Updates: January 7th - 5 days old

Our little man continues to impress us all. He is thriving very well without the cannula and IV. His feeds have been steadily increased and he was up to 30mL/feed for his 9pm feeding this evening. They will peak out at 31mL.

Dom and I continue our active involvement with is care. This afternoon his nurse helped me work with Mario on nuzzling. This involves offering him an empty breast to just get him used to the nipple. We do this at feeding times so he will start to associate the nipple in his mouth with a fully belly. He latched on like a pro and started sucking, I think he even got a drop or two. Of course, we could only do this for a few seconds at a time because he doesn't have his suck/swallow/breathe reflex fully developed and his oxygen saturation rates would dip down. So, we did this for 3 or 4 times and then I kangaroo cuddled him for the rest of the feed. I think this boy will impress us all and transition well to nipple feedings. Tomorrow I plan to schedule an appointment with the lactation consultant to start working with her.

His weight tonight was 3lbs, 13.6oz. He gained another 10 grams and I'm sure he'll continue to gain with the increased feed levels. His bilirubin levels were up slightly to 11.1, but we think he is leveling off and will start dropping soon. They'll check it again in the morning.

Dom and I spent the afternoon trading off cuddling our little man and we all really enjoyed the bonding time. He is still in the incubator, but I don't think it will be long until he is out of it. The nurses said that usually around 4lbs the babies can maintain their temperatures well enough to be out of the incubators.

This evening Grandma Tina and Great Grandma Scipione came to visit Mario. Grandma Tina was very impressed with how well he looks and how much he's improved since she saw him a few days ago. Great Grandma Scipione was very happy to meet him and said she knows Great Grandpa Scipione, for whom he is named, would be very proud.