To not get behind on blogging, let me just say that I can't believe Riley is almost 1 month old! It's true what Rocky says when I sometimes get down, that Riley will be home before we know it! He is as cute as ever and is changing as he grows. Rocky thinks he will have my nose now vs his and Riley now weighs 2 lbs 7 oz! He is on his way up! The extra ounces are plumping him up little by little!

In a couple days Riley will be getting less oxygen because he is doing so well breathing on his own. I know he is still a while away from coming home but it is a step in the right direction! I was talking to his nurse last night and there are some things that need to happen before he is cleared to go home. A lot of people (including myself to start) think that it is only about how much he weighs and after he gets up to a certain weight he will be able to come home but there is a little more to it than that.

He needs to be eating on his own (either through breastfeeding or bottle feeding), maintain his temperature in an open crib (he will go to an open crib later on), not have any dips in his heart rate (which they call 0's, A's and B's depending on how much it drops- this is normal in preemies and goes away as they get older), have steady weight gain, and they also usually send the babies home off oxygen so when he can breathe on his own.

Riley right now is breathing really well on his own. He is still getting fed through a feeding tube mostly because he is still so young. His temperature is steady but he is still too young to be in an open crib and he has had less O's, A's and B's but obviously we don't want any of those when he is ready to go home! So some things just come with time. We are being patient- although sometimes I just want to unhook him from the monitors and take him home with me because he is so cute and funny and I don't like missing moments with him! But at the same time, I know he needs to be taken care of in a way that is done best in the nicu, as hard as it is for me to say that because I wanted to take care of him through the whole pregnancy and have a normal delivery. But things happen for a reason and I am thankful that he is doing so well and we keep praying for his health and progress and really I just try to focus on that and stay positive because some things we'll never know the "why" for and I could think of all the what if's...from what if when my water broke I had known it was actually my water breaking...to so many others. But I try not to. Positive thoughts! And every day when I go see Riley and when he goes and grabs my finger or makes a funny expression while I'm talking to him or is all nice and calm when we are holding him, I think about all the wonderful times we will have together in the future and I know we have so much to be grateful for and we pray for all those babies and their families who are going through so much more than we are and also those we know who are going through some very hard trials in their lives.