Fierce Pierce

Pierce has done great with bottle-feeding! He's really enjoying setting his own pace and has been eating almost 3 oz (90 mLs) at every feed! We are on day 3 of solely bottle-feeding (no feeding tube) and Pierce has gained at least 2 oz/day during this "tough love" trial. Last night he weighed in at 7lbs 7oz! That's great news because it means he's doing exactly what he needs to do to be able to go home with us. In addition, today they dropped Pierce to .1Liters and 100% o2. So far, he's doing well. Please pray that he can tolerate this (the lower the oxygen setting, the faster he'll be able to come off completely) and that bottle-feeding will continue to go well.

After a long wait to speak with the neurosurgeons, we finally heard back that they are still going to hold-off on placing a shunt. However, P's last 2 scans (this Monday and last week's) showed a very slight increase. What this means is that Pierce is reabsorbing most of his cerebral spinal fluid. In fact, there is only a slight amount that is not draining (thus causing the ventricles to increase slightly in size). The problem is that there is really no right answer right now. In most kids who require a permanent shunt, it is completely obvious (their ventricles get very big, very fast.) But Pierce's ventricles have remained stable in size for 3 months and are just barely getting bigger. So it appears that we are going to have to wait and see if Pierce can grow a little bigger and compensate for the >1% of fluid that he's not draining. The neurosurgeon seems to think that there is a chance that Pierce can outgrow his need for a shunt, before we have to place one. As frustrating as it is to not have an answer, it's good that we are not headed to the OR just yet. And there's still hope that we could avoid a shunt. Please, please join us in praying that God will heal Pierce's brain and that he will not require a shunt. Pierce will have another brain scan on Sunday. Please pray that his ventricles will be stable in size or smaller.

Tomorrow, August 4th is my due date. This date has been seared into my mind since I found out I was pregnant. And while I don't expect anything magical to happen tomorrow, it will definitely be a day of celebrating. What a miracle our little boy is! He has beaten so many odds. God has rescued him from what was deemed "certain death." And Pierce is thriving! We feel so blessed and tomorrow for sure, will be a day of rejoicing! Please join us in praising God for Pierce's life.

Much love,
Lindsay, Nik and Pierce