Hi dear friends and family,

We will probably have to begin every entry with, "sorry for the delay," ... so, sorry for the delay in updates! 

ARTHUR: At last weigh in, Arthur was 2.6 lbs!! While some weigh ins show a small decrease in grams, he is gaining overall. They would like him to gain a little faster so they have been adding a fortifier to my milk to boost calories. They also have started giving him a little extra Potassium since his last labs showed it, and electrolytes, were on the low end. This was nothing that was overly concerning or out of the norm for micro preemies his age. 

He is no longer in sterile linens only, which essentially was just him in his little diaper on linens that had not touched anything else, and two pieces of fabric to keep his arms and legs a little tucked. Then an ultra memory foam bed that could smoosh up around him. Now he is on a soft pad, in a "Dandle Roo" swaddle (see pic). It's painfully cute seeing that little peanut all bundled up and he loves it. It also helps to prevent any dysplasia, aids in neurodevelopment, sleep and supports his musculoskeletal and motor development. He is quite literally snug as a bug in a rug. 

Arthur had been on a continuous feeding "drip" that delivered approximately 8ml an hour. He now is getting his feeds delivered in 25ml amounts over a 3 hour interval with a break in between (approx). So far he has tolerated this well, and hopefully will begin using the intervals of no feeds to burp and release some of the air and gas build up in his belly that the C-pap can create. 

C-Pap! As you may know, this little trooper very quickly after birth was able to have his breathing tube removed. We temporarily had to return to this after his choking/brady incident. He then moved down to a Bi-Pap, which is very similar to the C-paps many people use, however the Bi-Pap can monitor the time between breaths, and if it exceeds the set limit it will increase the air pressure to force Arthur to breath. Arthur is now back down to the regular C-Pap and is on the lowest setting. He still has apnea episodes so he will likely be on regular or intermittent C-pap for a while. You may notice in some pictures that his closed eyes appear puffy. The forced air from the C-pap causes that as well as some of his belly bloating. During care time and when they remove the C-pap to clean and massage his head, and fluff his ears, this goes down a bit. But nothing to be alarmed about. 

He now gets seen by physical therapists who monitor his development and also just assist with providing comfort and containment (being comfortably swaddled using your hands) during care time or any shots or new things that need to be administered. While they are still limited on how much they can actually check given his age, they are very pleased with his current development and say is right where he should be, YAY! 

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In less medical jargon filled news, Arthur is much less of a featherless baby bird and has gotten some "chunk" :) His little cheekies squish out through his C-pap gear in the most delicious way and I can feel new little neck rolls when he is laying on either of us. Skin to skin time has gotten even more wonderful. Initially it was a bit of a scary/disruptive transition for him being transferred from his little warm space ship to our chests and would take a good 15 minutes for him to relax again. Now, while he may grunt or yell at the nurses initially, when he is placed belly down on our chests, this little bubba just MMMEEELLLLTTTSSS. He recently "discovered" his tiny little tongue and will occasionally stick it out. He surprised himself the other night by doing this and meeting the skin on my chest, he then felt compelled to sponge me for a bit with his tongue while yawning and blowing bubbles. It was, quite frankly, the cutest shit I've ever seen in my life ... pardon my french. 

Skin to skin benefits with preemies can potentially sound a little far fetched on paper, or being told them. At this point we really rely a lot on Arthurs monitor screen to tell us when he is happy/relaxed or stressed/agitated. Though our little prince has proven to have a solid set of lungs on him, being so tiny and being covered with his C-pap mask, those physical cues are less apparent. I will give an example of what his numbers show when he gets placed on us and snuggles in. 

Normal readings in his incubator when he is sleeping/relaxed: Heart rate: 160-ish. Oxygen Level: this tends to bounce around between 77-90, with his target numbers being 89-93. 

Monitor readings when he is on our skin: Heart rate: 148-ish. Oxygen Level: maintains between 90-100 for extended periods of time with occasional dips. It will stay at these beautiful levels generally for the duration of our snuggle time. 

Too Long Didn't Read?: Arthur is delicious, soft, sweet, a fighter, a grand pooper, progressing beyond expectations, feisty, a really cute yawner, strong and just all around perfect. Even when he surprises us with a prolonged poop blast while changing his diaper ... it's all perfect. 

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We love you all and are so thankful for you! I know I am BEYOND behind on responding to texts and/or social media messages and sending out my thank you notes. Thank you for your understanding, your patience, and continuing to send us encouraging, loving, sweet and supporting messages.  We see every single one and we are so touched by them. We are also pooped, and when we do have some down time to be at home, we tend to disconnect and crash pretty hard. 

Thank you all for the right boob prayers! That sh*tty t*tty caught up to it's friend to the left just days after posting! And as always, thank you for the prayers for the three of us, and especially for our tiny little miracle. Big big big LOVE to all of you!