Friday (December 30)

Hi everybody.  We are back at the hospital tonight.  Silas is doing great.  They took his ventilator out completely and he looks so much more comfortable.  I wish I had a scanner with me because the nurses took the most adorable pictures of him after they took it out and before they put the cpap on him.  There is nothing hiding his face in the pictures and he is smiling!  I love it!

So now he is wearing the cpap again (basically a fan on his face) but he is doing all the work of breathing.  The cpap gives him a little extra pressure in his lungs but that is it.  He is moving in the right direction.  I took his temperature earlier and changed his diaper.  He cried.  I hated it that I made him uncomfortable while I took his temp (under his arm) but I was happy to hear his little voice. 

Right now he is tucked in and snug as a bug in a rug in his bed.  I think Daddy is going to get to hold him in a little while for the first time.  I will take some pics of that and try to post them tomorrow.

Wednesday (December 28)

Silas is doing good today.  I called and checked on him throughout the day, since I am in Flora today.  He weighed 2 lb. 1.5 oz. today!  Yay!  That is the first time that he has weighed more than his birth weight.  I am so happy that he is growing.  They increased his feedings today and finished the medication he needed to close his heart valve.  He is already showing signs of breathing better on his own.  They put the cpap machine on him and are preparing to take off the ventilator.  I am hoping that it comes out tomorrow and hoping and praying that he can handle being without it.  The nurses really didn't have that much to tell me because he is doing good and not much changed today. 

The bad news is that today I had the slightest sore throat off and on throughout the day.  I am so paranoid that I am going to get sick and then end up making him sick that it is very worrisome.  Hopefully, it will be gone tomorrow but in the meantime until I am sure that I am not getting sick I am staying in Flora.  Maleah also felt bad this morning and yesterday.  She complained of a headache and just generally feeling kind of lousy.  She spent most of the day in her pj's and on the couch.  She felt much better by this evening though and was back to her perky self.  So please continue to pray that we all stay well and healthy and that little Silas makes good progress this week!  Thank you all so much!

Tuesday (December 27)

I went back to St. Louis again today to see Silas.  My cousin Abby drove me over for the day.  We had a good day together.  Thanks for driving Abby!

Silas is doing good.  I held him for an hour or so.  He was making a lot of noise, almost as if he was talking.  He kept opening his mouth and acting like he was trying to spit out his ventilator.  I think he hates that thing.  The respiratory guy came in and said that his ventilator was leaking a little bit because he shouldn't be able to make any noise while it was in.  They adjusted it a little to make that better.  They had also lowered the setting on the ventilator so that Silas was doing most of the work on his own but the vent was there to help him every so often.  After I held him though, he fell into a deep sleep and got lazy.  He missed a few breaths so then they had to bump the ventilator back up to the higher setting.  The dr. said this was very normal and for me not to worry. 

They also gave him some medicine last night and today to help close the pda valve in his heart.  This is a normal thing for preemies.  All babies have this valve and it is open while in utero and then right after birth it closes; but with a preemie, it doesn't close when it should.  So they have had to give him a few doses of medicine to help with that.  Once it is closed they said they will probably take the ventilator out because he will be able to breathe better by himself after the valve closes.  They expect to take the ventilator out tomorrow or the next day.  Yay!!!  That makes me happy!  He will also be getting more milk again (they had backed off of this for a few days waiting on that valve to close) so hopefully he will begin to gain more weight this week.  He weighed 2 pounds even again today.

I mentioned to one of the nurses that I was a little paranoid that he was going to get sick.  They have passed out a few written notices to the nicu parents about cold and flu season that pretty much scared the crap out of me.  You can feel fine and not know you even have a cold or flu because your body is fighting it and you can still spread it to your baby.  It makes me scared to even hold him, thinking that I might have a bug and not even know it.  The nurse's response was that if she was a bettin' woman, she would bet that he will get sick at some point.  "That usually happens before they go home."  What??  That is not acceptable.  I am not betting on that and here's why:  there are a lot of people praying for my little Silas.  The power of prayer is amazing.  That has been proven to me time and time again.  So I am asking all of you to please pray that Silas does not get sick and that I, or anyone else, does not unknowingly pass a sickness to him.  Also, please pray that we see some progress this week and that he gains some weight.   Thank you all!  You have no idea how much Jason and I appreciate your prayers, kind words, and encouragement.