Ups & Downs

What day is it? Oh, Tuesday. We have had several days of ups and downs. Each day with kids in the hospital is an adventure in emotional endurance. Some moments are exciting because there is a victory and the next thing you know there appears to be another problem.

Joel is completely off any breathing devise. His respiration rate is great. They continue to monitor it, but it has not changed in the last two days. This is what got him in the NICU. Yeah!!!

Joel is now off the feeding tube. He is eating well; both from mommy and a bottle. This is a great sign.

Joel will finish his round of antibiotics on Wednesday night. Once this happens, they will take the IV out of his arm. We hope the current IV holds so they do not have to put another stint in.

Joel was out of the warmer until this afternoon. His temperature dropped a little so he is back in the oven (warmer). He has to maintain his temperature before we can go home.

Leah is still a patient. Her weight dropped more than they like and she is a little yellow. They decided to keep her in the hospital. Her weight is now increasing and she is eating pretty well. However, her temperature has dropped as well. She is sun bathing as well. We thought they would release her on Wednesday, but we are not sure now.

Rebecca is no longer a patient of the hospital. She is my patient now. My job is to keep her eating and drinking. According to the nurses, she is suppose to have 3500 to 4000 calories each day. She is also suppose to drink about 4 liters of water each day. She has been tired and challenged by this entire situation. The emotions are up and down. We have had several tears over the past few days.

We continue to hang onto the strength of God and call out to Him often and we are so thankful for all the people surrounding us with prayer and encouragement.

Another praise is that we moved rooms over to the NICU. It feels like we have moved in with the nurses and doctors. We literary step out of our room, through the nurses area, and into the room with our babies. Before we had to walk from one side of the hospital floor, through 3 doors of security, to the other side in order to see and feed Joel. The other awesome part of this move is that Joel and Leah finally got to see each other for the first time since they were born. We put them side-by-side and enjoyed this precious moment.

Rebecca and I left the hospital this afternoon for about an hour. We went home to is Micah, Hannah, and Elizabeth. It was great to spend a little time with them. We long to be home and restart our family life.

Signing Off!

Todd