Breastfeeding!!!!!!

Originally we heard that Mr. Boy was going to potentially have a feeding tube for years, but once he was born and they realized all his organs were connected, they said once he was 34 weeks old we could try breastfeeding. Well, 34 weeks came and so Friday, I asked when we could try and they said it wouldn't be till Mr. Boy had his first surgeries. Then I went in to see him this morning, and they decided he could try breast feeding today! About 2 minutes later Mr. Boy was latched on and doing well...I thought I'd better hurry with it before they changed their minds, heehee. We will be able to breast feed twice a day for a while and work our way up. YAY! It really helps with the whole bonding process between myself and Mr. Boy since that has been rather hard.

Burping

The developmental Specialist came by today and mentioned Mr. Boy must be gifted because he is acting like a 37 week old babe while he's only a 35 weeker. He is awake quite a bit, bottling well and looks like he wants to be entertained already while most preemies are sleeping...he's way ahead of the game. :)

The first few weeks of Mr. Boy's life I was constantly afraid I'd run out of milk. I didnt have much of a supply and he was eating about the same amount I was pumping every 3 hours. I kept praying that the Lord would help me provide because pumping milk for him was just about the only thing I can do for him as a mother while he's in the NICU. Well now I think there is no question...I will not run out of milk!  I pump about one of those bottles while Mr. Boy eats about 1/4 of those bottles every 3 hours. YAY.

Thank you mom and dad for our deep freezer!

Mr. Boy's First Christmas!

"The Crippled Lamb" by Max Lucado
Book given to Mr. Boy by the Aseltines 

Little Victories

This week was a good one for Mr. Boy.   He got to start bottle feeding which they "never" try until a baby is 34 weeks and he is only 33 weeks but they thought he looked hungry because he was sucking on his pacifier like he was trying to eat it... he must have his mother's appetite! And usually it is very hard for preemies to suck and breath and not choke or have all sorts of problems, but Mr. Boy drank like a pro. He is allowed to start out with a little milk and they give the rest of the milk through the tube in his nose and then the rest of his nutrition goes through the IV directly to his blood since his intestines isn't long enough to absorb all the nutrition from the milk. They still have to be able to monitor exactly how much he is drinking so we are not allowed to breast feed yet but hopefully soon! He is on his second cast on his clubbed foot and he got to wear his first clothes.

We are finally adjusting to life and routine in the NICU. We still have breakdown moments, but to look around, we have to confess that we truly are blessed. Its not too fun going back and forth to the hospital to see your baby, but we are soooo blessed to be living only a few houses down from the hospital. We couldn't get any closer so although we'd rather Mr. Boy be in the bedroom next to us, he is only a short walk away and getting the best care possible in one of the best NICU's in the country. We never really understood all the reasons God called us to South Dakota, but a few more obvious reasons have now come to light. The Lord positioned us directly beside the best Hospital for all of Mr. Boy's issues. They have every kind of unique specialist we need (which is not normal to have) and they even just got a Urologist a few months ago and we were told if he wasn't at Sanford Hospital, they would have to send Mr. Boy to another state for care. Also, we are surrounded by an amazing support system and insanely incredible church family. The Lord knew what he was doing when he sent us here to this remote state a year and a half ago. So thank you to everyone who has allowed the Lord to work through them to bless us! Every time we feel weak or want to wallow in self-pity, we are reminded of how the Lord is orchestrating everything for His glory and for our and Mr. Boy's best interest...even when we don't feel like it. He's been orchestrating it all from the very beginning. And thats comforting even in the most uncertain and scariest situations.

Wondering when he gets to eat.

Mouth wide open ready to eat! 

Drinking for the first time like he's done it for years. 

First time in clothes!

Neat NICU Nurses

The nurses are pretty awesome. One of them made Mr. Boy this sweet scrapbook page of photos she took while we were away (they keep a camera around the NICU in case the babies are doing cute things when the parents aren't there to capture it) and taped it up in his room:

Another one decorated his room for Christmas:

After being through these first three weeks, we can honestly say we LOVE nurses.  They are amazing people and are taking such good care of Mr. Boy.   So thanks to all nurses everywhere!  Give a shout out to your neonatologists, perinatologists, urologists, anesthesiologists, certified nurse practitioners and of course your local nurse:) hehe......  

Good Week

 This week: Mr. Boy got his first cast on his clubbed foot in a weekly series of 6 casts. The poor little guy cant move his leg at all because it goes all the way to his hip, but that only seemed to bother him for a day. He should be done before he was even scheduled to leave my womb! Then he will wear special shoes for a few years.

