Long day

Kale says, excuse me... I can't hear you :) Haha, at least I know my mom and Sarah are laughing with me and my stupid sense of humor :)

Look at how puffy his left eye is :( Poor guy is so swollen, when he lays on his belly whichever side of his head he is laying on, all the fluid goes to that side and makes him puffy.

Well, kind of a long day today. Kale had 5 spells throughout the day today, what a bummer. He was moved down to 3.0 lpm this morning and had a blood gas at 4pm. It was about the same as his 8am gas, so that means his body tolerated it fairly well. He had such a long day - along with the 5 spells, he had 2 of his 3 immunization shots today and had an eye exam. Poor buddy. Kale didn't have a terrible day or anything, I think Derc and I are just ready to get him home, and this journey is getting pretty long and tiring. Well, maybe I should only speak for myself, Derc seems to be much stronger than me. It's just that, when you get pregnant or talk about having kids, no one tells you how incredible it is on every level. No one gives you the heads up that it's the most emotionally involving thing you'll ever experience. That, when your child has a good day, you'll be on cloud nine, and when he is sad, hurt, under the weather or just doesn't seem right it will be exhausting for you. Our friends, Emily and Jeff, gave us a card when we found out we were pregnant and I remember what they told us often. Their advice was "Be so prepared. Not for those days when 'whoops we forgot diapers' or 'whoops we forgot formula!'. But be prepared to fall in love so hard and so fast and so much more than you thought was possible! You will be amazed every single day." And it is SO TRUE!!! Ergghh, I think I gave Kale 50 kisses today on his soft little head, and every time I kissed him he would relax, so it just kills me every time I have to leave him. He is going to be so embarrassed when I ask for an adjoining dorm room some day when he goes off to school.

Enough of my sappy stuff...he has gone up on his feedings, and is now at 32 mls every 3 hours fortified at 27 calories. Here's a nice little story for ya...This is how level-headed of a mom I am...(being sarcastic here), yesterday he spit up some of his milk which was the first time I saw this happen. I was holding him when this happened, so his nurse, Jodi, wasn't in the room. Well, I see white stuff coming out of his mouth and immediately sit him up, try to burp him, then turn him over on his belly and start whacking his back screaming, 'JODI!!!!!!!!!!!' and pull his cords off him so his screen goes blank to alert them something is happening. Of course Jodi comes in and saves the day.....which involved seeing that he is just spitting up and realizes nothing life threatening is happening. I was terrified. I was shaking. WHAT am I going to do when he is home and we have NO nurse next door?!?!? Well, simple enough, Jodi is going to have to move in, even though she is getting married in a few months, I mean what are spare bedrooms for, right!? Ughhh I called Derc to tell him my terrifying story and he of course laughs at me and says, 'Jame (he would like me to clarify that he calls me Jame...short for Jamerson....I think that's fairly obvious but he insists :) ), you can't overreact like that!' Easier said than done.....I can't wait for the first time he spits up on Derc and he screams like a school girl......hahaha, just kidding, I'm terrible!

So, Kale's eye exam was about the same today, his eyes are developing well and she will continue to do eye exams the next two weeks. We also had some people come in today to talk with us about the plans for after he is discharged (like the nurses and therapists that will see him when he is at home)...which is kind of exciting because it makes me feel like he is so close to making it home! Pretty cool actually, they have a speech therapist, occupational therapist, nurse, social worker and some other people that will come observe him and judge how he is doing from a developmental standpoint.

By the way, Kale is up to 4 lbs. 2 oz. now!

Well, thanks for checking in on him, he's lucky to have so many people that care about him! Thanks for the prayers, he is so close to coming home in part to how many people are praying for his health to improve!