Blue is not a good hue...

I apologize for the lack of update yesterday, but it was an emotional day for me. Miles had a wonderful day and it looked like he would be coming home this weekend!! He came off of his oxygen, was breastfeeding wonderfully, and had lots and lots of alert time. He was so glad to get rid of his feeding tube as well! I needed to head home to spend some time with Graham while Jeff headed out to practice. Nurse "Auntie Karen" was going to take good care of him while I was gone, and after such a wonderful day, it was really at peace with heading home for a while. After Graham & I ate dinner, I called to see how Miles' 6pm feeding went. Nurse Karen picked up the phone, and the tone in her voice said that it wasn't good news. She told me that while Miles was eating his oxygen level dropped significantly and he turned blue. She thought that the nipple on the bottle might be too fast, so she changed to a slower nipple...but that didn't seem to help either. He ended up having 3 episodes during his feed. She assured me that this is common in preemies; and I reluctantly asked about a weekend discharge and was kindly told not to expect it. :(
I was home with Graham and tried to hold it together, but I just couldn't. Graham was exhausted; I was exhausted. Graham wouldn't go to sleep so I held my firstborn and was crying that he was so healthy, and I longed to have BOTH of my boys home, rocking them both to sleep. Graham felt a tear hit his face and he looked up at me and said "Here Mommy." and handed me a nunu. Well, that set the waterworks into full force! I told Graham that we needed to pray for Miles and he folded his hands and said the prayer after me. It was so sweet!
When Jeff got home from practice, I headed up to the hospital to be with Miles. The 45 min. drive felt like an ETERNITY! I called to check on him and Nurse Erin said that he had 5cc left of his bottle and hadn't had any episodes!! I got to the hospital and ran in to see my little man fast asleep. I spoke with Erin and she informed me that he had an episode right when we got off of the phone. There were new orders written to add Oxygen when feeding. Erin wanted to feed him at midnight, so I was able to get some much needed rest. I fed him at 3 without incident. At 6, he had an episode and needed oxygen. I am happy to say that since his 6AM feeding, he has only needed a "sniff" of oxygen once!
I was exhausted and laid down at 4pm this afternoon. Nurse Joanna asked me how I like to be woken up. My response was "it doesn't matter...but please don't let it be a set of 2-year old eyes that are staring at me and scare me to death". At 5:38 I felt someone standing over me...I open my eyes and it was Jeff & Graham! They decided to make a surprise visit to come see us! Joanna and I laughed at how I was woken up!! It was a much needed laugh to say the least! :)
Jeff & Graham held Miles for a while. It had been over a week since Graham saw Miles and he was in heaven. He helped change Miles' diaper. Handed Jeff Miles' blanket. And then ate a bag of chips - which he offered to Miles!! While I was feeding Miles, Graham was very interested and also wanted to be held. For the first time, I held both of my boys, but since I was feeding - it wasn't very photo-op friendly! I can't wait to have them both in my lap again!
I'm staying the night with Miles tonight and will head home early in the morning to have a packing-spree with Mom! Hopefully we will be super productive (and I might even get a nap in my own bed!) and get anything that doesn't breathe packed into a box!
Thank you for all of your prayers. Unfortunately, patience is not my forte. But I'm learning. I didn't say it was easy though!
Keep the prayers coming!!
Held in His healing hands,
Jeff, Lauren, Graham & Miles