Baby boy is doing well this morning. He was a little spitty with his last feeding but overall has done better. His jaundice is much improved and they have removed one light and reduced the intensity of the remaining two. The pediatrician (who is great, by the way!) wants to keep him until tomorrow. So hopefully he will be released tomorrow morning and paperwork can start. Four days has felt like a week or more. His bruising is improving which is good - he has had some hemorrhage in his eyes do to the traumatic birth.
The missing document is being tracked down. Please continue to pray that they will be willing to overnight what we need. We need it ASAP. Papers are scheduled to be signed tonight.
We are loving taking care of him and can't wait for him to be free of all the cords! They did take out the IV this morning and the monitors are off but the cords have not been removed. He LOVES being held and is responding to our voices and touch. He looks up at us and sometimes even smiles (involuntary, I'm sure, but I'll take it!). He has stolen our hearts. We can't wait to introduce him to Calvin & Patrick and to be a family of 5! We continue to hope and pray that all will work out. Maybe the next post will be pictures, stats, and name???? I hope so!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Four Prayer Requests
God has been answering in amazing ways and we appreciate all the prayer support! Here are four specific ways you can pray:
1) Baby Boy has jaundice and is being treated with three photolights. Pray the numbers will go down quickly. This is not unexpected - his face is VERY bruised and he was a little early which both increase the chance.
2) Pray that he will make enough progress to be released sometime tomorrow. The TPR can be signed tomorrow but evidently our paperwork cannot start processing until he is released.
3) We requested a document two weeks ago and we were told that it was sent out 10 days ago but we have yet to receive it. Pray that we will be able to sort that out quickly tomorrow and get things overnighted to avoid delay.
4) Please also pray for our two precious sons at home. It's hard being away from them (even though they are in great hands!). We miss them.
Finally, we are so thankful to report that baby boy is doing better with eating! We talked to the doctor this morning (thanks for the reflux tip, Monica!) and she made a couple of changes. He has done much better today and hopefully that will continue to work! We are headed back to the hospital after having some dinner during their shift change. We continue to feel well - big praise!
1) Baby Boy has jaundice and is being treated with three photolights. Pray the numbers will go down quickly. This is not unexpected - his face is VERY bruised and he was a little early which both increase the chance.
2) Pray that he will make enough progress to be released sometime tomorrow. The TPR can be signed tomorrow but evidently our paperwork cannot start processing until he is released.
3) We requested a document two weeks ago and we were told that it was sent out 10 days ago but we have yet to receive it. Pray that we will be able to sort that out quickly tomorrow and get things overnighted to avoid delay.
4) Please also pray for our two precious sons at home. It's hard being away from them (even though they are in great hands!). We miss them.
Finally, we are so thankful to report that baby boy is doing better with eating! We talked to the doctor this morning (thanks for the reflux tip, Monica!) and she made a couple of changes. He has done much better today and hopefully that will continue to work! We are headed back to the hospital after having some dinner during their shift change. We continue to feel well - big praise!
Quick One
We are feeling better - praise the Lord! Hopefully it will stay away! Andrew went to the hospital early this morning and I stayed to rest for awile because I was still not feeling quite right. I was so glad he was feeling back to normal and was able to go because it broke my heart to have to leave last night. He is on his way back to the hotel to get me so I can go love on my baby boy. :) Thank you, thank you for the prayers. We will update later if we get a chance...or you may be getting sick of 2 and 3 posts a day...in that case, sorry, they probably won't stop at the moment. :)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
What's Going On...
We miss our kiddos but they are hilarious on the phone! :) They are excited to meet the baby and promise to help. :) It's been a tough journey so far but we are trusting that everything will work out and that the boys will get to be big brothers!
The boys have their preschool open house tomorrow and start preschool this next week. I'm sad to miss being there with them but they are in good hands. Remember to take pictures, Nana! They have been eagerly anticipating school and I hope they love it! We are so thankful that God directed the decision to enroll them in school this year - little did we know that our fall would be so full!
The boys have their preschool open house tomorrow and start preschool this next week. I'm sad to miss being there with them but they are in good hands. Remember to take pictures, Nana! They have been eagerly anticipating school and I hope they love it! We are so thankful that God directed the decision to enroll them in school this year - little did we know that our fall would be so full!
Two Prayer Requests
Neither one of us is feeling well tonight...please pray that whatever it is will quickly pass. We weren't able to spend much time with the baby tonight because we felt so bad. We think it is a short-lived bug that is going around our family at home or possibly something we ate - it came on quite suddenly. Please also pray for the baby - he is having a really hard time keeping formula down and he can't be released until he is doing better with it. He is a good eater as far as sucking etc. but a lot of it comes back up. We've changed formulas per the doctors orders but it hasn't improved very much (I know it can take time). Thanks again for your encouraging words, thoughts, and prayers. We feel so grateful and so loved. We really can't wait to introduce you to our little guy!
