Our little boy

Our little boy
Our Little Miracle

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Another good day

Julie went down today with my Mom and got a chance to see him. I am one more day away from being let back in, and that will be a wonderful day for me. But Julie had a great day today.

He is "off the C-pap" again and has nasal prongs in place of the mask. This enables the doctors to keep pressure in his lungs, but also makes it so that he is not wearing the bulky stuff that makes him look like a Storm Trooper.
This is all part of the weaning process that they have been trying. In days past they have tried this, he has had a fair amount of "incidents" in fact, enough to force the Doctors to replace the C-pap.

For the last 3 days, his incidents have been fewer than 5 per day. Today, with the C-pap off, a few more, but things seem more encouraging than in times past.

Other than that, the most exciting news is that Julie got to take him out of the incubation unit (also called an isolet) by herself today. In days past, when she would hold him, the nurses would take him out and pass him to her. NOT TODAY!

She said she was a bit nervous at first, but she did great.

Not a whole lot else to report, but here are a few photos for everyone;

Sleeping soundly!
Holding hands with Papa. Story is that he reached up himself to grab hold. He is getting so strong!

He sure does love sleeping on his stomach. This photo shows a little bit of weight gain over previous photos.
Proud Mommy!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Pounds of flesh

He weighs 3 pounds............officially!

Julie just got back and had a great day with him. They are talking about taking him off the C-pap again tomorrow completely to see how he does and he is now above 3 pounds. To put that in perspective, he has almost doubled his weight in less than 6 weeks. Seems like he takes after his Dad in that department ha ha.

So here are the photos I promised, enjoy!

Here is the first of a series we will call "Halloween fashion show"
In the fist offering, we see the baby boy clad in a wonderful fall orange piece with a print of a Jack-O-Lantern. This is for those crisp nights trick or treating through the NICU where the tiled floors can get a touch chilly. Don't forget your pillow case little man, there is candy to be had!

The blue "I Love My Mummy" top that little man is sporting here is a functional frock that says "look at me, I can coordinate with the C-pap. Accessories make the outfit and he has accessorized perfectly with this wonderful top.
Though this bib could function as a complete ensemble for him, this "Love My Mummy" bib is fashionable and functional. Drool and food is no match for this piece. The accent color, again, shows fun use of the C-pap colors to enhance the lines of this fantastic fashion, nay, artsy look. Happy Halloween!
He sure is getting curious with his eyes. Soon he will be watching..........and that is scary to think ha ha.
While he looks like he may be wailing here, this is a yawn.
"He's not snarling, he's sneezing!"

This is one of my new favorites. I can just imagine him being forced into a limo with paparazzi shutters clicking in this pose. Once he gets in there, he says "I can't believe all this fuss over winning 8 consecutive Masters tournaments, Dad. You would think nobody has ever done that before!?"

He is so darn cute!
This video, while short, is a huge deal. One of the most important functions in a newborn is the latching and sucking function....................both on display here.

And........we're backl

Those that follow this blog every day, first off, thank you!

You have also probably noticed that I have not posted in a couple days. Our computer was on the fritz but is back now so updates will be more frequent again. WHOOO HOOO!

Julie is at the hospital with him as I write this and when she returns I will upload a ton of photos over the last few days. To update, he has been doing great. The doctors decided to try a little different approach with the C-pap and have gradually turned down the pressure to ween him off of it rather than just take it off like they have tried before.

He seems to be liking that method as we are now down to a level of 3 from a level of 5. The level refers to the amount of pressure that is being blown into his lungs to keep them inflated. Eventually he will be weened down to no pressure and then they will try to take the mask off again and see how he does.

If he is somehow attached to the feeling of the mask, we are in trouble as I am sure that kindergarten will not let him through the doors with a C-pap mask on........I am not certain, perhaps Grandma can confirm that notion ha ha.

In any case, things are going well. I am getting better and am going to see him this weekend again! I can't wait!

I love you son and can't wait to see you.

Thank you all for the support, well wishes, and prayers. Blessings on all of us and thank God for all he is doing!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Locked out

UGH!

I went to the doctor today and he basically told me that I was taking a risk in going to the hospital in my condition. He has practically "banned" me for the week and so here I sit, frustrated.

We have no other children. I was not prepared for how the first would impact me emotionally. They say that your children "change your life" and I can tell you that it is far beyond that. Our miracle has changed my life, Julie's life, our families lives, and our whole world.

Being that as it is, you can imagine the brutality of having something go on that prevents you from experiencing everything you can with that child.

So the next few posts might not contain the feeling that the earlier posts have from me. I will still be reporting on his conditions as I will be calling a bunch and Julie will be back and forth to visit.

I can't wait for the next time I get to see him. I am counting the moments son...........see you soon!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Second verse, same as the first

Nothing new to report inside the incubator.

Outside the incubator, I had a friend of mine help me tile our bathroom and am still sick as a dog. I will be passing out shortly so I will update later if anything arises.

Sorry for the short posts, but I am just beaten up at the moment.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Nothing but a couple photos

Ok, a couple words. Things went well today. President Obama got out of town in plenty of time for Julie to go see him and take some videos and photos. I was not taking too many chances and decided to take one last day off from subjecting him to my germs. He will not get off so easy tomorrow ha ha!

Either an awesome attempt at a hi-five, or the early stages of a horror flick actor. "ohhhhhhh nooooo not that, not.............THE C-PAP!"
It still looks like her ring could fit over his arm, even though he has gotten a bunch larger.
The blue cuff on his foot is one of the most amazing pieces of medial apparatus he wears. It is a laser that fires from one side to the other and through one of his arteries to measure the level of oxygen in his blood stream. Awesome........laser!

Hope you all enjoy! Have a great night!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The big question............answered

Well sort of answered!

First, a quick update. He is doing well. He has had more "incidents" again and so they are going to keep working to find out what is going on in his body that makes him do this when he is off the C-pap.

I wish there was more to update, but like it has been said before, "no news is good news" when it comes to these things.

So...........the question. This has been posed to us a bunch so I figured we would cover it here and let everyone know the "checkilist" needed to fulfill the question of "when will he be able to go home?"

In most cases, as we have been told, babies that are born premature are held until their original due date. This to make sure that all vital functions develop properly such as lung development, brain, heart, kidney, etc.

Babies are developing in the womb almost all the way up to birth. The last thing to develop is the lungs. Since babies do not need to breathe in the womb, the lungs are not vital immediately and, thus, do not develop in full early on.

So, typically, premature babies lung functions are the most underdeveloped and are monitored closely to ensure that babies will be able to breathe normally when they go home.

Which brings me to the question, "When will he be able to go home?"

The stock answer is sometime around late December (since that was his original due date, Dec. 25th). The medical answer is a bit more difficult. A variety of people have asked how much weight he has to gain to go home and I can tell you that weight has very little, if anything, to do with it.

The "checklist" for "checkout" is as follows;

1) He has to be able to breathe on his own. No help from C-paps, no oxygen all night, his lungs have to function naturally. To this point, he has not been able to do this for stretches of more than a few hours and he must go 5 complete days with out one single apnea episode before we can cross this one off the list.

2) He must be able to hold his own body temperature. So far he is doing this very well.

3) He must be able to eat on his own. While he has kept food down, he is still being fed through a tube into his stomach. The doctors are very optimistic that when the time comes, he will be able to eat on his own. This means that he will have to be able to perform the "sucking" technique to take milk from a nipple, be it a bottle or a breast.

4) He must be able to sleep on his back. To this point, the doctors and nurses rotate him from belly to back. While it is widely considered a terrible thing to put a baby on their belly, because he is so closely monitored, he can sleep on his stomach with close supervision. It does seem that he does not do as well with his breathing on his back so the nurses default him to his stomach if he has a few episodes in a row, but he seems to be able to do this if need be. Again, it will be in time that he will be able to do this with no issue at all.

So there you have it. Those are the check points that he will have to clear to be sent home to us. He can weigh anything at all, but most likely, they say he will be in the 4 or 4 1/2 pound range when he can do all these things.

I hope that clears things up and gives you all some perspective when we talk about how things are going. All signs point to late December and a wonderful Christmas with our family in tact, but his progress is in the hands of God. We would sure like it to be today that he comes home, but we can not properly care for him the way he requires.

Well, if any questions arise, please feel free to put them in the comments and I will do all I can to answer them. For now, bedtime. We will see him later tomorrow as President Obama is in town and is speaking right down by the hospital. The area will be on lockdown for a large portion of the day.

