"Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:8)
Thank you, everyone, for praying for Caleb and Esther. Both are doing somewhat better. Here is an update on each of them. Caleb's was written by his mother, and Esther's was written by her mother-in-law.
Caleb
March 21st UPDATE:
It is such a blessing to know that when we ask our Heavenly Father for fishes He does not give us a stone! Last night I felt it was a crucial moment for us when we made the decision to appeal the "limited nursing" decision. We called on others to pray and then went to our knees and begged our God for wisdom and to help us show forth the Power of God by our response to whatever the outcome would be. We first prayed that the LORD would give us a nurse who would be our advocate for breastfeeding, then we asked that the Doctor on-call would reverse the previous decision and would be willing to work with us on this issue. Our nurse turned out to be an exclusive breastfeeding mom herself that went through NICU just like we are doing. She definitely went to bat for us!!! Then, the on-call Doctor turned out to be one that we had while in NICU so he already knew us and knew what we were wanting to do. Our nurse spoke with him briefly and then we asked if we could speak with him. With much caution and kindness we reexplained our situation and what we were wanting to do with Caleb and his feeds. He immediately responded that he had already been thinking of this situation and had put in an order on Caleb's chart to room with us last night and nurse on demand until 6:00 am. Originally the order was to not be able to nurse consistently until tonight! He did say that our continuance of nursing on demand was contingent upon one thing...that Caleb either would hold his weight or would gain weight. Well, for anyone who knows about breastfeeding babies you know that their eating and sleeping patterns are varied and for them to gain weight overnight would be nothing short of a miracle!! We thanked the Doctor, got settled in the room, and then went to our knees and begged our God to confound the Doctors and not just have Caleb hold his weight, but GAIN weight! I must tell you that it was an anxious night in some ways, but in others a very exciting night! We could not wait to see what our God would do! This morning our nurse came to our room and weighed Caleb and what do you think happened!!! HE GAINED A WHOLE OUNCE OVERNIGHT!!!! You talk about a miracle!!!
When the Doctors made their rounds this morning, a crowd of Doctors and nurses came to our room and really had nothing to say!!! They could not believe that he gained overnight when they had been trying to get him to gain with tube feeds and he hadn't....they just don't know our Mighty God!!! The Doctor that has been thwarting us on every turn and had even told our Nurse that "this situation is just out of control...out of control!!!" according to her textbook education, had to say that there is obviously nothing wrong with him, that he can gain weight, and that she was going to put in an order for him to go home tomorrow! Now, why tomorrow and not today, I don't know, but God can even change that too if He so chooses!!! Right now, we are rejoicing in our God and thanking Him for all He has done for us and for the grace He has given us so that we could endure this and come forth as gold! To GOD be the GLORY!
Esther
We talked to Jeremy last night (March 20th). They went to the doctor yesterday. Once again, we see God's grace and mercy. Esther had improved just a little more. Their doctor wrapped the sores again and she was sent home still on the high doses of prednisone. We have prayed that she would be able to get some rest as the prednisone tends to make a person very wired. This has been a wonderful answer to prayer. She has rested well for the most part, even more so than when on the lower doses. God is good. She still has to stay away from others as much as possible and we are still praying that she does not contract any secondary infections. We know our God is able. Thanks again for your prayers on her behalf.