January 19, 2009

Good Evening Kolton Support Group (KSG),
Kyle Here again taking the journal duties for the day. We want to thank all of you for your continued prayers, kind words, positive thoughts, generous offerings. I would like to start the journal with Gretchen's status... she is physically doing great after giving birth five days ago. I know a few of you have asked so, I felt as though this is some more good information that would be well received.
Another short note... Tavyn is doing great also... we are very lucky to have such an easy going, happy go lucky kid. It also helps that since he is only a year and one day older than Kolton he is not to cognizant of what is transpiring.
Today was an exciting day for Gretchen, since Kolton was born we both were only able to touch him once before and today Gretchen was able to hold his hand and help with his ventilator. Big step emotionally for us and a great sign in his stability.
In regards to Kolton's status: He has continued to keep his stats stable and his bodily functions regular. He is off another one of his medications, it was the one that was keeping the hole in his heart open and now the hole is staying open on its own. He is continually being weened from his ventilator and they are speculating that he should be off of it within a few days. On to the biggest news... his feedings have been going well and now he is being fed Gretchen's milk every four hours instead of the initial six hours. As the days progress so will the time in between feedings and the amount will increase also. His nurse today happily informed me that he is were he needs to be stat wise as a premie (essentially he is an "average joe" premie), though keep in mind this does not take into consideration his heart condition. He did have another ultrasound on his noggin today and it came back clear, so his head is still showing good signs.
I know some of you have brought up a question that regards his heart... some people wanted to know why this condition was not identified in his initial ultrasound while he was still in utero... this is something that they do not look for, they look for the normal sizes, shapes, and functions of the child's organs. So in other words unless they were specifically looking for his heart condition they would have never found it. If you have any more questions feel free to post them and I will answer them as soon as I get an answer from his support team at the hospital.
One other question was brought to my attention is how to mail stuff to Kolton... this is how you should address it:
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Attn: NICU-Kolton I Thompson
2525 Chicago Ave. S.Minneapolis, MN 55404
I wanted to close tonight's journal entry with another quote from the book that I have been reading Kolton. "Faith is a process. God leads us one step at a time. He will always put inside you whatever you need to move forward. If you need strength, it's inside you. If you need hope, it's inside you. If you need joy, determination, encouragement, God has placed them within you. So tap into your God-given resources by faith, because He will never ask you to do something that He hasn't already prepared you to do. Be open minded and open handed to what God is doing in your life today."
Move forward and He will be with you!
Have a wonderful evening! We will be back tomorrow. Thanks & Love,
The Thompson Tribe