This week...

Our Christmas Tree and Tenny in his precious outfits.

Alright, Tuesday started off with us heading to Neosho to see Dr. Holmes. After Tennyson was weighed, measured and checked all over Dr. Holmes stated he looked perfect, which of course we already knew. He is scheduled for a follow up with Dr. Holmes on Dec. 21 and will receive his next hep B shot along with his two month immunizations (maybe I can talk dad into taking that appointment).

Tennyson has been spitting up quite a bit, almost back to where we were before we got the prevacid so Dr. Holmes increased his dosage to 2ML/day and if that doesn't work we will try something else next month. Dr. Holmes did comment on Tennyson being very active and not one you'll be able to take your eye off of. Hope the attached video shows that well though he does tend to wear himself out at times.

From there we headed back home and got lunch ready and then headed back out to see Dr. Jordan. Dr. Jordan examined his eyes and stated he's still showing the ROP however it isn't any worse than it was last week so that's a good sign. That it's not continually progressing is good. We will see him again Dec. 11, our due date.

From there we had about an hour and a half before we had to pick Travis up from work (the water pump in the truck is out so we're using the Pacifica for our transportation) and by the time we would drive home, we would have to turn right around and head back that direction so I had brought a bunch of extra blankets because I thought this may happen so Tennyson and I hung out in the car cuddled up until he got off work. It was really a great time to nap (praise the Lord for tinted windows, no one even saw us).

Rachel Bond brought over dinner for us, we had vegetable soup and croissants and cookies, it was wonderful and really hit the spot. God sure has blessed us with wonderful friends.

Wednesday, Tennyson and I spent the day catching up on sleep, he sleeps so well during the day and since I was apparently exhausted (Travis said Tuesday night I slept through Tennyson's cries so he got up and fed him, isn't my husband wonderful). We basically napped off and on all day. I was a bit nervous last night that he wouldn't be able to sleep however after his bath we were only up three or four times, it was great. I have noticed however that he's starting to fight sleep, if you're not holding him you have to be sure he's really out or he will wake himself back up and cry and cry because he doesn't want to go to sleep. Isn't it amazing how as children we fight sleep because we don't want to miss a thing and as adults we crave sleep because we never get enough??

Travis and I were visiting this morning before he headed to work and decided it's a good thing we don't rely heavily on the oxygen because when we woke up this morning Tennyson had it down on his top lip. I can't imagine how much oxygen we've pumped into our home without it actually going anywhere, you know? He doesn't really like to wear his cannula, I can't say that I blame him.

This morning the home health nurse came for a visit and we weighed in at 7lbs. 1 ounce. I can hardly believe it, he's doing so well. She did a full exam and said he still looked great.

I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to visit this blog, my apologies that I haven't been keeping up with it as well since he came home. I am hoping we will establish a routine and then I will be able to. However each time I think I've got a routine figured out, Tennyson goes and changes it. I knew I never should have asked the Lord to teach me patience. :)

Love you all, but I have to run, Tenny's waking up.

Amazed by the Almighty-

Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Funnies from our precious one...

I just have to tell this, it was so hilarious. If it hadn't been the middle of the night I am sure I would have gotten a picture. As you all know from the pictures Tennyson is on oxygen which daily following his bath we have to tape to his cheeks to ensure it remains in his nose. We usually double reinforce it during the night however haven't had any problems with it thus far. Saturday night however he was making some noise in his cradle so I walked over to it and he had not only gotten the tape loose and pulled the cannula away from the piece at the back that holds it snuggly into place but he had wiggled the cannula down his body and had his arms hanging through it. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen and since we weren't having any episodes makes me wonder how much he's needing the oxygen, but that's another story for another day.

This has been a great weekend, everyone but my sisters and Trudy (who's traveling the world) were able to come down and see Tennyson, it was great. We had such great food, and so much fun together. No one can believe how big he's getting, don't get me wrong, we're still too small for most of our newborn clothing but compared to where we started, we're huge. Double our size actually. He's really filled out as well as I'm sure you can see by the pictures which makes a huge difference.

Last night was another long one as he woke up every hour, almost exactly on the hour and just wanted to play, we're definately going to start doing baths before bed because once those are done and he's ate, he's usually out a good three hours. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. We'd had two good nights in a row so I guess I was like, we're over this hump, little did I know.

Then this morning the home health nurse came by a bit after eight and I had to wake him up, it was the first time since midnight he hadn't woken up on the hour, of course, of course.

He weighed in at 6lbs. 12.5 ounces so he's growing like a weed. She turned his oxygen off so we could monitor how much he's relying on it. In the NICU he needed it primarily during feedings however this morning since I had woken him up he was throwing a fit needing to eat about 8:20 so I fed him without his Os and the lowest we dropped was 95%. She turned him down to 75ccs from 100 and stated if he continues this well then next week, they will turn him down to 50ccs with holidays. Holidays are a few hour stretches where he doesn't have to wear it, she said we would probably start with 3-4 hours and see how he handles that.

So all the news from that front is good, we then tried to take a nap however everytime I would get laid down Tenny would cry until I would reposition him. He would then fall back to sleep until I tried to lay down, it was a vicious game so I decided to do laundry instead. When he woke up I bathed him, changed his leads, fed him and he's sleeping soundly now. He is wearing a very precious outfit so I am hoping to get some good pictures of him later today along with the finished Christmas tree and will post them when I have them.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and the Lord refreshed you in ways you couldn't imagine, He sure did me. Worship at CCO was so great, and the message was on "Whatever Happened to Gratitude??" Chad Ragsdale did a great job. The Lord really is blessing us beyond what we could have ever imagined.

When discussing Tennyson's age we were told to go by his adjusted age, so currently we're -3 weeks, isn't that hilarious, but in all actuality he's been with us 9 weeks today.

Know we love you all more than we can say and once I get the perfect picture I will get his birth announcements out.

Made for these Moments-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

A Beautiful Baby, a good night and our Christmas Tree...

We had another good night last night and after a bath this morning he has slept the last four hours though he's stirring now. We have spent part of last night and this morning getting our Christmas tree put up (there will be pictures once it's perfected). I have included some pictures from being home and just hanging out this past week.

Know you all are loved so very much and we're so thankful for each of you. We couldn't have made it this far, nor could we continue on without you. God has blessed us beyond words with you being in our lives. Thank you for allowing Him to use you for His glory not only in our lives but we pray you will always.

