Thank-you Jesus

Where do I start?  The boys have been doing well over the last few days, and we praise God for giving us some relief from having to worry too much about them with all of the other things going on.  Max has been on roughly the same vent settings as before, but his oxygen needs are starting to come down.  He was in the 60-70% range yesterday compared to weeks in the 80-90% range.  That is great news as it may be an indication that his lungs have healed a bit and that areas that had been "closed off" could now be open and exchanging new, oxygenated air.  Max is also getting "full feeds" for his weight and age which is 18 mls every 3-hours, and he seems to be doing very well with that.  Max also got a new vent tube put in yesterday.  As the boys have grown, so have their throats and the vent tubes that have been in place for 3-4 weeks are now too small.  So Max was intubated with a larger size tube, and that seems to be helping quite a bit.  They tried to use his other nostril (just to keep his nostrils maturing at the same rate), but the doctor hit a blood vessel and started quite a nose bleed, so they had to use the same nostril again.  Wes has had a great couple of days.  He had the same issue with his vent tube being too small and a lot of air from the vent was leaking out.  He had been doing really well on his vent settings, so when the doctors took out his tube, they gave him a chance to breath on his own.  Think of it as kicking a baby bird out of the nest to see if he/she can fly.  They hooked Wes up to a CPAP machine that only provides pressure to keep his lungs from collapsing, but does not breath for him at all.  The nurse that I talked to felt like he had a 50/50 chance of staying on the CPAP versus having to be re-intubated and put on the vent again.  That was about 24 hours ago, and he is still flying!!  In fact, they have been able to turn down both his oxygen and reduce the pressure given by the CPAP machine.  Thank-you Lord!!  The nurse said it took him a little time to get his rhythm going, but he is breathing on his own.  Not bad for a kid who weighs 2-lbs 6-ozs and is supposed to be in the womb for another 10-weeks!!

We are so thankful the the boys have had a good couple of days.  We are also thankful that they really only have issues with their respiratory systems at this point, too.  One of the nurses told us that she would take chronic lung disease over brain bleeds and digestive issues, because the lungs continue maturing and developing for many many years.  It is good for us to hear that because it allows us to change our perspective and find more things to be thankful for...and we need that right now.  Kate said that she thinks the boys have been doing well because their grandma can watch them all of the time now, so they have been on their best behavior!!

Yesterday was the visitation for Kate's mom.  I think the whole family was kind of dreading it, but my feeling looking back was that it went really well.  A TON of people came, which is just a great testimony to the kind of lady that Mom was.  We did not do an open casket, but Kate made these beautiful little "gifts" from Max and Wes with their pictures and a set of their hand prints and foot prints and a note telling Mom how much they love her and how much they will miss her, and we put that in her casket.  Today will be a tough day.  Please pray that the family will be given an extra outpouring of God's grace as we say goodbye to Mom. 

John 11 verse 4:

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."