Three Weeks Old Today

It is so nice to carry Caleb without all the cables and tubes he had! Last night they removed his nasal canula which was providing oxygen and some pressure to help him breathe. They were finally able to get a vein for an IV line today, so his arterial and vein line through his umbilical is gone. They also removed all the pumps and machines that were left in the room "just in case" they needed them again. All he has is three probes to keep tabs on his heart rate and arithmias, an oxygen saturation monitor, and a feeding tube in his nose which they use when he doesn't finish his milk. He looks so good! Thank you father for bringing us this far! He is also taking all his medicines by mouth. He is taking 3 diuretics, a medicine to help his heart pump effectively, baby aspirin to liquefy his blood so the shunt does not clot, and vitamins to help him get strong. The genetics test results were all negative. The doctors want to eliminate brain damage as a cause for his lack of reflexes so they are ordering an EEG (like an EKG but of his brain) for tomorrow and an MRI in 4 to 6 weeks. They are not able to do an MRI until then because the MRI uses magnets and he has 5 wires tying his sternum together from the surgery. I feel that we are getting closer to going home. All we are waiting for is for his lungs not to be hazy in his daily x-ray and for him to feed 2 ozs consistently without having to literally shove it down his nose. These are the prayer requests for now and don't forget to also give thanks for all He has done! Thank you again for praying for us and for emailing us so many encouraging words. We are so blessed to have friends and family that love us and pray for us and support us like you do. There are many sick kids and hurting families here and I wonder if they have people like you in their life. So when you pray for Caleb, please also pray for the other families here. Pray for Cassandra our neighbor which has had 3 open heart surgeries and 2 cath procedures and she is only 15 months old. She has at least 3 more surgeries to go. Pray also for Sebastian who has the same condition as Caleb but on the other side of the heart. He is recovering very slowly.