Prayer Needs

I'm waiting for Noah to wake up so I don't have a ton of time but I just wanted to post current prayer requests that we have.

1. It looks like Noah's cyst has grown a bit in the last week. The cystic pocket that they drained on his left side hasn't filled up again, which is awesome, but the pockets on the other side seem more pronounced and lobular (sp?) than last week (when it just looked like an enormous double chin). As were the prayers during my entire pregnancy, please continue to pray for the growth to completely stop growing, and shrink up all together.

2. Hopefully this isn't too much TMI-- sorry if it is, but, oh well! Noah is slowly learning how to breastfeed. He's been getting a little bit of stryder (heavier, wheezy {is that a word?} breathing) when he tries breathing and swallowing at the same time. He's got a great suck and great technique according to the lactation and physical therapy people, but just still learning the coordination of it all. Pray that he's able to learn this as soon as possible; at this point this is the only big thing that is keeping us in the hospital (he is under phototherapy lights though; his bilirubin levels were borderline and since he's been pretty sleepy I just asked for them to put the lights on him. It's not like the levels are dangerous though).

3. He's definitely been favoring laying on his right side (the side with the lymphangioma), I think because he has more trouble breathing when he lays on the other side because of the pressure of the mass. It's hard because I want him to be comfortable, but I don't want him to only lay on that one side and then have his muscles tighten up over time on the other side, or even compromise the shape of his head because he's not spending equal amounts of time on all sides. Please pray that he is able to switch positions more often with less stress on his airway, which will hopefully prevent more potential long-term issues.

I'm a little sad today, but God continues to give me little rays of hope with the sadness. I've been able to chat a little with one of the other NICU moms, who has just been so sweet. She went to the store (I still can't drive until next week) for me and bought me some Dreft to wash Noah's clothes, along with a super-soft little blanket for him. She's been in the NICU with her sweet daughter Sophia for 6 weeks now, who was pre-mature and born without a right hand. Lord, I am so grateful for positive people like her, but also for the reminders that things could be much worse... we have been given such a gift, a MIRACLE, with this little man!