Saturday's visit with Isaac.

We went to Great Falls to visit little Isaac on Saturday. He is 1 oz away from being 5#. Probably will hit that mark tonight. They gain an ounce or more every day. He was so cute and sweet. We hadn't seen him since Tuesday. A few days makes a big difference. He is definitely starting to put on a tiny bit of fat. Lance thinks he looks more like Erik as he chubs up a bit. We each went to a care time and I know I had a hard time putting him down when it was my turn. We taped pictures of our family up on his crib for him and gave him a good snuggling. He is still needing some extra attention. I feel like I am describing a nursing home resident when I talk about his treatments. They are thickening his feedings with rice cereal to help with the reflux along with 2 medications-prevacid (acid blocker) and reglan (motility). The "suspicious spot" on the chest x-ray was seemingly inconsequential. He had a borderline low hematocrit and they would not have done anything about it except that in conjuction with his other issues (high heart rate and oxygenation issues) they thought some blood might help him. Red blood cells carry oxygen so that makes sense. So he got some blood Saturday afternoon. He did look a bit pale and the nurses say he is much pinker after the blood. We only saw him before he got it. However, it did not help the tachycardia so the docs are a little stumped. He was also looking a little puffy around his eyes and in his feet so he got Lasix after the blood. Preemies have immature kidneys so I guess that's that. Still on a low dose of oxygen.
Erik is a very good, mild baby. One benefit of having a baby in the NICU is they come home on a very good schedule so he eats every 3 hours and otherwise he looks around or sleeps. At 5 weeks old he is about the size of Ivan when he was born. Ivan is adjusting well. He likes to hold him-I make him wash his hands first.
Ivan has a new sandbox that he got for his birthday. We still haven't gotten any sand in it yet but Lance dumped a couple shovels full of dirt in it last night and that entertained Ivan for hours. He drove his trucks and tractors and scooped and dumped to his little heart's content. You couldn't help but smile watching him. What a happy kid! He's been so happy to be home. He entertains himself very well-playing and singing away...
We are having absolutely beautiful fall weather-my very favorite season.