Moving Forward

Hi All!

Sorry that this post has been late coming. On Tuesday we made our way to the gastroenterologist. The excitement had been building for sometime because I was hoping to hear that Caleb was doing well enough that we could start solids. All the indicators were there, but we were instructed to wait since he had such a difficult time in the beginning of his life. So On Tuesday Dr. M said that we could start with cereal and then introduce a new flavor once a week. I think that his first food will be Butternut Squash since I still have some from our co op. CAleb's first go with cereal was a little funny. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the new texture. He tried a few bites and then became very angry. So we washed it down with a little milk and then half way through the bottle tried again which seemed better. With each feeding he has much improved his intake and ability to eat cereal. I'm so excited to be making his baby food that is one thing that I knew I always wanted to do for many years now and since we have been running our Organic Co Op I am more excited.

Caleb is 16.2 pounds and 24.75 inches long.

Our visits to the eye doctor and ear doctors went very well both gave us great reports on Caleb's progress. The ear doctor no longer has any concerns about his hearing. His eye doctor said that his eyes are progressing very well and it should be just a few more times visiting to be sure that everything is completely resolved.

Sitting Pretty

Guess who is sitting?

That's right today Caleb has been sitting all by himself. I'm so happy for him. He will be 8 months on the 5th of June (4 months adjusted). I now he is doing more and more because of his therapy sessions and I am so thankful he has a great therapist. She is so encouraging and has such a gift with working with babies.

On another note I have to say that I am a little obsessed with hearing other people's stories about their micro preemies. I feel like we belong to a special club or something, except no one wants to belong. I was reading this blog and my heart hurt so much for this family. There seemed to be so much guilt, anger and frustration through out the journey... I prayed for them as I read the blog...then I went to bed and the next day I resumed reading. Their son was in the NICU nearly as long as Caleb, but just couldn't get off the ventilators.... they did a tracheotomy but he was still requiring too much help to breathe. In they end they we not able to help him and he went to be with God...He was on the ventilator to long and had Chronic Lung Disease. I was so very much overwhelmed with gratitude at what God has given us. I know the medical odd were against us... because he was a boy, because he was 24 weeks..because it was out of the blue. But we have made it so far. This whole experience has given me a different perspective on Love and Life. I try to find JOY in everything. I do find Joy in our son, even one those days when I'm not sure what to do. I don't take for granted what a privilege it is to be a parent. I no longer want my parenting to follow a book or style but be filled with faith, love and laughter for our family.

Our family has been praying for another family who has a little one in the NICU who isn't doing very well. She too has been on the ventilator for a very long time. I can only ask that God will continue to bless them. Please pray for baby S.

Big Boy Bed

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you to all of our brave soldiers who have fought for our country and have given us the freedoms we take for granted!

Caleb spent the first night in his own room in his crib last night. He did great and slept until about 5:30am then woke up for a paci fix and slept for another hour. Just wanted to share the happy news with all of you!

Sleep Study

Hi!

This week has been busy with my mom visiting and us preparing for Caleb's sleep study. He has not had any apnea since he's been home, but the sleep study was recommended by his Pulmonologist to have some documentation in his file that he has not had any problems while he was sleeping. We made our way to the hospital, one that wasn't as clean as I would expect, but there wasn't anything that we could do about that. I just prayed that God would protect Caleb fom all the unseen germs that are lurking in those places. We fed Caleb and got him ready for bed and then all the fun started. The Tech lathered... and I mean lathered Caleb 's head with his Vaseline like goo and then put probes all over it. The did the same with his legs and then put two bands around his mid section. They finally finished preparing him for sleep by inserting prongs up his nose to measure his breathing. They put all these probes on him to measure his sleeping patterns which include his heart rate, oxygen saturations, deepness of sleep patterns and a few other things. The read out looks like a polygraph test and was just as colorful to look at. The tech said that Caleb did well and everything fine, but the doctor will analyze the patterns and get back to us and then hopefully discontinue us using his monitor.

The monitor itself was given to us just as a precaution because Caleb had some later episodes of apnea while in the hospital. The apnea is a common in preemies and newborns, and is given when having a micro preemie. It just took Caleb a little longer than thought. We wanted to show you a few pictures of our little cable guy last night. Caleb has gotten so big that we are so very excited as we approach the summertime and hopefully will be able to spend more time with family and friends. He's is now around 14 pounds or so and is already in 6 moth almost 9 month clothing. He has been doing well with therapy and we are hoping that we will get the GI's okay to start with some solids next week. Until then ...thanks for reading and following our blog.

Sunday Thought

I'm sorry I have not been a very good blogger, but My mom has come in to town and so we have been getting acquainted with our little miracle. There has been so many moments when the reality if what our family has gone through the last year and yesterday at church was one of them. Our pastor said the God uses those people who have been "hit" the hardest.... Through our great trial I do hope that God will use us to help others. We recently found out about a family who was going throughout a very difficult and devastating time. They not only found out about a an unknown cancer taking over a young mother's body, but struggled through decision on how to help keep the 22 week old baby inside of her safe. As our family was praying for them over and over we later found out that God chose to bring the baby home after a couple of days here. Again my heart hurt for them on an unrealistic level. There are so many people that I have come to find out that have experienced pre-term labor and there seems to be so much guilt connected to it. I know what that feels like as I had to felt that for a brief moment. But.... as I remembered yesterday that God is more amazing and faithful than I will ever think and he loves His children.

As I mentioned before Caleb has ROP and as I watch him overcome so many obstacles that the docs ad said we would encounter I can;t help but KNOW it's because of God's favor on him. He has been in physical therapy for 2 weeks and is doing so great. Just the other day he was holding himself up more that I have ever seen him do on his belly, so of course i take a picture. I was so excited..but I missed it. I tok his picture and sent it to his g-ma and while i was typing in her name that is when it happened. I looked back at him and there he was smiling at me on his back . He ROLLED OVER! He has since then not chose to do it again, but he has been close. He is also so close to sitting alone. I can't wait for more of those moments.

If you would like to listen to the message I heard at church yesterday, Please go here

Seeing More Clearly

The other day I forgot to mention that Caleb had another eye exam and the doctor really said something that encouraged us. She said "It looks like they are better!" Woo hoo... that was so exciting for us to hear. We will probably need a few more visits, but we knew that from the beginning. Caleb's eye sight is great we see him observing and taking in the world each moment of each day. We have been praying for his hearing to improve, which it has. He will go and see the ear doctor again in June and hopefully the suspected fluid that was in his ear will be gone. Caleb has also been having physical therapy twice a week to be sure that he meets his developmental milestones. The therapist is fabulous and so sweet. She has been teaching us to work on some things with Caleb and I can already see an improvement. I am so thankful that our little guys is making such improvements with God's hand upon him.

Then and Now

A few pictures to show how far he has come...