I HELD HIM!!!!!

Like really held him! I was helping to weigh him and change his bedding when I commented how I haven't really held him yet, and the respiratory therapist told me that he had been stable long enough on the cPAP that I could hold him if I wanted. Oh! I wanted! They do what is called skin-to-skin contact, where they place his bare chest on my bare chest. It helps with bonding, it regulates his body temperature, it helps my milk production, and it is just about the coolest thing ever! Because of modesty issues, there are no pictures, but I got to hold him and rock him for about 20 minutes! They placed him on my chest, I put my hands (in gloves of course) on his tiny bum and on his back, and they placed warm blankets on his back. I talked to him, told him about his family, especially his daddy, sang to him and just had the time of my life! It was the most amazing experience ever! It was quite the production because they had to wheel over his oxygen machine, his IV machines, and all of the tubes and wires, but I'm so glad they let me do it! I'm not sure when I can do it again, but I hope it's soon!

In other updates, he is now up to 4mL of milk every 3 hours! And tomorrow they are going to start using my fresh milk, instead of the frozen stuff with the colostrum, which is exciting. They also took his ART line out, which was a direct line to an artery in his arm. It wasn't working fully, and they didn't really need it, so they took it out. That means that he has both hands and a foot totally free of wires! They did his 10 day head ultrasound and they found no signs of bleeding which is really good. That was the biggest danger he was in, and it looks like he has dodged it thus far. He is doing extremely well on the cPAP machine, so they don't expect to go back to the ventilator any time soon, but you never know. And last but not least, they found out last night that he LOVES to be swaddled, so he is a tiny tiny tiny burrito most of the time now! It's adorable! I love this kid!