All our love-

Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

So many moments, so little time...

Okay I barely even know where to begin. Monday morning my mom headed back to Union Star and Tyler and Jenny came down. It was great to see them as it had been so long since we'd been with them. We learned two new card games and had a blast. They headed back to St Joseph late Tuesday night and my parents and Ryan came down Wednesday evening, they had Thanksgiving with us, chicken and noodles, it was wonderful and headed back home today. Ted and Connie came down today and everyone is loving on Mr. Tennyson.

He's doing so great, the home health nurses are raving. Monday he weighed 6 lbs. 3 ounces which was a 4 ounce gain after being dismissed and this morning he weighed 6 lbs. 7 ounces so again with a four ounce gain. It's been so great having him here and being able to cuddle with him and watch all his facial expressions and his little quirks.

We decided that the NICU night nurses sure must have spoiled him because last night was the first night we weren't up every hour. The previous nights were so hard to get through as he was up every hour on the hour and just wanted to be held, I think maybe he was used to being held all night :). We tried everything, he has been put in the bouncer, the swing, his cradle, his carseat however the only thing that worked was mom sleeping in a corner on a quilt holding him which I know I'm not supposed to do because of the monitors but I couldn't think of anything else, we'd tried it all. He is however hopefully starting to get this figured out as last night he slept four hours the first stent and then two and two.

He has no problems however sleeping during the day. He'll be up to eat and be changed, cuddle till he's back asleep and then you can put him anywhere but laying flat on the floor and he'll sleep many times his four hours. So we're trying to be patient in this but pray for us, it's sure frustrating in the night when you don't know what to do for him.

We visited with Dr. Jordan, the optamolgist on Wednesday (it was a follow up exam) and he was diagnosed with stage one ROP (Retinopathy of prematurity). "ROP is a potentially blinding eye disorder that primarily affects premature infants weighing about 2¾ pounds (1250 grams) or less that are born before 31 weeks of gestation. The smaller a baby is at birth, the more likely that baby is to develop ROP. This disorder—which usually develops in both eyes—is one of the most common causes of visual loss in childhood and can lead to lifelong vision impairment and blindness."-Quoted from the National Eye Institute.

What this means to us at this time is that we will visit with Dr Jordan weekly to monitor and if we progress to stage three will then have eye surgery to alleviate it before reaching full detatchment and causing blindness. We will visit with him next Tuesday again as well as visiting Dr. Holmes the pediatrician on Tuesday.

With our monitors we have had several apnea episodes, so I am so glad that we have it. They occur almost always while he's sleeping and being held so there is question as to their validity however nonetheless I have to chart them and turn the chart into the pediatrician next week. I will let you know if any changes are made though I doubt they will be as during his home health checks he's been satting 100%.

So for us, that's really all that's happening, I apologize that I haven't updated more frequently and promise I will try to. If we can get our routine down, we'll have no trouble I pray. Know that we love you all and can't wait until June to show off our precious one.

Leaning on the Lifegiver-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

I Don't Want to Miss A Thing...

of course however Tennyson missed everything on his first car ride...

That's right, we're home!!!

Saturday morning while I was working the nurse asked Travis if we wanted to room in that evening. Of course he called me and we discussed it however decided that would be wonderful, I think we were a bit scared and nervous.

When I got off work, we met at Ronald McDonald and cleaned out our room however didn't check out as many times parents are kicked out of their rooms early in the morning and then have no where to go. So we did that, headed over for his 4pm feeding and then grabbed some dinner with mom and unloaded the car at home before heading back at 8 to room in.

We spent the night in the pediatric wing (which in Travis' opinion was heaven), there were two twin beds with the bassinette inbetween and two televisions (we hadn't seen TV in so long) and a kitchen down the hall we were able to use at any time. Each room on the unit has it's own decorating theme and ours was a jungle (pictures will be attached later) so it was neat.

Around 11pm we gave Tennyson a bath and got him dressed to have his picture taken to be posted on Freeman's website (I'll let you know when it's online) however the cute outfit I had picked out was a newborn and you could have put three of him into it. So we resorted to an old standby and had his picture taken in a navy blue pair of sweats and a hoodie. After that we were up a few times but nothing major.

Around 10am we returned him to the NICU to check out of our room at Ronald. After doing this we returned for his noon feeding and Dr. Topper visited with us around his care, how perfect he is, his medications, etc. and dismissed us. Needless to say by 1:30 we were heading home.

We got home and unloaded everything from the car, and ordered pizza (thank goodness Papa John's now delivers) and ate, while admiring Tennyson who was sleeping peacefully in his car seat.

The night went well with his monitor only alarming a few times because one of his leads had gotten loose, otherwise all was well.

This morning around 9:30 Buddy from Health Essentials came by and put in our new buddy, a large oxygen humidifying machine, dropped off five 12 hour tanks and a 42 hour option in case we lose power. He also brought a new kind of lead for us to try that he believes will work better and alarm less.

Then the home health nurse came around 1:30 to check him out and see how things were going. Saturday evening he weighed 5lbs. 15.1 ounces and today he weighed 6lbs. 3 ounces so we must be doing something right. He was satting 100% so the plan of care at this time is to weane him down to 75ccs (from the 100 we're on right now) next week, then 50 ccs the next week, then 25 ccs the following week, then we will only have the oxygen at night for a month or so as he tolerates.

It was great to get a routine started and home health will visit every Monday and Friday. We have an appointment with the eye doctor Wednesday morning and our pediatrician next Tuesday morning. We will find out then if we need to see a pediatric neurologist because apparently on his MRI the radiologist found an artifact on his cortex. They were not testing for this and it was only found in some of the pictures so there is discussion that it may not need to be checked at this time however we will know more after visiting with Dr. Holmes.

So sorry this post is late, I wanted to get the laundry caught up and the house cleaned up today before we get started with everything that will be happening in the next few weeks. Don't worry, I will continue to post and let you know how things are going.

We love you all and thank you for your prayers.

Praising our Father for His Goodness-

Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

An apology for my poor attitude and Praises out the Wazoo

is wazoo really a word anyways??

First a bit of an explanation for yesterday's post...

I was feeding him between four and five Wednesday afternoon and the nurse practitioner came by and said that we would be rooming in Wednesday night and going home Thursday night. I was so excited, we ran home and got the car seat, clothing for him to have his picture taken in, etc. I just couldn’t believe our journey in the NICU had finally come to a close and to boot one of the nurses we love was on duty on Thursday so she would be able to see us off. We were so stoked.

