July 10

You turned one month old yesterday! The first night I had to leave you in the hospital, I was only expecting you to stay a week or so, and I thought that week would be the longest of my life. By God’s grace, I am happy to say this month has gone by surprisingly fast. I am still as anxious to bring you home as ever, but am so thankful the days go quick and the nights go quicker.

You have had so many visitors since you came to Texas Children’s! Pastors Jeff and Chris came to see and pray over you on Monday before your surgery, and Mrs. Elaine from church came to see you yesterday. She brought you the cutest bows to put in that pretty hair! Aunt Paula’s friend Maria works at TCH and came by also. Her son was in the NICU for a couple weeks also, and they created the sweetest CD of lullabies and prayers. Then, we had a visit from Dr. Justin. He read the Monday JVBC blog that requested prayers for you and happened to be in the pathology lab later that day when your slides during surgery were coming in. I bet he checks on you again from time to time. Most special was last Sunday when you got to meet your Aunt Shelby and Uncle Clayton for the first time! Texas Women’s made an exception for them and allowed them to see you for a little while. And of course, every day you see Grammy, Honey and Mema. We love having friends come spend time with us and break up our day a little!

You seem to be coping with your pain well. The nurses are good about giving you more meds when your heart rate starts to go up and you become fussy, but you are going longer stretches without them. This morning was rough for us. You aren’t much of a bleeder, so yesterday they had to heel stick you three times to get enough to run tests. It showed your potassium levels were high, and while the doctor attributes it to the way the blood was drawn, the only way to know for sure is to take more blood. So today they took blood through an IV draw and it took 5 times before they got it—three in your arm and two in your scalp. I was there to hold your hands, talk in your ear, kiss your face and sing songs, but you just cried and faced me as if to say, “Make them stop!”. Actually, we both cried and when they finally got what they needed, we were both exhausted.

You are still NPO, meaning no feeds. You probably won’t eat again until Saturday, since tomorrow you are having your second surgery this week. This one is for the cataracts and is partially exploratory. Your eyes won’t dilate to give the doctor a good look at the back of your eyes, so he will try to fix whatever he comes across while he is in there. We are hopeful that your retinas aren’t damaged, but we won’t know for sure until tomorrow. Babies can’t have lens implants because when the eye grows the lens would fall back. This means your vision will be extremely bad and will require glasses immediately to properly establish the brain-eye pathway. By about 6 years old your eye should be full grown and you will have another surgery to implant the lens.

I know I tell you all the time, but I am just so proud you. I can’t believe how tough you are despite your circumstances. You are always so easy to please and keep happy even though a good portion of your life you have been in pain. You have completely spoiled me for any future siblings you might have! Ok, on my way right now to see you. I love you sweet baby!