Happy Haldoween!

That's not a typo, that just Jake. Today is Halloween of course and Jake's school (day care) went on a parade to the Admin offices at Luke's hospital. Jake dressed up as a Power Ranger. Afterwards Jake, Grammy and I went into to see Luke for Halloween, where we were later joined by Wendy & Gramma. Incidentally this could be the last time Jake gets to see his little brother until he comes home. To protect the babies, the hospital closes the NICU from November to March. We're trying to think of a good way that Jake can bond with his little brother without seeing him. Any ideas?



Luke is doing great. When we saw him, he was getting some 'tummy time.' I guess he really likes laying on his tummy, it really relaxes him. I guess the little guy is pretty active when he's on his back.

The big news was that he got his first taste of his momma's milk today...granted it was only 1cc, but it's a start. Once the hole* closes up in his heart, they can feed him more. Hopefully he'll digest the milk properly - sometimes preemies have a hard time with it.

He's pretty much off all of his meds now, except for the caffeine to help his heart. Yeah, they give him a shot of Starbucks every morning to keep his heart going. His oxygen levels and isolette humidity are pretty much atmosphere right now, which is really good.

*NOTE: some folks were concerned about the reference to the 'hole in the heart' comment...here's Wendy's reply, "The hole in the heart is normal. It allows oxygenated blood to flow back and forth between the chambers while the baby is not oxygen dependent in utero. Under normal circumstances, the hole closes upon birth when the baby takes its first breaths of oxygen...Since preemies have little lungs, they rarely are able to take in enough oxygen necessary to close the hole, thus the need for medication (ibuprofen) to do it for them. If the medication doesn’t work, then surgery is required, but our nurse assured us that it is a very short and routine surgery and is really no big deal!"