Day 8

Joshua's still with us. And he's one week old. He's had a few more visitors over the last few days. It's so exciting to get to show off a little man when you never thought you could. His breathing is scaring us a lot though. The aforementioned hiccup/burp/sneeze thing seems to be happening all the time now. He has a cold - a very stuffed up nose - which is strange since it's not cold, he's almost always bundled up, barely anyone but Matt and I hold him, and his sister hasn't got a cold. But he's really congested - so it seems that if we syringe his nose (OH MY GOODNESS THAT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL MEAN!) he does much better. Then he can sleep without sounding like he's gasping.
When I fed him at four, his breathing got really strange. So I sat up in bed to hold him for a little while, and woke up 3 hours later with him still securely on my chest. Matt said his breathing stayed good the whole time he was on my chest. While I'll do anything to help him breathe, I hope sitting up all night doesn't become a normal occurance. Please pray with us that his breathing and cold smooth out.
Joshua loves his Daddy. It must be the wife in me - this melts my heart....
There's nothing like hearing, "Love you, Buddy" as Matt gives him kisses before we lay him down.
Ok, I have to stop typing this - it's making me choke up.

Just like I promised, I made Joshua a cake, because it's his birthday. As we sang him happy birthday he got a half-smile (probably just gas) on his face - and made us all crack up. It seems silly to make him a birthday cake, but like I told him, he got some in the middle of the night when he ate. It's my Mommy-Job to make sure he gets his birthday cake. Down the hatch goes the cake!

Like I said the other day, his stump fell off. He has the funniest belly-button as you can see. My brother keeps asking if it'll "recede". I don't know Josiah.... I don't know.... But this was such a little miracle in itself - that we got to watch him grow for a whole weeks, get excited when we opened his sleeper one morning and discovered his stump. How amazing.... Each extra moment with him is a miracle. A very precious one.

Please continue to pray with us
**For Joshua's cele. That it will continue not leaking, that it will not become infected, and that we are able to keep it safe.
**For Joshua's breathing and cold
**For Joshua's circulation. Some days his hands turn greyish and his color gets strange. I'm pretty sure it's because of the weight on his encephalocele. I think there must be veins that have too much weight on them, because when we pick him up and change his position, his color returns to pink.
**For my recovery. I'm off to the doctor's this afternoon to sort some stuff out. Ouch.
**For our souls and spirits. It's getting very emotional for me especially. At any moment I burst into tears - and all I can think about is ::what's to come::. I hate dwelling on losing Joshua - but it's always there in the not-so-back-of-my-mind.
**For Mom Sams (Pam) as she flies home tomorrow. It has been absolutely wonderful to have her here, and it's especially sad to see her go.

The pictures may be fewer in coming over the next few days, as we're getting close to going over our download limit for the month. But rest assured, pictures will still come.