about Samuel's oxygen levels swinging all over the place (you can find one such post here.)  It was a fine balance between keeping the oxygen as low as possible to protect his eyes and high enough to prevent oxygen asphyxiation (which could lead to cerebral palsy.)  All of those stressful alarm-filled-days paid off....

As mentioned in a previous post, we have been waiting on our Tefra application to go through so we can have financial assistance with all of Samuel's doctors appointments, medical equipment, and prescriptions.  I heard back from someone yesterday and it looks like we are in the final stages of being approved.  I spent most of yesterday working through a little glitch.....hoping there won't be any more of those.

And last, but not least, Samuel can roll!!!!  He finally rolls back to front.  The first few times he did it, I wasn't paying attention and missed it.  Finally caught him in the act yesterday.  He only rolls to the left though.....so we are going to have to work on that.  Anyone's kid prefer to roll only one way?

That's our week so far...and it's only Wednesday!  We're on a roll.  (Literally.)