Samuel Update -- Aug. 6, 2009

Bryan and I are at Egleston again today. On our drive here this morning, we were remarking how unbelievable it is that Samuel is only 4 days old. It feels like this is already our routine -- driving here in the morning, spending our days at the hospital, and driving home at night to sleep. I could easily believe we've been doing this for 2 weeks already.

Despite the weariness of hospital life and waiting for more news, we are holding up remarkably well. We spend a lot of time at Samuel's side laughing, singing songs, praying, telling him stories about his wonderful brothers, and genuinely enjoying ourselves and our precious time with our newest son. Last night Bryan made up a hilarious song about bilirubin, and we laughed a lot singing it to Samuel. I hope he appreciates his father's humor as he gets older!

We are tired, for sure, but we are trusting our God, and most moments our hearts are genuinely calm and peaceful. We know that God has given us this son, and He loves Samuel even more than we do. Samuel is not ours to hold in clenched fists; he is ours to trust into God's care. However there are certainly hard moments like when his alarms go off signifying that something isn't as it should be, or when he heads to the heart catheter lab, or when we kiss him good night and then leave him here and go home without him. There is something terribly unnatural about leaving my newborn. We long to hold him, feed him, introduce him to his brothers, bring him home, and put him to bed in his own crib. I can't wait to get up in the middle of the night to feed and hold him rather than to pump more milk. But in this season of waiting, God is sustaining us. And I am convinced that the prayers of our many faithful friends are upholding us. THANK YOU!

So far the news on Samuel today is not very different from previous days. The good news is that his lungs look really good today -- open and not full of gunk. Hooray! They just put a pic line in his arm b/c his umbilical lines are starting to close. We were kicked out for the procedure, but they just called to tell us it went well and only took 1 stick. We are expecting a few more days of waiting before we know more about the heart. We heard again this morning that surgery next week is likely. I am hoping that in the next days Samuel can begin to get breastmilk through a tube in his nose and that he will be able to get off the ventilator. He is under the bilirubin lights for jaundice. He has a light below him and one above him, and they are blinding. Bryan and I actually brought sunglasses today to shade our eyes. Samuel has little eye protectors on, and with the tubes, tape, and neuro-sensor thing, we can't see much of his face. Hopefully his billirubin count will go down, and the lights can be a thing of the past. Or as Bryan's song says, "Go away, Bilirubin!"

Ok, I will probably let Bryan do the next update. His are much more medically accurate and informative. Thanks again for praying for us, friends. We are beyond grateful. And thanks to the secret helper who mowed our front lawn last night. We are blessed by all of you. Many, many thanks!