from Mommy

I am so excited !!! Dea the Nurse practicioner called me today and told me that she thought Spence is ready to try eating out of a bottle. The best part of this news is that I am going to be able to be the first one to feed him. I am going to the hospital early tonight so that I can feed him his first bottle at 8pm. I am so excited, I hope he does well with it. His liter flow is at 4 liters and his oxygen is anywhere from 25%-30%. This is really good for him. I will have Delphine take some pictures of me feeding him so that I can show everyone.

As of last night Spence is doing well on the Vapotherm. Spence is still on a flow of 5 liters and his Oxygen when I visited him last night was at 40%. As of this Morning his oxygen is anywhere from 35%-40%. I thank Heavenly Father every day for the progress that Spence has made in the last 3 months, it is hard to believe he started out so tiny and is now getting so big. When Nurse Shannon wieghed Spence last night he weighed in at 6 pounds 8 ounces. Shannon seems to think that some of it is water weight, but most of it is him. Without the water weight on him he is probably a little over 6 pounds. I am thankful for everyone that has been praying for him, without all of you and our Heavenly Father, things I think would have been a lot harder to handle. We are greatful for the support.

They took Spence off the Vent today at around two in the afternoon. Nurse Erin said that right now he is doing ok. He is on 5 liters and about 50% oxygen. This is really good for him considering we didn't think he would be coming off the Vent this soon, due to his chronic lung condition. I never really understood the severity of his condition until it was explained to me in more plain terms. Spence's lungs are like a balloon that is really hard to blow up. No matter how hard you try to blow it up it only blows up a little bit. When Spence tries to take a breath it is like trying to blow up that really hard balloon. His lungs don't expand as much as they should, so he can't really get the full breath needed. I hope I am making sense, I have a tendancy to babble, so to make a long story short when Spence tries to breath his lungs don't expand as much as they should because they are stiff like a new balloon that is hard to blow up. Spence is also doing well with his feedings and hopefully sometime in the near future we will be able to try using a bottle to feed him. As of right now we are still unable to hold him, but once his settings are a bit lower and his oxygen comes down a little bit we might be able to start holding him again. They just want to give him a chance to get back into the swing of things. Thanks again for all the prayers, we truly appreciate them.

Spence's Nurse this morning, said that he has come down some on his Vent settings. His rate today is at 30 and his O2 % is at 33 %. Nurse Jenny said that he is pretty much setting his own pace right now, seeing as he had such a rough day yesterday. Nurse Jenny seems to think that once all of the drugs from yesterday's surgery are out of Spence's system it will be easier to wean him off the Vent. Spence is still a little groggy from the surgery but he seems to be comfortable. The Doctor's have already started him back on half feedings yesterday and today they should be able to put him back on the full feedings he was receiving before the surgery. Our little Spence is making it through, it seems that with every trial placed before him he is feeling all of the prayers and just breezes through them. Thank you everyone for all the prayers, they are truly helping Spence fight through these first trials of life.

Spence is out of Surgery and is recovering nicely. The eye surgery itself was the easy part for Spence, it was the being put back on the Vent that really seemed to throw Spence for a loop. Around 5:30 this morning the RT team took spence off the Vapotherm and put him back on the Vent. Unfortunately they had a little trouble getting the Vent tube in, but once they got it Spence started D-sating badly. Our little Spence was fighting the Vent which happens a lot when a baby has been off the Vent for an extended period of time. The RT's kept taking Spence's blood gas's to make sure all was well, unfortunately Spence had a couple of really bad gas's so they had to raise his rate on the Vent rather quickly. He had a few spells where they had to bag him but he recovered nicely, once they suctioned out his lungs and put him on a higher rate he was doing well. Spence is now on a rate of 55 and his O2% is also at 55. Spence's eye's are a little red and puffy but that is to be expected after having laser eye surgery. Doctor Clark the eye specialist seems to think that Spence wont need to have any other surgeries on his eyes, but they are going to keep an eye on him just to be sure. He will be seen by Doctor Clark and Nurse Sharon on friday for a follow up to the surgery. The RT seems to think that Spence will come off the Vent sooner than later. Spence's RT said that his last gas before the surgery was excellent and if it wasn't for the fact that he was about to undergo surgery she would start weaning him off the Vent. All in all he is doing well, hopefully he will come off the Vent soon. Thank you again for all the prayers, we love all of you .

These pictures were taken Monday night by Nurse Delphine

Turns out that Spence's ROP has become worse and is at a stage three. At this point Spence's ROP is very severe and they are going to do Laser eye surgery on Monday morning at 7am.. This surgery won't fix the vision loss that has already occurred but it will hopefully prevent the ROP from progressing any further. About 90% of the time the surgery is a success and the ROP doesn't progress any further, but there are those rare cases when the Surgery doesn't work and they have to go back in and do another surgery later on down the road. Unfortunately if they have to do another surgery down the road the chances of Spence's eyesight being great are slim to none. As of right now the Eye doctor's Nurse Sharon seems to think that even with the surgery Spence will need to have glasses when he is a toddler. In order to do the Eye surgery they will have to put Spence back on the Vent, which is kinda scary seeing as he has had some trouble coming off the Vent before. Spence's Nurse's are hopeful that he might surprise us and come back off the Vent fairly quick. I am hoping and praying that our little Spence is strong enough to come off the Vent sooner than later, but I have also learned that with Preemies you never really know how things are going to go. What I do know is that everything will turn out all right. No matter what he is in the best place he can be with the most loving Nurse's he can possibly have.. I love the NICU Nurse's, they are Awesome .. Especially Spence's Primaries. Thanks again for the love and prayers being sent our way .. We love you all ..

Spence's first YouTube

Uncle Preston made an amazing video of pictures of Spence.

http://www.youtube.com/cdguylhs1