Prayer Request

Nate has had a very busy week. He recently started physical therapy and is doing that twice a week. He loves it! They teach us fun games and exercises to do with him. He will play until he has absolutely no energy left. We are working on developing his trunk muscles and head control. We are still working with a speech therapist on eating and he has been doing really well with rice cereal.

We have a big hearing test on Monday back in Atlanta that we are pretty nervous about. Nate is getting another ABR done. This test tells us whether or not Nate has auditory neuropathy (AN). It will not tell us how much hearing he does or does not have though. There is a very small chance that this ABR will tell us that Nate does not have AN. There have been a few cases where children with high bilirubin levels (like Nate) have found out that they in fact had auditory immaturity. Essentially when the first ABR was done back in July he was still so young and still had an elevated bilirubin. The auditory nerve just may not have developed properly yet. So... Scott and I are praying for another miracle from God for our precious baby boy. He has already blessed us so much and we are so lucky to have a healthy and happy baby. We wanted to ask our friends and family to say another prayer for our little guy. He has worked so hard through life already and we would love for his hearing to be something he doesn't have to work hard for. They also have to sedate him to do this test, which I am really nervous about. I know everything will be fine, but I can't help but worry about his breathing when he is sedated like that.

On a lighter note... Nate can't have anything to eat or drink after 3 am tonight until after the test at 9. So he should be alot of fun on the car ride up to Atlanta. Poor little guy will probably scream the entire way. I am ready for tomorrow to be over with already.

Scott and I are so lucky that Nate has come so far. He is such a happy baby and has brought so much joy into our lives. He sleeps on a schedule, eats when he is hungry, and plays all day long. Again, we are so blessed. We are one of the lucky families. So many children that were in the hospital with us have not has outcomes like ours. We were and are so fortunate to have had the support from our family and friends. I received a flyer in the mail the other day from the Ronald McDonald house where we stayed in Macon. They were there for us too. So if you ever have time or donations that you would like to share, support your local Ronald McDonald house. http://www.ronaldhousecga.org/support/index.html They were very good to us and so many other families during a terrifying time. I am sure they are struggling with the current economic conditions as well.

So keep your fingers crossed about Monday and we will let you know something by the end of the night.

Nate's great grandmother Green came to visit with his great uncle Jeff and great aunt Cathy. This was the first time they have gotten to meet the little guy. It was wonderful to see them. We wish they lived closer.