Holding Nathan Wednesday Night

This weekend

Sorry to be so late on putting up a new post. We have been extremely busy this weekend. Both Nathan and Owen are doing well. Both boys are now on nasal canula. They are both eating and gaining weight. Nathan gets 1ml every hour but should be moving up to 2 ml tomorrow. So far he is tolerating his feeds very well and even pooped!!! Once he has a proven track record of eating and pooping he will be able to go back to Brookwood with Owen. Please pray everything in his body will continue to work well (tolerating his food and pooping and for his lungs to continue developing). This is really great news and we just praise God for working in Nathan's body and healing him. Owen is eating 17 ml every 3 hours. I am able to hold Owen every day. It is a wonderful time for both of us. Owen now holds the title as President in the NICU, given by one of his nurses. He has earned this title by being the baby that has been in the NICU the longest. He will proudly hold this title for many more weeks. Now, we just await for his VP to come back to join him. Please continue the same prayers for Owen. He is much more stable, but we know he will only remain stable by God's power not his own.
Now on to some fun pictures of our weekend. Georgia Tech played in the Orange Bowl last Thursday. This is Logan and Preston giving each other high-five after Tech scored a touch down.Logan enjoyed spending some time with Mommy while I was holding Owen. He also like playing with the screens and pretending they were doors with a button he had to push to open them (imagine that).Here is cute little Owen enjoying some Mommy holding time.Owen was pretty tired after all his holding excitement and fell fast asleep.Logan went to Gracie's birthday party at JumpZone yesterday. He had the best time jumping.
sliding
and so did Daddyand Mommy.

After Gracie's party we ran to Center Point and went to Preston's Grandfather's 90th birthday party. We all had a great time and Logan really enjoyed running around playing football with the other kids.Here is a very cute picture of Nathan. I took it his morning while we were visiting with him. He was very alert today.

Friday, January 8th update

Thanks again for your prayers. Once again God is answering them through the healing of our little boys.

When we went in for our morning visit with Nathan the nurse said he had no breathing / heart rate spells all night or the beginning of the day for her. When I called this evening he had only had one all day long!! By the end of the day they moved him off his nasal canula and on CPAP (this is a tiny step back, but too expected). They moved him to CPAP because he was getting very tired on just the canula. Most babies are moved to CPAP before the canula but at first they were avoiding this because of his intestines. Last night at midnight they began feeding him 1/2 ml every hour, continuously. He is doing very well with his feeds so they have already bumped him up to 1 ml. He will move at a slower pace than Owen is on his feedings. Please pray that Nathan would do well on CPAP and that his feedings would go really well. Also, pray Nathan would again start pooping all of the food he is getting out of his body.

Owen is doing well. I was able to hold him again today; and both of us absolutely loved it. (I forgot to mention I was able to change Owen's diaper for the first time yesterday). There is nothing quite like looking down and seeing his big eyes looking up at me. Owen continues to do well with both his feeds and his oxygen. Owen is not gaining weight as quickly as they would like for him to gain. They are now adding microlipids and human milk fortifier to each feeding. Please pray that he would begin to gain weight. He is also receiving weekly eye exams. We found out today the doctor thought he might see the beginnings of something in zone two of his eye. It is very small right now, so please pray God would take the small spot away. Also please continue to pray for his lung development and over all healing.

Thank you so much. We know God is using your prayers very mightily in the lives of our boys.

Logan is out having a great time spending the night with my parents. He was so excited to go over there. He has an exciting day of him tomorrow because he will be going to Gracie's birthday party.

Preston had a guys night out tonight and went to see Avitar with some friends. I had a great girls night in. Sarah, Catrina, Kristen and I ordered some Chinese food (the first I have had since coming back in October) and played the card game nerts. We had the best time together.

Updated Prayer Request

Please pray for Nathan and Owen. Please specifically pray that Nathan would have less spells with his breathing and heart rate. Right now they are holding off feeding him until that gets a little better so he does not have to deal with two issues at one time. The problem is he needs the food for nutrition so he may not get much better until he gets some good nourishment. Please pray when he is fed that God would allow all of it go perfectly smoothly. Please also pray for Owen. He is doing well but was having a few breathing and heart rate episodes tonight also. Please pray God would strengthen them and lift them up.

Nathan off the ventilator

Nathan was taken off his ventilator and put on nasal canula yesterday afternoon. So far he has done very well on his canula. He had great oxygen saturation during our visit this morning. He enjoyed Preston and I singing to him for quite a while and enjoyed holding my hand. Please pray that his lungs would stay strong enough to stay on the nasal canula. Please also pray for the doctors making the decision on possibly starting feeds tomorrow. Please ask God to soften and prepare his tummy for food. For his continued progress this step is very vital.Owen is still doing well on his canula / CPAP rotation. He is still getting 15.5 ml of food every three hours. He is now getting human milk fortifier added to the milk during every feeding to get a few more calories. I was able to hold him today for a while and we both loved it. I am really looking forward to the days when I will be able to hold Nathan too.

Nathan pic

Since I did not have any pictures to post last night of Nathan we took this one this morning so everyone could see a recent photo. Nathan was extubated today, which means he no longer has the tube going down his throat and is breathing via nasal canula. When we visit him in the morning I will get some new pictures, ones that will allow everyone to see him without tons of tape and big tubes. All of the tape on top of his head is from an IV that is running in to his head. Prayer request for Nathan: God would continue to heal his intestines, his stomach would look and be ready for feedings on Wednesday (right now they are planning to feed on Wednesday but wish his stomach looked like a better candidate for good. So, we ask you to join us in prayer that his stomach would look like a perfect candidate on Wednesday. BTW: there is a shadow on part of Nathan's head, it is not some weird shape or anything.

Owen is doing well. He is up to 15.5 ml of milk every three hours. I was able to hold him today and he really enjoyed it. They are going to begin adding human milk fortified to my milk to give him a little more calories.

God is healing

Nathan and Owen both continue to progress, in their own ways. We have been praying for God to heal Nathan. One way to tell if Nathan is being healed is if he poops. We have been praying very specifically for this and over the past 36 hours Nathan has pooped 4 times. His doctors and nurses are so pleased Nathan will start feeds on Wednesday. Please pray that his body would be ready to accept food. Originally feeds were not going to be scheduled for about 2 months, but since God is healing him, they were able to step it up. Nathan is also on a different ventilator that allows him to breath more on his own, with plans of extubating him this week and putting him on a nasal canula. Nathan looks good and seems to be resting very well. Unfortunately I don't have any new pictures of Nathan, but plan to take some soon. (When you forget the camera in the car it is a lot easier to run to the car in the parking lots through the door just outside the NICU (Brookwood) rather than riding the elevator 7 floors, taking the crosswalk to the parking deck and then finding your car (Children's)).

Owen continues to do well. He is up to 15 ml of milk every 3 hours. He is doing well rotating between the CPAP machine and the nasal canula. I am enjoying holding Owen every day. He really seems to like it too. Please pray Owen will continue to do well and grow.