8 Weeks Old!

Can you believe Cohen is 8 weeks old!? I can't! He is getting to be such a big boy. I couldn't believe it when I came in yesterday and saw him without his tube!! The hospital didn't even call me, I just got there and was signing in and the nurse said "Oh, you know the extubated him right?" I was a little disappointed I didn't get to be there, but how exciting! I called Danny, who was on his way, and let him know. I couldn't get back there fast enough to see him and I couldn't stop smiling all day.
Gramma brought some pie for the nurses to celebrate getting his tube out and him being 8 weeks old. Just this weekend he has graduated from his z-flo mattress, started wearing clothes, and he got extubated and is on CPAP!  Cohen is still doing well on his CPAP although they did have to increase the amount of pressure going into his lungs. The CPAP he wears is just like an adult CPAP, it covers his nose and keeps a constant pressure going in at all times. He also still gets oxygen through it, but unlike on the ventilator he has to do all of the breathing by himself. So he has to work a little harder than on his ventilator but he seems to be tolerating it okay. I got to hold him today for a little bit and then he decided it was too much work being held and went back into his isolette. I am loving having a few little clothes that fit him! :) It's still too hard to get regular preemie clothes on him, but the ones that are specially made for extra small preemies work well. I know i might be a little biased, but he looks so cute in his big boy clothes.

 
I love getting to hear him cry and see his whole face. This might sound weird, but he seems more like a "real" baby now. I know he's always been a real baby, but it's just so different when you can only touch and hold your baby sometimes, not whenever you want. For the first 8 weeks of his life I never got to hear him cry, hiccup or make any noises. It's hard to feel like you are really a mom when you can't hold your baby whenever you want. I can't feed him and I can only change his diaper every four hours. I am so thankful for the NICU and all the nurses, but it's just so different then if he had been a full term baby that we got to take home and take care of on our own. But, we are getting there! Slowly but surely.

 He looks like he is wearing a scuba mask or is a surgeon with his CPAP headgear on. The nurses take his CPAP off every four hours when he has his cares to give his face and head a little break. Today was the first time that I really got to see him up close and see that he does look a lot like Carter's pictures. Even though Cohen is older now, they definitely look alike. Here he is!!! The orange tube is his feeding tube. He has a little sticker on his nose so that his CPAP doesn't break down his skin.

He looks a little worried about having his mask off :) There's a weird glare on him because I took it through his isolette. He also doesn't know how to close his mouth yet because he's used to having a tube there!