What's the big deal?

Finn officially weighs 1810 grams as of this morning. What does this mean? We are excited about this number for three reasons. #1. This is just over the 4 lb mark! I can't believe our little munchkin is 4 lbs already...but am so happy (he is eating 32 mL every 3 hours now). #2. Finn has now doubled his weight since his birth weight! He was 880 grams when he was born, which means when he passed 1760 grams, he passed the double threshold. That is very exciting for us. #3. Once babies are 1800 grams, they start to transition them to a regular crib! We are really excited about this. He has to be able to maintain his temperature with his isolette set to 30 degrees C and then he can go into a big boy crib. He is at 31.1 degrees right now. Yeah! So many things to be grateful for.

He is currently at 0.5 L for his air flow and hangs out in the low 20's for oxygen most of the time. He continues to intermittently fluctuate up and down for his oxygen saturation numbers, but it isn't a huge concern. They increased his caffeine dose to hopefully combat that a little bit. He is doing really well.

One update that I haven't mentioned is that Finn has a hernia. Hernias are a weakness in the muscle wall of the abdomen. Some premature baby boys develop a hernia in their groins called inguinal hernia (has to do with when their testes drop). Inguinal hernias require surgery to repair. Most babies tolerate surgery very well. We were originally told he would have the surgery when he was older, but the doctor told us today that if he is strong enough, they will do it before he comes home (she said it makes it easier on mom and dad, which we completely agree!). So, we'll update you on that situation as it unfolds. I don't know a lot about hernias, but the doctor doesn't seem concerned about it (just another thing that needs to get taken care of).

After the crazy weekend, we were able to have some family time today and it felt really good. I held Finn while he ate (through his feeding tube) and Jim read from Huckleberry Finn (we only have 20 pages left!). Then Jim kangaroo-ed with Finn while I read and then pumped. Here is a picture of my boys kangaroo-ing: This was Jim's first time kangaroo-ing and both dad and son LOVED it. Finn was stating high so they kept having to turn his oxygen levels down. I think Jim was surprised at how much he liked it, but I have a feeling I have competition on kangaroo-ing with Finn now (which I'm perfectly okay and happy with).