Two Weeks Old

I'm learning day to day in the NICU not to get my hopes up and to just take things as they come.

As I reported earlier, Jake took his bottle earlier this week, but he hasn't done that since. The nurses pay attention to his awareness and to how awake he is at feeding time, and they determine whether or not to try a bottle at that time. Several times he's seemed awake, but when they actually start the feeding he dozes off before he can finish.

I called last night really hopeful that he would have taken the entire bottle only to be told that he was just too sleepy to finish. I have to say that the frustration at that moment was overwhelming.

I'm still hoping that every day will get better, but it's difficult when we don't see consistent progress.

Some of you may be wondering why we're surprised by how this NICU stay is going when we already had Abby walk through the NICU. Here's the difference. When Abby was born, she never required a feeding tube, oxygen, or any special treatment of any sort. I was discharged from the hospital when she was about 4 days old, and we spent the last two nights of her NICU stay with her at the hospital. That means she was only at the hospital without us for about 4 days.

With Jake it has been completely different. He's two weeks old today, and we're still where we were.

Please pray boldly for us (we talked about this in Sunday school this week, and I've continued to think about it every day this week). Pray boldly that Jake will eat.

Jake is wearing newborn clothes (see below) and he now weighs 4lbs 7oz. He'll be the size of a normal baby when we bring him home, I think.

Abby's having a great time. She gets to spend her mornings with her grandma, and on special days like today, she gets to go to her "best friend ever"'s house and play. We have been so touched by all the offers to help us with Abby during this time. Many of you will never know how much that truly means to us. It is such a comfort to know that she is being taken care of while we are going back and forth. We are truly learning what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.


Thanks again for praying.