Thursday, January 3, 2008

Update

Thank you for praying, God has been very generous in how he has been answering our prayers over the last 48 hours. I thought I'd let people know how things have been going before I turn in.

Jonathan is responding very, very well to the extra milk he's been receiving. He's no longer listless, nor crying constantly. He has good colour and is generally very contented (even to the point of lying happily in his cot for half-an-hour today when he woke up before his feed time). He doesn't enjoy the twice-daily regimen of antibiotics that he gets through a cathater semi-permanently located in his arm. He enjoys even less the taking of his blood that has happened one to two times per day to run various tests. But that's ok, his parents aren't the world's greatest fans of that either. This is not least because of the ambience of the place where it happens - special care, where all the drastically premature babies (and similar cases) are looked after. It's a place where they have pictures up of the babies that lived...

The blood cultures have shown no infection after twenty-four hours, which is what we want, but isn't conclusive until 48 hours have passed. His ammonia levels (I think) came back under the high end of safe within about 24 hours. All up he's doing very well, and is getting even more compliments for his cuteness (and yes, about half the comments focus in on the eyelashes). At the moment they want to finish the five day course of antibiotics and, if nothing else goes wrong, will probably release Jennie and him when they're done- either Saturday night or Sunday morning, Oxford time.

Jennie is doing much better, getting between four and half and five hours sleep over the last two days - usually broken up into chunks of no more than one hour. Nonetheless, the drastic change in Jonathan has done her a world of good. She laughed for the first time two days ago, and we began having the space and energy to just enjoy Jonathan for the first time today.

We're very grateful for God's goodness towards us in this. Thank you who have prayed. I'm off to bed. A new day starts soonish. MDB

9 comments:

/Karen/ said...

Yay! So glad things are getting better! Will photos be forthcoming so we in cyberspace might also coo over Jonathan's long eyelashes?

Jack Lim said...

Hey there,

Glad to hear things are on the up. Hang in there, our prayers are with you all.

James and Bron

Rick and Michele said...

Congrats Jennie and Mark. The thoughts and prayers of all at NAC are with you. Good to hear things are improving. Photos please???

Gordon Cheng said...

That's all well and good, but is he blogging??

Gordon Cheng said...

oh, and ps, Praise God!

Unknown said...

G'day from Wal, Sarah and the boys. We are thrilled to hear of Jonathan's birth- what a blessing from God. Know we are praying for you all, trusting in God's sovereignty. Wish we could walk down the corridoor and be of some practical assistance too. Matthew and Jonathan could talk about their experiences in special care together!
Much love,
Wal and Sarah, Tim, James Sam and Matthew.

bec said...

Oops - I feel I should put my 2c worth in officially, but you know it - yay, hurrah, and wonderful! I'm praying you'll all get some rest.

Unknown said...

That's great to hear!! Thank you for updating us and our prayers are with you.

Dave & Kylie

Tim & Katrina Earnshaw said...

We were glad to hear of Jonathan's arrival, and are now especially glad to hear of his improving health. You must all be exhausted, and looking forward to getting home. We hope he gives you as much joy as Sally gives us!

Tim and Katrina