I will report back tomorrow night!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Looking in

So while I called in sick to work and sat at home, Julie went down to the hospital and got some of the best photos yet.

He is doing well today and there are no major updates, so on to the photos!

You gotta love the tonuge!

Talk to everyone tomorrow. I am hoping I can go back to work tomorrow and see him on Thursday once I am symptom free for 24 hours.

Have a great night everyone!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Sick again

This just in, increased stress leads to a breakdown of the human immune system. The little man is doing great, but his old man is sick again.

I woke with a sore throat, tried to work through it, thinking that nothing was all that wrong, and now I am laid up and sick as a dog. People are not able to see him with any symptoms of a cold and so I am on the outside looking in again.

Julie went to see him and said he is doing well and that things are good again today. I will update tomorrow as I am headed to bed tonight early to try to fight this thing off.

Thanks everyone!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Birthday time!!!!!!!!!

It's little man's one month birthday today!

In honor of his one month birthday, I worked and Julie went down and hung out with him. She got to hold him and cuddle him. I am so jealous of her during those times. I would give anything to trade her places, but that is not quite how God designed it now is it?

So after work we headed down and hung out with him. He did very well!

It was, again, evident that he loves that ol C-pap as he had more incidents today than normal. They had him off it for about 11 hours, which is good.

He looked great and I got a couple wonderful photos of him;

His eyes were open a good amount of time today! He has the greatest look when his eyes are open.

So the day was a good one!

The day before, not so much......................

Nothing bad on his end, but I had a very tough day. My Sister and her family left to move to Australia today. Needless to say, it was a difficult thing saying good bye to them. Being Uncle Tom is one of the greatest things I have ever been in my life. Having that label is better than any I have ever had before. They are going to do great Down Under and the kids are going to turn into awesome men and women. "Good on ya Richard, Michelle, Caleb, Tommy, Ellie, and Joey!

Lucky for us, they took a few hours out of their trip to visit and I got a couple photos of Auntie Michelle and Uncle Richard checking out the baby boy;









I am so happy to have this photo. My sister getting a chance to touch my son is something that I never thought would happen. 







In all, it was a very good weekend for the little man, but a tough weekend for me.

I will check back again tomorrow with an update on the little man. For now, we are going to go to bed and catch up on some z's. God Bless!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Emotions aplenty

What a day!

He is doing very well. He gained some weight and was looking great. All the tests that have come back have shown nothing glaring so that is a real load off.

We had a great day with him today and had a couple great friends down to see him. Brandon and Eva were able to come down to the hospital and see him.
Brandon was "fortunate" enough to be on the other end of the line when I was rushing Julie to the hospital so he saw the little guy very shortly after he was born. Seeing him this time gave us some perspective since he was so small then and has really come a long way.

After Brandon and Eva took off, Julie and I went to a car seat for premies class and we both rocked the house. Once Julie figured out how to use the "foot" of the base of the car seat, we got our 4 pound doll that simulates our baby into the seat and we were off and running, figuratively, of course.

When we returned to his side, my Mom and Dad were there and so he got to spend about an hour with Nana and Papa.

They are in town visiting as well as my Sister and Brother in law and their 4 children. I think I told you all that they are leaving for Australia, permanently, on Sunday so this is it for a while in terms of seeing them. Having them gone will be difficult. I can't even describe how I am going to feel tomorrow as I spend my last day with them for a while.

My Sister is a wonderful woman and I love her so much and appreciate her friendship more than she will ever know. Her husband is a star of a human being and is lucky I was cool enough to introduce the two.........that is a story for another blog ha ha. Their children..........well, being Uncle Tom has been one of the 3 greatest things I have ever had the pleasure of doing in my life. They are so full of life and such awesome kids.........but I am babbling and starting to cry so that is that.

I will, most likely, not write tomorrow since the day should run very long and will, no doubt, be full of emotion so if I don't update, do not be alarmed. I will be back the next day.

Have a great night and lets all pray for my Sister and her family. I love you so much Tucus!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Good day

Julie got to hold him for about 2 1/2 hours today! What is so great, is that she finally fell asleep with him in her arms. It was one of the most amazing scenes my mind could have concocted and it was actually happening in front of me.

I loved it!