When we came in at 8 to feed him again I peeked in his room and they were bagging him, I just stopped, I couldn’t function. It’s scary when you’re child is bagged however that coupled with the immense disappointment I had when I realized we weren’t going home…just led to immense tears. I cried the entire time I nursed him at 8 and then went back to feed him at midnight.

I just wish they’d never said we would room in Thursday night and go home Friday, it just sorta knocked the wind out of my sails. Apparently they’re finding that he’s desatting with bottle feeds which we haven’t done but twice a day the last little bit because we’ve been nursing and he’s been doing great. So in discussion yesterday with Jeanne (as she's back) it was decided that Tennyson would be put back on oxygen and we would be taking home the oxygen and monitors (which we expected all along).

Now that I've had some time to reflect on the entire situation and to get over the emotions I am so glad we're still in the NICU, had we been at home, the stimulation techniques did not work and we would not have had the oxygen and therefore would not have been able to assist him in that way. That being said we would have had to call 911 and we don't live near an ambulance bay so it is hard to say how much irreprible damage would have been done to our little boy had we gone home. I can't thank the Lord enough that we were still in the NICU and that we will have the oxygen and monitors along with home health visits frequently that first month.

So now for how he's doing...since that episode he's been doing great, they were only putting the oxygen on him for feeds however it's hard when you get them home to only use it in that fashion as it's so upsetting to the little ones to have to tape it on and then take it off, etc. so it's a permanent fixture for us for a while.

So my apologies for having such a poor and emotionally overdriven post yesterday, I was having a rough day but that's not fair to make it sound like my world is ending...it was just crashing down a bit!! :)

He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 12.5 ounces, again an increase (we're almost back to where we were a few days ago) and he hasn't had an episode since he went to the oxygen at 3pm yesterday afternoon.

Travis and I will be receiving our oxygen and monitor training this evening and then we will be waiting until he gets to come home, there is discussion that if he remains episode free it will be sometime next week. What a great Thanksgiving this will be...

Anyways sorry for such a poor attitude yesterday, the emotions at time wear you out, but above all the emotions I am so thankful to the Lord that Tennyson is ours, is perfect and is beautiful.

Thank you for all your prayers and the time you give us, you don't know how much it means to us and how thankful we are for each of you.

Love you all...

Praising our Protector-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Pray for me...

This will be a short post as I have few words...

There were talks of us going home in the near future however we had a horrible desat episode last night that has set us back at this point indefinately as the discussions have ceased. I am so anxious to bring him home though don't want to prematurely however didn't realize I would have all the emotions I do with that one episode.

He is doing great since then and is again oxygen free however he's kind of hovering so I am unsure how much longer that will last. The circumcision site looks great and they're talking of no longer needing vaseline or gauze at noon today it looks so good. He weighed in at 5lbs. 11.9 ounces last night so he's down some but that was expected following the MRI, sedation and circumcision.

Anyways that's all we know. We are clinging to the Father and know we're being lifted up.

All our love-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

How Great is our God...

Tennyson is doing so wonderful, even better than we could have hoped or imagined after last week. In the last twelve hours he's really been worked over but is doing great.

Yesterday morning around 10:15 a.m. they removed him from his oxygen (they do this with every baby because for insurance purposes they have to fail thriving on their own to be allowed to take the equipment - oxygen and monitors - home with them). Needless to say, Tennyson has thrived on his own since then, which was highly unexpected. He has even made it through numerous breast and bottle feedings, so praise the Lord for that.

All day yesterday he was scheduled for an MRI that was pushed back and rescheduled and such. He finally had it around midnight last night so while they sedated him, through the MRI and then the bath he was given while sedated after the MRI he had oxygen on because they were afraid with him being out he would not remember to breathe. Once he was bathed it was taken off and he was fed by bottle so he's doing great. He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 12.7 ounces and growing like a weed.

Early this morning he had his circumcision done. The nurses said Tennyson did great, as did Dr. Holmes. There was no bleeding however as a thank you Tennyson had a blow out as Dr. Holmes did his work, bet he doesn't forget this kid for awhile.

So that brings us up to now, he's doing great, holding his own, the circumcision site is red but otherwise looks great, he ate right after the circumcision for a bit and will be hungry again soon I'm sure. Just wanted to let you all know how great our God is in that He's carrying our little one through all of this. I'm just thankful Tennyson won't be able to remember any of it.

There is mild speculation we'll be heading home in the near future from the nursing staff however Dr. Porte would like us to be 37-371/2 weeks and we were 36 yesterday so we'll see. We're not getting our hopes up because we've heard their speculation before. We will however let you know when we know. We will also post MRI results when we have them.

Again thanks for the prayers, we know we would be nowhere near going home if it weren't for all of you interceding for us. Know you are loved.

Excited in the Everlasting-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Our beautiful baby portion...

An MRI, a fight and our beautiful baby...

First Tennyson has an MRI scheduled for this morning in which he will have to be sedated, so the rest of today he will be rather lathargic, at least we got in one good feeding at 8am. The MRI is to look for clusters in his brain that are indicators of developmental abnormalities. Doesn't mean he won't have any developmental disturbances but if there aren't any its a good indicator. I will post results from that when I have them. They have to sedate the babies for two reasons, one because they need them to lay still and second because it's very noisy in there. Once Tennyson is sedated, they will put ear plugs into his ear canals and wrap his head with ear muff looking things to be sure and not damage his hearing during this procedure.

I bet you're wondering about the fight...have you ever been manipulated and not realized it. I sure have and I hate that. Needless to say I received a call yesterday from Tennyson's case worker (just so you all know if you are ever contacted by a case worker who is contracted by the insurance company to be your babies advocate during their stay and assure you they're receiving the best and proper treatments, beware). She was so nice and wonderful at first calling once or twice a week to see how things are going, yesterday however I felt she was being rather pushy, pumping me for information on Tennyson like she hasn't before though his medical files are right in front of her. I mentioned that to Travis while we were on our way to the hospital as she encouraged me to ask the nurse practitioner if we could room in last night. For those of you who don't know (you're blessed) what rooming in is, it means we stay overnight in a postpartum room with Tennyson, just as we would have had he been full term and take him home the following day. Needless to say, we all know he's not quite ready for that yet.

