Josh had a slightly better night last night.  His feeding tube was replaced last night so that he could recieve supplemental feedings when he was too tired to nurse.  He continued to be very tired when nursing and only had half feedings most of the night.  Because the feeding tube was back in and Josh was so tired, Mommy skipped the 3am feeding so everyone could catch up on some sleep (the nurse fed him through his feeding tube).   By 6am, Josh was a different boy.  He was very awake and ready to eat.  Despite his poor eating yesterday, Josh gained 17grams and his weight is 4lbs 10.9oz.  We are very excited that he did not lose weight during all of this ordeal.

He has had a much better day today overall.  In addition to eating well he has also been able to rest well between feedings.  His blood cultures from yesterday are still negative and his spinal fluid looked good.  If his cultures remain negative for 48 hours then they will stop his IV antibiotics.  Josh has much pinker cheeks after recieving some of Uncle Steve's blood.  He is doing a much better job of maintaining his temperature today, although it has been on the low side of normal most of the day.  Josh also had another CBC (blood count) done today and it showed that his immune system is working at full speed again.  Because this information conflicts with the test done yesterday he will have labs drawn again in the morning to see which results were erounous.

After talking to our nurse pracitioner, Mommy and Daddy think that all of this might have been caused by Josh's low body tempearture and not by an infection.  The baby next to Josh also had to be placed back under a warmer yesterday (we speculate it is because of the temperature of the NICU in that corner).  Apparently when a preemie becames as cold as Josh did it is very hard for them to get their body temperature back up - it can take several days for them to be able to regulate their temperatures again.  It also uses up lots of calories in a preemie baby.  Having a low body temperature can cause the baby to be lethargic, have bradycardia, apnea and not eat well.  Mommy and Daddy will be very concious of Josh's body temperature when he goes home.  (If anyone in the Gainesville area has a space heater we can borrow for a short time we woud greatly appreciate it.  Please either email us flip.and.chrissy@gmail.com or post a comment and we will get in contact with you.) 

Mommy and Daddy are hopeful that Josh's blood cultures will remain negative and that they will be able to stop his antibitoics tomorrow.  We are also hopeful that Josh will be back fully to his old self within the next few days.  Mommy has been working with Josh today using the supplemental nursing system we created.  It has been pretty successful, although it currently takes an additional person to operate it.  We are hopefully this system will help Josh to be able to take in the extra food he needs until he is able to breastfeed fully. 

Mommy and Daddy are looking forward to celebrating with everyone at Josh's baby shower tomorrow.  We feel so blessed to have Josh in our lives - he is truley a miracle baby!!

Prayer Requests:

• Josh continue to have the energy to feed well
• Josh continue to gain weight (he is 4 pounds 10.9 ounces)
• Josh continue to hold his body temperature
• Josh learn how to take additional feeds
• Josh, Mommy, and Daddy get good rest

Praises:

• Josh gained 17 grams yesterday!
• Josh did well eating extra breastmilk through several different SNS methods
• Mommy and Daddy were able to keep the room they are staying in for another night
• Josh is doing much better after getting some of Uncle Steve's blood

(Josh getting blinded by an inadvertent flash in the morning)

(Josh sporting his new IV and feeding tube)

(Isn't he just the cutest baby ever?)

(Josh trying to take some pictures of his own)