29 Week Preemie

Do I have experience! My son was born at 27 weeks, the size of a 23 weeker. We spent 101 days in the NICU, and lots of testing! It's wonderful news that he doesn't have an infection!! Our son showed signs of infection, much like yours, but the tests came back neg. as well. Also, the fact that he's on a nasal cannula instead of a respirator of CPAP is a giant step in the right direction! It sounds like your little guy is doing great! I'm sure you've heard it every day from the nurses, but it truly is one step forward, and then one step back! I kept a journal where I wrote everything that happened with our son that day. I wrote the good and the bad, and how I was feeling. I'm not one for journaling, but it really helped. I also hope that one day our son can read it and realize what a miracle he is. If you are pumping your breastmilk, keep at it! It is liquid gold! And, you'll probably have a good supply in the freezer by the time he gets home (great for the middle of the night!) Hang in there, and if you need someone to talk to, just pm me.
L.

There's a group on babycenter.com called Preemie Parenting that is full of women who are and have gone through exactly what you and your family is going through right now. They can offer all kinds of advice and help you through this difficult time. It is pretty normal for a preemie to have all kinds of breathing issues and does take some time for them to "grow" out of it. My own preemie had some initial problems with breathing and eating. We had to wait for her to not have any bradys before coming home. It's frustrating and concerning but it will get better.

I suppose that I don't know what the statistics are but in our case there was nothing wrong with our daughter she just as you said forgot to breathe. My Daughter was born at 36 weeks and we should have been out of the woods by then but she was ity-bity. My sister had her first at 31 weeks (for us the early thing seems to be hereditary )and he never had any infections but he had a hard time figuring out breathing too. They actually sent him home with an apnea and puls-ox monitor. Breathing is a reflex and preemies have not had all of the time necessary inutero to figure it out. He will get it it just might take him some time.

Take it one day at a time!
My daughter was born at 25 weeks - 1lb 3oz. She spent 4 months in the NICU and is now a beautiful, very healthy, and very smart 6 year old.
Your precious preemie still has a lot of developing and growing to do and learning to breathe and feed on his own is part of this process. It's going to take time and you really have to just focus on one day at a time. Everything you have written sounds "normal" to me with my preemie and NICU experience.
We would have good days and bad days with her "A's and B's." We learned her pattern that after a bad day of desats, her blood counts were low and she would need a transfusion.
He will grow out of it - he just needs the time to grow and develop. Trust in the nurses and dr's and if there is anything you don't understand ask for more clarification or have another Dr or nurse tell you what something means. Write down questions that come to mind when you can't ask it right away.
Be there as much as you can for him - hold him as often as you can and if you can pump breastmilk for him, that's the best thing you can do for him right now.
Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful little preemie. They are special miracles.
(I kept a journal of our time in the NICU and I cherish it. Not only do I go back and read it, but now my daughter has a wonderful account of her unique and special beginning)

my baby girl was born at 39 wks and everything was going well we were about to leave the hospital when she just stoped breathing she had to stay in the NICU for about a week and a half she stoped breathing three times the ran so many test everything came back normal, just that when she feeds she would turn blue but now she is 4 months and doin GREAT so give him some time he needs to get bigger and he will get stronger i will have you and ur fam in my prayers