I was outraged by this and of course it's another thing to worry about, but we discussed it and decided to let it go, she must have been having some mental lapse and confusing us with another patient. Little did we know...when we arrived at the NICU and were scrubbing in Dr. Porte stopped us and mentioned she had contacted him questioning why Tennyson was still here, he felt he needed to defend the reasoning to Travis and I. We were completely aware of why he was still here and knew he wasn't ready to go home, we assured Dr. Porte that we were very pleased with the care Tennyson was receiving and didn't want to be discharged early, which causes readmittance on pediatrics many times.

So by that time I was a bit angrier, then Jeanne, the nurse practitioner came into our room and reviewed with us the same information Dr. Porte just had as the case worker had contacted her as well, wanting her reasoning and rationale. We discussed with Jeanne what I was told by the case worker and all the pieces were falling into place.

They are trying to push our precious baby out of the NICU, sending him home on oxygen (which isn't a problem) but he has so many desat issues still that they don't at this time trust him on portable monitors which is what we would be taking home. We discussed the plan of care with both Dr. Porte and Jeanne and with the MRI today that will at least buy us a few more days however both they and Mara (the speech therapist who I found out today was also contacted) are going to be fighting those battles for us. When the insurance company begins denying our stay which will be soon (possibly today or tomorrow) they will be appealing it as he's not stable enough at this time.

Anyways all that to say, please be praying for us. It's just one more thing to have to deal with and somedays it's hard enough just to get through.

Okay enough about me...Tennyson gained again last night and broke the 5lb. 12 ounce barrier. In the middle of the night feedings he ate 70MLs and 90MLs (OINK, OINK)respectively so I would wager to say there will probably be another gain tonight.

He's looking wonderful and so grown up now, I can't believe he was seven weeks old yesterday and we're 36 weeks gestationally today. Amazing!!

Specific prayer needs for him right now are the MRI and his response to the sedation following the MRI, his circumcision which is scheduled for tomorrow morning, his respiratory systems continued development, allowing him to keep his breathing up while being sedated especially (when he gets really comfortable or into a deep sleep many times we forget to keep breathing), and that infection will stay away.

Sorry this was a tyrade and a tangent I just have to vent about what's happening before I allow it to consume me. Needless to say I won't be so naive the next time.

Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers, we're only making it because the Lord hears our (yours and mine) cries and is lifting us up.

Loved by the Lord-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Okay so the beautiful baby part was to be more photos but blogger is down...I will upload them as soon as I can.

Pictures from 10/30/07

Sorry I've had trouble getting them to upload!!

Best News of All...

The crazy woman that I am forgot to post two of the biggest praises of them all...Tennyson's stool on Saturday night came back negative so apparently we're worked whatever it was through our system. Also they moved him from the liter of oxygen mixed with room air to a low flow cannula which gives him only 100 ccs of force but it's pure oxygen and he seems to tolerate that well. This morning until I left at 12:30 we hadn't had a single desat episode so praise the Lord for doing more than we could have asked or imagined in such a short time.

Love you all-

Proclaiming His Praises-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Flu shots, a blood transfusion and a broken toe

First the weekend...

Ted and Connie (affectionately referred to as Granny and Poppie) came down Friday night to see Mr. Tennyson and brought us a beautiful dresser and cradle that was Tyler's when he was little for Tennyson to sleep in when we get home from Freeman.

I think they were both surprised with how much he'd grown and changed in the last three weeks. He's not much longer but he's sure filling out which is great.

Saturday morning mom (Mary Jo) and Ryan came down to see Mr. Tennyson and Ryan told dad he'd sure grown since he'd last seen him. Dad asked me last night when we were going to bring Tennyson up to see him as he's been harvesting the past few weekends and hasn't been able to get down here.

Saturday afternoon after his feeding and a lunch at the IHOP, the six of us headed to Target...here's my soapbox, take it as you'd like. Just in case you're considering registering for anything at Target here's a word of caution for you. You are allowed two returns per year (which is tracked by your drivers license) so be sure you are sure you have everything you want to return together before you go. This wasn't so bad, I had expected this, however, your return can only equal up to twenty dollars if you do not have the receipt. Mind you at the baby shower we received many gift receipts however there were a few of the gifts that did not have the receipts on them. We were able to contact people who had given us things and got receipts from them and were able to return some of our duplicate items but just be warned.

So anyways off the soapbox now, with the returns and the money that was collected for us by the Stanberry Christian Church (they adopted us for the month of November) we were able to get Tennyson's room completed and purchase necessities like a stoller and carseat. So I think now we're all set and I have to say this little guy and Trav and I are so blessed, more than we ever could have imagined. So we put the room all together, I got all his little blankets, clothing, etc. all washed up, sorted and put away yesterday so now all we're needing is Tennyson..

Anyway, as for the stats, last week we started the nursing portion which is impossible to track in comparison to the bottled version however he was always following with a bottle so we thought all was going well. On Friday night however he had lost an ounce and Saturday night lost .2 ounces which I know doesn't sound like much but to these kids it is...Jeanne the nurse practitioner said if he wasn't able to maintain his own weight or increase his urine output they may have to put his NG tube back in and gavage feed him as maybe he's telling us this is too hard and we're wearing him out.

Sunday we headed to CCO for the 9:45 service which as always was wonderful. Lynn spoke on Whatever happened to...(the series name) INTEGRITY! It was great and very convicting. From there we headed in for Tennyson's 11am feeding, went to lunch with mom and Ryan and picked up some photos for Ryan at Walgreens. They then headed home and Travis and I got to work on some things at the house.

We loaded some boxes and a table we had set out up into the attic, I washed, folded, hung and sorted all of Tennyson's clothing, blankets, bibs, etc. and we loaded up three huge trash sacks of things for Goodwill which we dropped off this morning so things at our house are starting to come together. After we got everything up into the attic, we noticed we forgot Travis' sound system which is sitting behind the couch and in the way...as I was unloading and reloading the washer and dryer I headed to our bedroom where I had sorted Tenny's things on our bed and smashed right into it with the last two toes on my left foot, breaking the one next to the pinky. So that was wonderful...it's still hurting horribly, is deformed and very bruised today but what are you going to do. Hopefully I'll get it straightened back out tonight so I can one day again wear flip flops.

Tennyson did wonderfully with his feeding last night and all through the night with no desats and eating well. He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 11.7 ounces so we gained some last night. They were also concerned this morning as when they ran his CBC last night his hematocrit levels were lower than they want so there's talk of another blood transfusion in the near future but we'll see what happens.

This morning after dropping everything off at Goodwill I headed to Health Essentials as they were giving flu shots there today to get mine (on top of the broken toe) and Travis got his on his lunch break as we were ordered to by Dr. Porte, the neonatologist.

This morning Tennyson nursed at 8 and 11:30 with no bottle follow up and he did great both times so that's another plus.

So all in all, things here are going well...with a few minor mishaps along the way but it wouldn't be life without them.

Other than that is was a wonderful weekend and we're so blessed you're joining us, know that you're loved and appreciated more than we can say.

Our hearts are yours...

Rejoicing in the Risen-
Travis, Lindsay and Tennyson Myers

I will give you all my worship, I will give you all my praise...

You alone I long to worship, you alone are worthy of my praise.
- You are Worthy of My Praise, David Ruis

It has been a whirlwind of a day, I tell you what. Alright first major praises, all his tests have come back negative for infection. There is only one that is a culture that won't be read until Monday as they are trying to see if there's something growing in his intestines, though the nurse practitioner said it's rare there's something there that is undetected in all these other tests.

They have stopped his Iron and Vitamins and the human milk fortifier that was in his milk to try and alleviate any possible aggervations. So at this point the only foreign substance in his little body is the prevacid which is necessary to keep from desatting during refluxing. The nurses can't believe how drastically reduced his number of episodes are since he's received his second dosage of Prevacid.

At this point the nurse practitioner is elated and they are thinking it must be a stomach aggervation (which apparently we all have from time to time) with everything he's been encountering lately, he is being monitored closely and all his stools are being tested for blood. A proud moment for daddy though was a little after midnight last night we broke our record, we had a 75 gram blowout!!!

So anyways his plan of care right now is for them to continually watch him very closely, he does better with his sats while breastfeeding than when taking a feeding from a bottle so we've been instructed to breastfeed every feeding, which is a 8, 12, and 4 (thanks Hollie for making me think to ask about that). Breastfeeding is more work for Tennyson, but he's better able to regulate the flow and therefore is better able to remember to pause for breathing.

He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 12.6 ounces which was a small gain but a gain nonetheless. It was a very important gain because yesterday was the first day they allowed him to determine when and how much to eat. He was moved from an every three hour schedule to a schedule of every three-four hours as he determines. So it was great that there was a gain as if there hadn't been we would have to create a new plan of care and it would prolong our stay.

At this time they're hinting at the possibility of going home late next week still, we will be working on weaning him off the oxygen next week however he will probably for sure need it during feeds. If he goes home with oxygen he also goes home with monitors so we will have home health visits three days a week once we're home if we take those with us. Travis and I would love to not have them but if we do, it's not a big deal to us. He's doing so great, we wouldn't really see that as a setback as our caseworker (through our insurance company) said most preemies that take oxygen home with them tend to lose it faster when they're home than they do in the NICU because of the decreased stimuli they experience.

I think the plan of care for mommy and daddy is much more strenuous as now there's kind of a deadline on getting that room put back together, mom destroyed it after the baby shower, which we will be doing this weekend. We will also be purchasing a car seat, which is the one thing required to take them home.

Anyways all praises to our GOD and King for again blessing us more than we could have hoped for or imagined. Know that we are just basking in His presence during all of this, awed by how He humbles us and lifts us up in all things. Connie and I were talking this morning about how now that Tennyson is doing so well, God is giving us subtle reminders to not think we can do this on our own and forget how much He's done in this since Tennyson is doing so much better. I pray Travis and I never see a day we forget to pause and thank the Lord for this experience, I can testify I would not have the relationship with Him I do now had it not been for these last seven weeks and the weeks to continue.

All our love to all of you, please continue praying for our little one. Thanks for all you've done so far.

Known by the King-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Frustration and Waiting...

Okay so apparently our nurse sent his specimen in the diaper and it needs to be in a cup so the lab couldn't process it. I asked her what she did with his second diaper and she said she threw it away as she thought she had sent the specimen. So we are again waiting for Mr. Tennyson to do his business so I won't be posting results soon I'd say.

Pray I don't lose my head.

They say it better than I can...

"Praise You In This Storm" - Casting Crowns

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

Homeward Bound, or so we thought...

Tennyson is doing great, really. He's weighing in at 5 lbs. 12.2. ounces and seems to be growing like a weed. Last night when I went in for his 5pm feeding, one of the day nurses stated, "I don't work again until Tuesday, and you'll be home before then"...I was like I doubt it, maybe next weekend or something. Jeanne the nurse practitioner was there and said, "next weekend is a long time." I said, "not really"...she said, "I'd be surprised if you're not home by this time next week, unless there's a setback or he has some major episodes."

So needless to say I was elated (we both were but Travis got so sick yesterday he was sleeping at Ronald from noon-the whole night with a fever, however he's feeling a bit better now). Jeanne stated the changes they made for Mr. Tennyson were quite a few, he was put on Prevacid, given Iron with Vitamins (which will both go home with us) and he can nurse once a shift. I said, "I was told last week that he wouldn't be strong enough to nurse for quite a while." She said, "I don't know who told you that but he's a big boy, let him show us whether he can do it or not." So again I was elated...

Huge praises that Tennyson did great with the nursing at 8pm and then they follow with a bottle of which he took 27 ounces (he's been eating around 50-60MLs so that was pretty good for the first time). After I left there, I headed out to Oronogo to put the trash out as it's been there for seven weeks now and pretty ripe...it was already out when I got there so I am assuming the Bonds' took care of that, thanks guys.

So anyways I had some things to leave at the house as I cleaned out everything unnecessary from the Ronald house because we were talking about going home and that only made logical sense to me so I went ahead and unloaded it and played briefly with the puppies.

I guess you can probably tell by the title that things have changed since then a bit. On my way back to Joplin from Oronogo I got a phone call from Jeanne, the nurse practitioner. She said he'd had a diaper that was suspicious looking so they tested it and it came back positive for blood. They ran stat labs and a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed air all over in his stomach and his bowels were distended however he'd just ate so that wasn't so alarming but they are watching it closely. Also the CBC came back within normal ranges and the CRP (which shows if infection is present) came back negative. This kid is like the poop master (with 8 dirty ones yesterday) and they waited all night last night for another dirty one to send to the lab to test for C.Diff, rotovirus (in both of these cases Tennyson will have to be isolated and will receive nutrition only through IV meaning his vitamins and minerals but no food, they say it usually lasts between 7-14 days) and lactose intolerance (meaning we would have to switch to soy formula).

