birth weight

Timothy reached his birth weight today! We are so proud of him for all that he is going through right now. We are looking forward to him coming home soon. He has undergone several more tests, just to make sure that they were not missing anything, and they have all come back negative. He definitely has acid reflux and now we are adjusting medication to help that heal and hopefully make it feel better so he will be more willing to eat. We also figured out today that he has a good case of thrush, a yeast infection in his mouth, that can make it painful to eat, so now that is being treated as well. Over the next couple of days he should be feeling better and we should see improvement. Now for a few pictures for your enjoyment...

Playing with a link...he likes to grab anything and hold it, including his feeding tube...

Hanging out in the bouncy chair...it keeps him upright and his food in his tummy.

Tracking a rattle with dad

After a bath, his hair curls and certain pieces stick up. :)

Eating a purple marker...not really.

The medicine for the thrush dyes the inside of his mouth bright purple.

Eating...

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers, we appreciate them so much! We are still here in NICU, hoping that something will show up as the reason for Timothy refusing to eat. He is on medication for acid reflux right now, but it doesn't seem to be helping his appetite. The doctor is changing his medication in hopes to find the right combination to ease the burning and encourage him to swallow more than just a half-ounce at every feeding.

After we try to get down as much as he can stand, Timothy usually crashes out on daddy for some extra snuggles (it also helps his tummy if we keep him upright).

Timothy is now 7 lbs, 5.5 oz. He is almost back up to his birth weight and steadily going up now that he gets most of his food through the feeding tube.

Timothy now has the upgraded crib. It has a crank at the end that allows the nurse to raise his head up much higher than the last bed he was in. This helps keeps the food down in his tummy. He looks so tiny in this crib compared to the last one he was in!

Fast asleep, wearing his new Christmas hat and cuddled up with his little friend. We have several of his toys and his bouncy chair with him so that we can play when he is awake and alert. He does really well with tracking our faces, voices, and his toys.

Update

Timothy is doing really well. Over the past few days, Timothy's eating has decreased, so the doctors have decided that a feeding tube was the best to get him enough calories. We have also been adding formula to my breast milk to make it more calorie rich. He had an upper GI test this morning that revealed moderate acid reflux, so he is now getting medicated for that. The test was a blessing because it is the first test that has revealed something that could be causing his lack of interest. The hope is that over the next couple of days, he will start to heal and be more interested in eating. It has been quite a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but Jared and I are doing well...we feel blessed that he is in such a great place and getting such great care. He has been much more aware of his surroundings, got his first real bath, and is a wonderful snuggler. We don't know if he will be home for Christmas, but are thankful that we have been so richly blessed. :)

Unexpected events...

So many things have changed. Since our last post, Timothy has been checked into the NICU at St. John's because of dehydration. We have been basically living at the hospital, helping with his feedings and doing lots of holding. He is doing so much better! The doctor has declared him healthy, but he needs to gain more weight and eat more each time every 3 hours. So we are waiting...hopefully for only a couple of more days. In the meantime here are a couple of new pictures. Once we are home and have a few minutes, we will update picasa with more pictures.