Pierce's 100 (+1) day celebration

So I'm a day (or two because it is now after 12 am)late in posting this, but nevertheless, we celebrated Pierce's 100th day of life last night.

I tried to get a good picture of the little guy to record this special occasion, but he simply was not having it. Here was my first attempt:

And on my second attempt, he appears to be celebrating with me. (In reality, he was just flailing around and screaming because Mommy was taking pictures instead of giving him his bottle).

Pierce is doing so well. He has had quite a few quiet days since his ROP surgery, and for that, we are so thankful! Dr.Keuser decided to allow the nurses to offer a bottle at every feeding. We are so excited because once little guy is taking 8 bottles a day consistently, they'll pull out his NG (feeding) tube. As of now, he's up to about 5 bottles a day. Bottle feeding a preemie is TOTALLY different than bottle feeding a full-term newborn. It takes so much patience, time and patience. Did I mention it takes patience? Oh yes, and nerves of steel... every time Pierce starts working on his bottles, I immediately become glued to his monitors. At some point in almost every feeding (although he's getting better at this), his heart rate spaces out, slows down and "takes a pause," which causes P to turn blue and Mommy then panics. So I've decided for now to let the nurses do most of the bottle feeding. It'll be so nice when Pierce can become a pro at the whole "suck/swallow/breathe" reflex.

On his 101th day of life (tonight), Pierce weighed in at ... drum roll please... 6lbs 8oz! Can you believe that?! 6 1/2 lbs! He used to be 1 1/2. It's funny how big a 6 1/2 lb baby looks when it's taken you 3 1/2 months to grow them to that size.

As of now we have 2 major hurdles to clear before Pierce can come home with us: bottle feeding and going onto chronic oxygen settings. Really, there's no way to predict when these things will be accomplished. It's totally dependent on Pierce. And as we know, our guy has a mind of his own. So we are kind of a "hurry up and wait" mode. Nevertheless, we are thankful that this weeks hurdles are smaller than the previous weeks.

These past few days, I've been trying to take time to reflect on the goodness of God and on how far he's brought us. I know that He has used this experience to change both Nik and I. And I know that He is going to bring Pierce home with us soon. What a day that will be!

Much love,
Lindsay