First of all, Hayden failed his last count down and had another event so we had to start a new count down. We have now made it to day 4 of 8 on that count down. They figured out that it was his being so anemic that was causing the events with his heart so they went ahead and gave him another blood transfusion which helped a whole whole lot. He is acting like a brand new baby now. He hasn't had any more events since the transfusion. Also, I wanted to mention, Virginia Baptist Hospital is hosting a blood drive with the Red Cross on July 10th from 11:30 to 5:30 in the Craddock Auditorium. So I am encouraging everyone to go out and give blood for those who need it because there is a national blood shortage. The blood has saved Hayden's life and I will never be able to express my thanks to the person who gave it to him. So please just consider making a difference for someone else (maybe even a baby like Hayden). Tim is also going to donate and I really wanted to but they wouldn't let me because its too soon after having Hayden.
He also now weighs 4 lbs. and 5 ozs! Yay!! But they are saying that he is still gaining weight a little slowly for his age and that they would like for him to start putting on weight a little more quickly. So please pray that Hayden would start beefing up a little bit more and that he would keep on the weight that he has put on already. Losing his weight is another of his little problems but we are working through it slowly and surely.
And now....drum roll please....the biggest news of all.....................NO MORE FEEDING TUBE!! He is now taking all of his feedings by bottle all by himself. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of breastfeeding yet but they are hoping that will be in the near future as well. So we are soooo excited at his awesome progress. I wish I had a picture of his brand new look without the tubes but I don't have one on my camera yet. As soon as I get a picture though, I will post one. He looks so handsome!
He also had another eye exam the other day and it turned out perfect! His eyes are now totally mature so they don't have to do any more exams. He also had another head ultrasound that showed that the bleeding on his brain was gone!! And he had another heart ultrasound to check and see if he still has his slight murmur. We haven't gotten the results of that one yet but will let you know when we do.
The only other thing he is having problems with right now is that he is having some blood in his stool still which they think is being caused by the lactose in the formula that they are using to supplement him with. So they switched him today to a special non-lactose formula that they are supplementing the breast milk with. Hopefully this will help but they want to watch him for a few days and not feed him any breast milk just to isolate what it is that is making his stomach hurt. So they are only feeding him this special formula for the next couple of days to see if it helps.
Sorry about how long this post was, I guess it is because we have missed a few days with the posts. But we appreciate all of your prayers and just keep praying for Hayden and that maybe he will get to come home by his due date (which is now only three weeks away). We love you all!!Tim, Hilary, and Hayden
