Robbie Report: Good News!

Robbie is getting bigger and bigger, and cuter and cuter...

(click photos to enlarge)

He is now over five pounds, as of October 4. This is so amazing to us. He's already growing out of some of the preemie clothes! The recent great news is that he passed his second eye test, which means it looks like he won't have any ROP-related eye problems. This means the physical structure of his eye is intact. However, since he had bleeding in his brain, he could still have problems processing images that his eye receives. Like many other problems that could result from the brain-bleed, we won't know how he'll do until we wait and watch him develop.

He has started learning to breastfeed, but it is very slow going. He is getting the hang of latching on, but his respiratory rate is still much too high for him to be able to suck, swallow, and breathe. We try to remember that he is not even supposed to be out of the womb yet (his due date was Nov 2), so any progress he makes is really a head start!

It will still be quite a while before Robbie comes home from the NICU--we're guessing at least 3-4 weeks. He needs to learn to breathe slower and take all his feedings by mouth (breast- or bottle-feeding). It is possible that he will come home on oxygen.

It was great having Stacy here for a week. She gave Chris and I so much extra time with Robbie, and we even managed a little getaway one night at a hotel near the hospital. We were sad to see her go, and the kids still talk about how much they miss Stacy and Scott. Now we're looking forward to the arrival of Grandma Worth at the end of this week!