Sorry we haven't updated in a while... it's been CRAZY.
Remember when I said Josiah was a really chilled out, mellow kid? Yeah. Not so much anymore. Maybe that was just residual morphine working out of his system??? He fussed and cried all night long, and much of today. (Check out the video to hear his wailing...)
Healthwise though things are good. I think they are going to try to work on the oxygen thing tomorrow... see if they can start to wean him off of it.
He's feeding pretty good. They have increased his feeds dramatically. (Nearly doubled it today.) So even though this has meant we've had to use the feeding tube MORE to get his milk in, he's actually taking more by mouth, so that's encouraging. They are training us to use the NG tube for home use. (This is a tube that goes through his nose down into his stomach.) I had to insert one today with the nurse supervising. That was NOT the best part of my day.
I didn't get it on the first try and made him bleed-- that was no fun. But the second try worked well and now I feel more confident that I can do it. Nick has to prove he can do it too before they will send him home with it in. I don't actually mind using the tube for feeds and medicine-- I am just not looking forward to having to put it in. (They can stay in for 5 days at a time though-- if he doesn't pull it out that is-- so I shouldn't have to do it too many times.)
Today we have been trying to take it very easy. We haven't had any visitors and have tried to rest since we didn't really sleep last night. Nick went home for a few hours to rest and do some laundry and I was able to rest(ish) here.
Let's see what else can I tell you? Oh, Nick and I left the hospital yesterday together for about 2 hours and went to the mall. That was really nice. Nick's parents came to stay with the baby. It was weird to be walking around the mall and just see "normal" life happening. I can't really explain what I am talking about -- but I guess after being at the hospital for the past week has just changed our view of "reality" so much.
Nia's coming home to us on Tuesday. We miss her a lot. We are hoping Josiah will be let out very soon and that we can all be back together again. Poor girl has been a trooper through all of this. She's had to just kind of go with the flow and she really has. Thanks Ken + Bev, Deena, Mom + Dad, Gretchen + Jon... I don't know WHAT we would have done without you guys helping us with her.
Today Nick and I have been trying to just examine how our lives have changed because of this, and try to predict ways our lives will be changed in the future. This is definitely the scariest time in our lives thus far. And we've had no choice but to trust that God somehow has the best for us in all of this. We don't really understand all the "whys", but we are starting to see purpose behind some of this. I hope that we sometime get the chance to tell you more about that... but right now I have to go.. You'd think we have nothing to do but sit around all day, but we are actually busy most of the time with the doctors and nurses and lab techs coming in ALL THE TIME. It's always time for another blood draw, medication dose, feeding, pumping, speech or OT coming to observe him eating, changing a poopy diaper, changing his dressing... etc... there's just always something going on.
Okay, I got to go now... I WILL post more tomorrow.
Love you...
-Gwenn
