Austin Is Doing So Well!!

This morning Ryan and I were able to be in Austin's room as his team of nurses and the neonatologist discussed his progress and the plan for the day. Everything sounded extremely positive and we are SO excited about his progress!! He will be receiving a blood transfusion today but that's standard for little babies like him. They have to take blood from him and run several different labs and want to help him reestablish his blood supply since he no longer has help with that from me. He is breathing very well, they have dropped the ventilator to 40 breaths a minute to 20. He is currently taking 65 to 75 breaths a minute so everything else is him being a big strong boy and doing it for himself!! He has lost a little bit of weight (about 100 grams) but his neonatologis, Dr. G., said that all babies lose a little bit of weight at first because they are swollen with fluid and as they spend more time out of the womb that swelling decreases. He was a noticeably swollen in some areas like his fingers and toes but today you could see he has knuckles!! He also has not been able to eat anything but has been on a drip to help increase his fat supply. Probably either tomorrow or Thursday he will finally be able to be introduced to actual nourishment so he hopefully should start gaining some weight back soon.

This would have been enough to make my day but then it just got a little bit better! His skin is not as tough as a baby who is farther along so he is very sensitive when the doctor or nurses have their hands on or next to him. He actually gets pretty crabby when he is touched so I started getting a little nervous about our 'Kangaroo Care' time. This is when Austin will be laid on mine or Ryan's chest for skin to skin contact, this is very necessary for babies to thrive. I wondered if it upset him so much to be touched if he would get to anxious laying on me. The nurse said that while he doesn't like to be touched by other people, he already knows me and knows my voice, how I smell, and is very aware of when I am close to him. She said that she's seen the numbers on the monitor improve for babies when they are placed on their mom's skin. Being a curious person I stuck my hand in his isolette (after sanitizing of course...) and touched my index finger to his open palm. As soon as he felt my finger, his hand closed around it and we watched his monitor numbers jump!!! His oxygen levels went up and his breathing got even better!! It was such an amazing feeling to kinow that just by feeling my hand next to him could make such a difference!! I know it's not much for me to do but it made me feel like I could actually do SOMETHING for him right now instead of just look at him.

He's less than 48 hours old right now and has been doing so much better than we expected at this point. Please continue to pray that any setbacks are minor and easily recovered from!!! Thank you so much to everyone who has been thinking about us during this time and praying for Austin's safety. He is evidence of God's strength and grace and Austin needs that now more than ever!!!