Another good day for the Coopster!

I’m delighted to report that Coop’s had another really encouraging day! His bilirubin is going down, which means he has hopefully ditched the blue lights for good. The anomaly on his liver ultrasound, a small portal vein, does not seem to be causing any functional issues. The developmental specialist evaluated him (as she does all babies in the NICU) and his strength, reflexes, and reactions are great. She will keep evaluating him every few days, but doesn't see any deficits at this time! She let us know that the best things to do for him right now are skin-to-skin contact, introducing and encouraging him to suck on a pacifier, talking to him, and making eye contact with him when he's awake and alert. 

He had some exciting new firsts today, too! They are now allowing for him to have the tiniest bit of colostrum (the first few days of breast milk) rubbed on his lips and cheeks to start giving him a taste. He responded really well to it - he eagerly sucked on it and actually tried to snatch the q-tip away from me!

He also got to bounce in a Mamaroo for a while.

 

He enjoyed lots of quality snuggle time, including skin-to-skin with Mom and Dad.

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We are unbelievably grateful that he seems to be feeling better, and that we're getting the opportunity to really get acquainted with this little bugger as he stabilizes medically. We know things can change, and that most people's NICU journeys are not necessarily linear, but we're feeling optimistic and encouraged by the improvements that we've seen over just the past 5 days. 

Now enjoy one more pic of Cooper being a bit of a derp.