Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!! We had a great time ringing in the New Year with some friends from church! We played some Rock Band and Wii sports. It was a good time!

Cooper is doing good. He is still up and down on his stats. They started running some tests to see if they can figure out why he is so up and down. Originally we were told that the PDA valve being open was the reason for his instability. Since the surgery closed the valve, he is still somewhat unstable... They finally did an Eco to make sure the valve is closed and the heart is good; it is. They ran some blood tests to check for infection; negative. They sent off some of his secretions to see if there is an infection there; still waiting. They changed his tube for the ventilator to make sure it was not blocked...NOTHING... except his lungs. His lungs are still quite immature. He is technically supposed to be in my belly still growing. He was not to be born until February. He was 15 weeks early!! I am trying not to rush him!! But his instability keeps me from holding him, and kissing him!! It sounds selfish, but I need to hold him!!

So, we are just waiting on him to mature. The current thought is to grow him and his lungs will grow. Nutrition is the best medicine at this point. They are also throwing around the idea of giving him some steroids to help grow his lungs. There are some potentially severe side effects. Some studies have shown that steroids can delay the development of the brain if given too young. The doctors at Vanderbilt feel that Cooper is old enough and the dose will be smaller than those in the studies. They feel that the benefits will out weigh the risks...?????????? If the steroids work, he will get 7 doses in 7 days. The doctors will aggressively decrease the settings on the ventilator until he is off altogether. He would still be on some form of oxygen, but off the ventilator. What to do??????? We are praying about this decision.

He is the sweetest thing! I so enjoy our time together. Today, I just talked to him about all the things waiting for him outside of the NICU. He stretched and opened his eyes and then went back to sleep. I hope he will be more interested when he comes home!! :-)