They keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing

and he's handling everything so well so far.

Last night before Travis' kangaroo time we weighed him but first we had to clean up another blow out (64 grams to be exact) and clean up everything, another new isolette and bed...

He weighed in at 4lbs. 2.4 oz (minus the blowout) and is doing so great. They changed his oxygen to 2 liters yesterday and he's holding his own as they're reducing the percentage and received order this morning to try weaning him off of it as much as he will tolerate.

He did great kangarooing with Travis last night and Dana couldn't believe how awake and alert he was the entire time. Travis probably held him at least an hour and a half, maybe even close to two hours so that was awesome!

This morning (with Travis' permission :)) I slept in a bit and didn't attend his 8am feeding as I was exhausted (and we received word at Ronald McDonald last night one of the mom's we ate dinner with the night before has shingles) and we don't want to be getting sick but it was so amazing because I got over here before 11 am and Mara (the speech therapist) was at his bedside talking to Ginny, his nurse. I wasn't sure what they were doing with Tenny but when I got in there they explained they were going to try and feed him his first bottle. Keep in mind they don't develop their suck, swallow and breathe reflex until 34 weeks so we were not expecting this at all however Mara explained the insurance companies are pushing them to start them at 32 weeks because generally once kids can bottle feed, they are able to go home much more quickly.

I was a little precarious at first as we've just started getting the hang of the pacifier however said I'd try it (I would have been mad if they'd bottle fed him without me and am really sad Travis missed it). We tried it and he liked the taste but didn't know what to do so needless to say, we didn't do much sucking and even less swallowing however we kept breathing (praise the Lord) so Mara said we'd try it in another week.

She said however he was doing a great job with his mouth positioning so she wrote orders for us to do non-nutrative nursing (sorry guys) which basically means after I pump twice a day he can suck as he's being fed to try associating the two. Then following that we/I will be kangarooing him as long as he will tolerate. They asked that we try and not do kangarooing back to back so basically I will do non-nutrative at 5am and 5pm and kangaroo at 11am and Travis will kangaroo at 11pm so pray for us as we're stoked but also will be exhausted.

We tried the non-nutrative today and he did well for a few sucks but then was rather exhausted, considering he's never had to work for his food before. But after a bit we started kangarooing and we kangarooed for two hours and fifteen minutes, it was amazing. Definately the highlight of this mom's day.

His test results all came back this morning within the normal limits and they're expecting another feeding increase today however haven't received those orders at this time. Otherwise, we're doing great, just hanging in there, sleeping and growing...can't beat that.

The Father has sure blessed us beyond what we ever could have imagined...Tennyson is our little miracle from Him, the Lord's using him so as he's a miracle to the physicians and nurses as they and other parents can't believe he's doing so well. It truly has been an amazing witnessing tool and to know so many of the nurses and Dr. Porte are praying over this guy as well as each of you is mind blowing to us. We're so thankful and indebted to all of you for the time and the encouragement you are to us, we pray someday (though under different circumstances) we can be a Barnabas to you. Thanks for being ours...

Embraced by the Everlasting-
Travis, Lindsay and Tennyson Myers