Yay for real food!

Today was a big day for the Dane-meister. He had his first bottle! Which may have been bigger than his entire body! He was a total champ - he finished the whole thing, didn't cry through the stiff burping the nurse gave him, and even gave a couple little burps. For now, he'll be doing one bottle feeding per day and decreasing the TPN (the IV nutrition he's been receiving) accordingly. I was so amazed with how easily he knew what to do - he obviously has two parents who enjoy eating:) Today the nurse fed him, but as he increases the number of bottle feeds he's doing, we'll get to start doing them as well. I'm a little nervous, but because he was so good at it, I felt a little calmer. We'll see how I feel when I have to do the burping! While the nurse was burping him, he turned super red and due to the choke-hold she had him in, his eyes bugged out a little bit. He kept looking at me like he was saying, "MOM, HELP ME!" He had almost an ounce of milk, which means I'm still storing approximately 28 ounces per day...hmm. The freezer is getting a little full and not with food!

He also had a routine brain scan today; this is something they do for all the preemies, so it wasn't checking for anything in particular. Dane is a very calm little guy, even for things like that, which hopefully will continue once he gets home:) He and dad got to have some guy snuggle time and both took a little nap during our evening visit. We've also included another picture with Mark's wedding ring to show how he's growing. He's back up to his birth weight, which is a good sign. Now that he's getting more milk with each feeding, he should keep gaining weight steadily.