10:00pm: Reid has figured it out. If he cries, someone picks him up and is consolable. Put him down and the fun begins all over again. Like yesterday, he had a very fussy start to the day so I made my way into the hospital around 1 today. I spent the majority of the day there and fought through several crying fits. I have found that if a scrunch down really low in the non-reclinable chairs, that I can rest him on my chest for some "tummy-time". This allows him to pick up his head, move it around and push off against me. When I had him like this today, I patted him on his back and he was fast asleep... that is until I stop patting him. Then he starts this little whimper as if he is telling me, "don't stop dad". So I start again and he falls back asleep... I stop patting, and out comes the whimper all over again.

I asked the nurse today if it would be OK if I bought him a "grown-up" pacifier and she thought it would be OK. They actually had some in the NICU, so she went and got it for Reid. The nipple is shaped a little different and I thought it would help him keep it is his mouth a little easier. It gets a little tiring to sit there and hold his wabbanub pacifier in his mouth -- I think it is a little too bottom heavy and easily falls out of his mouth. This new pacifier did its trick and he managed to sit there and suck without any help. I am hoping that this will give us a break because it seems like when he is fussy and his pacifier falls out of his mouth, all hell breaks loose.

His CO2 this morning was 58 - which is better than it has been in a couple of weeks. The respiratory therapists say they still hear a little 'wetness' in his lungs and the doctors have squashed the trips to the garden until the pollen outside subsides. They aren't sure if the pollen was what got to him the other day, but they don't want to chance it if they don't have to. Instead, his trips in the stroller will all be indoors. Tomorrow morning, he gets a visit from the phlebotomy team as they will be pulling some blood for his cortisol level test. They are doing this to see what Reid's body is producing as they are planning on weaning the hydrocrotisone. His bowel movements seem much easier now that they are not fortifying his milk. Over the past few weeks, it seems that he has had to have glycerin suppositories more often than not, but he was able to churn out too good diapers for me today. He always saves them for me. :)