Caleb Update: 12/23/07

Merry Christmas to you all!

Our little Caleb is continuing to do really well. His x-rays continue to remain clear of any evidence of infection. He is even gaining weight. Caleb weighs a whopping 5lb 1oz!!! That's right, another weight milestone checked off the list. Woohoo!

A couple of events have occured since my last post. The first, on Friday the 21st, The doctor came and told us that they wanted to put in a PICC line (aka a central line) because his veins kept closing up on the IVs in his hands. This will prevent them from having to constantly poke him to find a new IV site every couple days. Basically a central line is feeding a catheter tube into one of his veins, usually on an arm or leg, and push it so its pretty close to his heart. Its a pretty standard procedure and it went very well for Caleb.

The second was a lumbar puncture (aka spinal tap). This happened on Saturday the 22nd in the morning. The reasoning behind this was to rule out any meningitis infection. The kind of bacteria that caused his bowel infection can also cause meningitis. The doctor assured us that Caleb wasn't exhibiting any symptoms of it and that it was only a precautionary test. He also said that in newborns its not as painful or uncomfortable as it would be on an adult. This also went very smoothly and without incident. Today we got the results of the culture on his spinal fluid and it was all clear. Praise the Lord!

We are just sitting here holding our baby boy and enjoying some time with him until we head up to Bellingham for a Christmas/Grandparent's 50th anniversary celebration. We are so excited that Caleb is doing so well that we can make the trip up to B'ham and celebrate with our family.

On Monday we will also make the trip down to Mom and Dad Pottorf's to celebrate the holidays on Christmas Day. We are also very excited to spend time with them because it's a long time since we actually did the Christmas morning traditions at their house on Christmas morning. Adrienne is getting giddy like I'm sure she was as a little girl.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for your prayers and support. As you think of Caleb, please also remember the other special baby whose birthday we celebrate this time of year.

We love you all!

Ryanade