Days 67 - 70,

Well first of all let me tell you the good news! Ronan is now in Special Care! He is no longer in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and has now moved down a bay to NCU (Special Care Nursery)!! He was moved today and has been totally off the CPAP for 4 days now..

He is no longer classed as Intensive Care which is amazing but he has done so well in the past 10 weeks and because of this, it looks like me may be home around his due date (14th June)..

He now weighs closer to 3kg but will be weighed tomorrow night before his bath.. His length is now 53cms and his head circumfrence is also 33cm so he is right where he should be for a baby around 37+3 weeks.. Most of the time premmie babies are under what the statistics of a normal babies growth should be but he is right up there and thriving!

It now just comes down to his progress off CPAP and learning how to breastfeed + bottlefeed but let me tell you, he is already a great sucker so hopefully it won't take him long to learn..

Day 66,

Not much to report today other then Ronan was on CPAP and slept the whole time.. He only had a few desats today (around 3).. They will most probably try him off CPAP again tomorrow or Tuesday as they like to give the bubs 2 days to rest, so i hope we see him tomorrow with no CPAP..

Just to clarify when i say no CPAP i mean nothing! No machinery help at all..

Ps: Make sure to look at his hand & foot prints art work created by Katie.. (sorry the angle is a little unco)

Day 65,

Well we found out how long Ronan was breathing on his own (off CPAP) and he lasted 16 hours!!!!!!!!!!! That is truely an amazing effort on his behalf.. He was taken off at 12pm Friday and lasted until 4am Saturday morning..

We were able to bath him and he now weighs 2910 grams!

We did a little more breast contact again and he did latch on for a few sucks but then was falling asleep but it was great because i could feel the milk coming on..

Total Weight Gain To Date: 1770 grams

Day 64,

More great news!!!!!!! Ronan was taken off CPAP today for another trial and he has been off for 8.5hrs by the time we left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He seems to be loving not having it on as he kept touching his nose and moving his head side to side because the CPAP tubes always restricted him moving his head..

We both held him for about 30mins each and whilst he slept pretty much the whole time his oxygen was around 98/100% and you can't get any better than that!

I can't wait to see if he lasted the night without CPAP! It is gorgeous being able to see his whole face with NOTHING!!

Day 63,

Ronan finally had a bath tonight (it was too chaotic to give him one last night, sadly) so he had it today.. He was weighed and is now 2880 grams!!

He had two nurses doting over him and one couldn't believe how placid he was, no crying just loving the attention of being dressed, shoved around.. He already has a girlfriend too! One of the nurses (who is just lovely) asked last week if she could have a photo with her boyfriend before he left to go home! It was so nice the way she asked..

The doctors will be talking to us over the next day or so about his booster shots he should be having in the next few days, but other than that no news is good news i say!

Total Weight Gain To Date: 1740 grams

Day 62,

NEWSFLASH!!

Ronan's PDA has now closed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the main valve to the heart and was the main thing causing him problems with his breathing.. Old blood was being mixed with new blood, so now that has closed he can only progress so it's all good news..

Aunt Mandy & Cousin Katie (babysitter heheh) came and saw Ronan last night and smothered him with kisses, which was just beautiful! We ended up taking prints of his feet and hands in ink & Katie is decorating it for us to place on his bed..

Thank you for coming to visit Aunt Mandy & Katie and there is plenty of time for a bath!

Ronan is 2 months old today!!! 

Day 61,

Well nothing much to report tonight other than we had a lovely hold tonight and Ronan slept through the whole thing! He had around 3 desats all day so he is going strong! Fingers crossed that he keeps getting better & better..

Day 60,

Well when we arrived to see Ronan tonight he was wearing NOTHING! No breathing machines just himself breathing totally on his own..!!!!

They wanted to test to see how long he would last before getting too tired to cope and he lasted 4 1/2hrs which is exciting.. This is the big step towards him never having to wear CPAP ever again.. He had a bad desat when we were there but he was fine after he was suctioned a little.. He went back onto CPAP just before we left..

We gave him a bath and weighed him at 2720 grams!! We did all of this whilst he was wearing no breathing help and he did fantastic (besides pooping in the bath).. hehehe

I would say they will try the breathing on his own again in another day or two..

Total Weight Gain To Date: 1580 grams