Day 44,

Well Ronan had a visitor yesterday, Poppa Jim! Ronan was nice and awake whilst we were there so Poppa Jim was able to see him squirm around and have his eyes open because the last time he saw Ronan was 3 weeks ago.. 

He was weighed again and is now 2143 grams!! He has now put on over 1kg since birth..

Ronan had an x-ray of his lungs and apparently they are all clear, so he doesn't need anymore anti-biodics.. The doctor believes that Ronan's valve (PDA) might have closed a little more because he is requiring less and less oxygen.. If the natural air isn't enough for him they switch him over to oxygen and it's only at 21% which is fantastic as a week ago he was in around 28 - 35% and had no natural air flow! 

I have to say we don't like the room he is in.. The nurses are nice enough but it's not as nice as his last bay.. There are no seats around so we had to stand for 45mins yesterday when we were there.. It just doesn't feel nice so we hope he quickly progresses and moves into a more open bay..

Day 43,

WoW! We have great news tonight as Ronan has now moved into Bay 6!!!!!! There are 8 bays where he is and bays 7 & 8 are NICU 24/7 care.. Bay 6 is basically a room where the lights are turned off, the door closed, 1 nurse monitoring all the babies and they say it's more of an intimate bay! We received a phone call after we got home tonight from seeing him that he had moved so i will be asking 10000 questions why the move tomorrow.. I am guessing he is between CPAP & Low Flow for support so that is why he's been moved because he was in natural air flow not oxygen for the past 2 days which is a massive effort!!

I had a hold of him tonight for about an hr and we did the breast thing (being close) but he fell asleep pretty much as soon as he was in my arms so it wasn't a huge success but it still got my milk moving!

I will post more tomorrow after we have been to see him in his new room!

Day 42,

Well Ronan has put on weight again and he is still on the medication to flush the fluid out so this is fantastic! He now weighs 2109 grams.. 

We gave him a sponge bath tonight and also Mark got a lovely hold but he kept having problems with his CPAP so it wasn't as long as we wanted.. He had a great day in regards to his oxygen levels as he was around 25% all day whereas because of his de-sats it is normally around 30 - 35% so that was great to see.. 

Total Weight Gain To Date: 969 grams 

Day 41,

Well i got my first Kangaroo Cuddle yesterday and it was beautiful.. We undressed him down to his nappy and unbutton my shirt and placed him on my tummy with his head resting under my chin. It was so wonderful feeling his skin against mine and i think he enjoyed it too. The nurse told me that he was looking up at me for the first 5mins and then he fell asleep and was a dead weight! Who would think that 2kgs would be heavy? hehe

His feeds are still around 26mls but i think they will go up again for some strange reason.

I have attached new pics from our hold today!

Day 40,

Ronan had a few visitors today, Aunt Margaret (A) & Cousin Jeni.. I think A lovedddd the fact that she can now get closer to him (god help him when he is home then)! hahaha (joking A)

They weighed him today and he has lost weight which was to be expected and is now 2006 grams but im happy to know he is still around the 2kg mark.. His feeds have gone up to 26mls and is tollerating every feed.. 

I got a nice cuddle today and will be having Kangaroo cuddles tomorrow (i will make sure to remind them) so i am very much looking forward to that! 

Day 39,

Ronan was up & down all day today even when we arrived but we still were able to change his nappy, clean his eyes etc.. He is now on medication for the fluid in and around his tummy and he is now peeing it all out! 

His feeds are still around 24mls and bound to go up soon!

Day 38,

Well well well we have some news today, Ronan was weighed and is now a massive 2070 grams (apprx 4.5 pounds)!!

After we weighed him i was able to give him my first sponge bath.. He cried for about 5 seconds but once Mark & i started talking to him he just lay there calm, relaxed and placid and was too busy trying to look around.. Mark had a little cuddle too and he didn't play up much at all.. He had a pretty crappy day again with his saturation levels but whilst we were there nothing much happened which was nice for a change..

They are still checking his belly everyday for hardness but it is still nice and soft so maybe he is just putting on alot of weight and less fluid than they think? We will find out soon enough..

Total Weight Gain To Date: 930 grams

Day 37,

Ronan had a pretty crappy day yesterday with his PDA as he was up & down from this morning and when we arrived to when we left it wasn't any better.. I had a 30min hold but it was hard being comfortable because he was so unstable but again it's because of his PDA..

On a good note, he is now on 24mls every 2hrs so hopefully he keeps growing & that dam duct closes on it's own!