Making progress

All the news is good news! Xavi is making great progress these days:

• He's been out of the private room for almost two weeks. There are only 2 private rooms in the NICU and he was in one of them for about 7 weeks, so getting out into the ward with the rest of the kids is a good sign that he's not critical anymore. He scooped the most coveted spot in the NICU: the bedside right next to a big window.
• He's in a crib!!! We came in this past Saturday morning to find his nurse completing the changeover from isolette to open crib. This is a great sign of progress, meaning that he's able to keep his body temperature stable without the help of the enclosed isolette, and that he's not having to work too hard and burn too many calories to do it (which would impede his gaining weight). He's now much more accessible and easier to hold. The girls love being able to get so close to him too.
• He weighs 4# 4 oz, just gaining 6 oz in the last 4 days.

And the most wonderful sign of progress is that he is now off of CPAP entirely and just on the nasal cannula. He's been on the cannula for gradually increasing periods of time for the past week. He was doing well and is also getting old enough to be really tired of the CPAP, so yesterday morning they decided to see how he would do on cannula all the time. So far he's doing very well. Being just on the cannula is a great step forward for him, indicating that his lungs are getting stronger and he is becoming overall stronger and more able to handle the work of breathing on his own. 

In addition, being on the cannula full time means that feeding by mouth is in sight. We started "social breastfeeding" about a week ago, giving him time to get the idea without needing to actually get any nourishment from it. The nurses moved his feeding tube to his nose on Sunday, so for the first time in his life, his mouth is free of tubes and he is beginning to make positive associations with his mouth.

Especially now that he's off of CPAP, he is very awake and alert for longer periods of time each day. He seems like a very sociable little guy, really liking to look at people with long, thoughtful gazes. He also loves the music-playing mobile on his crib and will focus on the animals circling around for a long time.