Edward has had another great week!  He continues to mark milestones and gain a few grams every day.  For example, he now is wearing clothes!  During the first four weeks or so, Edward was dressed solely in an almost laughably small pair of pampers.  A temperature probe was permanently affixed to his skin and subsequently directed the incubator to adjust its own internal temperature to keep Edward's body temp within a set range.  Over the past few weeks, he has begun to develop the ability to regulate his own body temperature and thus they have switched to a different incubator 'mode'.   This mode does not adjust itself based on Edward's temperature but instead is set at a steady temperature.  With this mode switch, Edward now gets to wear clothes to help maintain his body temperature.  In fact, Katie just did her first load of 'baby-clothes' laundry!

Edward now has a nasogastric tube in place of an orogastric tube to deliver his feeds.  A nasogastric tube courses through one of his nares, down his throat and into his stomach.  In contrast, the orogastric tube goes through the mouth, then throat and then stomach.  Since birth, Edward has had some sort of tube in his mouth, starting with the ventilator and then the orogastric tube.  But finally, his mouth has been liberated from all foreign objects (except for the occasional pacifier) and he can actually close his mouth.

Edward's main goals remain profoundly simple and complex: grow and breathe.  From a respiratory standpoint, he has graduated completely from CPAP and only receives oxygen via nasal cannula.  He has not had to use CPAP for a week (since the last post).  They are slowly titrating down the amount of oxygen delivered and we are hopeful that Edward will not have be to discharged with any oxygen at home.  From a growing perspective, Edward is, to be perfectly frank, fat - and we love every ounce of it.  He is now 1770 grams or 3 lbs 14 ounces.  Some of this weight is related to 'fluid overload' - his extremities are a little puffy and they are considering giving him a small dose of diuretic to help his body mobilize some of this fluid.  Regardless, he is growing like a weed and we could not be more pleased.  Soon, he will be transitioned to breast feeding and we will lose the crutch of the feeding tube.  Nevertheless, we will take every gram that we can get. 

Here are some recent photos.