Stretchy Par

We arrived to a peacefully sleeping baby boy. Of course, we REALLY needed our Par "fix"--so we stood there--staring at him and "wishing him awake." It worked! We then got to see Par stretch for like 5 minutes--seriously--he woke up and stretched then went back to sleep--then woke up--stretched some more--sleep--up--STRETCHING FOR A LONG TIME--sleeping--then the final stretch which started with his head going from side to side and moving to his arms, arching of his back and the flailing of his legs--ending in a "pick me up mommy" cry for the grand finale. We would gladly pay money to see that show again--absolutely precious!!!! All of the stretching pictures are blurry because he was moving--he also did some facial contortions--Rusty caught the end of this one.



The transfusion went well--Par was definitely pinker today from the extra blood--and more alert. I took advantage of this alertness and Elaine (OT/Lactation) met with me again and we made some real progress with breastfeeding. Although we don't "have it" yet--this time I could even see that Par has made good progress. It was definitely reassuring and gave me more confidence in what we are trying to accomplish. On top of that, he has done really well with his bottle feeds and has been upped to 12cc's (was 10cc's) every 3 hours--his NJ feeds have been upped to 9cc's/per hour continuous feed and his IV fluids have been decreased (YAY) as has his fentanyl.



After all the work we did--Par and I took a long nap--it was great--we both really slept. I love falling asleep with him on me--it just feels like he is supposed to be there--it is amazing how soundly he slept and his breathing (which has been a little fast) actually was much better because he could feel my breathing. God really knew what He was doing, huh? Praise God for His creation-- it IS GOOD!

Rusty and I put him to bed a little earlier tonight--trying to learn stuff really takes a toll on his little body--he probably woke up 5 minutes after we left, but we like thinking he sleeps when we are gone and is only awake when we are there--there is a certain comfort living in fantasy land. Anyway, after we read his prayer and kissed him goodnight we went back into the waiting lobby outside of NICU 3--I wanted to complain about something rather petty (but it did feel good to get it off my chest, no matter how petty)--while in there, we saw Jasmine and she filled us in on Jonathan. She asked us to pray for her--We don't know what the Lord has planned for Jonathan--but I ask you to pray for peace within Jasmine's heart as a mother--peace for knowing that our Father, her Father--has a very special plan for her and her son. Jasmine's strength is amazing--her son is very blessed to have her at his side. Rusty and I are in awe and feel humbled by her spirit.

May God bless each of you.

Liz, Rusty & Par