and the baby bird flew!

A little background on the title of this blog: one of Pierce's doctors came over the other day (before extabation) and told us his philosophy on the situation. He said "sometimes you just have to kick the baby bird out of the nest and let him fly." While I was a little concerned (thinking that many a bird has fallen to the ground that way), I'm pleased to tell you that this is exactly what is happening. Pierce is flying! He was taken off the vent on Monday and hasn't looked back since! P is loving his new found freedom- being able to breathe completely on his own, whenever he wants He has his moments where he holds his breath or forgets to breath, but so far, he's self-recovered every time. We are so proud of our little guy. Today and yesterday have been the 2 best days of his life! It's taken us 7 LONG weeks to get here, so as you can imagine, we are beyond thrilled! Today the NICU was buzzing as everyone discussed our little guy's progress. And on rounds, the doctors had to make sure they had the right kid (they're not used to such an easy, short report for our boy!). Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Also, little Liam is doing a little better tonight. Thank you for joining with us to pray for P's best friend. He is nearing the end of the "critical" window, and things are beginning to slowly look up for him. Please keep this precious family in your prayers as they anticipate a long, tedious recovery process.

Today, I've spent so much time reflecting on God's goodness and mercy. I am flooded with memories of how He has repeatedly sustained Pierce's life throughout these past 7 weeks. And still, as today is one of our best days yet, I'm filled with bittersweet thoughts. Once you've tasted how fragile life truly is, it becomes hard to not dwell on the what if's and why's. I constantly find myself wondering why we still have our son with us, while several of our friends have not been so fortunate. And then there's the "what if's"- like what if he gets _______ or what if ____ happens. But God is gracious. He has reminded me to not be anxious about anything. It hit me today that even if Pierce leaves the NICU with little to no complications (which we are praying fervently for), his life will still be fragile. Because all of our lives are fragile. They're all hanging by a thread. We just fool ourselves into thinking that, when things are good, we have complete control. But really have no control, do we? So tonight I'm praying for faith; asking for a faith that grants me the ability to trust in God, because I know all to well that trusting in God is much easier said than done.

You can also be praying that God will protect Pierce from any sort of infection. At this point, infection would be the biggest thing to set our guy back, so we are praying that he stays clear and that he will grow stronger with each day that passes. Pray specifically for protection against NEC, which is still the biggest risk for our guy.

One last thing- tonight we were able to hear Pierce cry for the first time ever!!! It was a squeaky cry, almost like a puppy makes when it's first born, but oh was it ever music to our ears! We only heard it once, because apparently Pierce is a pretty content baby these days. We tried for a few minutes to make him mad again so that we could hear it once more (aren't we wonderful parents, making our baby cry?!), but nothing worked. Pierce just kept quiet, gazing around his isolette. As soon as his cry grows a bit louder, we will try to snag a video clip to share with you all.

Thanks for praying with us on this journey.

Love,
Lindsay, Nik and Pierce