February 7th

I don't know where to start. Since writing on Friday, we have gotten lots of information about Cohen. Some is good, some, not so good.
Bare with me, I know this is a lot of information. Cohen has several obstacles in front of him before he can come home safetly.
1. Getting off the Nasal Cannula (vapotherm) and supplelmental oxygen.
He is doing great with this, down to 2 liters and gone from "high flow cannual" to "regular wall oxygen cannula" today. Keeping fingers crossed that he can be completely off breathing help within 2 weeks. He still will likely come home on some supplemental oxygen.
2. Be able to take all feedings from a bottle
This part is tricky. The doctor thinks he may have a swallowing problem. She gave us several "scenarios" yesterday. First step is having an MRI on his brain this week to rule out central nervous system issues. They will have to take him downstairs to the MRI machine, and he will be in it for a few minutes with no machines. Extremely scary to me, but doctor assures us he will have a complete NICU team with him. Next, he could have to transfer to Vanderbilt to have test done by a pediatric swallowing specialist (yes, there is such a thing!) They are treating him right now for reflux. We hope this is all he has, nothing more complex. Dr. Fish is giving him 1 week to try and master the bottle, and if he can't we will move forward to the Vandy testing, depending on what the MRI reveals.
The good news on this is he took part of a bottle yesterday, with an EXTREMELY patient nurse working with him for over an hour. (Stacy, the red headed nurse I have talked about before, she is amazing.) So this gave us some hope that he might just need more time.
3. Stop the apnea spells
Again, this is subjective. His spells may be related to reflux, but we won't know until after MRI and more tests. We are still hoping they will just diminish, since he is almost 35 weeks gestation.

These are the big issues right now, there are some other less significant factors that I won't spell out.
Cohen continues to gain weight and grow at a fast pace. He weighs 4 lbs 8 ounces today. We have so many things to be thankful for, we are trying not to worry too much about the what if's----

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We just couldnt make it without all of you.