And the countdown begins.....

As of this morning, Thomas is weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. He is currently on 3 liters, holding steady around 25% - and Thomas has begun to use the regular cannula 3 hours a day, 2x a day - on one liter at around 28%. The reason for the trial time on the regular cannula is so that Thomas can be portable when he comes home - as he will not be so with his home high flow setup. Although TJCmom and dad have discussed adding more time on the regular cannula, TJC's doctors do not seem to be in the mood to rock the boat before he goes home. Any further weaning of Thomas's oxygen will be planned by Thomas's pediatrician and pulmonologist, and executed by TJCmom and dad at home.

And, if you hadn't guessed, all of this mention of "before he comes home" is because we have an estimated discharge date for Thomas - August 7th!! As heaps of data and every doctor and nurse in the NICU have indicated, babies seem to do exceptionally well once they get home...and TJCmom and dad can't wait to see what kind of progress our little guy can make once he's in his own crib!!

We are, as always, extremely proud of our little guy.

We've included some of our favorite pictures from the last week - enjoy!

Thanks for sharing, we'll keep you posted as to how the next week goes!

-TJCmom and dad

lean and mean....

As of this morning, Thomas is weighing in at 7 pounds, .8 ounces. Thomas passed the 7 pound mark on Tuesday, but as a result of receiving a new dose of lasix and being put back on his diuretic, his weight is down a bit from his high of 7 pounds 3 oz. The doctors and TJCmom and dad decided that being back on the diuretic was the best course for Thomas because he was gaining a lot of weight and was not making the corresponding respiratory progress. And fortunately, since being back on the diuretic, we have been able to begin to ween Thomas back down on his oxygen flow - he is currently fluctuating between 25 and 28% - having been stuck at 30% for the previous three weeks.

Thomas had his first field trip this week - down to have his first MRI - and all of Thomas's doctors are pleased with the results. It seems as it the brain hemorrhage Thomas had during his first week is resolving itself without damage to his brain tissue. Only time will tell how the bleed will affect Thomas's development, but for now we seem to be in a good place.

To give a little perspective on how far Thomas has come, his due date was this week - the 17th. And now that Thomas is full term, Team TJC is looking to get him home soon. We're still not sure exactly when that will be, but we're all working to get our little man ready. He is now taking his milk fortified with the powder that he will be coming home on and TJCmom has been trained to give him all his medications. So we'll see what the next week or two bring.... but whenever Thomas is able to come home, TJCmom and dad are, as always, extremely proud of their little guy.

We've included some of our favorites pictures from the last week - enjoy!

Thanks for sharing - we'll be back soon.

-TJCmom and dad

Day 111...and still going strong

As of this morning, Thomas is weighing in at 6 lbs, 13.5 oz. He is currently on 3 liters of flow at 30% O2. Thomas's eye doctor continues to be pleased with his progress and Thomas's primary doctors are pleased with his respiratory progress. We've been in a bit of a holding pattern for the past few weeks, unable to successfully ween Thomas's O2 flow below 3 liters, but no one seems terribly concerned. There has been some discussion about taking Thomas home on his current mode of support - his high flow cannula - but we're all ("all" being TJC mom and dad, and TJC's doctors) waiting another week or so to see whether we are able to continue to ween Thomas before moving towards making any decisions.

We've added a mobile to Thomas's crib this week and have found it a fabulous way of calming him out of his temper tantrums....you'll see it in a few of the pictures below. Other than that - and a possible MRI this week - things are fairly quiet...nice and quiet in our corner of the NICU (knock on wood, fingers crossed, hopping on one foot..)

As always, TJCmom and dad are extremely proud of our little guy.

Below are a bunch of new pictures - enjoy!

Thanks for sharing - we'll be back soon!

-TJCmom and dad

Day 99...

As of this morning, Thomas is weighing in a bit over 5 lbs, 11 oz. Thomas is continuing to bottle-feed, we have been able to lower his oxygen flow to 3 liters and Thomas's aldactazide (his diuretic) has been discontinued. The plan for the next few days includes lowering the oxygen flow to 2 1/2 liters as soon as Thomas's doctors think he can handle it, and lowering his caffeine dosage. Thomas's eye doctor continues to be pleased with Thomas's eye development, and in fact, Thomas has earned a pass for this week - needing to be examined every two weeks instead of every week.

To be honest, (knock on wood, fingers crossed, hopping on one foot...) things are pretty quiet in Thomas's corner of the NICU - and that's just the way we like it. Because our little man is quickly becoming our little fat man, it's only a matter of time before Thomas grows enough lung tissue to replace the diseased tissue. No one can say for sure yet when Thomas will be able to come home, but he is certainly taking a lot of steps in the right direction....which would be away from Hackensack and towards Montclair. :)

So TJC mom and dad are pretty much just hanging out with our little guy each day, watching his personality (and the rest of him) grow. Long gone are the quiet, gentle days of preemie-dom. Thomas is now a crying, kicking screaming baby....and believe it or not we are loving every minute of it!!!!

We are, as always, extraordinarily proud of our little guy.

We've included a few new pics below - enjoy!

Thanks for sharing, we'll be back soon!

-TJC mom and dad