Before we get to Carter I have a funny Emma story to share: It happened as we were driving to the hospital to see Carter yesterday afternoon. Emma looks over at a van we were passing on the highway and screams out, "I just saw Carter in that van! He's been babynapped!" She saw a baby and thought someone had babynapped him. She said, "Babynapped is when you take someone else's baby. Kidnapped is when you take someone else's kid!"

Okay, onto Carter's update. He is doing well. They removed his ventilator last night and he is doing great breathing on his own again. There is even a possibility that he will get his own hospital room today. His sisters will be thrilled if this happens. They are only allowed two visits per week, for 10 minutes each. They used one of their visits last night and were so disappointed to only see him for 10 minutes. Only two people can go back into the NICU at a time, so I had to take them one at a time, we couldn't even go as a family to visit him, which was sad. The second Emma story happened at the hospital last night. We were sitting in the waiting room during a shift change. (We aren't allowed to be in the NICU when the nurses are changing shifts and reporting to the new nurses coming on.) I told her to tell me what she wanted me to tell Carter when I went in to say goodnight. She said, "Emma wanted to come in and say goodnight, but she couldn't." "I love you." It made me cry. Her sweet angelic voice telling her brother how much she wanted to be there, but she couldn't. She wanted him to know it wasn't her choice that she didn't get to say goodnight in person. They love Carter so much. Hannah cried when she found out she couldn't go back a second time to tell him goodnight. It has been long emotional week but we know the end is in sight and soon we'll have our little man back in our arms, in our own home, loving on him day and night without any tubes, wires, or rules!

They had to take him off his pain medications before they could remove the vent last night, because they said babies that are highly medicated get lazy and they won't breathe on their own if the vent is doing it for them. So, they had to wake him up a bit to get him to realize his need to breathe on his own. So, for an hour or more he was off all pain medication. This was sad because you could tell he was hurting and distressed when we was aware of his pain and surroundings. Once they removed the vent he did great and was very awake for a while. He was in pain but his throat was so sore and hoarse he only made faint whines that you could only hear if you were right up in his face. It was very sad to see him in pain and unable to cry but knowing that in a few days he will come home, made it bearable. Some of the children we have seen in the NICU will be there for a very long time and they will have much more serious lifelong effects from their condition. We are praising God for saving his life and giving him back to us to raise and love on for a lifetime.

One more thing...the ecogenic bowel that he was diagnosed with during my pregnancy is what caused his pediatrician to question if he had simple reflux or if he needed to be seen by a specialist. The ecogenic bowel may or may not be related to this but because it had been seen on his ultrasound the pediatrician sent us to the Baptist emergency room to get us in the door that way and to get the specialist to see him. He said on Monday, "I could send you all over town this week seeing specialists, but doing it this way, jumps through a lot of hoops at one time and you get to the GI specialists today instead of the end of the week." He was doing it as a favor to us, not because he thought Carter was in dire need of attention. He really thought it was probably reflux but because the ecogenic bowel label on his chart he sent us and said, let's put this thing to bed and get this ecogenic bowel concern cleared up. When the GI doctor's did the upper GI they saw that his intestines and colon were malrotated and entangled with one another. They immediately sent him to surgery because if they had stayed twisted, parts of the organs could have died and our story could have ended badly. When they did the surgery they found the organs alive and healthy and they saved his life. They still don't know if the ecogenic bowel had anything to do with his condition. As far as the ecogenic bowel, they saw very little reason that the bowel would have shown up bright on the ultrasound. They said it all looked good. It wasn't any thicker than it should have been (which would have made it bright.) So, we believe the Lord caused it to show up bright so that it would be on his chart for this very reason...to get him to the GI specialists quickly, to save his life. God works in so many marvelous ways. I did my fair share of complaining the last three months when I was having to have non stress tests twice a week, wondering why they were putting me through all of this testing when everything kept coming back normal. I wondered why God let him have this diagnosis that caused a lot of stress but ended up being nothing at all, just a lot of extra tests and doctor's visits. Now we see the whole picture and know that God let it be so that label could ultimately save his young life and give him back to us. (Thank you Aunt Carol for remembering that the pediatrician sent him so quickly, just for that reason. I was so sleep deprived that I had not seen the correlation until Aunt C pointed it out after Carter's surgery Monday night.) God is good all of the time; even we don't see him answering our immediate prayers. I prayed for a pregnancy free from all complications and didn't see why God allowed Carter to have this diagnosis, when nothing was wrong with him. Now I know that He really did answer my ultimate prayer, for a healthy son that I can raise and teach about the love of Jesus all the days of his life, for a very long time. Ecogenic bowel is now wonderful in my eyes and no longer a curse, because our Mighty God used it to save Carter's life.

On my way to the pediatrician Monday afternoon. My first trip out.




Hannah rubbing my head with my new teddy bear. The girls bought this for Carter at the hospital last week when he was born. It has become Carter's new favorite toy (according to them!) (Thank you Aunt Bobbie!)

This was taken before the ventilator was removed last night. I didn't want to take one of him without the vent because once we was off his meds, he was more aware and the flash startled him. Once he feels a little better, we'll take more pics.