Prayer Needed To Come Home

Prayer Request: Jillian needs to take her feedings by mouth instead of by the nasogastric tube.

As promised in my previous post Jillian is essentially one step away from coming home. She is doing wonderfully well and God will see us through this final step. As I have said many times before, I believe that the hundreds of people (perhaps more) who are praying for Jillian have been the reason that this stay at the NICU has gone so well. Jillian has had no developmental problems and has not had to undergo any invasive procedures with the exception of an IV in her ankle, IVs in her bellybutton artery/veins, and her PICC line. God is faithful to hear and answer our prayers!

Our final hurdle is the feeding issue. We have been told that this particular issue can sometimes be the most difficult of all to overcome. The hospital staff says that sometimes a light will just go off and Jillian will take off eating on her own. We started bottle feedings about 2 weeks ago and she was able to take whole bottles (about 1 ounce) by herself. After the eye examiniation these successful attempts decreased. Jennifer felt that we were pushing too much and the hospital staff agreed so we backed off a bit only allowing her to take what she wanted when she is able to. She can still take a full feeding by bottle, but only once or twice a day.

Jennifer travels to the NICU at least twice a day and attempts to breast feed. Jillian is latching on, but doesn't suckle much. When I go to the NICU I will attempt to bottle feed her, but lately she has not seemed too receptive. If Jillian began breast feeding properly then Jennifer could room in at the hostpital and feed her exclusively and she would most likely come home in a couple of days thereafter. That is our prayer.

Please pray that Jillian is able to stay awake, begin breastfeeding, bottle feed if necessary, and come home soon.

Many of our friends and family have been sending gifts of clothing, money, and prayer. We are keeping a list of these items and will send an individual thank you out to each of you who have given. I pray that God blesses your gift and returns it back to you many times over. We are blessed beyond measure to have so many friends and family standing with us during this time. It has strengthened my resolve to offer help to others whenever they are in need. This has been a very humbling experience and I am grateful for God's blessings through each of you.

Praise God for His faithfulness and goodness.

Week 5 - Criteria Update

Jillian has now completed criteria 1 and 2 with flying colors. See below for the original list.

About a week ago she underwent a retina check which is a very stressful procedure. Her eyes were just fine, retina is great, optic nerve is developed properly, etc. Unfortunately, the procedure was a bit traumatic to her body. She began to have a few "events" in which her heart rate would slow down and her oxygen level would drop, but she would recover on her own. It is normal for preemies to have these events and they generally happen during feeding times. Jillian would sometimes have an event during her first weeks of life after birth when Mommy or Daddy would hold her and she would be so peaceful and content that she would "forget" to breathe.

Criteria number 4 and 5 should be taken care of very easily. In my next post I will address the most important criteria which is Jillian taking everything by mouth.

List of exit criteria:

1. She must weight over 1800 grams (1.8 Kilograms / about 4 Pounds).
2. She must maintain her own body temperature in an open crib (bundled up of course).
3. Take all fluids by mouth. That means her food and supplemental vitamins with iron (if needed).
4. Have no events with her heart rate or her breathing.
5. Be able to ride in a car seat without having trouble breathing or with her heart rate.
If you recall, I predicted that Jillian would get to come home by March 1st. It looks like she may be home a little before Day 40 which would be February 19th. My new prediction is that Jillian will be home sometime between February 21st and 23rd. That's less than two weeks away!!!

Jillian is Over 2 Kilograms - Almost 5 Pounds!

Jillian wearing Mommy's "Apple Hat"
Jillian Sleeping Only Moments Later - Surprise

Jillian Going Home Criteria

Here is the list of things that must take place before Jillian can come home. We're getting close!

1. She must weight over 1800 grams (1.8 Kilograms / about 4 Pounds).

2. She must maintain her own body temperature in an open crib (bundled up of course).

3. Take all fluids by mouth. That means her food and supplemental vitamins with iron (if needed).

4. Have no events with her heart rate or her breathing.

5. Be able to ride in a car seat without having trouble breathing or with her heart rate.

If you recall, I predicted that Jillian would get to come home by March 1st. It looks like she may be home a little before Day 40 which would be February 19th. My new prediction is that Jillian will be home sometime between February 21st and 23rd. That's less than two weeks away!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers! We're blessed!

Jillian Week 4 Update

A lot of things have happened over the last week so let's get to it!

1. Jillian is off of caffine. The caffine was necessary to make sure her heart rate didn't fall too low causing a defibrillation event.

2. She is no longer on reglin. Reglin was necessary to make sure her digestive tract was moving things along.

3. She will be moving out of an isolete into a crib to see how she does maintaining her own temperature.

4. She is still taking epogen which is used to encourage her bone marrow to produce its own red blood cells. She should be taken off of this as soon as her blood levels look good.

5. She is taking about 31 mL of breast milk 8 times a day. That is a little over 8 ounces a day.

6. She weighs about 3 pounds 10.4 ounces.

Jillian is Almost 4 Pounds!

One of the criteria for Jillian heading home is she must weigh over 1800 grams, which is a little over 4 pounds. She should get there by about day 37 or 38, which is in just 4 or 5 days from now.

Jillian is Three Weeks Old

Jillian is three weeks old and word has it that Mr. James is in big trouble for not keeping the blog up-to-date.

Jillian's updates:

1. Jillian is now 2 pounds 14.6 ounces!

2. She is fed about 200 mL per day of Mommy's milk! That is about 13 fluid ounces.

3. She is now 15.5 inches which is a little over an inch taller than she was at birth.


4. She is beginning to nurse with Mommy all by herself! We will meet with the speech pathologist Monday morning to show her how well Jillian is doing!

5. She has perfect health and is doing wonderfully. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. God is truly watching over her every second of every day. We're blessed beyond measure and will never forget the friends and family who blanketed her in prayer. I know that everyone was anxious to help us, but your continued prayers have been the biggest blessing that we could have ever had.










Jillian is doing extremely well. It is obvious to the staff that she is more than a miracle.

Jennifer's Updates:

1. Jennifer made the transition home on Thursday my Dad served a three day tour with me and the kids. It was tougher for her than she thought. I had spent most of my time at the NICU, tutoring, and with Jennifer while she stayed at her parents house. Before this whole ordeal began our house was in serious disarray as we were reorganizing in preparation for Jillian in March. So neither of us have been at home for over 3 weeks. As much as Jennifer wanted to come home and pick up where she left off, she really wasn't able to.

2. Her blood pressure is now a bit more under control. She is still considered pre-hypertensive, but is much better than she had been a week or so ago.

3. Her pulse rate can sometimes get up around 90 or even over 100.

4. She is slowly settling in preparing for some normalacy. She goes to the NICU 2 - 3 times a day for about 2 hours each time. This will increase even more once Jillian is able to nurse.


James and Jocelyn are continuing to do well as they wait patiently for Jillian's much anticipated arrival. We still have a lot of work to do in preparation for her arrival.

I'll try and keep the blog updated a litte more often with more wonderful pictures.

We love you all!

James