Day 9

We continue to covet your prayers for our little man. He is such a fighter. Just to swallow a few sips is so exhausting for him.
Yesterday Mandy had a Dr.'s appointment here in Bloomington. Joel brought her over and I went to stay with Andersen. I was there for 3 feedings; 2:30, 5:30 and 8:30. This means as the caregiver you take their temperature and change their diaper on the hour and then feed them on the 1/2 hour. The first feeding was scary for me. First, there are so many wires and hoses attached to him. Just taking him out of his bed is an ordeal. He commonly gags, chokes or spits up even after just a few sips. He has to be held at a certain angle in order for his food to go down the right way. The next feeding was a tube feeding. Because it was so exhausting for him to eat he was only taking a bottle every other feeding and then having his bottle through a syringe and tube on the opposite feeding. His third feeding was a combination since he couldn't finish his milk in 20 minutes the last 10ml was put through the tube. They do this so that he wont burn too many calories while eating. After the last feeding he just looked around for the longest time. I talked to him and got acquainted with him. He never cries or fusses although we have been told that is common for preemies an d he will find his voice!
It's amazing how tiny he is. When you kiss him your lips take up his whole forehead! When you touch his face his skin is so soft that you only know you are touching it cause you are looking at it. His breath is so light and so sweet.
Also, yesterday he had several episodes of heart decelerataion. He was put on an apnea machine and did a 24 hour sleep study. The result of that study was to introduce hit to some caffeine in his bottle feeding. This helps his oxygen saturation but he will remain on a monitor. Once a week his feeding tube needs to be replaced. That being today, they decided to try a couple bottle feedings leaving the tube out. He did amazingly well and has been taking his bottle all day. He was able to finish his feedings in 20 minutes today. This is a huge improvement!
He continues to improve in the area of keeping himself warm. They are beginning to talk about moving him to a crib apposed to an incubator. There was even mention of him possibly coming home at the end of the week. Please pray that this would happen and that he would be totally ready for this to happen. Our family Christmas is on Saturday and it would be so wonderful to have this little gift with us!

Love, Julie

Kid Update
Alexander - He is doing great! Alexander was very excited to find that he had a note from mommy at the table this morning. He was eager to read it. He had a great day at school and did awesome on his spelling homework tonight. At the dinner table this evening we got a cool rendition of the 12 days of Christmas Alexander style. It was so cute! After he was in bed this evening he called me into his room to tell me about this huge Volcano he was reading about that killed 3,600 people in Indonesia. I told him that Indonesia was close to China. He said "good thing you weren't born then or you would be dead!" He is so sweet :)

Clare- This girl was also very excited to find a note from her mom at the table this morning. Clare had two tests at school today but seemed to feel pretty good about both of them. She had an early dismissal from school this afternoon and was super excited about that! After her therapy tonight she ran some errands with Grammy and LOVED the one on one time. She informed us that in the past 8 days she has had 3 dates. Can you tell what her love language is :)

Chloe- She was so excited about the balloons that her mommy had drawn on her note this morning. Can you tell she is an artist? Chloe was supposed to have a Christmas party at school this afternoon but it got cancelled due to the early dismissal. She was super bummed about this :( When I read the kids their story before bed tonight Chloe was reading right along with me. Her reading has improved so much! I'm so proud of her.

Braden- Alexander was so sweet and read Braden his note from mommy this morning. After the kids went to school Braden and I got dressed and met Grammy at Krispie Kreme doughnuts. He lOVED this! He loved watching the doughnuts being made and even more than that he loved eating them (as you will see in the pictures) He had a great day at school but I think it wore him out. He told me he wanted to take a nap at 6:45I told him it was almost bed time and then he changed his mind... haha!

Love, Alyssa