Steps to coming home

We get asked all the time when Josh will be ready to come home and the answer is that we really don't know. Initially we were told that we could expect him to be in the hospital until around his due date (September 15) but it could be sooner or it could be later. These are the steps he needs to take to be ready to come home.

1. Maintain his body temperature- This was the first milestone reached when he hit the 4 lb mark.

2. Take full feedings for all meals from the bottle- In the last few days Josh has shown interest in the bottle and has taken anywhere from 15-20 mls from the bottle at about a third of his feedings. Right now a full feeding for him is 45 mls.

3. Go from the high flow nasal cannula to a low flow nasal cannula. Currently he is on a flow of 2 liters and this will need to decrease to 1/8 of a liter and then they will put him on low flow oxygen.

4. Be off his caffeine and have no incidents of bradycardia for five days. When he is about 36 weeks gestation (one week from now) they will try taking him off the caffeine and seeing how he does. The caffeine remains in his bloodstream for a week and then after that time the five day countdown will begin. If he drops his heart rate any time during this five day countdown they start over with a new five day countdown.

5. Smaller things- pass his eye exam, hearing test, car seat test, sleep without extra support around his head or feet, etc.


And now, a new picture :)