Cooper is 29 weeks now, time seems to be flying by! Cooper is now 970 grams which 2.2 pounds and still 14.5 inches long since the last time he was weighed. Cooper's test for microplasma came back negative which was great news. So no infection in his lungs!

He is still on the breathing tube which can have long term affects on his lungs. One doctor brought up the idea of using steroids so I revisited that issue today since they want to extubate him but we aren't sure how he will do. The use of steroids have their own pros and cons. The longer Cooper has the tube can mean the longer it takes his lungs to really develop in the long run. With the tube his lungs will always be kind of behind the rest of his body's development. Steroids seem to be like a "miracle" drug.

The doctor is confident that is Cooper were to get steroids it would be short term till he was off of the breathing tube. The side effect of the steroids could possibly be a higher risk of cerebral palsy, which Cooper is already "high risk" being a preemie. Back in the day when the medical field couldn't monitor preemies' breathing and setting like they do today they provided steroids which helped more babies, but long term those babies had cerebral palsy.

In reality Cooper isn't that far off, lowest his oxygen saturation can be is 21, he is currently running in the 50s.  Maybe I am just being a little impatient and selfish. We have decided against the steroids unless it is a must.

Sometimes it is hard to make this decisions. Decisions that really can affect Cooper for the rest of his life. We want to give him the best life possible with any decision we make.