7 Days

--A lot can happen in 7 days.
--God created the earth in 7 days (6 actually, he rested on the 7th).
--Daniel has performed some "miracles" himself in the past 7 days.
--Daniel reached the 3 pound mark. He is no longer a 2 pound baby! His offical weight is 3 pounds, 4 ounces. He is averaging an ounce a day in weight gain which is exactly what he should be gaining.
--A full term baby is born with the ability to suck, swallow and breathe. A premature baby has to learn how to suck, swallow and breathe. Daniel has begun the learning process. He gets one bottle a day for "practice". Daniel burns calories when he drinks from a bottle, it's an "aerobic excercise". Daniel does not have any spare calories to burn which is why he is only getting one bottle a day. Daniel's "practice time" will increase as he learns to suck, swallow and breathe.
--Daniel is not only learning how to drink from a bottle, he is also learning how to control his body temperature. Daniel has started wearign clothes to help with this.
--A lot of babies born premature have anemia and receive one if not more blood transfusions during the NICU stay. Daniel received an ounce of blood this week that "perked him up".
--Daniel had an eye test on Thursday. The test was done to check for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). ROP occurs when abnormal blood vessels grow and spread throughout the retina, the tissue that lines the back of the eye. Daniel's test results were negative, meaning he does not have ROP. He will have a repeat eye test in 3 months.