7.01.2011

thursday night report


We are 79 days into this journey. Some days go faster than others. Now that we've seemed to hit a plateau, most days just seem boring and uneventful. We like those kind of days.

These days there's not too much going on over in bedspace 24 of the step-down unit. Pierce is doing well and working on his bottle-feeding skills so that he can come home with us soon. He is now up to 3 bottles/day and he gets 40mL at each feeding. Today he is 35-weeks corrected age. That's right, just 5 weeks shy of the magical 40-week mark. It's hard to believe that had he not come early, I would have been waddling around anxiously awaiting his birth. Sometimes I find myself daydreaming about what that would have been like. What would it be like to have the nursery and our house prepared for him? To attend my baby shower and be uncomfortably large? And what about those late night cravings and braxton-hicks contractions? Oh, the dreams. But then I snap out of it. I remember how blessed I am. Those meaningless little things I sometimes long for, they're worthless. If I had carried Pierce to full-term, we wouldn't be where we are at today. Quite frankly, we wouldn't be the people we now are. We wouldn't be as mature, or as grateful. We've been seasoned by the trials of this life, and have come out with a different outlook on things. I'm sure that if Pierce were to be a standard 40-weeker, I would've been complaining about stretch marks, breastfeeding and lack of sleep. But what an appreciation for life we have now! And how we love watching what God is doing in and through our story.

Nik and I are starting to get excited about Pierce's homecoming. Things are being prepared. Clothes are starting to get washed and the nursery is slowly (I think I'm following Pierce's pace and taking "micropreemie" steps with this one) coming together. Speaking of the homecoming, it looks as if Pierce may avoid both a shunt and ROP laser surgery. The verdict is still out on both of these, but it appears that for now, both issues are resolving themselves. Also, they are thinking that he has a hydrocele instead of a hernia (a common issue where fluid drains through the abdominal openings). This would be great as it would likely mean no surgery as well! Our prayer lately has been that Pierce would be able to avoid any further surgeries and that he would get home to us soon. If he does in fact avoid surgeries as well as any other infection/complication, Pierce could very well come home to us around his due date- August 4th. {*Insert loud shouts for joy!}

Some of my dear friends are helping us get ready for his arrival... they bought him a carseat! Special thanks to Ashlyn, Becky, Brandy, Sarah, Erin and Christy for getting Pierce his first "cool" ride. :) I know he will love it. And the NICU nurses can now stop asking me to get his carseat ready for him. Haha!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We continue to be blown away by everyone's generosity and love.

Much love,
Lindsay

8 comments:

  1. aaaahhhh screams of excitement!!! :) I just love reading the "boring" stuff!!! It makes me very happy!! I am glad he now has a carseat! We are constantly praying for all 3 of you!!!

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  2. ahhhh the boring days where you can just go and cuddle Pierce and give him a bottle. Soak it up!

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  3. I somehow happened upon your blog a while ago and have been reading consistently. Your story particularly struck a chord with me because our first baby boy is due August 2nd - just 2 days earlier than Pierce's original due date! I think about you guys a lot and have been giving thanks to God that He's allowed me to carry our little guy this far. I'm even more thankful of the miracles He's been performing for Pierce and your family. I'm always so happy to hear how well he's doing! So I just wanted to say thank you for reminding me how blessed I am when I'm concentrating far too much on how uncomfortably pregnant I am! I can't wait until you guys get to take Pierce home!

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  4. Lindsay, (Faith Sielaff from Montreat here!) thank you so much for sharing your lives on this blog. I know it must have been hard, in the beginning especially, to take the time and effort to share all that was going on, but as you can see it has spoken to so many of us. Thank you for allowing God to use this trial to bring you, and all of us following, closer to Him. I admire you three so much and praise God for all he has done! I am praying for you all and think of you often!

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  5. I came across your blog via my friends postings on Facebook and have been following your journey. Your strength and courage are so inspiring. I see that you have a car seat but did want to offer you another car seat. I work for a company in Charlotte that makes car seats to accomodate smaller babies and would like to help if you have need of another seat for your husband's vehicle, parent's, etc. Please let me help.

    Jeanna Rimmer
    jeannarimmer@gmail.com

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  6. Dear Lindsay,
    This is all fantastic and wonderful to hear! As far as missing the small side effects of pregnancy / motherhood ... do not fret (even though your post shows that you aren't) ... you'll still get to experience (and potentially complain about) breastfeeding and sleepless nights as soon as he's home with you! We were chatting about that long awaited day at the cabinet meeting the other night and all got a little teary eyed! Still praying for you guys!
    Katherine

    P.S. You may have been a lucky one and never gotten stretch marks in the first place!

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  7. He is sure beautiful and plumping out too! Hope you get to bring him home soon. What a living miracle this baby is! Praise God!

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  8. so happy. he looks like a sweet little man.

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