CHROMOSOME 9

Cooper had a good night. He slept comfortably and did not seem to be too distressed. He even gave Erin a nice poopy diaper to change right before shift change :). Yesterday our nurse, Beth, let me dress Cooper. It was great to see him in clothes again. He is looking more and more like our little boy everyday. Today they have cut his Milrinone in 1/2 and hope to shut it off tomorrow. This is the heart medicine that they are changing over to the oral medication Captopril. The also changed from the cloridine patch to giving it orally so that it is easier to wean him off. They will not make any further changes today. Tomorrow they will start adjusting the pain meds if all goes well. They are just taking things very slow so as to not have set backs. They have tentatively said that if all goes well we could move to the 4th floor Thursday but we will just have to wait and see.

They reviewed Cooper's genetic tests and found that he has an extra band on Chromosome 9. This is not a diagnosable genetic disorder and probably is nothing. They will take blood from Terry and I and if one of us has it then that will be the end of it and no big deal because we are healthy. If one of us is not a carrier then they will look further into it to see if they show any defects related to this extra band. There are birth defects related to Chromosome 9 but they are not presented by an extra band but rather a skip and mutation in it. Everything I could find about Chromosome 9 defects were mostly related to nervous system disorders. Anyway, I do not think this is going to be any big deal but we are just going to make sure.

So while I was sitting here typing we had visitors. Sherri came over with the kids. I was so excited and I had found a new park on my run this morning. So Sherri sat with Cooper and Karli and I took the kids to the new park. It didn't seem so far away this morning when I was running but after carrying Raelynn, it seemed a little further. We had a great time and it was worth the walk. We came back to the hospital and I brought Raelynn in to see Cooper and Sherri had him laughing. It was great! They were just playing away. We sat Raelynn in his bed and she made him smile so big!!!! So needless to say we had a very good morning. I tried to feed him by bottle around 11am and he only ate about 5cc but we will continue trying every 3 hours. Cooper is sleeping now and just looks wonderful. I really think we are moving in the right direction again.

This was Cooper smiling at his big Sis!!!