Good Report

Today has been a lot like yesterday. Payton is still improving. However, they are preping her for tomorrow, when they will try to take the ventilator and feeding tubes out of her throat. This is good news.

The doctors and nurses have let us know that this can be a hard thing for babys because they have to learn to breath on their own again. It is not uncommon for them to struggle and have to have the tubes reinserted for a couple days before they try again. They can also have a lung collapse. Obviously, we are asking the Lord to give Payton the strength to make it off of the ventilator successfully the first time. If she comes off well tomorrow, then we will finally get to hold her again soon after that (hopefully within a day or so)! This is very exciting! We will also be able to begin to try to feed her via bottle (Aaron and Heather) and breast (Heather only ;)).

Payton is still loosing fluid off of her body as well. They have increased a medicine that helps speed this process.

So...all in all another quiet day. We are resevedly excited about tomorrow. Join with us in praying that when Payton comes off of the ventilator tomorrow she would breathe well on her own. Pray too for lots of good strong crying. This will help her clean out the stuff in her lungs. And, of course, continue praying for her neck to heal. No real new news on this yet. We expect to hear from the plastic surgery doctors soon on how it is progressing. It still looks pretty nasty, but it's definitely not getting worse.

The highlight of the day, however, was when our staff friends, Gary and Cristen and family, stopped by. As many of you know they have been through all of this before and have more to go through in the future. They have been a tremendous resource and encouragement since they heard about Payton. Thank you Gary and Cristen!