Major Changes

Wow! What a week it has been! God has been so good and continues to bless our little family.  As most of you know, and as was stated by B.J. in her last post, Henry came through surgery, and he did super!  As a matter of fact, the head of pediatric surgery came by a couple days ago and stated that our little boy was the talk of the hospital and that he was doing "awesome!"  That, alone, would be enough for B.J. and me in one week, but God has continued to heal and strengthen both our little ones throughout the week.  They are starting to make HUGE improvements daily. And what God has done with Henry and Harper since the first of the week is no less miraculous.

Our little man came off the ventilator late yesterday afternoon and he has tolerated it wonderfully.  Now, he is still receiving some oxygen support through his nose, but he is breathing ON HIS OWN.  And his lungs continue to function properly without the additional support.  God is so good!  B.J. and I were so excited for this moment.  Not only because our little boy is one step closer to getting better and going home, but because we finally got to see what he truly looked like for the very first time.  Since he was first born he has had a tube running down his throat and tape all over his face, so we had an idea of what he looked like, but never really knew for sure.  Well, he is adorable, just like his sister.  As if that was not enough, his chest tube was also removed late this afternoon.  He seems a little more irritable, but for the most part seems to be tolerating it just fine.  I think he's just excited to get another one of those lines running out of his body removed.

We are also so excited to report the continued improvements of baby sister.  Harper has been taken off of all liquid IV feeds and strictly taking milk.  Her PICC line was also removed on Thursday.  Now she is  just hooked up to one monitor that is tracking her vitals.  She has continued to be daddy's little rockstar!  She and Henry have also been able to maintain their core body temperature, thus allowing them to be moved to regular cribs. This only occurred late this afternoon.  That means no more incubators!!!

As I said, it has been a very busy week.  The kids are improving so quickly and changes are being made so fast, that B.J. and I are almost fearful instead of excited.  I know that sounds crazy, but when you've basically been getting bad news and preparing for the worst for 12 weeks, it's hard to believe that you could be coming out of the woods and the clouds could be lifting.  But as we've been saying all along, we know that God is with us, we know He has a purpose and a plan, and we have to trust in him - in this case in the good times, not just the bad.  Please don't misunderstand.  We know our babies could still have setbacks, but we rejoice in the progress they have made.  And we continue to pray that their improved health will continue.  The most important thing now is that Henry can continue to recover from his surgery and that his lungs will grow strong and healthy.  Now that the chest tube is out, there is a risk that his right lung could collapse, so we pray that the lung continues to stay fully inflated and the site will stay infection free.  We also pray that both of them will start taking to the bottle and that their feedings will allow them to start growing and gaining weight (most importantly Harper girl).  And as always, that these two can and will stay infection free.

B.J. and I, again, cannot express our gratitude for the amount of support and prayers all of you have given our family.  It has helped us, not only this week, but throughout our entire journey.  We thank God for each and every one of you.  We thank God for our little angels Henry and Harper.  And we thank God for still being in the business of miracles.

God is good... all the time!

Mark, B.J., Henry and Harper

mommy with her little man

what a beautiful sight AND sound

Henry resting peacefully in mommy's arms

Harper Girl in her new crib

Harper Girl tuckered out after her feeding

"This is the best I've slept in 4 weeks!"

wrapped up like a burrito