Merry Christmas

Well we had one heck of a christmas present... Yepp, we got to hold Jackson for the first time on Christmas night!!!!!  That was an amazing experience :-)  On Christmas eve, Jackson had the UA line going through his belly button removed which was the last thing keeping us from holding him.

Jackson has continued to be fairly stable throughout the last couple of days.  We have learned some more about what may be going on with his kidneys as well as what that could possibly mean for the future.  Basically, there are two parts to his kidneys and the doctors are concerned that he may have damaged one part (but not the other part) and that can sometimes cause kidney problems later on in life.  However, they don't know what will happen for sure or to what extent they might be damaged.  So all we know right now is that his kidneys are working at filtering his blood and keeping his body clean.

His lungs continue to be strong; the doctors are planning on placing him on the standard style of ventilator again today.  They don't like going back and forth but they have to have the jet vent on such low settings that they want to go back to the standard vent style.

His head scan last week showed that the bleed in his head was not growing in size.  He has another scan today and if that comes back the same (or maybe even smaller :-)) that would be a great sign that the bleeding has stopped and that Jackson's body may have started the process of re-absorbing the blood.

Jackson has continued to be feed little by little.  They give him about 2cc of milk every 8hrs and this seems to be working well.  If they give him much more than that, a little is still in his stomach when the next feeding comes around.  But he is making dirty diapers so we know his digestive system is working, it is just taking a little while to build up efficiency.

Our little Helland family considers this past week to have been a very good week.  Jackson seems to be getting more and more stable every day.  We are very grateful that God has given Jackson stable enough days that Annie and I were able to make it to Pella for Christmas with her family. 

Please continue to pray that stable days continue, that feedings continue to go well and that he is able to eat more so that he has the energy to grow.   Thank you also for your continued prayers for the continued healing of his urinary system rupture as well as for his head bleed.  Annie and I have been very blessed by so many of you all and that makes it easier for us to keep taking life one day at a time, thank you.