Another Good Week!

Austin is continuing to do exceptionally well, his weight is up to 3 pounds one ounce as of December 21st!! When he was first getting on a regular feeding schedule, he was started with 2 1/2 ml every eight hours. Now he is up to 23 ml every 3 hours! His intestines are continuing to process everything as they should be and his heart murmur seems to be going away. He has been doing so well at getting through all of his challenges we can't help but be optimistic that he will continue to do as well as he has been. His next obstacle will be his vision test which will be done sometime next week or the week after. An eye doctor will visit Austin and determine if he has any retinal detachment. If this is the case they can do laser corrective surgery actually in his room to help prevent blindness. It's not a guarantee should he have any problems but at least he won't have to go to Riley. His nurses are also hoping that his lungs will be developed enough to take him off of his CPAP sometime this week. He was alternating between his nasal kenula (the other breathing aid he was switched to, I finally remembered what it was called...) and the CPAP but they decided to keep him on the CPAP because he wasn't struggling as much with it. We're really hoping that he's able to come off the nasal breathing aids because they're really starting to irritate his sensitive nose. Once in a while he would get a bit of a bloody nose because his skin was getting so irritated by the prongs so they traded the prongs for a mask that covers his nose. If you look at your thumbnail it will give you a good idea of how small the mask is. It is not as invasive as the prongs but he is still uncomfortable so we're hoping that he will soon be able to breathe well enough to not need any aid. (the breathing tube actually forces him to breathe and supplies oxygen whereas the CPAP and nasal kenula blow air pressure into his lungs to keep them inflated.) Last week a blood culture showed that Austin could be coming down with an infection. He was started on antibiotics and two or three days later another blood culture showed that it was negative for infection. Being in a warm, humid isolette with a picc line and i.v. (which leaves an open point of entry into his body) makes him extremely susceptible to infection so he was being closely monitored for any changes in his blood. Fortunately whatever was going on was caught and treated early enough and has not developed into an issue.

Ryan and I are fully aware that Austin does not have to be doing as well as he is. He has been able to avoid heart surgery, intestinal surgery, severe brain damage, and neuromuscular disorders such as cerebral palsy. Each day that he progresses is not taken for granted and we are thankful every day that he has been able to do so well. Each day that we wake up, Ryan and I thank God for Austin's progress and every night that we go to bed we pray that he will continue to do well. Although he is not in the clear yet, Austin has already shown us how strong he is and we are starting to let ourselves think about bringing him home.