Atlas // One Month

Our little man is now one month old! Since he was born 3 months early he doesn’t look or act like a 1 month old since at this point his gestational age is 31 weeks and he’s still 9 weeks away from his due date, but he is doing so well with his developmental milestones. He is now about 15.5″ long and 2lb 15oz (almost 3 lbs!).

I can’t believe just one month ago he came into our lives and, seriously, completely changed everything. I hated when other moms said that! Ugh, so annoying, right? But it’s true. The love you feel for the tiny human you just met? Instant and intense.

Atlas still has quite a bit of time until he can come home from the hospital, we’re guessing he’ll be able to come home sometime around his due date which was late June. We’ve got quite a ways to go, but we’ve also come a long way!

At one month Atlas:

• has had his PICC line removed and he was removed from IV fluids
• is being nourished solely by my breast milk (via feeding tube) and the amounts are increasing almost dail
• opens his eyes and is super alert and looks around
• had his first eye exam went well and they didn’t see any signs of problems
• has gained 9 oz from his birth weight
• is able to do skin to skin with us daily
• has less apnea/brady episodes and they are generally less severe
• really likes to point and grab at his tubes and CPAP mask, though we know he can’t control his actions at this point
• loves to suck on his pacifier!
• often holds onto daddy’s finger
• got his first bath from mommy and daddy (mommy bathed, he squeezed daddy’s finger for moral support)
• occasionally gets his diaper changed by mommy and daddy, when the nurses let us
• loves the head massages he gets when they change his CPAP mask and sometimes we get to be the ones that do the massages
• is consistently in the 21%-26% range for his oxygen levels (room air is 21%)

I’m so excited to continue to watch him grow. He’s still so tiny at just under 3lbs, but I was comparing him to photos from his first few days and he’s already grown and changed so much! Those first few days I had a hard time looking at him, he looked so bad that I would sometimes have to look away and I still avoid looking at certain photos on occasion. But the way this little boy has survived and thrived despite his situation blows my mind.

Not to look ahead too much because I’ve been teaching myself to enjoy the present, but we hope/expect that he should be off the CPAP mask by the time he’s 2 months old if all goes well. If we’re lucky he’ll also be feeding on his own and get the feeding tube removed and be in an open crib instead of the isolette which he needs to be in to maintain his temperature until his body knows how to do that on it’s own. It’s a lot to ask from a little baby, but we know he can do it and are cheering him on.

Happy One Month, Atlas! I love you!