5 days and 24ccs

That's right, 5 days of Jacob breathing on his own (with the help of vapotherm) and up to 24 ccs of milk every three hours! YAY Jacob! YAY God!

We are so thankful for the progress that Jacob has made in the past few days and grateful to God for continuing to bless us with Jacob and his life. However, it has not been all peaches and cream for us in these past five days (we are in the NICU and riding the roller coaster, of course). Jacob's right lung is still small and underdeveloped, so he breathes faster than a normal infant would. Yesterday we noticed that his breathing had increased (80-90 times a minute) and his heart rate was up as well (180-190). They did an X-Ray and found that his right lung had partially collapsed. They turned up some of his support on Vapotherm for two hours and laid him on his left side for the night, so that his right lung would be up. Within 12 hours Jacob had recruited the right lung back to its original size (half the size of his left, still small). We're encouraged by this!

We need continued prayers that Jacob's right lung will get stronger and stronger as he grows and that we can stay away from the vent. Doctors have told us that a child's lungs can develop up to the age of 8, which means that Jacob could be able to breathe easier as he gets older, but we need to continue to recruit more and more lung on his right side. The little amount of right lung he has is amazing, considering that his ENTIRE LIVER was in his chest. Maybe one day we can show you x-rays from his birth to now...What a testimony that God can do miracles. But, we still ask for more.

We are doing better on feeds, but still a long way away from full feeds. We are up to 24ccs every three hours (a little less than an ounce). A full feed is 70-80ccs every three hours. Each day the doctors will increase his feeds by 5 or 6 ccs if Jacob does well. The faster we can get to full feeds, the sooner Jacob can come off the IV fluids. Keep praying, it's working! :)