Face of God

Hollie McDowell (a constant encouragement to us) who has experience having preemies of her own sent me this yesterday or the day before as a reminder of how Good God is...

Psalm 34: 1-8 (The Message)

I bless God every chance I get; my lungs expand with his praise. I live and breathe God; if things aren't going well, hear this and be happy: Join me in spreading the news; together let's get the word out. God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears. Look at him; give him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from him. When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot. God's angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray. Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see— how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.

There haven't been many changes in the past day...last night I got to hold (not kangaroo as evenings are Travis' kangaroo time) him for about half an hour as Travis was at praise team practice during his 8pm feeding and it was wonderful. Travis got back to the hospital around 10 and had his kangaroo time then, which is so precious.

Tennyson had quite a day getting those bowels cleaned out and wore four new outfits total during the day, I think he was just trying to see which ones fit the best. The precious outfit he's wearing in the pictures we put on him last night however he's so long that he won't be wearing it much longer I'm rather certain.

He's growing like a weed and weighing in at 3 lbs. 12.3 ounces at this time. Dr. Porte came in and visited with me last night. He said Tennyson's doing so great, his progress is much better than Dr. Porte expected (he is a miracle of the Lord for sure) however cautioned again how important this first month is and reminded me that our chances of infection are around 30% considering he was so early so please continue praying for that. With the dissention in his bowels showing on the X-ray yesterday (meaning they were full), Dr. Porte cautioned us around his concern for Tennyson acquiring NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis, an intestinal infection unique to preemies, the nurses have warned us that NEC usually appears with no signs or symptoms. Once you realize there is a symptom NEC has already taken over their little intestines so please keep this in your prayers specifically).

Otherwise he's doing so much better with his reflux (thanks for all the prayers, God is really using each of you to bless us beyond words, we are forever indebted to you for your generosity in this), he didn't have many if any desats yesterday. We were able to maintain pretty much our typical 95-100% range. Yesterday he was on 30% Oxygen however today he's maintaining at 25% and they increased his feedings again (don't ask me why) to 30ML/2hr. Don't get me wrong he's still struggling greatly with reflux and has episodes of spit up, burping and horrible pain (you can tell by his squirming and the look on his little face) however his body apparently is better able to tolerate them at this point. Please continue to pray that this will get better as seeing his precious face in pain is enough to break your heart, it sure does mine.

His CBC came back yesterday good, the only numbers that were low were his hematocrit and hemoglobin however they're riding right on the line and he isn't showing any signs of distress so they're going to try and hold off and see if he can't regenerate these on his own. If not we will be having another blood transfusion which isn't the end of the world, just another risk for infection.

Anyways all in all we're doing rather well (Trav and I are exhausted but otherwise all is well). Tennyson seems to be thriving and the nurses can't believe how big he's getting between their shifts. He had Jenny last night who is one of our favorites and she got to bathe him twice, he is so spoiled.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as he's a tough little guy (gets that from his daddy) and praise the Lord got his daddy's immune system, along with everything else honestly but continue lifting him (and us) up as he's doing great but there is still a long road ahead of him.

Thanks again for all the love, prayers and generosity of time and finances, we've been blessed beyond words by each of you.

Clinging to the Carpenter-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers