PTL

I am not sure where to start with all of Will's news. But we'll start back at Tuesday.

When I arrived at the hospital, the team was just rounding on Will. It's unusual for them to be so late but I guess there were a lot of decisions to be made about the babies they were seeing. They asked me how I felt about moving Will to a crib and I just took a full 10 seconds to stare and blink. I said it would be okay but I asked if they put some sort of netting over him (sort of joking but sort of hoping). Apparently they took it for a joke, laughed, and said no, they didn't put any netting over babies in cribs. After being so protected in the Isolette, it seemed scary to just plop him in a crib exposed to the world. I guess if I am honest I would be happy to bring the Isolette home and keep him in there until he's 10 pounds!

Anyway, he moved to the crib Tuesday night. He kept his temperature up by himself although with a onesie, shirt and pants, two receiving blankets, a fleece blanket and a hat, I don't think he had much of a chance to be cold. The night nurse was a little overly aggressive in keeping Will warm!
His nursing has gotten better. He took 22 cc on Tuesday afternoon but hasn't had as much success since then. His average is about 12 cc. Because oral feeding is the only issue keeping him in the NICU, he will start getting a bottle tonight at 9pm. If he takes off with a bottle and can eat 45 cc that way, he may be able to come home on Monday. This is both amazing and terrifying. I feel like I've never had an infant at home before and have been wandering around my house trying to decide where to put things.

Also on Tuesday, Will was snuggled by his Thomas grandparents. Andrew's step-mom Lyn and his dad Dave were visiting Will when I came back for his 9pm feeding. It was perfect timing for them to hold him for the first time. As one can imagine, there were tears! Lyn kept saying, "I've waited to so long to hold you. You are so loved." It was so precious! Grandpa Dave oohed and ahhed but he's going to wait until Will is home to really snuggle him.
Will had his circumcision this morning and is doing fine. He just whimpered a little and is resting now. He'll have Tylenol for the rest of the day to keep him comfortable.

Finally, Will's ultrasound will happen on Friday. They are doing it a couple of days early so that if he really takes off with the bottle, he can go home on Monday. As I've said before, this ultrasound is something that is difficult not to fear.

The list for prayers seems to be longer than normal but it all fits nicely into the 25-minute drive back and forth to the hospital. We are praying for Will's ultrasound: that the brightness around the triangles in his brain would be gone, that Andrew and I would not fear but rest in God's perfect peace and that we would get a good report from the doctor about Will's prognosis for development. We are also praying for his oral feeding. Ideally he would be nursing exclusively but he is still very immature and he may have to be on bottles. Either way, our prayer is that he would be able to take enough orally that he would be able to come home on Monday.

As always, we pray for protection from infection (in his bowels) and now after his circumcision. Additionally we are praying for his temperature to remain steady and for his heart rate to be stable. Putting all of the pieces together for temperature maintenance, oral feeding and heart rate stability can be too much for some babies so we are waiting with baited breath this weekend to see that it all comes together. Finally, our prayer for Libby is that she would take to this transition well. Having Will home is going to be a lot of work because of the additional feeding needs he'll have. Please pray that Andrew and I would have the wisdom in taking care of both of our children.

Andrew's mom arrives from Alabama on Monday. We are so thankful she'll be here for the week and are hoping Will gets home while she's here. She worked at Children's Hospital for years when she lived in Ohio and is a pediatric nurse practitioner. We couldn't ask for help with both kids.