We just keep growing...and growing...and growing

Hey guys - sorry I didn't get an update poasted yesterday, it was a crazy day.

On Sunday...Travis and I came over for the 8am kangaroo time and it was wonderful. He was awake for a bit but not like when he's with his daddy at 8pm. After his kangaroo time we headed out to our house in Oronogo and dropped off some things before heading to Christ's Church of Oronogo for the 11:15 service. It was wonderful, a great time of focusing on the Lord and all that He is doing in our lives, trusting He will continue to use this little boy in ways beyond what we can even imagine.

After church we had lunch at the Bond's with Mark, Rachel, Ruthy, Moriah and Javan, it was a great time of fellowship and the food was great! After lunch though Travis really wanted a nap and to watch the Nextel race, the slave driver I am made him help me on Tennyson's bedroom. At our house Tenny's room was kinda the catchall, it was full of books, DVDs, CDs, the sewing machine, games, etc. It was all so crazy that we got it organized the Saturday before I had Tennyson however we hadn't got it put away yet. We managed to get the books all put away which was the vast majority of the stuff (15 boxes worth actually) so that was a huge plus and we're thinking about finishing things up Thursday night and this weekend so that Tyann will be able to paint it when she gets a chance.

Alright enough about us, how's that little boy doing...we found out yesterday his weight had improved again to 3lbs. 7.7 ounces which is so great and they ran some additional blood tests. The most tramatic thing that we experienced was they moved Tennyson from his nice dark, quiet room in the back to the first room inside the NICU door as they were expecting many new babies last night and today. The new room houses four babies instead of two (one rather noisy little girl) and the lights are constantly on which is all a bit of a culture shock to our poor little boy. We are the smallest baby in the first three rooms but he's doing so well they thought he could tolerate it alright. I think this first week he will be exhausted because of all the noise and light but once we get over this hump we'll be alright. Travis and I were rather unhappy when we found out about the move because Dr. Porte told us he didn't want us moved under any circumstances however with them receiving so many new ones there was nothing they could do, we're in the first room because it had an opening.

As for this morning WE'RE OFFICIALLY TWO WEEKS OLD...

I had kangaroo time with Tennyson again and he was awake a bit more not because he was with his mama but because there was lots of noise however he did wonderfully. He's still on 3 liters of O2 but he's running his sats at between 98 and 100 so the nurse thought they would turn that down later today. He's being fed every three hours 21 ML/2HR and they have again decreased his TPN to 3.0 (don't ask me what that means).

His weight when we got there this morning was 3 lbs. 9.4 ounces (we completely skipped 3 lbs. 8 oz.) and he was 16 7/8 in long which means we gained over an entire ounce and shrank an eighth of an inch, go figure. His blood gas tests came back good and his white blood cell count raised from 6.3 to 12.2 which is awesome (19.5 is the maximum). We can't believe how good God is to us because just yesterday Travis and I were giving Tennyson a pep talk about getting those WBCs up to 12 which is double what they were so we were elated when God answered that prayer and didn't just answer that it increased but answered it with exactly what we were telling Tennyson we wanted them at. It was hilarious (anyone who says God has no sense of humor doesn't know Him very well or hasn't known Him long).

Continue praying for the hematoma on his head (it hasn't changed shape or texture, it's still 2cm x 3cm and really soft, they will do another head ultrasound at 20 days so either this coming weekend or first of next week), pray that his lungs continue to develop as he's being allowed to breathe more and more on his own, his digestive tract will continue development (his feeds keep increasing and he's had no residual or acid reflux to speak of at this point but they will continue increasing and we don't want to experience those setbacks. Most premature infants have to be fed slowly because of the risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), an intestinal infection unique to preemies, it is a bacteria that gets into the digestive tract of preemies and just really wreaks havoc on them, it's one that they're more seriously concerned about), his white blood cell counts will continue to maintain and rise, that infection will stay away as he's doing so well, for his eyes and ears as being on the O2 which is believed to aid in the development of ROP (a serious complication called retinopathy of prematurity, which is abnormal growth of the blood vessels in an infant's eye.) so pray this will not be something that Tennyson encounters.

Travis, Tennyson and I are so blessed that each of you join us on this journey. Thank you for your prayers, for your time and for your generosity. We couldn't make it through this without you. Continue lifting this little boy up to the Lord as He is carrying Him through this and we know He's got His healing hand upon Tennyson. Love you guys.

In the Grip of His Grace-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers