Each Day is a Blessing

Kelson has blown past the 48 hour mark, and now passed 72 hrs and counting. It's hard to believe the time that has gone by. Sometimes it seems like just hours ago he born, and other times it feels like we have been here for an eternity. We were able to get some solid rest last night, which was much needed. The day started out about the same, his fluid drainage tubes were changed again. They were able to manually pull off over 40 mL from one lung, so that had to be a big relief for Kelson. After breakfast, we went back to see him and they were in the process of taking a stomach xray to determine how much fluid/air there was still in his abdominal cavity. While they had his isolate open for the xray, the nurse said we could touch him and give him a kiss. He was very alert, and had his eyes open for quite a while. The nurse let Krista wipe his eyes and mouth, and assist with the diaper change. These simple moments were the highlight of our day. It may not have been much, but it was nice to feel helpful and needed. Tomorrow we have the same nurse, so we will get to assist her again. The day remainder of the day was so full of visitors we almost forgot to eat. My cousin Sherri was in town from Colorado to run the champaign marathon, so she popped in for a visit. We also had a visit from "Nurse Becky", who works at GAH, and her parents. Becky is Kristas cousin. She took care of us when Claire was born, and took care of Krista following the c-section. We also had a visit from Audrey Angus, who brought us a big bag of supplies (extra toothbrushes, razors, etc). Kelsons big sister Claire was here today too, along with all 4 of his grandparents, his Uncle Kirk, and Kenneth, Kathi, and Kara. We had to give up the room we had been sleeping in at the hospital, and have moved across the street to the Carle Auxillary Guest House. It is a great place, but it was hard to leave tonight. Even though we can see the hospital from our window, it feels like we are miles away from Kelson. As for Kelsons health, there still have not been any major changes. They continue to drain fluid, and there is less swelling. The biggest issue being delt with is metabolic balance. For example: his blood ph has been low, so they give him sodium bicarbonate to help reduce it, which then raises his sodium level, so they have to administer another drug to counteract that. He has been on high levels of dextrose for energy and nutrients, which raises his blood sugar, so they have to give insulin to counteract that...and so on and so forth. Tonight they will check his blood every 3 hours, and continually make adjustments to his medications. We have had the same night nurse for three nights in a row, and she says she is seeing improvement. It is hard for Krista and I to notice the improvements when we see him almost every hour. I will be excited to go see him in the morning, since we are sleeping away from him tonight. Thanks again to everyone who has taken time out of your day to read this. We know Kelson has people all over the world praying and cheering him on, and we cannot express how much that means to us.