Maybe we should have a name poll to see if you can guess the correct name? :)
Maybe we should have a name poll to see if you can guess the correct name? :)
Update 2
Things are looking better - I'm not going to go into details but we are feeling more confident that we will get to bring this guy home! There have been some very good developments today.
Please know that throughout our own emotions we also really feel for C. I cannot imagine how hard this must be for her! Things definitely did not go according to her plan. We have seen her and it was very emotional but in a good way, I think. We love her.
To answer some questions: the birthmom cannot sign the TPR (termination of parental rights) until Monday. She will then have 20 days that she could change her mind. It is our understanding that we will need to wait 60 days for the birthfather's rights to be terminated since we haven't heard anything about him signing anything. So we are definitely still anxiously awaiting all of that. We will feel like things are pretty sure once C signs the TPR and at this point, we do anticipate that happening. But we are still very cautious.
We do not know how long we will be here - up to two weeks. We do not know when the baby will be released - could be as soon as tomorrow but it may be longer than that. He is doing well overall. His face is very bruised from the unexpected delivery and must be very sore! He is a trooper. He has been sleeping a lot and I think the bruising makes it uncomfortable for him to open his eyes very much. He hasn't cried much - I'm sure that will change. :) He has LOTS of black hair and dark eyes. And have we mentioned that he is adorable and beautiful and we are completely smitten? :)
We have been overwhelmed by the amazing nurses - they have been so kind and have been rooting for us! Several have said they are praying and have expressed their desire and hope that things will work out. We have been allowed to come and go as we please. We mostly stay. :) We did go out for lunch and to Target for a Boppy pillow. I'm afraid he is going to be rather spoiled - we are holding him all the time right now. :) We will probably both go back to the hotel for rest tonight - we'll see. They are swamped here at this small hospital and thus maxed out on space! Yesterday, he was the only NICU baby and now there are six.
So that's the report from here...
Please know that throughout our own emotions we also really feel for C. I cannot imagine how hard this must be for her! Things definitely did not go according to her plan. We have seen her and it was very emotional but in a good way, I think. We love her.
To answer some questions: the birthmom cannot sign the TPR (termination of parental rights) until Monday. She will then have 20 days that she could change her mind. It is our understanding that we will need to wait 60 days for the birthfather's rights to be terminated since we haven't heard anything about him signing anything. So we are definitely still anxiously awaiting all of that. We will feel like things are pretty sure once C signs the TPR and at this point, we do anticipate that happening. But we are still very cautious.
We do not know how long we will be here - up to two weeks. We do not know when the baby will be released - could be as soon as tomorrow but it may be longer than that. He is doing well overall. His face is very bruised from the unexpected delivery and must be very sore! He is a trooper. He has been sleeping a lot and I think the bruising makes it uncomfortable for him to open his eyes very much. He hasn't cried much - I'm sure that will change. :) He has LOTS of black hair and dark eyes. And have we mentioned that he is adorable and beautiful and we are completely smitten? :)
We have been overwhelmed by the amazing nurses - they have been so kind and have been rooting for us! Several have said they are praying and have expressed their desire and hope that things will work out. We have been allowed to come and go as we please. We mostly stay. :) We did go out for lunch and to Target for a Boppy pillow. I'm afraid he is going to be rather spoiled - we are holding him all the time right now. :) We will probably both go back to the hotel for rest tonight - we'll see. They are swamped here at this small hospital and thus maxed out on space! Yesterday, he was the only NICU baby and now there are six.
So that's the report from here...
Update
We are hanging in there. We had a good night of sleep and are headed back to the hospital (they were at capacity last night in the maternity ward and the baby is in the NICU so we both stayed at a hotel). We are trying to protect our hearts but it's pretty near impossible - we spent most of the afternoon and evening with him yesterday and he is just so sweet and so cute! We won't be posting pictures or name until things are signed. There are still too many unknowns at this point and we certainly do not feel that this is for sure. Please continue keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It's been an emotional roller coaster.
You all have been such blessing with your kind words, encouragement, excitement, and prayers - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
You all have been such blessing with your kind words, encouragement, excitement, and prayers - thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Friday, August 15, 2008
PRAY!
Please keep the prayers coming...things have not gone quite as planned. Remember the 60% statistic...we still aren't sure if she is going to sign. She says yes but has waffled. Due to his unexpected entry, she did see him and that has been hard for her. We just left the NICU (he's doing okay) so she could see him - she says for goodbye but we do not take anything for granted. We are nervous wrecks and just praying that all will work out and that we will be able to come home with a baby. We know that we may not and that would be so sad for us.
He is adorable!
He is adorable!
THE CALL
Well...I had this whole post about the draft scheduled for today (see below)... BUT INSTEAD WE HAVE A BABY!!!! At this point, all we know is that she had it at home (that was, of course, unplanned :). I was already to leave for work this morning but we will be leaving for Kentucky instead! We are so excited and I'm a teary mess. Pray for us! We'll update as we are able!
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