15%

Today is day 16 of Joshua's life and hospital stay and that leaves just 90 days to his hopeful homecoming. I did the math today and found out that we're 15% of the way. That's not a whole lot, but it's something. I'm glad to at least have that much done!

Joshua is becoming more and more awake and alert now. He can focus his eyes on your face and stare at you. It's so sweet. He makes lots of sweet little coos and grunts!! I love it so much. I can't wait to bring this little miracle home.

He had a great day. There was a bit of drama with his night nurse, but all has been worked out and is fine now. He slept most of the time today, but did have a few awake periods. He had the hiccups a few times today. He has them at least 2 times a day when I'm with him. He does not enjoy them!! The x-ray of his abdomen from yesterday showed no blockages, so today they stopped the suction on his nasal tube and they are now letting his stomach contents go down into the intestines. They even mentioned maybe letting him have feeds through the mouth tomorrow. Oh what a blessing that would be. I just know he would feel so much better with some food in his belly. I mean he's 16 days old and has never had an ounce of food in his belly. He would love it. I hate it so much when I hold him and he roots around for food. It just breaks my heart knowing I have what he wants, but I just can't give it to him. So hopefully he'll at least be able to get the breastmilk soon, even if it's not straight from the breast. I'll be so relieved when he gets it. He has gained weight the last two days and is now about 7lbs 11ozs now. So he's working his way back up to his birth weight.

My pumping is still going well. I'm getting about 450-550 milliliters per day, which is around 16ozs. I saw a chart today that says most breastfed babies between 1 and 6 months need 19-30ozs per day, so I have some work to do in getting that up, but at least I've made it up to 16. They told me today that my spot in the freezer is quite full and I'm glad to have that stockpile that will help make sure I don't ever run out of milk for him, which I'm of course not thinking will happen. So I'm storing the milk I pump at home, here in our home freezer for now, until he starts eating and using up what's there. Yesterday I was pumping at the hospital and his surgeons (both men) came in to do his dilation, so there I was sitting on the couch pumping while they were talking to me and doing the procedure. It was a little embarrassing, but I'm not about to stop the flow while it's going!!

In other news, Abby and Noah had some fun with Daddy this morning. They went to a Lego Club meeting at the mall and then to a Lowe's build and grow. Then they went to Toys R Us so Abby could spend her birthday gift card that my grandpa got her. She got a Zhu Zhu Pet, which I had never heard of before but she LOVES!! And then they went to Kroger to get more Hostess cakes that were on sale for 1.88. All three of them can't resist the cupcakes!! I bought a couple boxes last night and when Daddy heard how cheap they were, he had to get more!! So they had a great day and now we're all off to bed!!