Tyler is Breathing on His Own

As of today Tyler is breathing well enough on his own to come off of CPAP (the breathing help he gets through his nose). Yay! He may also be done with his phototherapy light today that is helping him with jaundice.

A few days ago they let us start doing kangaroo care, which means they lay Tyler on either Michael's or my bare chest and then put a warm blanket on him. It is supposed to really help preemies regulate their heart rate and breathing and they love skin-to-skin contact. Plus, Tyler is used to all of my internal sounds! It is also supposed to be good for the parents. For me it is supposed to help with milk production. Tyler loves kangaroo care! And for me, it is always the highlight of my day. Tyler is so content and calm when he is laying on one of our chests. For now, they let us do kangaroo care once or twice a day for an hour or two, but this will gradually increase as he grows stronger. The first time he laid on Michael's chest he grabbed a fistful of Michael's chest hair and held on for dear life. Michael gently nudged his arm to see if he would change positions and I swear Tyler flipped Michael off. The first finger Tyler released was his middle finger, but the other ones slowly followed. We were quite amused!

My milk (that I tell Tyler is "top shelf") came in yesterday, which was very exciting. Earlier this week Tyler kept spitting out the formula they have been feeding him, but kept some down every once in a while. There was only a little of my milk at first and Tyler sucked it through the feeding tube faster than you can blink. Tyler will still get extra nutrients and formula in addition to my milk and if he keeps it all down they can wean him off his IV.

I promise to post pictures soon. There just aren't enough hours in the day!