Happy One Month Birthday Charlie!

Charlie was born one month ago today. For his "birthday", he got out of his isolette for almost 2 hours. I held him for over an hour, and then George took over so I could go pump. I'm not sure how Charlie would rank that as a birthday gift, but we enjoyed it! It's funny how his little body starts to feel heavy after a while, even at less than 3 pounds.

Last night Charlie gained 90 grams, meaning he weighed in at 2 pounds, 10 ounces. While on the surface that might sound like good news, it's actually too much for him to have gained in a single night. He had some swelling indicating he was retaining water (visible in his feet, which looked like little pig feet this morning) so they gave him a diuretic to help him expel the excess fluid. It was doing its trick throughout the day, so we expect that he will have lost a little of the weight tomorrow.

He's still having some issues with his breathing, requiring more oxygen than they would like. His breathing appears to be a work in progress; hopefully it will improve naturally as he gets stronger. They continue to check him for infection now and then to make sure that isn't the cause of his increased oxygen requirement, but he continues to remain infection-free, thank goodness.

In better news, his blood pressure has been improving over the last couple of days, and he hasn't required the bp medication much at all. The less medication he requires, the better!

We continue to be so impressed with and touched by the nurses that take care of Charlie day and night. They treat him like a person, not a patient, calling him by name, talking to him and apologizing to him when they have to do things (like suction his nose and mouth) that make him cry. They update us on Charlie's daily regimens and answer our countless questions, even when those questions come in the form of middle of the night phone calls. We really appreciate all they do for us and for Charlie.