Daniel's Big Day!

We got to the hospital at 10:30 am on Sunday morning and found out that Daniel had a great night and morning! He had had his chest tube removed (it had been draining the extra blood and fluid from his chest) and had his catheter removed and they removed the dressing that was covering up his incision. But the biggest news of all was that he was successfully removed from the ventilator! Praise God again!

As of today (Monday) he has an oxygen tube in his nostrils, just aiding him as yesterday was such a big day, and an NG tube in his nose. The nurse tried to feed him a bottle this morning, but he didn’t want anything to do with it she said, so hence the feeding tube.

They had talked about moving him to another area today and out of intensive care, but they decided to keep him there one more day. I was totally fine with that! He had such a big day yesterday and he needed some rest today!

Also last night, Momma, Daddy, Uncle Nate (Andy’s brother) and Aunt Lisa all got to hold him!

We went back this morning and Andy and I both got to hold him again – I held him for over an hour! We both talk to him constantly. I like to tell him about how much Jesus loves him and how many people are praying for him. I try to sing to him, but I am having a tough time remembering songs.

When we go up to see him at night time we bring a book and take turns reading to him. He is still a bit groggy from all of the drugs he has been on, but is opening his eyes more. Yesterday he looked right at me for the first time – it was a great feeling!!

I have had a couple of “episodes” these past two days. Mainly due to the fact that when I’m up at the hospital with him I forget to take my pain meds. My blood pressure was checked again last night and it was 172/112, so I am now on blood pressure medication.

I placed myself on bed rest tonight, thinking that I needed to rest a bit more. Andy went up to read Daniel his bed time story and ended up being able to help give him his first bath! While I am seriously jealous, I know that Andy deserves this opportunity too. He is already such a great Dad!

We have had a number of people ask us about coming to visit. We totally understand why you all want to come – who wouldn’t want to see how awesome our little boy is! However, with him being moved to another area, possibly tomorrow, and my needing just a little more rest, we just ask that you give us a couple more days. We should be able to start making visit plans with people on Thursday and over the weekend. Just let us know when you would like to come out and we will try and make it work.

We can’t say it enough – THANK YOU all for your prayers and support. Not a day goes by that we are not amazed by the sheer number of people that tell us that we are in their prayers. We truly appreciate it!

Please continue to pray for Daniel’s recovery and praise God with us as he is healing so well!

Thank you all,

Andy, Beth & Daniel