Will has a relatively short to-do list: Breathe, digest and pee have been fighting it out among the top three for the past few weeks. He never really gets to cross them off because they are constantly required tasks, but today he accomplished all three with little problem. He still is breathing well tonight, he digested his 4cc easily and he got rid of all the fluid he'd taken on and is again gaining weight the right way. He is sitting at 674 grams tonight, an increase of 19 grams over his weight at midnight (that's a 0.7 ounce gain for those of you keeping score). That's his non-fluid-retention high, and he should be able to build on that as he continues to eat. After many days in his very short life where he had numerous medicines being pumped into his system, today three of the four things he was getting were to make him stronger: Lipids, breastmilk and his usual nutrition drip.

Lest we get ahead of ourselves, he still has a long way to go. He was breathing well, but his oxygen saturation would occasionally vary widely as he chose to sit a few breaths out (if taking a rest for a person with good lungs is "taking a breather," then what is a rest for someone like Will where it involves not breathing?). And while he is breathing more on his own, he does so still with a small part of his lungs. He'll be on his ventilator until he is better able to inflate his lungs on his own. He's a ways from that now, but he is definitely making strides.