HE POOPED!!!!!!!! :)

Physical proof for everyone that Derc IS changing diapers, he never thought he would enjoy it so much! You can really see how little Kale is when compared to his dad.

Precious little guy got his first bath last night...and by bath I mean he got wiped down with a wet rag, but it really made a lot of difference with his skin, he was all shiny and clean today :)

Little man getting ready for his blood transfusion. That is the syringe of blood, it connects to another machine then runs into his IV. You can see that the amount of blood he gets seems like it would make him go up a few ounces!

While his vent was up I couldn't resist hopping in for a picture, I love touching him any chance I get. When he drapes his fingers over mine I can hardly tell, if I wasn't staring at him I would have no idea he was touching me because his little fingers are so light.

That's right folks......little Kale took his first poop today :) I've never been more excited to hear such icky news! This is fantastic, because it shows that his intestines are working, and that his digestive system is taking to the feedings. This also implies that his intestines and colon do not have any tears or perforations in them....that isn't guaranteed, but this is a good sign that this is the case.

Today Kale was pretty stable throughout the night and day. His blood gases were pretty good, and heart rate was stable for the most part. He did have a few dips in his heart rate into the 60s, but he was able to bring them back up. As we left for the evening he went into D-Sat for the second time today. That is a very unsettling way to leave things. Essentially this means that his SO2 levels that they want between the 80-90 range took a plunge to about 50 and stayed there for a few minutes. When this happens all of the alarms go off and Derc and I stop breathing right along with him until he reaches normal levels again. His head and skin turn a darker pinkish color, similar to what we would see if we held our breath. Thankfully he recovered within a few minutes both times it happened. The nurse comes in, suctions out his ventilator tube and repositions his head as his head can shift down and close his airways a bit. Anyway, it's not a fun thing to see happen to our little guy, and we're hoping that two of those episodes today doesn't mean that his lungs are struggling. The Drs. warned us that around day 10 these micro-preemies can develop lung diseases or other issues, so we're hoping that this is not what is happening since he had such a stable day outside of these two events.

Other than that, Kale had a blood transfusion today and is expecting another one tomorrow to keep his H&H levels up (Hemoglobin and Hematocrite - again, no idea how to spell that). He dropped an ounce last night, so he weighs 1 lb. 9 oz. now. He got to increase his feedings today, so he is up to 2 mls every 4 hours! We are very excited that he is doing so well with the feedings! The Drs said that they will continue to increase this slowly, he will probably stay at this amount for another day or so and then they will plan on increasing again if it continues to go well.

Kale had some visitors this afternoon, he got to meet his Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Burkholder! They came all the way down from MN to meet their second Great Grandson, and Kale was happy to meet with them. He also met some of my friends, Lynnette and Megan, and he was flirting with them because when they were there his oxygen levels and HR were sky high.

Today we got to do diaper changes again, we're really getting the hang of it now!

Tomorrow we anticipate getting another blood transfusion and they are talking about inserting a new ART line which will go into the artery in his wrist and replace the one in his bellybutton.

We've received some inspiring stories through email, facebook, comments on our blog, and other ways. We appreciate everyone sharing their stories or stories of friends who have had preemies, it gives us comfort to hear success stories! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, we're praying that Kale's oxygen levels stabilize and he has a steady night and day tomorrow.