Nathan is progressing!

Well, so much has happened since yesterday afternoon that it's hard to keep up with it all! The good news is that Nathan is progressing really well! I know we have said it before, but we are so convinced that it's the work of God's people praying for us! THANK YOU!

Just some highlights from the past 24 hours or less:
- Nathan is now drinking my milk that I've been working so hard to pump out! They started him yesterday with just 5 cc's (which is like a tablespoon or so) and he tolerated it very well. In fact, he sucked it right up! We were concerned that he wouldn't have much of a sucking reflex with all tubes in his mouth, but they didn't seem to affect him. He also has a pacifier that he enjoys from time to time and he does really well with it.
- The doctor indicated that we would have to gradually increase his milk intake to give his system time to get used to it - but at his noon feeding today, they indicated that every two feedings they will add an additional 5 cc's. So he's already getting 10 cc's right now and he certainly drinks it right up!
- what this also means is that he will quickly get to 30 cc's - which is the goal amount for me to start breast feeding him. So - I may be breast feeding him as early as tomorrow afternoon! which will really help move things along.
- and they are working at getting him off the minimal oxygen that he's been on. So basically, the feedings and the oxygen are the two main things we're looking at before he can go home with us! we can hardly wait!
- We were with the doctor yesterday when he looked at Nathan's daily x-ray and he was encouraged because he could see a slight enlargement in Nathan's left lung (the one that was not developed well at all due to the intestines being in the way). So that hopefully means that the lung was not completely damaged and that it will continue to grow and develop in the left-side cavity as far as we know. The lung currently fills about 40% of the space. This is encouraging as the doctors weren't really sure how his lung would respond after the surgery. In fact, they seemed more concerned about this than they were about the actual surgery. His right lung has been unaffected so far and is doing very well as it was completely developed at birth. So once again, we have been blessed by some encouraging news!
- Both Santi and I have been able to hold Nathan now - I try to get down to the NICU by his feeding time and they take him out of his incubator and let me hold him and feed him. Today we watched the nurse give him a bath, helped change his diaper and got to feed him twice! Such wonderful moments after being separated from him via the incubator all these days.
- And Nathan is resting and sleeping much better now that he is eating. He seemed quite restless up until now (unless he was sedated which they had to do earlier last week to keep him from pulling his monitor wires and tubes). He really is a very active little boy and somehow early this morning had managed to pull out the tube that is in his nose that goes down to his stomach! The nurse and I couldn't believe it! The tube was taped to his nose and should have been hard to pull out! But he's definitely a determined little boy who is alert and active. Sometimes it's hard for us to remember how serious his situation is (even though he's doing well, the doctors have reminded us that there are things that we will need to watch when we take him home) and all that he has been through in just a week.

So this is where things are at this point. We'll see what the next few hours bring. It's exciting to see things move along so quickly - we also need to remember to take things moment by moment. Again, thanks for everything that all of you are doing to be encouragement to us and help us along during this challenge in our lives. It means a lot to us!!!

Happy New Year to all of you!