day 10

Thomas's bilirubin went down enough that he's off his bili-lights now, which means no more mask over his eyes. He was awake and looking around today a couple of times, it was nice to see his sweet face. He hated that mask and is happy to be rid of it. Actually he hates anything on his face and he managed to get his cannula off several times today, and gave his feeding tube a couple of good yanks, too.

Otherwise Thomas is making slow and gradual progress in other areas. His feedings have been stepped up as he is doing well with them, this has made him much less grumpy now that his tummy is fuller. Hopefully before much longer he'll be on full feeds and his IV nutrition can be stopped... that would mean his other umbilical line would be removed... and that would mean we could finally hold him! His breathing is still fast and effortful; until his rate is consistently below 70 we can't try any bottles/nursing. However he is doing well enough that they are turning down the flow rate on his cannula just a bit.

Tim changed his first of Thomas' diapers today, it was quite a scene! He was nervous enough with all the lines and wires, but then it turned out to be a dirty diaper, and Thomas pooped not once but twice more while Tim was in the process of changing him. We laughed and laughed and I realized how far we've come that we had a moment like that in NICU.