March 26, 2009

Here is the latest on my precious little Benjamin. Our biggest news of the day is that Benjamin is done pretending he is on the beach in Maui - in other words he out from under the billiruben light!!! He might need to go back under it, depending on how his tests end up in the morning, but is sure was good to see him without his little shades on. He opens his eyes more and I love looking at his sweet little face and expressions. He also gets to be swaddled up, which brings him more security (and me too, since he is less restless). His feedings are going well to. They had to stop him for a few hours on Tuesday evening, but were able to start him back up and increase it to a whopping half a mL per hour. They have to start him slow, but he is making progress! He is still having difficulty with the ventilator. He seems to do ok and then backslide repeatedly. They are monitoring him every day and checking to see if they can move him closer to being off. They have continued to give him morphine "bullets" as needed. Today he had one at 4am and did not have another one when I left after 10pm, so he is making progress in that area too. All in all, I am very pleased with how he is doing and praising God for giving him strength. He really is a fighter.

Today was our 14th day in the NICU. Brian stayed home to get some much needed rest and take care of some things for school (he is a full time student for those who didn't know and had finals last week - great timing, huh.) I enjoyed a peaceful day. I really feel like God is teaching me a lot of lessons and have a feeling he will continue to deepen them and there will be more to come. As I wrote in one of my previous emails, there are certain songs that play in my head throughout the day and I feel like I am "living" them. Here is another one that I thought I would share. It is my prayer these days. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement to us as we travel this road.

EVERYTHING by Tim Hughes

GOD IN MY LIVING
THERE IN MY BREATHING
GOD IN MY WAKING
GOD IN MY SLEEPING
GOD IN MY RESTING
THERE IN MY WORKING
GOD IN MY THINKING
GOD IN MY SPEAKING

CHORUS:
BE MY EVERYTHING
BE MY EVERYTHING
BE MY EVERYTHING
BE MY EVERYTHING

VERSE 2:
GOD IN MY HOPING
THERE IN MY DREAMING
GOD IN MY WATCHING
GOD IN MY WAITING

GOD IN MY LAUGHING
THERE IN MY WEEPING
GOD IN MY HURTING
GOD IN MY HEALING

BRIDGE:
CHRIST IN ME
CHRIST IN ME
CHRIST IN ME THE HOPE OF GLORY
YOU ARE EVERYTHING

CHRIST IN ME
CHRIST IN ME
CHRIST IN ME THE HOPE OF GLORY
BE MY EVERYTHING