There is apparently something about me, because we nursed this morning around 8am and then he had two right in a row. So we're currently awaiting the results from the lab, I will post them when I know something.

The nurses and nurse practitioner find it so strange that there was blood in his stool as he's not acting sick or no vitals are showing that he's feeling ill at all. We're praying that his bowels were just irritated with all the diapers yesterday but I will let you know when I do.

Needless to say it was a short and exhausting night, so please pray for Tennyson, that he would be healed from whatever's going on, that his feedings would continue to go well and that his Prevacid would take effect (it doesn't until after it's been in his system 24 hours, so by 6pm tonight). Pray for Travis and I as I was so ready to be going home next week so I'm a bit spent with all the emotions and we're exhausted.

Know that we know the Lord can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine and are trusting Him at His word on this. He knows what's best for our little one and how to care for him better than we do. Thank you for interceeding on our behalf, know that we're indebted to you.

All our love.

Looking to our Lord-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

NUK nipples, who'd a thought...

Tennyson is doing so great, they switched him over to what is referred to as a NUK nipple. Apparently it's a slower flow so he's able to regulate his breathing better with that. Yesterday he did great during his 8am feed, then during 11 and 2 he took the vast majority of the bottle however was gavage fed 7ML and 10MLs.

At the 8pm we got to have some extra fun with him as he was finally given his Synergist vaccine (which is a vaccine given for RSV. It does not prevent RSV however with the vaccine if he gets RSV it will be like a terrible case of the flu however he should be able to tolerate it. Without the vaccine he will end up back in the hospital in peds on a ventilator and we will begin our entire NICU stay over with him having ashtma and respiratory distress for most his childhood years as a result). Needless to say the Synergist is something we've been anxious to see him get, though it's a painful shot. He will have to get another one every 28-30 days, if we miss one or are late on one it makes the entire process nul in void in it's ability to fight RSV. It costs between $1500-$1800/shot depending on your childs weight and we will receive one monthly through May however, praise the Lord since he was so early our insurance company will cover it, had he been a month later at 32 weeks they would not.

After Jenny gave him the shot, we did our first tub bath (and no there are no pictures as I didn't know we were going to be able to do that). Travis and I were in there holding him and Trav was washing his face and I his body (as you can't get soap on his face yet) and the monitor was alarming, so we turned around to grab it each thinking the other still had a hold of him and in the split second we turned around and looked back he was blowing bubbles in the water as part of his mouth was under. We grabbed him up and felt terrible though it didn't seem to bother him much, thank the Lord for Johnson's & Johnson's being so gentle. Many other soaps would have been disasterous to his little belly. Can you believe they're going to send Tennyson home with us??

Anyways after the shower and getting him dressed Travis fed him another bottle and he took the entire thing. He's doing so great with his feedings, and this nipple is really helping him regulate his breathing. It's amazing how one little thing can make sure a difference. Jenny took his 11pm, 2am and 5am feeds and snuggled with him each time, she really loves our little boy as her own, it's precious. You should have seen her trying to talk all the other nurses into giving him the shot as she didn't know if she could cause she didn't want to hurt "her" baby.

So this morning at 8am I was there to feed him, after two diaper changes we were all snuggled in ready to get started and Dr. Jordan walked in. So we let Dr. Jordan examine him which Tennyson didn't enjoy. He wasn't fussy or anything but every time Dr. Jordan would open his eye Tennyson would roll them back into his head, so it took longer than usual. Dr. Jordan said most preemies didn't do that as they weren't so quickly responsive. It was hillarious and frustrating for the Dr. Needless to say there was no sign of ROP (praise the LORD) and on the tear duct issue, his lowest membrane before his nasal duct is closed. He said 90% of them open before 6 months of age which is the amount of time we have to wait anyways because they have to give them a general anesthetic. So we discussed some techniques in which we can encourage the duct to open, but if it hasn't in six months he will have surgery on those ducts.

Also the nurses' are now charting every little change in his oxygen levels as Dr. Topper likes specific documentation before prescribing Zantac or Prevacid to the preemies. Usually if Tennyson self recovers and doesn't set off the alarms then it's not documented because it's not a true desat, anything can cause this, hiccups, bowel movements, any level of reflux, etc. He sometimes has many of these during the feeding due to his reflux so they're probably going to put him on something later today unless he miraculously heals.

This morning he then after the eye exam took 40MLs however got to refluxing horribly and gagging worse than I'd seen so he was gavage fed the other 10, yes they increased his feedings yesterday to 50ML/1/2 hour.

He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 11.2 ounces, so he's looking rather like a full term baby. He's so cute though. Jeanne stated last night that his plan of care now is to do full feedings (every 3 hours if he's alert he receives a bottle, if not they'll gavage it) with him taking at least 75% of his 50 MLs. Once that's attained, they will take him to full feeds, every 3-4 hours where when he wakes if he's hungry he's fed (which will be nice because he can set his own pace and we can start to see how things will be once we're home) and he can eat as much or as little as he likes as long as at the end of the day he's still gaining.

After that they will work on weaning him off the oxygen and taking care of a few other minor things so hopefully if he doesn't have any major episodes, we'll be home in the next few weeks, Thank you Lord.

So all in all, he's had a wonderful 24 hours at this point so maybe we're getting this all figured out.

Thanks for all the prayers and for remembering us. Love you all.

Exalting the Excellent-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see..

we know God did not bring us this far (especially Tennyson) to leave us now, though it seems like lately we're taking one step forward and three steps back...please pray for me to trust Him with all things.

Okay so last night Tennyson desatted again quite a few times and between 11-11 he didn't finish a single bottle. So we were a bit disheartened last night. The nurses have been trying various things with him as some of them think he's still struggling with the reflux issue (as he's 35 weeks gestationally today they can officially start him on Zantac or Prevacid. They are thinking Zantac because it's less invasive but we'll see) or if he's just not pacing (by pacing we mean not pausing to take a breath between sucks) himself. Many think it's a combination of the two. So we started trying to do the pacing for him as they thought he wasn't doing it himself so after every 3-5 sucks we would take the bottle out of his mouth. That worked great until he figured out what was happening (even when they're so young and small, they're so quick to figure things out) and he started latching on harder and then when we would take it his sats would drop.

