one foot in front of the other

my folks met us down at the hospital yesterday morning and tracee and i had a chance to talk to the dr's and nursing staff about what had happened the night before. we started to feel more comfortable about the nature of what happened with gavin's breathing tube and that he was never truly without oxygen. his tube is the smallest possible tube they have and so naturally, at times, mucuous or saliva can coat the tube and restrict air or they can dislodge their tubes and this happens occasionally. some encouragement for us was that at one point they had is oxygen level all the way up to 100% but when we showed up it was down to 45%. after spending a couple of hours with gavin and my folks, they took off and we decided to go grab a bite to eat and come back for his 2pm diaper change and touch time. when we came back it was also time for his afternoon xray. they have been keeping a close eye on his lungs and have been looking for them to open up. well, just about 10 minutes after his touch time and xray his heart rate began to drop as well as his oxygenation rate. we obviously started to get worried as things were dropping pretty quick. there were about 5 nurses and respiratory therapists around him when one of the nurse practitioners came in and said "you've got to turn down his oxygen levels, his lungs are hyperinflated and it's squeezing his heart and pushing his diaphragm down." i thought about the word hyperinflated for a minute and knew it wasn't a word we had heard yet relating to gavin. i wanted to make sure i knew what i thought she was saying: his lungs had opened up! after they got things dialed down, he came right back in line and was doing great again. she pulled us into her office to take a look at the xray. it was literally a night and day difference between his 4am chest xray and his 3pm one. his earlier one was real white and hazy and the new one was beautiful! thank you God! from that point on, gavin was fairly active and they all attributed it to the fact that he was probably feeling much better now that his lungs were opened up. they gave him some more sedation to keep him comfortable and after spending about 5 hours in the NICU with him yesterday, we called it a day.
as we drove home we praised the Lord for leading us one step at a time and for giving us great news. thank you to all who have been praying specifically for what we have been asking God for. after having such a horrible night on friday night we made a tough decision to just not call the NICU and to trust in the Lord and pray, and know that if anything concerning was going to happen that the NICU would call. we phoned in this morning and were greeted with news that gavin had a pretty uneventful night and that his lungs continued to look good and they were working to ween his oxygen levels down even further - they now had them down to about 38%. yeah!!! once again the Lord showed Himself faithful to us as we really just had to trust in Him. and He delivered. for both of us, He is really teaching us to be reliant on Him and that He is the one in control. neither tracee nor i can adequately provide for gavin in his condition, so we trust and entrust.
we went to church at SBC and then headed over to the NICU afterwards. tracee and i got a chance to participate in gavin's touch time today! tracee helped change his diaper - which was poopy :-), and i was able to wipe his little eyes and dab his little mouth. it was very special for both of us. the neonatologist gave us an update on his condition. he continues to get little blood transfusions and they continue to keep him sedated to keep him comfortable. he remains on his course of antibiotics but still everything looks as if he does not have any infections. we were notified that they will plan to put in a PICC line this evening and that will serve as his new main line. please pray for this as it is fairly major for these little guys. there are some potential complications with infections and the fact that they have to look for a "big" vein. that simply means there isn't much margin of error with gav as he is so tiny.
finally, he will receive a head ultrasound tomorrow at some point and they will be checking for any major brain bleeds. please, please pray for NO bleeds and fantastic news for us and for him!!! this is probably one of the biggest prayers we have needed to this point. they are all important but this is really big! so the 2 major items on the prayer list right now are the PICC line and the head ultrasound. please continue to pray for peace for us and for wisdom of the medical staff attending to him 24/7. everytime we see him and get a chance to participate in little activities with him, we love him even more. for all of you parents, i know you understand what i mean.
someone left this on our blog as encouragement and it is spot on for where we stand: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24)
we believe and trust that you do too. Savior; He can move the mountains, our God is mighty to save, He is might to save.
we are looking forward to bringing you wonderful news of gavin's ultrasound and successful PICC line!

jeramy