He Cried Today!

He cried today!! How could I possibly deny that God is answering my prayers and the prayers of those who are fervently praying for him? Hearing him voice his opinion has been my biggest wish of the last few days and God answered. He did it two different times today and I was so overjoyed. It wasn’t just a whimper, but an actual newborn cry. How encouraging. And he did it right before feeding times, which was great. I can’t tell you how happy I am today to hear his voice and have him communicate with us. God is great. (We did post a video of him crying, so check that out). He was also much more awake today. During his alert times, he was really awake for a long time. And even when he was sleeping he wasn’t in as much of a deep sleep as he has been. He would react to stimulus around him, but not wake up. I know that each day he’ll get even more alert and each day is a day closer to home.

I had a lactation consultant come and visit me today and she showed up right when I heard Elijah cry for the first time. I was so excited. And he was obviously hungry, so it worked out great. He stayed awake and alert for the whole time and things went well. The consultant seemed pleased with how he was doing. She said as he got better and healed every day, he should keep getting better at it. I kind of just want to take her home with me. I know that he can do this thing, but I do need the help. I tried to nurse him later on my own and it didn’t go as well as it did when the consultant was there, but I am encouraged by how well it went when I had her there helping me. Once we get the coordination of the whole thing down, I think we should be good. I had no idea how hard this would be. It’s going to take some practice, but I know that we can do it.

Elijah’s nurses seem to be surprised at the progress he is making and how fast. A few of them have taken a day off and they commented he was like a different kid when they returned. I have to admit I get a little anxious at times for him to get better sooner. Obviously that’s normal, but I have to be patient. I think I forget already how far he has come. I was looking at his pictures and videos from when he was first born this morning. We had no idea if he could even breathe unassisted. Now look at him! He’s crying and being awake a lot more. Yesterday we asked the doctor if we could try to get his Phenobarbital level lower and so last night and this morning they skipped his dosage. We’re thinking that is why he has been more awake for us.
Another milestone today is that we gave Elijah his first bath. Okay, it’s actually his second bath, but it was the first one given by us so that’s all that really matters. Now he’s all clean and smells so good. After the bath, Andy did kangaroo care so that we could make sure to warm him up. We’re still kind of concerned about his temperature, but it seems that he has been keeping it up at a safe level. Kangaroo care is so good because it gets him so warm. Elijah and Andy snuggled and took a little nap while I started this journal entry. They got nice and toasty. I woke Andy up at 10:40 because it was getting really late and we needed to go home. The moment Andy took Elijah off of his chest, Elijah started to cry. It was so beautiful! I love and hate to hear him cry at the same time. We couldn’t leave of course until he stopped crying, so we left really late tonight. (I write these posts on the way home from the hospital…and I post them as the day I’m writing about, even if it’s after midnight)



I can’t wait to read these journals and guestbook entries to Elijah someday. I can’t wait to tell him what a miracle he is and how much God has healed him. This experience has been such an example of God’s love and His care for us. I have been amazed at how I write in this journal about what Elijah needs and I ask for prayers and it’s happened more than once that the issue is resolved by my next journal entry. Thank you so much for all of your kind words and your continued prayers. Please continue to pray for Elijah’s complete recovery. We know that God can indeed heal him and it is quite obvious that God is listening to the prayers that are being sent up for little Elijah. We know he’s going to be okay and that God holds Elijah for us when we can’t be there. Pray that we’ll all be home soon.

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