Coming Right Along

Eli continues to do really well. Yesterday (Monday) he was put on "nipple all" feedings- meaning that he takes a bottle or breast feeds for each of his eight feedings every day. His feeding tube is going to be taken out, and he's eating like a pro. We're so happy that he made this last step!

The issue now is his lungs. He's still on oxygen and is pretty dependent on it. If he wasn't on oxygen, he would be able to come home in the next day or two. But since he's still having trouble breathing on his own, the doctors want to keep him for a while longer to see if they can wean him off of it or at least decrease his levels. He is allowed to come home on oxygen, but, obviously, that is not preferred, and, even if that's what he needs, his levels still need to be decreased before they let him go home.

Really it's an issue of lung development. Eli is just so small- the doctors always say that he is healthy but small. Once he starts gaining weight really steadily, his lungs will start to regenerate cells more quickly, and his oxygen needs will decrease. His little lungs just need to mature so that he can breathe easily on his own.

We are praying that the Lord heals Eli's lungs just like he healed his heart. The doctors think he'll need to come home on oxygen, but we know that God can work a miracle and mature those tiny lungs so that he doesn't need oxygen any more at all. This is what we're praying for. Will you join us in praying that God will mature Eli's lungs so that he can breathe easily on his own? Thank you so much!

It doesn't look like he'll be home for Father's Day like we had hoped. We're okay with this, though- we know that he's where he needs to be, and if it helps him get better, we're all for it. Really, he's doing SO WELL. He's made so much progress and is so healthy now. He's interactive and expressive and so sweet. Hopefully in less than two weeks we'll have him home with us!