I think today I can return to the land of the living long enough to update this blog 😉

It is difficult to believe that Reese is over a months old already. I cried last night when I was feeding him. I know he is going to grow up and leave us. I am trying to cling onto every moment right now. He is already heavier and taller than he was. He is changing every day. I am so happy that he is thriving and growing and all that, but I just want time to slow down a little bit. It has been great having the Christmas break time off, David was able to spend almost four full weeks with us before having to get back to school. God really blessed us with the time together 🙂 Now it is back to school for David as he finishes up our commitment with CHS before we move on to our own church planting and community development ministry in the community.

Weight: At one moth Reese weighs 7 pounds! Up from  5.4 when we left the hospital. He was born at 6.3. He is at least an inch taller too. He is filling out his premature clothes now and I am sure we will soon be able to move to newborn! He is still in size one diapers, he still goes through at least 8 a day, and they are finally beginning to fit properly.

Sleep: Reese loves to sleep in his crib, he takes two loooong naps during the day. He also loves to sleep on my or David’s chest. He needs to be swaddled to sleep soundly, the tighter the better. David is the king of getting the perfect swaddle. At night he sleeps well-ish. He is out from 7-11 and then from 12-2 from 2-6 it can either be a nice long sleep or a few hours of awake time of fussy time. Right now he still sleeps in our room, but in his crib during the day.

Food: He likes to eat every two to three hours and only cries when he is hungry. We have been lucky enough that breast feeding has come naturally to both of us. When he is done eating he smack his lips loudly and then drifts off into a milk coma. It is the sweetest this ever. David is the king of burping him too
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Loves: Reese loves to be bathed. When his little body touches the water his whole body relaxes and he gets this goofy “aaaaaah” look on his face. I can see a lot of tub time in this little guy’s future. He also loves his seahorse soother, when he is fussy we just turn it on and he immediately relaxes and then dozes off. And then his soothie pacifier calms him down and helps him to fall asleep he loves it! And then we both love the Moby wrap. When I wear Reese in it he immediately falls asleep and will stay that way the whole time. I love having him so close to my heart.

Jaundice update: We came home from the hospital on Sunday the 11th of Dec, but we were back in the hospital for Jaundice by the Thursday after that. Reese stayed under the lights for three days. He did ok in there, he did become dehydrated at one time and we had to fight with the nurses to believe us. He had not peed for over 6 hours, but the nurse said that it is impossible to become dehydrated when you are not passing urine. We insisted and the pead was called, she prescribed 60ml of electrolytes. After that he was much better. His bili levels decreased from 291 to 130 and we were sent home with orders to keep him in the sun. We kept doing that until the heat wave hit. It was up past 106 degrees each day, and the sun was wilting things within minutes. We went for his two week appointment and the dr. ordered another bili test. By now our little trooper had blood drawn from his little feet more times than I like to count. His numbers were back up to 190 but the dr. said not to worry. A week later we took him back up for another test and it was up to 191. The Dr. said this meant his numbers were slowing down enough that the jaundice was not progressing and would soon be out. A week later we went to the dr. for some post-op complications for me and Reese had spent the previous night throwing up. The dr. said he was not worried about the vomiting, to give Reese water between feeds because of the heat and then he made a big deal about our baby’s colour. His legs and torso are pink, but his arms, face and eyes are still pretty yellow. Dr. B referred us to the pediatrician to have a liver function test done. But he warned us that this test needs a lot of blood and that they would probably draw it from his neck. At that point I was ready to put Reese in the car and drive away from doctors and needles. The next day we saw Dr. Puper. She looked at him and checked his liver and concluded that he probably has breast milk jaundice or something called toxissomethingorother but that there is no treatment for either, but since Reese is thriving we should just wait it out. At his six week appointment she will reevaluate and see if he needs the test then.  So in a nut shell he is thriving, but he is still pretty jaundiced.

We are doing well, thank you so much for all the prayers and messages that we have received in the last month. I honestly don’t think there is any way we will ever know how many people have prayed for us since I fell and went into the hospital last month. And we cannot wait to get to America in a few months so you all can meet our miracle baby face to face!