Overdue Update

Daddy and Hudson

I've been meaning to update this blog for a few days but haven't had the time or energy until now. Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers! We are so amazed at how well Hudson is doing. It's hard not to be really positive after everything we went through with Charlotte...it's really incredible what just six more weeks of growing in the womb will do for a baby. I've realized that, because he looks so much better than Charlotte did, and because he is making such huge progress everyday, we haven't really asked for specific prayer requests and there are still so many things we need prayer for!

So many people have asked about time frame for him coming home and it's really hard to know that right now. The soonest he could possibly come home would be the 14th since he will be 35 weeks but he would have to accomplish so much before then and I think that would be asking a lot of such a little guy. He is still in a heated incubator since he does not have enough fat on him to keep his body temp up on his own. When the doctor took him off the ventilator a couple weeks ago they put him on a very high dose of caffeine to help him with his breathing and with the apnea and bradycardia spells (below is a link with info on bradycardia).

http://preemies.about.com/od/preemiehealthproblems/f/AsandBs.htm

Even on the caffeine, Hudson is still having a couple spells a day...he will need to go 3-4 days without any spells before they will discharge him and he will also need to be weaned completely off of the caffeine. Another huge step will be for him to start taking all his feeds by mouth. They just introduced the bottle a couple days ago and he's taking at least one of his feeds by mouth a day. Yesterday I tried nursing him but he wasn't interested. I was able to get him to take almost one of his feeds by bottle (breast milk) for me. He is still so small and it is so much work for him to stay awake for a feeding and he has to be able to take all 8 feeds in the day by mouth before he can come home.

On a positive note, he is gaining weight every day now and has surpassed his birth weight of 3lb 7oz! He is now a whopping 3lb 13oz!! They are adding calories to his feeds putting him on a 24 calorie diet (breast milk is 20 cal.) and it has really helped with the weight gain!

Thank you all for praying for my recovery!! I'm am doing well, just really low on energy and sleep. Ned is still having to travel some for work and juggling the three kids at home and getting to the hospital to see Hudson, all while pumping every three hours and once in the middle of the night is exhausting!

Somehow through all of this God is sustaining our family and giving us an extra measure of grace to get us through this tough time. We are so incredibly blessed by all the help from family and friends! I cannot imagine having to do all this without all of you! Thank you for the rides you given me to the hospital, the meals, the words of encouragement, your prayers, the help with the kids, we are truly grateful.