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