January 25, 2009

Good Evening Family, Friends, & Loved Ones,
Thank you again for everything. Gretchen and I get really excited jumping on the internet once a day and reading all of the kind words out there. It helps us to keep going each day, so thank you.
Well since the family is at home, Gretchen, Tavyn, & Myself, have been sick recently, we have not been able to see Kolton for the past couple of days. Tavyn finally went all day without a fever. I know now the true aching of the heart to be with your child. Today I was feeling great, I had enough antibiotics in my body, and well rested, so I ventured out to spend the day with my little fighter, Kolton.
He is doing great and he looks really good. He looks very relaxed & comfortable, good skin color & tone, great stats, etc...
As I stated above his numbers are good. Except for his heart condition the rest of his body is functioning fine. His food has increased once again, he is taking in more and more each day. He has gained 5 ounces!!! Apparently tomorrow they are going to put him on a nutrient rich supplement with his mother's milk to help him grow and develop. To break it down, it is like adding vitamin packed calories to your diet. I had the chance to change his diaper today, holding a premie is somewhat like holding a small fragile baby bird, frail, not a lot of mass, at least that is what I equate it to. Changing a premie's diaper is a little different to, since they do not have a lot of muscle or fat on their bodies their bottoms are somewhat nonexistant. Straight from back to legs, no speedbump. He opened his eyes for a while to check me out today and gave me a little smile. That was incredible.
In regards to his heart surgery, it looks like they are going to wait till he is about 4-5 lbs. So probably in about 4-6 weeks. One of the things that they keep prepping us for is that after the surgery, more than likely he will get very sick and weak again and it will take a while to help build him back up and let him heal. I know this will be an emotionally trying time for all of us.
For those local Minnesotans that have been bringing dinner over, thank you. Seeing that there is so much going on when tend to forget what we need at home. A lot of you have offered tremendous amounts of support and for us to ask when we need something. Well with Gretchen pumping milk for Kolton, she has already filled up the freezer at the hospital, and is about to fill up our freezer at home(probably within a couple of weeks). So we need help in getting a freezer or a fridge/freezer combo so Gretchen can continue to pump for Kolton an none of that precious milk goes to waste. So if anybody here in MN knows of anybody wanting to rid themselves of their inexpensive basement/garage freezer or fridge/freezer please let us know. We just need help in getting it to our house. You can email me directly at kylebthompson@hotmail.com in regards to this matter. Thanks again for looking out for us and our family
Good Night and God Bless,
All of our Best,
The Thompson Tribe