6 Jan PM

Tricia Drives
Tricia drove today!! I had a notepad and pen and documented several driving infractions on our 2 mile journey from the hotel to the hospital...including rolling through a stop sign--just to be a stinker! She did great and feels safe to drive now. We are home at Altus now after two visits to Tommy this morning. She is planning on returning to OKC Sunday afternoon, and I'll stay here. My mom is planning on sticking around a couple more days before she heads back to Omaha.

Tommy
Tommy is still doing well. He is now on 25% oxygen through his nose--just to help him a bit more as he had a couple of incidents where he shallowed his breathing and his heart rate dropped. They don't seem to be worried about that at all, and they are just working on making sure he doesn't regress. After they checked his blood, they do not anticipate that he'll need to be on the ventilator again, so that is a blessing. There are lots of complications that come from the ventilator including wild blood pressure fluctuations and issues with blood vessles in the eyes, so keeping him off that nasty thing is their priority. Other than that, he continues to slowly gain weight and is now up to 6 cc's of formula every 3 hours. He has digested the last two days of feedings very well with either no remaining milk or about .5 cc's remaining, so that is just awesome.

The Altus Kids
I showed the kids some videos and pictures of Tommy when we got home. They had lots of questions, but mostly, they want to know when they can hold him--especially Kaitlyn. I really wish we could take kids into the NICU, but I know that they are little germ factories, so the potential danger to Tommy is just too great. They'll have plenty of time to love on him once he gets home!

I hope all is well with all of you, and thanks again for all the sweet emails, calls and support you have given us. We truly appreciate it!