August 9 - One week = one decade

It is shocking to think that it has been a week already. I am sure that my
heart has aged a decade. It is such a blur and I am beginning to fuse details
from the different days together. I guess it is good that I have these emails
as a journal of activity. I returned to work today, just to test the waters and
to just be distracted for a little bit, but I cannot help myself from reading
message boards and blogs of NICU babies and I am reminded just how dire the
situation still is.

If you were ever on the fence about the power of prayer, I ask you to go back
and look at the progress made over the past week. Your prayers and our prayers
are why we are in the postion we are in today. I beg you to not let up on the
prayers as God is hearing them and he is at work.

The Good:
- She is digesting mom's milk very well and they have upped her dose to 20ml
every four hours. This is still a small amount for such a big baby, but it is 4
times larger than when we started 48 hours ago.


- Sarah got to hold her for the first time yesterday. It was clear that she
enjoyed it and we plan on going back for more holding this evening.


- The ocupational therepist came by this morning and showed Sarah some message
techniques, which Sarah reported that Porter just loved. And there are no joint
issues which can be common in babies who don't get moved very much.

- Her breathing issue which creeped up yesterday has been resolved, but
unfortunately not because of her kidney function.

The Bad:
- This is where we are going to be more specific on the prayers for her
kidneys. There is a number from her various tests that we keep watching called
"Creatinine" which is one of the measurements for how well the
kidneys are functioning. This number has been steadily rising over the past
week and we need that number to plateau then fall to a normal level. We thought
it had plateaued yesterday, but the level had risen again this morning.


The Prayers:
1. Pray that the Creatinine level plateaus and begins to lower ASAP.
2. Pray that the seizures we saw on Friday were an isolated incident and do not
return.

3. Pray that her blood levels - and all levels - improve and return to normal.
4. Pray that Porter has the strength and determination only God can give to keep
fighting.


James