As far as his health, a few things to report. We had no update on the blood work or spinal fluid tests. They have upped the C-pap to pump more pressure into his lungs so that he has less "incidents." The C-pap is used to pump pressure into his lungs to assist in their inflation and to prevent them from partial collapse. His lungs are not in danger, but because of their lack of development, they require assistance to inflate.

It is very common in premature babies.

At any rate, they have pumped up the pressure to allow for an easier time breathing. If there is a "down side" to this process, it is simply that he has been on a lower level of pressure prior to today. Kind of a step back, but nothing so significant that it scares us.

Other than that, he has lost some weight today. He is down 39g today. This could be because he gained a significant amount of weight a couple days ago (60g) and his body needed to even out. They do not seem to be too concerned about this either, so no biggie!

So in conclusion, we had a great day with him and it was wonderful to hang out with him today. Julie looked so peaceful asleep with him on her chest. I wish I would have brought the camera to capture the moment, but I forgot ha ha.

I will check back tomorrow when my Mother, Father, Sister, Brother in law, and Nephews and Nieces will be here. It is going to be a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Tired again

Just got home from work and am exhausted.

Julie hung out with him today and said that he was looking good, but was struggling in terms of his apnea again. I am heading down to see him tomorrow and will have photos and more information.

Julie said his urine, spinal fluid, blood, and every other thing you can think of was being tested to see if anything was going on internally that would be causing him stress.

We will check back tomorrow once we talk to the doctors to let you all know where things are going.

Sleep well everyone!

Sorry for the late post

Last night I got off work around 10:30 and Julie and I headed down. Since we did not return until late late, I decided to forgo posting and head to bed.

So the updates;

They took him back off the C-pap again and back on the nasal prongs. This was exciting since it allowed us to see his face, but was a bit of a downer because it led him to have many more "incidents" with his breathing.

So....................

Today they put him BACK on the C-pap again. We are, again, very comfortable with this, but in order to have him released at some point, he will have to be able to breathe with neither the C-pap, nor the nasal prongs. In any case, he has stabilized as of this morning again and things seem to be going well.

We did not meet the new "team" at any point so that is still to come. It was sad to see some of the old "team" go, but we have been assured that they will check back now and then and will check back to see if we figure out a name. 

Julie took some awesome photos which are here for you to check out;

Today, Julie will be heading down to see him while I head to work. I hope to see him tonight, but will have tomorrow off to hang out with him a bunch. I sure miss not being able to see him a bunch!

Talk to everyone again soon!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Cuddle time

After work we went to see the little man. I got to hold him for an hour or so again, which was amazing.

Julie got to hold him for about 2 1/2 hours earlier in the day, which was great for them both.

He is doing very well and things are going good. Because it is after 1am and we have a long day changing the "team" tomorrow, I am going to head to bed. More will be coming soon!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Beat up

We are both exhausted. Long story short, I worked and Julie had a very emotional day as he mother left for home today.

We are both headed to bed, but wanted to let everyone know that in a 24 hour period between last night and tonight he had only one "issue" with apnea!

What an awesome day!

I will report more tomorrow, but for now we must rest.

Please pray for Julie's Mom as she heads back home into some stresses outside of her grandchild. She is a special woman with a heart the size of the entire state. She will need all of that to deal with everything on her plate at present. Thank you Grandma!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Holding on..........again

Today was one of my better days in life. While work was great, nothing could prepare me for seeing the little man................
That is me and the little man sharing some quality time.

I got to hold him for a little over an hour and it was so calming and so peaceful. Julie had held him earlier in the day while I was at work so this was the first day that he was held by both of us.

I fell asleep a couple times and as my head nodded off I would startle myself awake thinking I was falling or something and would be so careful to protect him. It was kind of scary, but every time I woke, I cuddled him and all my worries and cares were whisked away.

We got a few good photos of him today that I will include at the bottom of the post here.

No real news on anything major in terms of his health. His leg wound is looking good at the moment so things should be alright in that department.

Here are the photos and we are off to bed. Talk to you all tomorrow!





Friday, October 8, 2010

A day of many

Today was a strange one.

I went down early and was met with a few different things. First, the doctors let me know that they like the way things are working with his sore in his leg. They are saying that it should be no big deal, but they are going to aggressively pump antibiotics into him for about a week or so.

They did take a real close look at the cut that is above his left ear. This abrasion was there on day 1 of his life and has just never healed completely. They figure the reason it has not healed is due to the C-pap being placed right on it. Since they have to attach the C-pap to him, they use an adhesive, it is this adhesive that they believe is not allowing scabbing to happen completely in that area.

