Since it's been almost a week

Today we woke up to snow and a two-hour school delay. Since Meg has a two-hour orthodontist appointment in the afternoon (postponed since we were in the hospital during the original appointment) and Jake is still coughing, we kept the kids home. With such a busy morning, I'll be visiting Finn in the afternoon/evening. Brian is still sick and unable to visit Finn right now.

Finn is doing extremely well. He no longer has an IV and only has monitor wires and a feeding tube left. Over the weekend he moved from his isolette to a crib which resembles a clear, topless storage tub, like one Rubbermaid would make. He is tolerating the 40 cc's of breast milk that they serve him every 3 hours by tube. So that he receives more calories to help him bulk up and have more energy, they are enhancing the milk so that it is 24 calorie instead of the 20 that I provide. 

Because of how young he is and having been on a ventilator, he has not been able to take more than 2-3 cc's (cc=ml) by nipple, mine or the Gerber ones. We've tried breastfeeding every day for the past few days. He latches on easily, but does not want to suck and swallow. He usually falls fast asleep. I've been able to hold him for most of the time that I'm visiting him, even kangarooing (skin-to-skin contact) in a Murphy bad that they have in his room.

The other obstacle that he needs to overcome before coming home is de-satting (desaturation). He needs to go 5 days without his heart rate or oxygen saturation de-satting or going below a certain rate. He had his last one last night, March 8th, in the evening.

Finn is just the sweetest guy. His neighbor right now is a fussy little girl who is often crying loudly, and Finn isn't fazed at all. He sleeps through it or just looks around. The only times that I've heard him cry are when the nurse had to re-insert his feeding tube and when she had to remove the dressing covering his chest tube opening. When he is awake, he just loves to look around. His nurses just love him and his big eyes.

I do have a few prayer requests and would be ever grateful if you could take the time: (1) that Finn would start feeding, preferably by breast, (2) that Finn's de-sats would be all in the past, (3) that Brian and Jake would recover from their illness and that Meg and I wouldn't get it, and (4) that I can maintain the energy that I need to care for my family and Finn while pumping around the clock, I am becoming very weary and tired.