This morning however Debbie turned him to 28% oxygen up from 21% which we made it back down to last night (along with being turned back down to 1 liter of flow) and he took the entire bottle without a single episode. I kept trying to burp him about every 10 MLs however he would have none of it. During his last stretch I put the bottle back into his mouth and on the first big gulp he let out a huge burp and I thought for sure we were done for however he didn't even drop, I think he knew it was coming.

So all that to say, we're praying he's starting to figure this out and with the help of the Zantac hopefully he will be able to do this more consistently. They also say many times with the acid reflux medication (which isn't typically permanent as many preemies will grow out of it with time) it will help the preemies with their breathing and there will be less need for the oxygen so in my selfishness we're praying for that as well.

Tomorrow morning sometime Tennyson will be evaluated by Dr. E.L. Jordan an optamologist here in Joplin who volunteers his Wednesday mornings to evaluate the preemies for ROP. So Tennyson will have that done. The nurses aren't sure if Dr. Jordan will also do the evaluation for his tear ducts as they're still really oozing and matting his eyes closed as it's been so long since they've seen a case like this they can't remember if he does them. If he doesn't we will have to see a specialist in Springfield and probably have some surgical work done on his ducts as they're not improving with the measures that have been taken. All that to say please pray for his test(s) tomorrow.

He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 10.6 ounces so he's gaining still though not at the rates he was. One of our roommates Jai was the same age we were gestationally when she was born but was only 1lb. 15.5 ounces and now that we've slowed down with our gaining she's picking it up for us. The nurses keep teasing her and calling her Tennyson Jr. because she's got her pipes working and it's apparently pretty messy. Needless to say, we've made a name for ourself and Travis and I are thinking the four sets of bedding we got we may need the way this kid is.

Also last night it was discovered he has some congestion in his sinus cavities they believe, this could be the viral infection working it's way out, it could be a side effect of the acid reflux or it could be a regular cold though it hasn't masticized into his lungs at this time they're monitoring it closely. So please be praying for this as well.

On a note for Travis and I please pray for strength and that we would find opportunities to rest as we're terribly exhausted, everything is really starting to take its toll this week. Also I have been very hesitatnt to feed him lately as he's been desatting so much and I'm scared so please pray I will not let the fears overtake me so I can be there for our little boy.

Anyways thanks for the prayers, please keep his feeding, breathing, his congestion, his eye check and keeping infection at bay in your prayers. We know we have and are asking a lot but he's so close to getting to the next level that I'm selfishly asking for anyone to pray for him, not that you haven't been already. It's not that we think God isn't with him and could do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, because we know He is and can but that we know Tennyson wouldn't be as far as he is today without your intercession. We will be indebted to you always.

Again thanks for riding this roller coaster with us, we would never make it without you. All our love.

Patient in the Great Physician-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Wonderful & Wacky Weekend

This weekend has been so crazy...

Saturday I headed up home for a baby shower which was wonderful and as soon as I (do you like how I use I though I'm going to make Travis do it...)figure out how to post pictures sent to me online I'll upload those for your viewing pleasure, it was wonderful. We have to be the most spoiled people on the planet. Thank you all for your generosity and being such a blessing to us. It is not unappreciated and you will have thank yous coming, I promise though when I'm not sure...

Rachel, Ruthy, Moriah Bond and myself headed up to Union Star around 8:30 Saturday morning to spend the day being blessed by so many (with Travis calling in the intermitent to rub in how much fun he's having spending the whole day with Tenny :)). It was wonderful and we returned to Oronogo and had the truck unloaded around 10pm. Travis and I then headed to the NICU to spend the 11pm feeding with Mr. Tennyson. I had missed him so much however I think he and dad were rather content without me for the day. Travis let me feed Tennyson his bottle as he had a few times already that day. They had increased his feeds from four bottles per day to five while I was gone however had some satting issues so they had gone back to four. I started the bottle with him but he was satting so poorly I couldn't finish so Travis finished it with him. It was good to be home and be able to sleep in our own bed but we were so worried about Tennyson that we didn't sleep as well as we'd hoped. They refer to it as "Weak White Boy Syndrome" which means that while in the NICU, white males seem to be the weakest, they have less fight in them typically than all females and males of other races.

Sunday morning we attended the 9:45 service at CCO which was great, Mark Bond was leading worship with Martin and I don't know why but I love it when Mark leads, I think probably because of our days at Central but it just seems to me that's how it should be. Anyways we then came in for his 11am feeding and were told they were moving him to three bottles per shift which is six total for the day. So we fed him at 11am, ran to Panera bread and Target and then back for his 2pm feeding. We had decided to skip the 5pm and let Patti cover it as I had so much laundry to do if we were going to have any clean clothes this week but it ended up working out great.

Tennyson struggled through the feedings again and we weren't sure if it was the way we were holding him or what but he kept desatting and they had to keep turning his oxygen up higher and higher. Patti took the five and tried several different techniques however it's just him. I don't know if he's worn out or what. At 8pm we headed back and Jenny was our nurse (YEAH!) and we did his feeding, he didn't just desat he turned gray several times with numbers in the low 40s rather than 100. So he was turned to 100% oxygen (though he's been weaned down since them to 28%)and 1.5 liters of flow. It was heartbreaking and we were so flustered. She decided to NG tube or gavage feed him at 11pm and then try again at 2am. When I called her she said he was having the same problems then and again at 5am and 8am when I was here.

So needless to say the nurse practitioner hasn't seen him yet, but the nurse today said his order is as tolerated and she and Trav and I think we're pushing him to far too quickly so she's going to gavage feed at 11am and I'll kangaroo and then we'll see about doing bottles every other feeding or something which would be four total for the day.

He weighed in Saturday night at 5lbs. 10.3 ounces and then Sunday evening weighed it an 5 lbs. 10.4 ounces. So that was a tiny gain but a gain nonetheless...more praises...

He also had routine labs as it was Monday morning however all his results came back within normal range though his hematocrit was down some from last week, when it gets low that's when we get transfusions. So that's another praise that is above the transfusion level but please be praying that the levels would increase.

So if during your prayers, you think of it, please be praying for our breathing and eating as well as warding off infection. Know that we appreciate you more than we can say. Thanks for always being with us through this journey, though it seems uphill right now I know the Lord will sustain us and carry us until we're over this hump and always.

All our love.

Rejoicing in the Redeemer-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Pumping, and pumping, and pumping...

