Baby shower!!

Saturday was my first baby shower for Cooper! It was so much fun! My Monday night small group and Wednesday night bible study gals got together and organized everything. It was a tailgate/sports theme because we are decorating Cooper's nursery in sports. It was so much fun! We had hot dogs, different sports ball shaped mints, and a football shaped cake. Everything was wonderful!! I am so grateful to everyone who came to share in showering Cooper with gifts. I have the best people in my life!! Many thanks to MY GIRLS for setting everything up! It was so much fun getting to catch up with everyone and laugh! It was just a wonderful day!!

Kevin and I unloaded the car and headed back to Vandy to see our favorite little guy. I FINALLY remembered to bring back his blankets I had washed, so our nurse decided to change his bedding. That meant I got to hold him! It was the perfect ending to the perfect day! I held him and talked to him about all the cool stuff he got that day and he just relaxed and slept. It was absolutely precious!

Cooper now weighs 3 pounds and 1 ounce!!! He is getting bigger! He still has A LOT to accomplish before he can come home. He has to learn to eat and breathe on his own. He is 34 weeks (gestational age) which is about the time they start the sucking reflex. They would normally start him to try the bottle this week. His vapotherm is set to a flow of 5 (which is basically the force with which the oxygen goes up the nose keeping his lungs open), which is too high to allow him to try a bottle. He has to come down significantly before they will attempt it. So the plan for now is to get him to grow, which will allow his oxygen necessity to come down, allowing him to come down on his flow. He is on a mixture of breast milk and 30 calorie formula to help him put on some weight. Once he comes down on his vapotherm, they will try him on feedings. So for now he is getting a pacifier to practice sucking. Preemies have a nasty habit of sucking but forgetting to breathe! So he has been practicing sucking a pacifier (which is almost as big as his face! I PROMISE TO UPLOAD PICS SOON! I am having camera issues!) He is so cute with it. He does pretty well for a while, then his numbers start falling and we have to take it away from him. It is so sweet!

This has been a weekend where I am again reminded of how incredibly blessed I am! My best friend, Erica had her son Wednesday afternoon. He is healthy and wonderful and I can't wait to meet him! I got to spend time with Kevin's family Friday night at his cousin's baby shower. She is also expecting a son due in March. Cooper will have so many friends to play with! Thanks again for all the prayers for our little miracle! We love you all so much!