Tonight's routine was just that for Will, but not for his Mom and Dad. Mary and I helped out with his "cares" tonight; she changed his diaper, and I held him while they weighed him. For Mary, it meant manipulating the smallest that Pampers has to offer, while I held him aloft so they could zero out the scale that doubles as his bed. They even put a fresh diaper on the bed when they zero it out so there is no cheating in the weight department. The good news from that was that he went from 475 grams to 512 between this morning and evening. He's creeping back up toward his birth weight, which is good.

Mary and I also applied a lotion to his skin, which is starting mature as the scaly parts fall away. The lotion, aquaphilic cream, seems to help his skin to stay moisturized, and he really seemed to enjoy it as we put it on him.

He got more good news when his head ultrasound came back free and clear. That means there was no bleeding, which can happen in premature babies (and others), and is called an intraventricular hemorrhage. This test is done after 7 days, and not again until around 42 days.

He still needs to work hard on his breathing. They gave him surfactant, something the body makes naturally, but that is not made in sufficient quantities by babies until they are as many as 34 weeks old gestationally. The substance helps to keep the air sacs in the lungs open. Will has received a few doses of this through his breathing tube, and it seems to help him to breathe more easily. Over time, he'll start making it himself and will have an easier time of it. It took a few hours after his noontime dose today, but by tonight he was breathing better and seemed to settle down for a well-earned night's rest.