6 Weeks

Jacob is now 6 weeks old. We had a very eventful week.

We've had some really good weeks and some pretty scary days. After two weeks of steady feedings and weight gain Jacob began not tolerating his feedings. The nurses check what is left in his stomach every four hours and in the past he's had some food left in his system, but on Thursday when they checked the milk left in his stomach was green and his stool was foul smelling. The doctor took him off his feedings for a day and when he began them again Jacob began having spells. So the doctor took him off his feedings for two days and my baby lost 10 ounces. To make matters worst they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. They tested him for an infection which came back negative then they thought maybe it was some type of bacteria in his system and they couldn't find anything. So they just slowly began feeding him again. He seems to be tolerating it and has put back all of the weight he lost. It's amazing how slowly he gained the weight, then how quickly he lost it and now how quickly he gained it back. As of 5 am he's back to 3 pounds 2 ounces.

Jacob also had his first eye exam this morning. Premature babies are more susceptible to eye problems so they have to monitor their eyes very closely. The tools were sitting out last night, they looked like torture devices. My poor baby! Since babies can't really understand you when you say keep your eyes open they have to hold them open with two metal clamps! The nurse said he did very well and the doctor didn't see anything alarming. He's scheduled to have another eye exam in two weeks.

I signed up to walk in the March of Dimes, March for Babies. After seeing all of the wonderful things Children's doctors and nurses can do and hearing about the advancement in neonatal care over the years I feel so blessed that Jacob is getting the care he is and at the time he is. I never imagined that Mike and I would be going through what we are going through and if I can help in anyway I can to further research and training of neonatal care I plan on it. I have affectionately named our family team Team Jacob, of course named after Jacob but also a playful shout out to Jacob in Twilight - not that I am a fan. To learn more here's the link.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1374459