1 week old

I don't know where to start there is just so much GOOD to share; glory to God!

First I want to point out to those that didn't know that he was born on John's birthday. Judi (John's mom) was born on her dad's birthday. And Alysun (sister-in-law) is due with Jamin partner in crime on her birthday. Kinda funny weird, eh?

So with my last post I put God in a box, and He is teaching me not to do that. I ended with the statement that he had a long way to go using extra o's to emphasise. Well while at this exact second in time he has x,y, and z to complete there is no telling how long it will take. The Lord has accelerated his healing. The nurse's and doc that had him last weekend walked in yesterday pretty much floored that this was the same baby. Before the main doc came in I was pretty sure he would have the same good surprised reaction as the nurse to I braved myself to share a little bit of why he is going so good so fast. You see, I've never personally lead anyone to the Lord, I've never done street evangelism or helped run a 5 day club or something similar. Occasionally I will say praise the Lord to someone that I don't know their spiritual status, but not really much more than that, and especially not to such intelligent people like doctors. So when she had the reaction that I had expected I nervously in my heart but confidently in my voice said, "The glory goes all to God almighty. I know you all are great at your jobs, but He is the one that gets the credit. This little man literally has thousands of people praying for him." There I had said it, looking into her eyes. I looked back at Jamin for fear of a disgusted look. She put her hand on my shoulder and said "Amen." I know that probably isn't a big deal with most of you for me it was. You see while pleating with God for his precious life I reminded Him that He does all things for His glory. I prayed that His healing of our son would do just that, bring glory and honor to Him, so that I can love him and raise him up here on this earth. A living testimony, a constant praise for the giving of life.

So on to more ways to lift up His name. Yesterday was a big de-cluttering day at Jamin's bedside, because he can do a few more things on his own! The MAJOR thing is that his ventilator is gone and he has downgraded to a nose tube for extra oxygen. Oxygen levels did have to go up to 27% after the move, but that is just because he needs extra support from all the changes. With all the chest tubes out of him they have slowly weaned off all the pain meds. Because he doesn't need constant (every 3 hours) blood gas tests (O2 vs. CO2) they took one of his two lines out of his bellybutton that feeds into a major vein. His catheter is also out, so I changed my first diaper of his Saturday evening! I've never been so excited, trilled and with a big fat smile on my face to wipe poop. There is a LOT of equipment that is gone with this, even if it doesn't sound like much. So what is left is his feeding tube that goes strait to his tummy it is currently down his throat but is going to be moved to up and then down via his nose soon, with that he is getting my pumped milk. (I will have to post later about the evil yellow pumping machine.) He has one line via belly button that gives him his fats and "baby gatorade". I asked but there is no place to donate my unwanted fat to his cause =) He has his nose tube that gives him extra oxygen to keep his oxygen levels up. Also on him is the way to measure those oxygen levels, they light up and one in on his hand/wrist and one is on his ankle/foot. The hand one measure the amount of oxygenation before it goes through the heart and the foot one measures after. And the last thing on him is an IV port on his left wrist in case that have to give him anything "extra."

So even though there is still several things attached to him, I was able to accomplish another first. After what will hopefully be the longest week of my life, I held my son for more than his initial 30 seconds. John had to run home real quick and got stuck in an unusual Saturday traffic jam I-5 south (this is one reason why we all don't live in Portland, right!?) So he missed this event and there is no documentation with a photo. I cannot begin to describe how I felt (or how much my milk dropped. =) So amazing and powerful is His love for us.