feed me! feed me!

let me start with some good news: gavin loves his food! i realized since we wrote last that he was just about 900 grams. as of this morning he has broken through the 1 kilogram milestone and is now sitting at 2 pounds 4 ounces! that makes all of us so happy!! he continues to tolerate his feeds and he is now up to 22 ml's every 3 hours spread out over a 1.5 hour feed. so...he basically is eating all the time. he continue to poop and pee very regularly and that is AWESOME for these micro preemies. he has been averaging about an ounce a day over the past 3 days and that is such a thrill for mommy and daddy.
he continues to have some bouts with the bradycardia's we mentioned last time and there is no way to sugar coat those, they are darn scary. yesterday he had one just after we were helping do his cares about 2:30pm and it just came out of nowhere. all of a sudden there were 5 people bedside and my folks and tracee and i were just watching and praying as they brought him back. it is so tough for us in those moments but if you were to look at him afterwards, you would never be able to tell he just had a major scare! he is always wide awake and looking around - probably thinking "what are you guys all doing staring at me? i'm fine." you give us all a run for our money gavin!!
he continues to get his antibiotic (day 4) every 8 hours to fight the infection in his body and for tracee and i we sense that he is still sick. they had to move his IV from his head to his arm as the catheter wouldn't flush any longer; it had become kinked. they increased his pressure settings on the ventilator this morning because his CO2 levels were a bit elevated and the continue to work with gavin's lungs.
once again we update you all and ask that you continue to pray for his LUNGS. he is now 4 days off of the steroid and we PRAY that he can continue to maintain the levels he is at so they can grow him on the vent and get him bigger and stronger in preparation for CPAP down the road.
yesterday tracee and i sat in church and listened to a wonderful sermon on abiding in God. that word abide can also be translated as remain. it brings comfort to both of us to know that God remains in us at all times and we have to make a conscious effort to remember to remain in Him.  what a faith building exercise we continue to go through!
a dear friend of mine gave me a book called The Red Sea Rules: the same God who led you in will lead you out by robert j. morgan. for those of you who don't know the leadings up to the point where moses parted the red sea, and the israelites walked through to safety on the other side, it was looking pretty bleak for them. the egyptians has allowed their israelite slaves to go and, led by moses, they sought out the promised land with God's direction. a long story short, they ended up encamped next to the sea with mountains surrounding them on either side, the sea in front of them and the egyptians pursuing them from behind. God led them to this place! well...we all know the miracle that took place and the sea was parted and the egyptians in their pursuit were swallowed up by the sea just as the israelites all reached safety on the other side. the impossible way of escape was made possible.
in the next to last chapter of this book, it talks about faith building. "Lord, increase our faith. Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief."  God grows faith in us, just as he is growing gavin's little body now. how? the book states that like any good teacher, He bestows truth, then devises tests to review and reinforce that truth, to transfer and translate it into lasting, life-changing experiences. it's like He is the coach and we are the players. we take His Word in scripture and use them as the plays and the rules and then we practice and scrimmage and re-review, etc. in this process we go from being good players to skilled pros. little faith grows into great faith.
i am not saying i have this all down! not at all! the thought crossed my mind yesterday as i sat in church: "why can't i just trust more?" i doubt all the time!! but God's grace carries us through and we continue to practice some more.
our concerns for today and over the next couple of days will be his lungs and how they will have to support him with his settings. continue on with us as we trust God for His timing and His healing hand upon gavin's body. guys, i cannot begin to tell  you how beautiful he is! what an amazing kid. we long for the day to bring him home. thank you for your help in sustaining us in our weaknesses and our frustrations. please continue to reach out to us and support us as you feel led - we feel so good to know that you are there.  THANK YOU!

jeramy