3 month mark

Happy 3 month birthday Pierce!

It's hard to believe Pierce was born 3 months ago. Some days it feels like these past 3 months have flown by. Other days, like today, the journey seems so long.

Pierce is doing well. Still stable on 2 liters and 30% o2. He had an apnea study done for 24 hours yesterday and this morning they analyzed the results. Long story short, they decided to give P his coffee (aka caffeine) back in an attempt to reduce the # of bradys and desats he has throughout the day. If he's anything like his daddy, he'll really appreciate having his caffeine back. They also decided to give him a spot of lasix (a diuretic) to draw off some fluid from his lungs and hopefully help him come down on his o2.

Pierce is 91 days old, or 3 months old today. He weighed in last night at 5lbs 13 oz. Maybe we will hit the 6lb mark tonight for his bday?! I'm still adjusting to having a "normal" sized baby. And I can't believe that he has now outgrown all of his preemie outfits. He's taking 4 bottles a day (every other feeding) and typically takes 3 of those really well. We can really see an improvement in his stamina.

While Pierce is doing relatively well, today was a day with what felt like a ton of bad news. Long story short, we had a total turn of events in regards to the VP shunt. It looks as if lil' man's last ultrasound showed that his ventricles are significantly larger than the last scan showed. This means that we are now looking at a permanent shunt. Everyone is a little baffled as to why the ventricles have been stable and were in fact smaller on the previous scans and I can't say that today's conversation didn't come as a painful blow. I know a shunt is not the end of the world, but we're a little confused as to where to go from here. We don't have much more information on this tonight as we are planning on meeting with the neurosurgeon tomorrow at noon to discuss our options. Please, please pray for us. Pray for wisdom for us and for P's drs. We are continuing to pray that Pierce will be able to avoid having a shunt placed, especially since just a few days ago we were told he would not need one. Please join us in praying for this.

In addition to the shunt surgery, Pierce is also facing possible laser surgery for his ROP. Tomorrow mornings eye exam will be crucial in helping us determine if or when this will occur. Please continue praying with us that this eye exam goes well and that the ROP is stable or has begun to reverse itself.

Lastly, pray for Nik and I. I know a shunt and eye surgery are not the end of the world and that Pierce could manage just fine with both. I guess the shunt surgery would be harder to deal with since we were so excited thinking that we'd cleared one hurdle. Pray that we would have endurance to finish this last stretch of the NICU marathon strong. And pray that in all we do, Christ will be glorified through us and in Pierce's life.

Christ is All,
Lindsay