Days 49-54

This is the only recent picture I have of him but he is getting so big and soooo handsome!!!

Sorry that its been so long on the posts everyone, same trouble as we have been having. My computer is still out of service (hopefully now not that much longer since my uncle found out what was wrong with it). So I am currently at my parents house using one of their computers. I have to fill you in on days 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 and today being 54. So I am going to summarize all of the days together.

Ok so, since we last updated, Hayden has had a setback and then made a comeback. He had to go back on oxygen for about a day and a half because they told us that he was not being able to breathe very well since they moved his feeding tube into his nose. They said though that they had to keep the tube in his nose because he would not be able to nurse if it would be in his mouth. Since then, he has managed to come back off the oxygen and to only have a couple of events.

He is still doing pretty well with his feedings. They tried to treat him like a big boy and go to the bolus feedings spread out over an hour with a two hour break but his tummy did not like that at all. He has managed to keep it at a feeding spread over 2 hours with a break of one hour. The main point is that he is no longer on continuous feedings which is a great great accomplishment. He is also doing well with his nursing that he gets to try twice a day which is great! We are really hoping that maybe by next week he will be on all bottle feedings. He also now weighs 3 lbs. and 7 ozs.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awesome!!!!!

His biggest problem right now is that he is anemic. They have already given him two blood transfusions and they have helped but he is still too small to keep his blood supply up all by himself. I believe they said that the normal red blood cell count was around 46? (it was either 45 or 46) and that his level was 25. So he needs to make more red blood cells. They don't want to give him another transfusion unless they have to because they said that it sends a signal to his body not to make more. They are hoping that his body will get the hint and start to make more on its own over the next couple of days.

Also, he had another eye exam that is now showing that he is stage 2-3 immature instead of stage 1. Which means it was good because they didn't see any bleeding or anything out of the order, but also means that they will just have to re-check them again in another 2 weeks to see if they have fully matured.

I think that's about all the updates on mister Hayden. He is doing very well and we are hoping that maybe he can come home sometime towards the middle or the end of July. I hope that he doesn't have to stay there till his due date in August since he is making such good progress. Please keep praying for him that he will continue to do well and that he can come home soon. We love you all very much and thank you for following our blog and praying for our little miracle baby!

Tim, Hilary, and Hayden