Matthew got moved to an open crib on Sunday! He is one step closer to coming home.

He was visited by Aunt Liz last night and did lots of smiling and sleeping.

He is now 4 lbs 7 oz and is getting too big for some of his preemie clothes.

The doctors are saying maybe two more weeks until he comes home. I think he might surprise us and take off and be able to come home sooner.

Matthew is in an area that is called 'the beach' because behind him is a mural of Cape Hatteras. I took some pictures of he and Aunt Liz hanging out at the beach!

Liz and James will go visit him again tonight- so more pictures to come.

Matthew may get to move into an open crib this week. He is still at 3 lbs 14.2 oz.

He had his eyes checked and he has immature retinas which is common. They will recheck in two weeks and expect everything to be fine.

His hematocrit (spelling?) levels have come up and won't need a blood transfusion!

That is about all that is going on for now. A lot of babies have gone home so Matthew has a nice quiet area now. there were 39 when we first got there and now they are at 25. Maybe he will be one of the next ones to go home!

Matthew is now 3 lbs 14 oz! He is doing well and has moved from Intensive care to Intermediate care. He is still in the Intensive care nursery but the level of care needed is lower. He is still in the isolette and getting fed with a tube and has a little bit of oxygen. In a week they are thinking of trying to get him to drink from a bottle.

James visited yesterday and said he was very alert. He was looking around and gave him a half smile. He must be a ladies man because he smiles a lot for the nurses.

I talked to the neonatologist today and he said he thinks it will be another 3-4 weeks give or take a little, depending on how Matthew is doing.

April 6th, 2010:

Matthew weighed 3 lbs 6.7 oz
He was busy getting dinner so I didn't get to hold him. They were afraid that he would spit up. He was wearing a cute little monkey outfit from our neighbors. I didn't bring the camera but the nurses were nice enough to get their camera and even print out a picture to take home.

He is still getting a little bit of room air through a nasal cannula to help him 'remember' to breathe. He is still on a feeding tube and probably will be for a while. Normally babies are fed over 30 minutes, but Matthew has a bad case of reflux so his feedings are done over two hours. They are going to try to get him down to and hour and a half and see how he does. This means it will probably take a little longer for him to get off of the feeding tube.

He smiles a lot. He is doing well gaining weight too.

We will keep letting you know how he is doing and we will let you know when he starts reaching his goals to be able to come home!!!!

Hi Everyone,

This is a blog site we have set up so we can update everyone on how Matthew is doing.