Finn is 114 days old today.

Over the last couple of weeks, he’s slowly been increasing his bottle-feeding, briefly gone back on and then come back off extra oxygen, and continued to pack on the pounds (well, ounces). Finn’s now 8 pounds, 5 ounces, 19 and 3/4 inches long, and in a development just today, is trying life without his feeding tube!

He’s now gone from noon yesterday, November 13, through 3:00 p.m. today having basically taken full feedings (61 mL, or about two ounces) by bottle every three hours. His nurses switched him from preemie nipples to regular newborn slow flow nipples back on Monday, November 7, and it seems to have done the trick; Finn’s not having to work as hard as he was, and the volume that he’s been able to handle orally has steadily risen since then.  He’s still spitting a few times a day — he threw up so forcefully on one of his nurses the other day that she had to change her whole outfit! — but is continuing to gain weight despite all the extra energy it takes to eat on his own. As we mentioned in the last couple of posts, this has been the biggest obstacle to Finn coming home with us, so the fact that he’s made such great strides over the past few days is very encouraging. He has to keep this up for at least a few days, show that he’s continuing to gain weight, and pass his car seat test (i.e., sit in his car seat without having a spell for an hour-and-a-half) before we can talk about discharge, but it’s starting to become apparent that we’re not that far off.

Finn passed 40 weeks in gestational age a week-and-a-half ago, and is 41 weeks, 4 days today. And he continues to do full-term baby type stuff — tummy time, spending time in his swing, and sitting up to read books with Dad. On Thursday, November 3, the nurses let Mom unhook Finn from his wires and go for a walk down the hall — and when your baby has been confined to just four rooms in his entire life, a 100-foot walk to the nurse practitioner’s office feels better than any trip you’ve ever taken.

Aside from that… there isn’t a whole lot new to report. Finn’s last eye exam, on Thursday, November 3, showed improvement (in his right eye in particular) to the point where they aren’t repeating an exam until later this week because the ophthalmologist isn’t really concerned. He continues to get puffs twice daily from his inhaler to help his breathing, and he’s otherwise just taking some extra iron and a daily multivitamin.

It’s an old analogy, sure, but seems accurate here: while the tunnel’s been long and, at times, very dark, it’s suddenly looking a whole lot brighter in here.

Finn’s recent milestones include:

• On Thursday, November 3, Finn took a break from his monitors and went on his first walk with Mom.
• On Tuesday, November 8, Finn crossed the 8-pound mark.