Monday, July 20th Update

I have to begin by saying that we are so grateful for the multitude of prayers that have been offered on Cooper's behalf. His name has been on dozens of prayer rolls across the country and across the world, and there are literally hundreds of people praying for him! As Taylor and I were driving home one night, we were talking about how inherently good people are. This experience has only reaffirmed my belief in the goodness of family, friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers who have taken it upon themselves to pray for our sweet boy. We believe in the power of prayer and know mighty miracles are happening because of the combined faith of so many people.

It seems I start every post by saying that Cooper had a good day, but it continues to be true! He is continuing to take small steps forward daily. Today he did extremely well on his oxygen, and they are weaning the amount of pressure that the machine is doing for him. This is a great next step towards working toward the c-pap machine, which is the next kind of oxygen machine Cooper will be on.

As of last night he had lost more weight (he was at 2 lbs 1 oz) but when we left the hospital this evening he had gained 10 grams (not much, but at least he isn't losing weight!). In an effort to let Cooper rest as much as possible, his nurses are only performing his cares (changing his diaper, taking his temperature, etc) every six hours instead of every three. Coop spent the entire afternoon sleeping peacefully. :) His breast milk feedings were increased again today, and he is still tolerating them very well. This afternoon they performed a second head ultrasound and we will learn the results tomorrow.

We are so grateful for the incredible nurses and doctors at Primary Children's! The NICU is becoming our "home away from home," and all of the staff at the hospital are extremely kind and compassionate, as well as skilled. Although we wish more than anything that Cooper was home with us, it is comforting to know that he is receiving excellent care.