December 5th

After a five day hiatus from blog entry, I have returned. I think that Missy has done an outstanding job in my stead. She does much better with expressing herself than she ever gives herself credit.

Noah continues to plug along with the weight gain. As of last night's weigh in he was 4 lb 11.7 oz (2147 grams). I suspect that he'll hit five lbs by Sunday. Unfortunately, he is stuck at about 50% of his intake by mouth. He has to have two consecutive days of all feeds by mouth with continued weight gain before he can come home.

Miss and I visited with Noah tonight and he did a pretty good job of breast feeding. He was fairly awake for a good part of the feeding. He did tend to drift off several times though.

Missy mentioned his anemia in her post on Monday. It is normal for babies to have a decrease in their red blood cell count, and this happens a bit earlier in the early guys. So, to some extent, we expect Noah to have a decrease in his hematocrit. It's pretty low right now and I'm a bit concerned that it could be causing him to be tired to the point that he doesn't have the energy to take his feeds by mouth. During my residency training, we would frequently transfuse these little guys. Noah doesn't have any IVs to get blood, so he's just gotta make his own. He's doing well with that, but it takes a while for the count to come up. This all to say that his coming home may be delayed by his low hematocrit as much as anything.

Missy has worked the last two days and that has gone well it seems. She is sore and tired, but as I mentioned last week, that's not really a change. She is going to see Dr. Heinzel tomorrow because apparently her incision separated a bit this morning. She was concerned because there was some blood. I took a quick look this evening and suspect that it is related to a suture, and thus isn't something to get worked up about. We'll keep an eye on it.

My mom reported today that she could see the buttons on her clothes today. She said that she was in a public restroom and happened to notice that her good eye was clearer. She took the patch off of her other eye and noticed that she could actually see the skin (as opposed to simply the blurry outline) on her hand. She started yelling out with joy "Praise the Lord!" right there in the bathroom stall. I've gotta admit, that's a pretty funny scene. I can't help but envision some old lady in the stall beside my mom wondering where she could get the laxative that my mom had obviously taken...

This weekend I was able to visit with my friend Ebrahim. He is from Syria and is now in Memphis finishing his residency in internal medicine & pediatrics. He and I have known each other since he was an internal medicine intern on my team. We have been talking for several months about what it means to be a believer. He was raised as a "Christian," but had no real concept of what the Gospel is. Over the last few months we've been able to go through Romans and discuss things. I was blessed to be there Monday night when he gave his life to Christ. It was awesome. He came all the way from Syria to find the Lord. What a testimony!

Ebrahim married a pediatric resident this past spring. She is now in Boston doing a fellowship while he remains in Memphis. It has been extraordinarily difficult for them and they are questioning their decision to have gotten married. He and I discussed the need to change the frame of reference and prioritize things according to chapter 5 of Ephesians, specifically his responsibility to love his wife as Christ loves the church. Please pray especially for him and his wife at this time. They face a lot of restructuring and working on issues that are difficult. He is excited about his new life in Christ and certainly wants to be the husband that God would have him to be.

Thanks for checking on Noah and Missy today.

Please pray for the following:
Ebrahim's walk with the Lord and his marriage
Noah, and his big sister Anna, that they would come to know the Lord at a young age
God's continued working in the lives of our friends and family
My mom (Susan) for continued comforting and encouragement after her surgery for a detached retina
Noah's neonatologists and nurses
Opportunities to be salt and light to others

Please thank God for (at least) the following:
His love, grace, faithfulness, and provision
His strengthening of our family
His working in the lives of all those who have played such an important part in Noah's life already: those who have and continue to pray for him
My mom's recovery of her eyesight

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Romans 3:22-24