more good news

Things are improving all the time here with Brecken. Last night, we got to feed Brecken his bottle. I did half, Josh did the other half. He was still in his bed because of the chest tube, but it was nice to get to feed him ourselves. The nurse had to turn off his heat on his bed though, since he was so nice and cozy he wouldn't wake up to eat. Once he got a little chillier, he woke up and was awake for a long time! Everyone got to see his eyeballs. What was really special was when I was all alone with him for about 20 minutes, and he just stared and stared at me. We chatted for a long time about how he was going to love going home and meeting his puppies, and seeing his room, and seeing Daddy's football games. He just stared and listened. He loves to hold hands too, so that was fun.

This morning Josh and I got downstairs just in time for the doctor to visit, after a quick chat with the nurse. She said twice overnight, Brecken's heart rate went way down but self-corrected and they don't know why it did it. Hopefully his heart will quit that, because it scares me! Anyway, small world- the doctor is from Gillette and graduated 7 years ahead of me. Crazy that your child's doctor at Denver Children's Hospital went to the same high school as you! Anyway, she came to take the chest tube out. Thank goodness! He's still hooked up to dozens of wires, but I was able to hold him and feed him a bottle. He wasn't interested in the bottle much, he was too busy playing with it with his hands. He wasn't interested overnight either, I guess, because they put a tube down his nose to feed him. We ended up having to go that route for his breakfast. But we got to rock and chit-chat for quite a while this morning. I feel bad for Josh, he still hasn't held him yet. If Brecken didn't have so many wires, I would've traded spaces with him in a heartbeat, but we were afraid to move him with all the wires! So the next time we go up, Josh will get to hold him. We're just taking a quick break for breakfast right now.

The even better news is that Brecken will be moving "down the hall" sometime today. That means he'll be out of the NICU he's in and into the "step down" nursery. If he does great there, we'll be on our way home soon! That is a big sigh of relief!

Thanks again for all your good thoughts being sent our way- they are working and we are thanking each of you from here in Denver.

Love,
Josh, Kara, and Brecken