Happy Birthday, Par!!!

That’s right! Par is two weeks old today!!! Wow—to think what all has happened in just two weeks! Par has spent most of the day sleeping (boy do I envy him!). When we (mom and I) arrived to visit he was conked out. I was told he had been bright-eyed and bushy tailed all morning—he was looking around (probably looking for his mama and daddy) and sucking/gumming on his tubes. SO…….he got two (2) birthday gifts from the nurses.

The first is this clever mobile made of yellow tape and neon stickers. They said he was so alert they felt like he needed some stimulation so they made it for him.



The second present was a pacifier. They said his sucking/gumming of the tubes may just mean he wants something to suck on (because it is part of his natural instinct) and so they gave him a pacy and he started sucking right away. It doesn’t stay in great because of the tubes, but when I hold it for him he loves it and just sucks away! It is refreshing to see him do something so natural—and it is a good indication that he will take to oral feeding, as well as breastfeeding. A lot of CDH babies have oral aversions and strong gag reflexes because of the tubes they’ve had down their throats—they associate anything going in their mouth with the way the tube felt—so getting them to eat can be difficult—not to mention that swallowing sometimes has to be “taught” because if they go too long without doing it from birth—the brain thinks it doesn’t have to. So seeing Par with this pacifier is really great news since I really want to be able to breastfeed him. Please pray that he’ll keep working on these great exercises (sucking and swallowing) as they are vital to a successful recovery.



Rusty was out of town today—he went to Mobile for work but got back late tonight. Thank goodness Par slept most of the day so he didn’t notice his daddy’s absence. Unfortunately, he literally slept through his entire birthday—when we went to visit tonight when Rusty got home he was asleep again (but apparently had been awake while I was gone—tricky tricky!). We got one little picture of a semi-smile—almost a little smirky like he is fake sleeping.



On the vitals front-- his blood gases have been so good that they have turned up the hertz to 12 and turned down the amphs to 28—I really don’t know what all that means except to say that both are an indication of progress toward putting him on a conventional ventilator—so we know it is a positive thing and we wholeheartedly praise God for every little bit. They discontinued all of his antibiotics today. WOO HOO!

Nurse Meg (she’s been with Par before) is with him tonight and has plans to turn his head—they turned it before but had to put it back because of the central line taping coming loose. But they have to replace all that tonight and so they plan on turning it. Because it has been on his left side so much there has been some fluid build up on his left side of his head and face—but once he is repositioned it will go back to normal—just part of being in the same position for such a long time—but we know Nurse Meg will take care of him and we can’t wait to see his new position in the morning.

We humbly thank God for another day of progress and we are so thankful for every person He has sent into our life during this journey—we are amazed daily by the people we come in contact with that are so uplifting—from the emails and cards to the doctors, nurses and even the custodial staff here at Shands. Please continue to pray for Ella and Jonathan and their continued recovery.
Love, Liz, Rusty & Birthday Boy