He gained some weight, and with his heavy cast, he is back up to his birth weight of 4lbs. The surgeons said that once he is bigger and past his original due date of Feb 1st, they will hopefully be able to do the first surgery to start fixing a few of his abdominal organs. They will wait to operate on his spine till they see if and how it affects his walking. That's pretty much all we learned this week, other than the little details like: one of his hobbies when no one is looking is to tug at his IVs and pull out his NG tube (the tube they feed him with that goes from his nose to his tummy).  Also, Mr. Boy is a pretty chill kid until right before its time to feed him...maybe he's like his Daddy? :) You decide:                            

                                   David                                                 Mr. Boy

There is a bit of an age difference but you get the picture!

Peace on the Roller Coaster

Saturday afternoon they put the IV back in Mr. Boy in order to give him supplemental nutrition because they think he may have a short intestines and thus not absorb all the nutrition he needs. They also used the IV to give him some more powerful antibiotics. Yesterday Morning before church we called the hospital to check in on Mr. Boy and his lab results, his weight was up and his temperature was down. They no longer thought he had an infection, but decided to treat him like he had one with antibiotics just in case. That of course excited us. Then while we were in church, David received a call from the nurse asking if they could give Mr. Boy a blood transfusion. Apparently they are very common with premie babies simply because the nurses are taking blood from them often and when babies are that little, they do not usually produce more red blood cells very well (since they should be still getting them from their mom through the umbilical cord). It wasn't a big deal according to the nurses, but "blood transfusion" sounds so intense and thus scared us a little. Then this morning we got a call from the Dr. asking if they could take Mr. Boy into surgery in 20 minutes to put a more intense IV in under the skin which would come out on his chest and be able to stay for months. We were confused and scared and felt so bad for our little son.  The operation went fine and now he has a more secure IV.

It was so nice when everything was going well with Mr. Boy s health and then this weekend we had our first series of scares and were flooded with all sorts of fears. We talked about how this is going to be a looooong year or so if we let our emotions run all over the place with every up and down on this NICU roller coaster. Mr. Boy is going to have good days and bad days but our hope has to be in Jesus, not the doctors or the nurses or else we will be emotionally drained every day. We gave Mr. Boy to the Lord and laid him on the altar before Him, so he is in His loving hands. We do not have to worry during the bad days because Mr. Boy has a loving Father in heaven watching over Him and doing what's best for him and ultimately for God's kingdom and glory. God has a plan with all this so we needn't worry.

No Hope But Him

Last night while I was sitting in the Firehouse prayer room listening to the worship team sing the line, "All my hope is in you," Distressed, I thought, "Lord...outside of you, I have no hope right now. I am hopeless without you and helpless before you." I then thought back to how I held Mr. Boy skin-to-skin for the first time yesterday and how his little life was so helpless and precious in my arms.  I then saw an image of myself cradled on the Lord's chest, helpless in His arms yet so warm, cozy and safe and then I heard the words, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." With an overwhelming peace I thought that maybe David and I are exactly where we are supposed to be, and the best place to be: hopeless without Him and helpless before Him but resting in His arms and trusting Him as our loving Father. 

The "skin to skin" time is also called "kangaroo time".  It is suppose to be one of the best things for Mr.Boy's development. How cool is that. :)

Miracles...

Despite the fact that Mr. Boy was born 11 weeks early he is doing awesome!!  It seems like everyday he is overcoming certain areas that the doctors and surgeons said were areas of concern.

1. One of the biggest concerns with his early arrival was his lungs.  Many times premature babies have under-developed lungs and require some sort of aid or supplemental oxygen.  Mr. Boy, on the other hand is breathing room oxygen all by his self.  This also allows us to hold him :)
2. After viewing MRI scans of Mr. Boy before birth we were told because of his condition, he would probably not eat food (breast milk) for quite a long time.  He would be hooked up to an IV that would give him all the nutrition he would need.  The doctors were not sure the digestive tract was all connected together.  Mr Boy has already begun his path to breast feeding.  He has a feeding tube where he is getting a small amount of breast milk every three hours.  He is taking the food and the food is coming out the other end:)  The hope is to breast feed when he gets to his "34th" week (4 weeks from now).
3. Some premature babies have an open ductus in their heart.  After Mr. Boy's birth, a test confirmed that his ductus is open.  This is not fatal and in some cases it closes within the first week of life.  However, if the ductus doesn't close, medicine can help to close it and sometimes surgery is needed.  He is showing no signs of his ductus being open and the staff believes it has closed on its own. 
4. Mr. Boy knows his mother! Mom will speak and many times he will move his head toward her and open his eyes.
5. Our last ultrasound occurred 3 days before Mr. Boy s arrival, it showed his weight was 2 pounds 15 ounces.  Upon his arrival, Mr. Boy weighed 4 whopping pounds!!  He is still small but he is big for being only 29 weeks:)

We know we serve an awesome God!!  We know He hears our prayers and delights in them.  We give the glory and the credit to God for we know his hand is over little Mr. Boy.  Thank you for your prayers.

The IV in his head is totally normal......it's actually the best place to put them.