We have progressed to the next phase!

Today Dr. Perez, the doc who actually took care of Solomon after delivery, stopped by to give us the gloom and doom speech. We get this every day from one of the doctors, so we are used to it. It's their job to prepare us for the worst so that we are happy when that doesn't come to pass. Today, Dr. Perez said that Solomon has moved past the "Acute Care" phase and is actually moving into the "Convalescent Care" phase in which we will begin to focus on feedings, weight gain, and weening off the vent. He then proceeded to tell us, like the good docs before him, that Solomon's major obstacles at this point will be avoiding BPD, accute lung disease, which affects many preemies born at his size. So, we read up on that disease and discovered that it sounds horrible, but most who get it grow out of it with time as their lungs continue to develop. Actually, it sounds a lot like a description of my own lungs due to asthma's harsh effects on them. I proceeded to read a description of the disease to Sami, who gets terrified everytime I mention a disease or issue we should look out for with Solomon. I thought he was aware of the docs' "gloom and doom" strategies after all we'd been through in the past month, but apparently not. Luckily, he had a nice chat with Solomon's nurse while I was pumping and now fully understands that Solmon stands a good chance of pulling through just fine w/o BPD, or blindness, or any of the other scary things they throw at us.
Solomon's still tolerating his feedings well, and we hope to start increasing them slowly tomorrow. He's grown a bit in the past two weeks and now weighs 1lb 11.9 oz and is 12 1/2 inches long. The next 6 weeks are his convalescent period and will hopefully show lots of weight and height gain. He was a fast grower in the womb, and I fully expect him to continue. :)
Every day I learn of a new prayer list to which our little Solomon has been added. We are so fortunate to have so many loving friends and family supporting us during this time. I miss speaking and visiting with you all as well, and look forward to the day when we go home with our "Scrappy" and get to introduce him slowly to all of those who have helped him make it this far!
Love,
Sami, Tracy and Solomon