Quick update

No pics right now...I (Melissa) am home for only a couple hours to try to get some things done at the house before heading back to the hospital. It feels wonderful to get out, haven't seen the light of day since Sunday, heehee. =) I struggle with leaving b/c feeding Jackson is such an ordeal and I am always nervous about leaving, but the occupational therapist here (whom we all love, and Jackson really has taken to) is stopping up to work with him on some feeding issues this afternoon, so she has promised to take good care of him as we are attempting to widen the cut for him feeding through the bottle. He was having some difficulty handling the new cut when I left and so I was having a hard time leaving. She was also going to work on a recipe for thickener with formula so Jackson has milk if I need to leave and so that I have a little bit of opportunity to leave the hospital off and on if we don't have enough milk frozen. We add the milk that I store and mix it with a certain mix of powder nutrient boost as the thickener dilutes the caloric intake. Then we take that, and mix it to a certain amount of thickener per ml, and then we have to wash everything and start again...it is quite the ordeal. (My mind has difficulty with doing simple math in the middle of the night at times!) :) So thank the Lord for her!! =)

Anyhoo...update from today, no pics until maybe tonight when Joe comes to the hospital as I don't have opportunity to use the internet really where we are now- at least for uploading pictures, I can quickly check my email.

As far as Jack's high blood pressures- they are continuing to monitor them as they have stayed high even throughout today. The readings they are typically getting are extremely high for an infant, so they are 1) checking the cuffs for proper size 2) making sure to obtain the readings while he is sleeping and try not to wake him so as to get the lowest normal reading (Jackson gets quite upset which affects the reading)

In addition to this, they are: 3) ordering a urine lab to check for proteins and blood in his urine to check kidney function 4) doing an ultrasound of the kidneys tomorrow to show if they are draining properly 5) if nothing has resolved, and they have reason to, they may do another echocardiogram prior to his discharge.

If nothing appears to be problematic, and they are low enough, they will just try to monitor them at follow-up visits.

Immediate prayer requests:

1) Jackson's high blood pressure
2) Jackson's feedings, that he would do well with a widened cut & not aspirate- continued weight gain and that he wouldn't have to have the feeding tube put back in
3) Continued strength and health for Joe and I
4) Continued prayer for Jackson's vocal cords- he still isn't making much noise

Praises: (Thank you for praying!!)
1) Jackson is able to keep his feeding tube out, and is maintaining his feeds well enough so far
2) Sleep last night- I was able to get a couple hours of sleep which was a blessing- the nurse tried to make her assessments as minimal as possible- there will probably be more labs, etc., throughout the night tonight, so this was a huge blessing to me- it's difficult to nap during the day b/c there is so much going on with various things, meeting with doctors and nurses, etc.
3) For all the Lord has done and continues to do for Jackson

Thanks so much all...will post some pics later hopefully tonight when Joe is up!!

Jackson continues to be as cute as ever- he cracks me up. Sometimes when he is feeding, he will just stop...and grin this wide toothless grin as he begins to poop. And then we have to stop the feeding for about 10 minutes as this proceeds b/c he can't balance both at once at this point- takes a lot of concentration to "suck, breathe, and swallow" you know!! :) Hehe. It is really funny, though.

Love you all!!
Miss :) (and baby Jack)