June 12, 2012- What's in a name?

This morning I woke up at 6am (yes, I am waking up every 3 hours and the baby isn't even home yet) and I was thinking about Will's name.  We picked William Ross as his name to honor my grandfather, William and Brandon's father, Ross.  I have been saying since this all started that Will came from strong family genes and that he will be okay, and it didn't occur to me until this morning that his name, William, means strong-willed warrior.  Could his name have anymore meaning?  

My mom and I arrived to the hospital this morning while Brandon worked and we found out that Will's ultrasound was normal and there was no evidence of any cerebral bleeding!  They will repeat the ultrasound on July 5th to make sure that they didn't miss anything in the first test.  Will's weight is up to 3 pounds 3 oz and his oxygen was also down to 3 liters and he was on 21% FiO2.  For those that are not in the medical field, this is a great sign!  The nurse said that his oxygen could be weaned again, but they were holding off since he made such progress yesterday, that they didn't want to rush things today.  I was completely fine with that since I don't want to stress him out and set him back.  Finally, Will is on his maximum amount of milk volume so they are now adding more calories to fatten him up.  He has been tolerating those feeds quite well.  

Brandon and I had an equally exciting day.  The nurse told us that we needed to be the ones who pick up Will and hold him instead of sitting in the chair and waiting for the nurse to put him in our arms.  This was the first time the nurses let us have a little more responsibility with him.  I got him out of the incubator and held him for about 30 minutes and then I transferred him to Brandon who held him for another 30 minutes.  Will is really learning to tolerate his time out of the incubator.  My mom and Brandon call it is "yard time" since he is in prison in his incubator.  I think that's pretty cute!  When Brandon was finished holding him, he stood up and placed him back in his bed without the nurse or me taking over.  I was so proud of him for taking this step.  It's hard to trust yourself with this little tiny baby, but we are slowly getting used to handling him.  It makes me feel more like a mom knowing that I can do the small things to care for him and not have to rely on someone else to hand him to me or move him around for me.  I know it sounds like a small thing, but trust me when I say, that it is HUGE to us.   
Tonight, Will is going to get a Hep B shot and it is killing me that I am not there to comfort him and hold him, but I know that he is well cared for by the awesome nurses at IMC.  I know that Brandon will call tonight to get a weight check and see how he tolerated his shot.  Will will definitely get some Mama love tomorrow!