...and then they tell me he's not going to be strong enough to nurse for at least 3-6 months after we go home because it requires so much energy that I'll have to continue it then as well. Apparently bottle feeding is much easier (in that it requires much less energy) so we'll have to continue that so he can maintain all his calories. For crying out loud, the things about being a mom no one mentions...I would do it forever for him if I had to, I say that now.

Today when I headed in to cuddle with our precious little boy, Tammy his nurse for today greeted me wondering if I would be interested in feeding him from a bottle. Of course I wanted to however didn't want to spoil Travis' time with him either so declined stating we would like to keep his scheduled feedings at 5pm and 11pm if possible so Travis can attend. Tammy said that would be fine however Joyce moved his feedings up to 3 times a day...so I partook of my moments with him.

I was able to do a little more of his care today as I typically change his sat probe, wash his face and change his diaper (I know they leave the dirty work to the moms). Today I was able to take his temperature, change his bed (more on this later) and change his facial tape so that was a bit exciting.

Anyways needless to say from the (more on this later) from above that while changing his diaper there was a blowout...all over the place. At least we're no longer in the isolette because those days were gross. So that's why I was able to change the bedding and everything, the nurse sure didn't want to do it.

Once I got him all settled down again (he doesn't really like diaper changes), we started to eat. Remember he gets 47 ML/Hr unless Harla's the nurse then it's 60MLs but that's besides the point. After about 16 MLs that little stinker went to sleep and we couldn't get him to wake back up to eat. Tammy said if I don't hold him against me (as many preemies get nuzzled in with mama and they smell mom and think it's time to sleep) so I have to hold him facing me which is a challenge if he's throwing a fit but he wasn't today, no he slept right through that. So then we unwrapped him as sometimes they get so warm they get to sleeping and all but to no avail he still wouldn't wake up. So with Tammy tickling his feet and me his face, we finally got him to wake up and in the next stretch took 20MLs. After a little burp he finished the bottle completely so that was another great feeding.

After his feeding I noticed he was acting funny so checked his pants and changed him again, I tell you there must be something about me that just makes this little guy perform. No sooner than I got the new one on he'd dirtied it again. In less that 40 minutes I'd changed 3 dirty diapers. After changing the last one I picked him up to get his new blanket situated to wrap him in (we always need new ones after feedings because we reflux so much) and he burped and it was wet and all down the front of my shirt, so needless to say, it was a great morning. I wouldn't have traded it, though the second shower was quick as I thought I would be late to work.

Anyways all of that to say he's doing great (praises, praises, praises), Tammy when I called her said they'd done his hearing test this afternoon and he passed with flying colors. We should have our eye examination sometime next week and they mentioned the "c" word yesterday (circumcision) which they usually only mention in the weeks before going home. I'm trying not to get myself too excited though we're stoked about the possibility. Now if we can only get our breathing down without the oxygen (I know I'm so demanding aren't I??).

Thanks again for all the prayers, know without your intercession he wouldn't be even close to this point. We love you all so very much.

Being loved on by the Lord-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers

Alive, Alert, Awake, Enthusiastic

This is a moment made for worshipping,
Cause this is a moment I'm alive.
And this is a moment I was made to sing,
A song of living sacrifice.
For every moment that I live and breathe,
This is a moment made for worshipping.
-Moment Made for Worshipping, Steven Curtis Chapman

Okay, since we last met...

Many changes have taken place for Mr. Tennyson as he's doing so great. Jeanne took him off his caffeine (he was give an oral dosage via his NG tube once a day to keep his heart a going, just like many times we need a caffeine jolt aka Pepsi or cup of coffee to keep going, with these preemies many of them do as well) as caffeine can be a stomach irritant and she believes his desatting episodes are a direct result of him refluxing.

Also she discountinued his eye drops. She said if it was an infection in his eye it should be cleared up by now and if it's not the infection that's causing all the goop, we need to know. Last night his eyes looked much better and he wasn't taking the drops. The next alternative for the eyes would be a tear duct problem so they are using warm compresses and massaging his tear ducts to see if that helps, if not we will see a specialist who will do some surgery on his little ducts.

She said since he did so well with his feeding Wednesday night he could have a bottle once a shift so at 5pm yesterday (Thursday) I was able to feed him a bottle and him drink it for the first time which I have to say was awesome. It's kinda funny but you can feel (literally) their feeding running clear through them as they're not very big and their fat (padding) isn't very thick so you can feel the milk travel down into his stomach. It was wild!! Harla, was his day nurse and when we finished the bottle she said, "Oh goodness, that was all that was left in the bottle I had mixed up (they mix my milk with human milk fortifier to add calories) and I wasn't sure if he'd take all 47 MLs so I put the bottles remainder in there to be sure I could draw up additional in the syringe for his gavage (NG tube) feeding (if the preemies don't take their entire bottle the rest is drawn up and given via his NG tube as before). He drank all 60 MLs, Jeanne is going to kill me when she finds out." At this point in time, Jeanne isn't aware but out little guy is kinda a pig...he's getting fat and happy though so we don't mind.

When I came back in at 11pm (we were at our house working on a video Travis is creating about Tennyson with some computer glitches but that's another story for another day...) to feed him his second bottle, he was just a wailing, he was hungry and of course I was around 5 minutes late. I am never on time now, I can't imagine how late I'm going to be now that there are two of us. So I fed him then and he scarfed down 55 MLs. He did so great though and even acted hungry afterwards...we gave him his pacifier (he's doing so well with the non-nutrative) and he calmed down and fell asleep so I just held him sleeping until around 1:30 and then decided to head back to Oronogo to get Travis. Needless to say, we're running on fumes but it's wonderful.

We just can't believe how big he's getting, he weighed in last night at 5lbs. 7.1 ounces, he's just growing like a weed and filling out so much. He looks much more like a baby now, rather than just skin and bones as he did earlier. His skin isn't so wrinkly as there is now some fat behind it to make him look beefier. He is almost out of all his preemie clothing, everything is getting so hard to button because he's so long, so we're going to be adding some new items to his wardrobe probably next week.

Travis and I again can't say to you enough times how greatly we appreciate not only that you've been on this journey with us each step of the way and that you've been lifting us up but that you continue to remember us. We know when things go on for weeks and weeks it can be hard to be continually renewed and excited about them, so again thanks for continuing to lift us up, we know how easy it would be for you to not remember us as often as you obviously are or we wouldn't be doing so well. So thank you and Praise the Lord. Our hearts are yours...

Worshipping the Wonderful-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers