August 9th, 2011

Today was moving day! The NICU is set up with a large central area and then smaller pods with 4 rooms each along the periphery. Only the stable babies get to move to a pod...and you have to have seniority too. So, after 33 days in the NICU, Declan Hercules moved to where the stable babies are. In itself, that is awesome, but an added perk for Mom & Dad is that his room now has a huge window! Ah...natural sunlight! Declan's new room is even bigger than his original room - probably 11*11 feet, with hardwood floors and pretty paper on the walls. I told him not to expect that all his bedrooms are this nice. He's 4 pounds 5 ounces today, growing like a weed. He's now down to One liter of oxygen flow per minute (down from 2 Liters/minute) for the first time. This is the last step before removing his oxygen completely, which we hope he accomplishes in the next week or two. He's also feeding pretty well - knows how to take a full bottle and practicing breastfeeding. Only problem is that he tends to fall asleep after about 5 minutes of trying...so much effort for such a little guy!