First mohawk!

One of Kale's nurse's, Heidi, gave Kale his first 'mohawk' :) It's little, but I promise, it's there!

Side view :)

Well, if you checked in to see if the 'hottest dad in the NICU' was updating...you're out of luck, haha! My husband is a complete dork, and that's why I love him.

So, Kale has had some great milestones over the past few days, and also one setback. Let's start with the good stuff, eh?

Kale is on ONE liter vapotherm now, he was turned down to 1 ltr at 6am, and they did a gas at 8am which was really good. He will have another gas in the morning to make sure it's still going well. His oxygen levels have increased a bit, he is up to 65% O2, but that's in part because they turned his SpO2 limits to 92-99. He seems to be breathing without much of a struggle, so that's one step closer!!

Other good news, Kale is now taking bottles! I got to give him a bottle tonight (for the first time). He took about 31 mls of his 40 ml feed. He took one earlier in the day as well, and took it all. He has done GREAT with this, and the nurses and speech therapists are very pleased with hoe well he is doing. He didn't have any spells while he was eating, and he does a really good job pacing himself. Speaking of spells, he hasn't had ANY since 7.23! This is fantastic, it shows that he can go 5 days without spells (which is required to take him home).

So, for the not so great news. Kale's eye exam on Thursday didn't go so hot. He developed mild ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). This means that his blood vessels in his retina are beginning to grow/develop incorrectly. They were going to do a follow up appointment today with another doctor to get another opinion, but he ended up not coming in and will hopefully be in tomorrow. There are several different stages of ROP, up to 5. His eyes have stage I and stage II. It's all about how far the blood vessels have grown. His vessels have passed zone 1 in both eyes (there are 3 zones, starting at the optic nerve). The further out the zones, the better. It can develop at all different rates, but it seems as though his is on the quicker end, which is why they are watching it very closely. If it develops quickly and uncontrolled, it can cause his blood vessels to grow so quickly that his retina detach and he would lose sight in that eye. But, we are praying that doesn't happen, because they have identified it now and will be able to stay on top of it. If it does continue to develop they will have to do a laser surgery to cauterize the vessels so they stop growing so the retina can't detach. This would cause some loss in vision (most likely peripheral vision) but would hopefully allow some vision to remain. SO - we are hoping and praying that his next eye exam shows no change and it stays as just mild ROP.

We'll keep you posted on how everything goes! Other than his eyes, the Drs. are very optimistic with how he is doing, and anticipate him coming home soon :) Please pray for an improvement in his eyes, we are hoping his eye exam goes well and will keep you posted!