Laynie and Taylor Update

Wow! Our precious little girl is growing SOOO fast. She's now 3 lbs, 8.4 ounces. We are amazed at how well she is progressing. They are talking about putting her in a crib soon. We're still working with breast feeding and it will be a week or 2 before she learns this. It's harder with preemies as they don't have the suck, breathe and swallow down. It's a slow process, which includes a lot of trial and error.

Our strong little Peanut is still fighting. His recovery is going well, but he's in a lot of pain. It's really hard to see him this way. He has a silent cry as he can't make noise with the ventilator tube. It breaks my heart that I can't do anything to help him. Holding him is my first instinct and that's not possible right now. He did not get weighed as he's very puffy. Due to his surgery he's retaining a lot of fluids. They did the dye test today, but the results are not in yet. He did poo several times through-out the day so that's a GREAT sign. We'll get the results first thing in the morning tomorrow. IF his intestines are healed, then he can come off that ventilator!!!! I will celebrate as soon as that happens. We will then be able to see what Taylor looks like.

Today, I had to take some time away. I needed to do something "normal", so my mom and sister took me to lunch and we shopped around a bit. It was hard to be away from the babies, but I really needed a "break"! Josh went golfing, so that was a nice break for him as well. We are both being tested to the limit with all of this. I'm amazed at how well we both are handling all of this. We pray A LOT for strength and guidance.

PLEASE keep Taylor and Laynie in your prayers. Of course, especially Taylor! There's a lot that could go wrong when they start taking him off all of the assistance/medications/etc. he's been on. There's a lot the doc has to balance, taking things slow and steady. The biggest decision is once he's off the ventilator is what breathing assistance to put him on. No matter which option they choose, each will have it's own consequences. The sea pap seems to be the route they will go. The only problem with that is that's what worked against Taylor in the first few days of his life. The sea pap could have been part of the reason for his intestine issue. The air flow causes a lot of pressure in the stomach/intestines. The doc is hoping that his intestines (if healed) will be able to handle the pressure. We can't keep him on the ventilator, as that opens up for a lot of complications. It's not good for his lungs and it makes him more prone to infection which would have devastating consequences. There's one other option which is the oxygen tube in his nose, but Taylor has to be breathing better to be on that. Right now, he's not fully able to handle that. SO....there are even more things to be concerned with after they figure his breathing out. They have to decide when and how much to start feeding him and his body will need to digest properly, is just one example. What I'm saying is there is a LONG road ahead for Taylor. Every night when I lay my head down to go to sleep, I worry about him and hope and pray that no phone calls come during the night. I'm not at all saying things are bad right now. I'm very happy with how he's coming out of all of this. I just get really concerned thinking about all of the stuff ahead for him. I really just have to fall to my knees in front of God and give this all to him. It's just too overwhelming for me to take on.