They are not sure they can do a whole lot with this since he has to have the C-pap on and they have to attach it. They are going to use gauze to try to cushion the area more and see where it goes. They are not too concerned here either so we are trying not to be as well.

Last, but not least, the medical team is changing. At the U they have residency that works with the schooling they are taking so it is time for a change in the team. On Tuesday we will get a whole new staff of doctors to meet and take care of our little man.

The nurses will stay the same and things will be easy to pick up and follow for the new team so it is no big deal.

In all, today was one "issue" after another, but the doctors say not to worry about it, so there we are!

Hope everyone is doing well and I will check back again tomorrow.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Infectious smile

So.................

We went down today to check out the little man and get a look at what I am calling the "festering pustule." I can tell you that he is doing well and that he gained his most single say weight today with 31 grams.

As far as this sore goes, they did cultures and found that there are a few more bacteria than "normal" in there so they have aggressively started antibiotics to combat any possible infection. They are concerned with infection getting into his blood stream, or worse yet, his bones. At any rate, they are confident that the antibiotics will knock this thing out. We will keep you updated.

Other than that, there was not a whole lot going on.

We have a request for prayers and well wishes. Julies Grandma has declined in health lately. She is in the hospital and is in the ICU under ventilation for a little while, until today when they removed the ventilator. Please pray that ceasing use of the ventilator will work and that she will be peaceful.

Thank you all so much for following our family's progress. It means an awful lot to us that so many are so interested in how our little miracle is doing. We pray for you all and are so grateful that we have such great families and friends.

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Take your PICC

Since we have talked about the PICC line, I will not bore you with its uses. I will tell you that it has been removed!

The biggest issue with removing this line is that means that he tolerating his feeding, which is a very good.

It seems like there is always a cloud to silver linings and silver linings to clouds in this issue so this is no exception. When the doctor removed the PICC line, they discovered that a section of the line had "pressed" his skin in his leg to the point that it has opened a 1 cm sore. They have sent cultures down to be analyzed and have been administering antibiotics to combat the possibility of infection as that would be a major bad thing to have happen at this stage.

We have not seen the sore, but if it is anything like the small cut on his scalp from his first couple days, this will go away very quickly and not be an issue.

The other "issue" that arose today is that he is somewhat cold. His temp was around 35.9 while he should be somewhere around 36.5 or so. Because of this, Julie was not able to hold him today and they have set up a monitoring device on him that automatically heats or cools the incubation unit based on his temperature needs. He has had this set up before so this is no big deal.

The promising part of this issue is that some of the nurses think that his marginal weight gain could be due to him using all his energy (calories) to heat himself rather than having those calories promote weight gain. He is above birth weight, but they think that he should be gaining more weight than he has. They are targeting weight gains of 15g to 30g per day and we are looking at 5g an awful lot and are even losing weight some days.

So there you have it. I hope this is a better update than the last few days. With me working later nights now and then I hope to update like this more often on my days off. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section and we will do our best to answer them or ask the doctors and get answers.

Since I have not included a photo in a while, here are a few;

I like this one because he looks like he is just sprawled out chillin.

All the photos with the blue light on look so Star Trek to me..........this one is the most Star Trek looking I think.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Back to normal

I got to see him today!!!!!

Julie and I went down and spent some time with him this afternoon. Julie got to hold him for about an hour or more and I got to change his diaper and hang out. It was great!

The news was good too as he is doing well. So well that they have stepped up his feeding to 4ccs of breast milk fortified at a 1:1 ratio (up from 3.5 ccs and a 1:2 ratio) today. If he takes it well and that feeding level does not affect him they will remove the picc line that is located in his leg.

The picc line is used to administer nutrition and draw fluids or blood if need be. To this point, they have used it for nutrition almost exclusively and if he is getting his nutrition through the breast milk mixture, there will be no need for that anymore. Having the chance to remove a "cord" is a cool idea since he seems to be hooked up to so many.

Other than that, there is not a while lot of news to report.

There is a new "neighbor" that checked in today for a heart surgery (the valve we have talked about before has not closed in their baby). The couple was very nice and as we were talking, it turns out, that they had about the same experience that we did. A surprise delivery 3 months early, birth weight under 2 pounds, the whole thing. They were reserved in their optimism seeing as they were transferred from one hospital to the U due to the U having such great surgeons to perform the operation.

Long story short, keep them in your minds and prayers. They are about to go through a part of this process that, while deemed "normal" by the doctors and every book I am reading, is very scary I am sure. To know that your child, who is smaller than you can imagine, is about to be cut open and their heart exposed has to be scary.

It sure makes me wonder where this roller coaster is headed. So far it has been great. I sure am grateful and thankful for this miracle baby boy.

I love you buddy!

Monday, October 4, 2010

All quiet on the western front

Not a single thing of interest to report today.

He had a very quiet day and so did we. I am starting to cherish no news more and more. I will check back tomorrow. I should be able to visit him tomorrow.

Late nights

My new work schedule has me working late nights for a while so some updates will be later on than normal.

Julie and her Mom went to the hospital tonight and I went to work, sick. I am feeling better so I am hoping that Tuesday or Wednesday I will be symptom free and be able to see him.

As for an update, he had another good day. He is up to 3.5 ccs of breast milk per hour for his diet. This means that he should be more stable in gaining weight. At this time, he is above birth weight (900 grams) and is looking like he should gain more weight as things progress shortly.

Julie said he looked good and that the Doctors are saying that the heart "murmur" is not scaring them all at this point. The nurses said that they can barely hear it most times and so that is a good sign.

They did say that he has a "cranial bleed" that was discovered in the latest ultrasound. They were not too surprised by this and said it is no big deal.

While we are on the subject, the words "no big deal" and bleeding should probably not be used in the same paragraph, yet a NICU doctor seems to use them together quite often. I guess we are just going to have to get used to that, though I, for one, am having a tough time with that.

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened in the last few days.

I will be down to see him soon so there will be some new photos, maybe even a couple that Crystal will love hint hint.

While I have a few seconds, requests for prayers must go out to Justin and his wife Jo. They are going to be blessed with a child and things are great so far. Also, for my Mother and Father. They are planning on traveling back and forth quite a bit so safety in travel. Last, but not least, my Sister and her family (4 wonderful children and her awesome husband "The mega- wuss") will be moving to Australia in the middle of this month. Prayers for safe travel and to have a wonderful time living abroad with his family so close.

Thanks everyone. I hope all is well and I will check back soon!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Tired and still sick

Julie and her Mom are still at the hospital and I am beat. I am going to drug out and head to bed. I will relay any information tomorrow.

Goodnight all!

Closer to a name

Yet another day has passed and I was not able to see him. I am getting better, but I sure don't want to risk anything by going to see him too early.

My Mom and Sister are in town so we all sat around and brainstormed ideas for names. We are closer but not finished.

My Mom went to see him and said he looked good. He has gained enough weight to be over birth weight! His apnea was not as frequent today while she was there, so that is good.

My Sister and I went to Costco to look for some clothes and we ended up at a Farmer's Market across the street. There was not a whole lot to see, but we did have quite the experience with a man selling cider. He was a gem!

I might go into detail later (the story involves an almost "Benny Hinn type prayer" complete with him giving us both a vial of some kind of "holy elixir" that I am convinced is his own urine) but now is not the time.

It is dinner time and we are having burgers. Julie and her Mom will be heading down later to see the little man. I will let you know how things go when they get back.

Talk to you all very soon!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Another day in the books

I say that because I have sat at home again today and have read books. Okay, not bookS but a book. It is a book that my Mom bought for us about premature babies and what to expect from birth through taking your child home.

So far, the book pretty much says the same things we are feeling or have experienced.

So while I sat there and sniffled and read, Julie went down and held him for a while.

He had a very good day and seemed to really love having Mom hold him. I wish I was there.

There is not a whole lot of news to spread today as nothing much has changed. His episodes are fewer than they were a few days ago, so that is good! His brain is still bleeding, but, again, they are not overly concerned with that at this point.

Since there is not a whole lot of news, I figured I would post a few photos so here goes:

This is as close a photo as we have to him opening his eyes.
Isn't he cute?

Anyway, sorry there is not more today, but as Lyle used to say, "no news is good news" and as my Mom says "That's the story and I'm stickin to it."
My Mom and Sister will be in town tomorrow so I hope to have more for you then. 

Goodnight all!