Farmer John

Here are the photos of our littler farmer, he sure looked precious (but he always does, doesn't he). As you may notice he has grown rather rapidly in the past week and apparently his legs are a bit shorter than Kits however his torso is longer (note the hairholders holding his suspenders up, yes I know hairholders fix everything).

As for an update for today...this morning all was well, we were told yesterday that his hematocrit numbers were still low and were to be retested last night. If the number was 25 or lower he would be getting a blood transfusion today (normal is 40 in preemies), ours tested 26.5. Our nurse stated that many times in preemies when they're right on the line, once they receive a transfusion they perk up and do so much better with things like their breathing, etc. The nurse practitioner, Jeanne stated that his heartrates have been rather high which leads her to believe he's having to work too hard to get his blood flowing all over so a blood transfusion is inevitable at this point.

This afternoon before heading to lunch Jeanne called my cell phone (telephone calls from the nurse practitioner or physician are usually not something you want to receive). Jeanne stated after reviewing his chart that he will be receiving another blood transfusion today (actually he's probably receiving it right now and we're just praying they were able to put the IV in his hand and not in his head), and they will be discontinuing his iron injections (to help the hematocrit production) for at least a week, she was also writing orders to discontinue his oxygen as she believes he's able to do without it, and they will be giving him a lasik following his blood transfusion to help him get rid of any additional water he may be carrying.

Then came the news we were unprepared for...

Jeanne stated that his CBC (complete blood count) from this morning showed that he had a viral infection (which of course is the kind that they are unable to treat with antibiotics, we just have to watch it run its course, which will hopefully be very swift). She stated she wasn't super concerned with it right now and it could very possibly be in conjunction with the eye infection that he has had recently. This however is not something they will be taking lightly, he will be monitored more closely and will have more blood tests done tomorrow.

I know this isn't the end of the world, and this has been a great day however it's hard to hear when he's appearing to do so well that he has an infection which in the NICU is a major setback. This type of infection is something that a term baby would be able to handle very easily however with underdeveloped lungs and systems in general it will be more of a struggle for us.

Please be praying for all these changes for our little boy (the lungs with them taking his oxygen away, the additional blood transfusion (and the possible infection that could come from the IV site), his retaining water and his poor little body fighting this infection. These will be harder days ahead of us as we've not experienced an infection at this time.

Thanks for taking the time to share in this journey with us, we love you guys and thank the Lord for you...

All our love.

Leaning on the Lifegiver-

Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers