THE LATEST....

I just got back from the hospital and Henry was finishing up eating. He had 1 mL of breast milk injected through his feeding tube, which is done every 8 hours I believe. Jenny is currently pumping and daily delivering the milk to his room, which has a freezer. The nurse (Teri), who happens to be our favorite so far, said he had a great day. Henry wanted me to tell all of you he says hello, but he was a little disappointed when I told him Notre Dame hadn't found a head coach yet.
As of now, you can see he basically lies either on his side or his back in the make-shift bed all day. When I was up there, Teri moved him from his side to his back for a change of pace. He actually should be in an incubator type box, but there are currently none available in the NICU. Teri said there are about 6 other preemies younger than Henry up there right now! Henry will have an ultrasound on his brain either Friday or Saturday to check the vessels and ventricles for bleeding. If he "passes" the ultrasound, Teri said they will move him to an incubator box/cube. The two tubes you see above his head in the pictures are to control the "flow" of air in and out of his lungs (cpap). Henry's lungs are unable to fully intake the ample amount of oxygen and exhale the proper amount of carbon dioxide, so the tubes help him with this process. Although, Teri said Dr. Kim (another neonatologist) said he should be able to have the cpap removed very soon. The cpap is different from a ventilator. Henry never required a ventilator, only the cpap. He had to have his IV changed from his foot to his hand yesterday because he was kicking so much (insert soccer comments!)
Jenny was up with him last night and he stopped breathing for a moment, which was of obvious concern! A beeper went off and a nurse nonchalantly walked in and began rubbing his back and foot, which quickly helped him start breathing again. The nurse said it was common and happens often!?!? We thought it was strange that not breathing every so often was normal. Teri explained tonight that they (preemies) get exhausted from working so hard to stay alive that their bodies simply can't keep up. Teri said today Henry actually revived himself when this happened, which was good to hear that he had the strength to continue breathing on his own!
Jenny also decorated his room today, since his first Christmas will unfortunately be spent in the NICU. Well, I will have to share more later, Phoebe is literally climbing on me vying for attention right now. Thanks again for all the prayers!