Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone,

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and we wanted to let everyone know that we are very thankful to have you in our life. We are very thankful for all the prayers and support we have received as they are helping.

Over the last two weeks, Jackson has made a lot of progress.

On November 13th- Jackson weighed 3 lbs 11 oz and was on CPAP of 7.

On November 14th- Jackson went down on his CPAP machines to 6 in 1 day! Which is excellent. Jackson has some interesting colored residual from his milk so they are watching how much of his feeding comes back up- all through a tube which goes to his stomach.

On November 15th- Jackson went NPO- (no feeds back to IV Fluids)

On November 16th- Jackson goes back onto feeds and we use a different protein/fortifier mixture in his milk. Jackson's weight is 3 lbs 12 oz which is great considering we just went back on feeds, but we were only off of feeds for 1 day. Jackson also gets a bath and we get to Kangaroo Care "hold" him. Jackson's feeds are also going into his stomach an are given every 3 hours which is great!

On November 17th- Jackson is at 3 lbs 11 oz and he was put on Prilosec. But he made a great stride forward today, we got rid of the CPAP machine and went to the nasal canula. This is great for Jackson as he seems much more comfortable without those long prongs down his nose and all that tape on his face.

On November 18th- We are 8 weeks old today! We are back to feeding again and it was Daddy's turn to hold Jackson today. He's still on the nasal canula and doing well. He also weighed 3 lbs 13 oz today! We've also been praying for Jackson during mass at Saint Mary Cathedral in Austin. It's a beautiful church and a wonderful place to celebrate our answered prayers.

On November 19th- Jackson weighs in at 3 lbs 15 oz! and we are just hanging out on the nasal canula and enjoying minimal changes in our life today.

On November 20th- Jackson weighs in at 4 lbs! Our baby is getting big and we are very very happy. Jackson is developing some goo in his eyes so we start eye drops. He also gets his first visit from the speech pathologist!

On November 21st- We went down on our Canula pressure to 2.5 L and our Oxygen requirements are minimal.

On November 22nd: We go down again on our Canula to 2.0 L and our feedings increase to 42 cc's every 3 hours. We had an eye exam today and we are given the report that we have a stage one regarding his blood vessels in his eyes. Cheryl his nurse informs us that the doctor doesn't want us worrying as this is very typical, but if it progresses to stage 2 then he may need eye surgery. We pray that this just goes away on its own with time. Jackson will get his next eye exam in 2 weeks. We are now taking out our feeding tube after being fed which is great and the tube only goes in when he needs to be fed.

November 23rd: We get our second visit from Occupational Therapy and she is very pleased with how much more Jackson is able to tolerate being touched and moved. Jackson also goes off prilosec today and he weighs in at 4lbs 3 oz! In the picture below, I think he is telling the Occupational Therapist "Put me down, I'm tired!!' ;)

November 24th: Jackson is down to 1 Liter on his Canula and weighs in at 4lbs 2 oz. He also learns to make a fish face with his mouth. According to Nana Shepard, he gets that from his mother. :)

November 25th TODAY: Jackson is still at 1 L on his Canula which is excellent and he weighs 4lbs 4 oz!!! and he turned 9 weeks old today. We also were able to feed him a little from a bottle today for the first time. He managed to take 5 cc over about 30 min then he went to tube feeding. This is great considering this is the first time Jackson has had the chance to try to take a bottle and considering everything that has been shoved in his mouth. He did really well.

Jackson also got a full bath tonight. He handled it very well, and I think he almost liked it. But as you can see in the last picture, I think he was ready to get out at the end. :)

We again thank everyone for all the prayers and support. We hope you can see through these updates that miracles through prayer are occurring and we pray Jackson keeps moving in the positive direction.

With love,

Kyle, Erica & Jackson

7 Weeks Old

Hello Everyone,

Jackson is another week older and almost 33 weeks old! We are very excited to announce that we do not have much to update you on. As our little man is holding steady on his CPAP machine. He did go down on the pressure from 10 to 9 which is EXCELLENT! He is holding his O's (oxygen) at 21 to 23%. He did have an eye exam by Dr. Lockhart which so far everything is looking good. His eyes are still developing so they need to do the eye exams every 2 to 3 weeks. Jackson is on the 2 week plan so his next exam will be around Thanksgiving - it actually falls on Thanksgiving day- but I am sure it will occur the day prior or after- but we could be wrong. Jackson is holding steady at 3lb's 11 oz. (1660 grams). We hope he starts to gain more weight again but no pressure. Jackson is doing well on going to the bathroom on his own - which many will think this is funny but is a big deal when it comes to these little guys. Jackson will need a hernia surgery but the doctors are going to wait until he is stronger and bigger. Mom was able to give Jackson a bath the other night which was fun. Jackson liked it when he was in the water but moving from the isolette to the water- was a chore for Bethel (his nurse) and mom. Jackson also has received some new nicknames one from Faith (his Respiratory Therapist) which is "slobber monster" and Daddy nicknamed him "lawnmower man" as Jackson made noises like a lawn mower during Kangaroo Care today.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and all the comments !
We hope these updates find you and your families in good health.
Love,
Kyle, Jackson and Erica

Here are some more pictures of Jackson during Kangaroo Care and of Jackson in one of his many new outfits that Nanna and Pappa Shepard bought him.

6 Weeks Old and Growing

Hello everyone!

We are so happy to let everyone know that this past Saturday Jackson was six weeks old. Jackson has had a good week and we pray that he continues in this positive direction.

On October 28th- Jackson and daddy had a huge day where daddy was able to hold him for the first time! (See previous post)

Jackson continued to grow stronger and on Tuesday October 31st...
Jackson gave us a big Halloween treat by going off the ventilator onto the CPAP machine. He also had protein added to his milk which he gets via a feeding tube that goes directly to his intestines and he went up on his feeds to 9cc's / hour. We are proud to let everyone know that 1 week later Jackson is still on CPAP and last night to today he stayed on room air (21% O2).

Mom is super excited as she was able to hold Jackson for the first time on Sunday, November 5th. Jackson and I were able to do Kangaroo care, which is skin to skin contact. Jackson did well, infact I think mom or dad needs to Kangaroo care Jackson 24 hours a day / 7 days a week! Of course, the doctors may have something else to say about that : )

November 7th- We are very thankful to Olga, his weekend nurse, who helps us when we did the Kangaroo care on Sunday and also to Lisa who helped daddy last night as he was able to do Kangaroo care too!

November 8th-

Our big boy is still doing well on CPAP and he is as of today 3lbs 10 oz! Go Jackson!! We are down to room air on the CPAP machine which is great. He will be on the CPAP for a bit longer to give his lungs more time to get better, but we are very pleased that he is progressing in this direction and thank God everyday for this. He also had his 1st outfit put on him last night, it is so cute. We will send pictures of this as soon as we get them downloaded. Mom also was able to Kangaroo Care Jackson last night again for the 2nd time and this time for a little longer than 30 mins and it just made our day!

We can't thank everyone enough for all their prayers, love and support. We appreciate it and we can't wait to send you all pictures of him coming home. In the interim, we will continue to update the blog as often as we can. Jackson will still have about 2 months or more stay at St. David's, but as the doctors say "one day at a time" and who knows our boy may surprise everyone!

Love,

Kyle, Erica and Jackson