As we have been promising for awhile, here is a new picture of our little miracle. Logan had a pretty good weekend. He still has his desats (when he drops the oxygen saturation in his blood) and that is what is keeping him in the NICU. We have not been given another date that he might go up to the stepdown unit. We have decided that it is better that way because then we don't get our hopes up, and we will just be that much more excited when he finally does move up. We are still holding out hope that he will be home before Thanksgiving. We have been doing this for a long time, but we constantly remind ourselves that things could be so much worse.

Logan is full term today. Meghann has had a tough time dealing with this being her due date, but we are thankful every day that we have such a wonderful little boy, regardless of the challenges we face. He is up to about 3 pounds and 11 ounces and is now 15 inches long. He has come a long way in 16 weeks. He has grown 5 inches and gained almost 5 times what he weighed! At this rate, he will be playing linebacker for Ohio State by the time he is 10! His nutrition continues to be a big challenge. His bones are still very brittle and every time they try to give him more fluids to increase the amount of calcium and phosphorous in his feeds, the more he holds onto his fluids and then has to be given Lasiks...which then results in him getting rid of all of the supplements he had just gotten. It is a vicious cycle. We have been reassured that we "will get there." He is still trying to eat from a bottle and does pretty well with it considering his size and other problems. Like everything else, this too will just take some time.

We thank everyone so much for all of the prayers. We pray every day that we can continue to be as strong for Logan as he has been for us. It is truly inspiring to watch him fight every day because we don't think that anyone ever told him that he wasn't supposed to live through this. He has given us such a lesson on living in the moment and enjoying every blessing - no matter how small it may seem. We are blessed to have him and blessed to have such an amazing support system. We have been shown an overwhelming amount of love and compassion and we can never say thank you enough.

Love to all of you,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Moving along...slowly

We have decided that Logan just really likes to do things on his own time. He has his own adgenda it seems. He decided he was ready to be born way before it was time, and he has not stopped controlling everything around him! We were told at the beginning of the week that he would be moving to the stepdown unit this week because he is doing so well...but then he decided that he wasn't ready to leave all of his girlfriends down in the NICU and made it so they have now decided not to send him until next week. It is a little disappointing. We are very attached to the nurses in the NICU, but we are also eager to get him home. Everyone in the NICU is not talking about him leaving because they don't want to admit that he's actually going to leave either!
Logan has now been in the NICU for 101 days. Meghann's due date was this Sunday, so we are hoping he will move upstairs around that time. He still has a lot of work to do before he can come home. He is now in an open crib and still in a cannula. He is able to eat a little bit from a bottle (about 8 mL) once a day. Because of his lung issues and small size (still only 3 and 1/2 pounds) he gets really tired when he eats, so it is taking awhile. Patience is a virtue, right? We have been able to put him in the bathtub a few times, so that has been fun. He makes a lot of noise when we do it, but we don't think he really minds. Just likes to hear his own voice! He still likes to be read to and rocked. He really likes his bouncy seat and took a 3 hour nap in it yesterday! And he is now loving to be held. At night, he fusses just so the nurses will pick him up and cuddle with him (which they do of course! We are so lucky to have them). We have a feeling Meghann andLogan will be spending a lot of time in the rocking chair when he gets home... His nutrition is still a major issue for him. His bones are still very brittle, so we get a little nervous about participating in his care. But we still do everything we can with him. It is getting harder and harder to leave every night. He is getting cuter by the day. We promise to get some new pictures up as soon as we can.
As always, please continue to pray for our wonderful little boy. And thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Goodbye SiPAP...Hello Cannula!

Logan was taken off SiPAP and put into a nasal cannula today! This is a huge step because he is now officially breathing all on his own. He is only getting a little bit of oxygen to help him out. He seems to be doing really well on it. The SiPAP squeezed his little head and made his eyes swell, so he is loving his new freedom! He is 3 months old today, and becoming more and more like a real baby. He fussed so badly last night that 2 of the nurses had to hold him and rock him all night. Something for mom and dad to look forward to... He is also using his voice more, so that is something else for us to look forward to! We can't wait for him to come home and keep us up all night!!
Logan now weighs 1500 grams which is about 3 pounds, 5 ounces. It seems like something has just clicked for him. He is still doing a great job maintaining his body temperature and may be in an open crib by the end of the week. We're not in a huge hurry for that to happen, but when it does, we will be able to do more with him.
This past Thursday, Logan had laser surgery on his right eye. He has ROP, which stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity. This means that the vessels around his retina are forming abnormally. The laser surgery fixed these abnormal vessels so that he should not have any problems with his vision. We don't know for sure if he will have to have the same surgery on his left eye or not. We are going to assume that he will have to have the left eye done too since he seems to be getting everything a "normal preemie" gets. He also now has some kidney stones because of the high levels of calcium he has been getting for his brittle bones. The good thing is that kidney stones in babies are not like they are in adults in that he will not have to pass them like an adult does. They should dissolve on their own as he grows.
Overall, Logan seems to be doing very well. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful baby and fantastic support system. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of the love and prayers. Please keep them coming!
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

A Kilogram!

We have to apologize again for not being as good about our updates as we try to be. Life just gets so hectic! Especially since we can now say that Logan is doing really well and we are spending even more time at the hospital.
Logan hit a kilogram on Lance's birthday (Wednesday, August 29). He is now about 1100 grams which is about 2 and a half pounds. He is still on the CPAP and is doing even better with it. We think that he will be off it altogether within a few weeks. The broviac (the line in his chest) was taken out last week because it had caused an infection. So right now he is on antibiotics for that infection. But other than that, he has not had too many bad days. He did have to get another transfusion (number 15 we think...we've lost count!) last week because he was anemic and having a harder time breathing on his own. He stopped breathing a few times, and we think he was just checking to make sure Mom's tear ducts still worked. He just wanted to make sure he could still upset her enough to make her cry (which he certiainly did!) But the blood really helped out and he was much better the next day. Logan is now stable enough that we can hold him every day. And we don't just have to kangaroo with him, we are actually able to hold him like a real baby! And he is wearing clothes! He has a bunch of preemie clothes that we bought him, and even though they are WAY too big on him still, he looks really cute in them. We were able to hold him yesterday and today for about 4 hours each day. The only bad thing about that is that it is now harder than ever for us to leave at the end of the day. He is just so darn cute! He is starting to really get even more of a personality. Now that he doesn't have the ventilator down his throat, he smiles all the time. He loves when daddy talks to him, and that is when he seems to grin the most. He also likes to smile at the pretty young nurses who take care of him. He has more girlfriends than he can count. Every nurse who has him is absolutely smitten with him. As are we (and he'll get all of you too when he meets you!) The other big step forward he has taken is that he is no longer in an incubator that keeps him warm. He is being weaned off of that and is being challanged to maintain his own temperature. If he is able to do so while still growing and breathing on his own, he could be in an open crib soon. We are still looking at the beginning of November as a possible time to bring him home.
Thank you all so much for the love and prayers. The miracles we have witnessed take our breath away. Our little boy is such a blessing to us and is really the highlight of every day. Even the bad days no longer seem so bad because we love him more and more every day. We have made friends with another couple in the NICU and if you are praying for Logan anyway, maybe you could say a prayer for their little boys. They have twins who are about Logan's age and are having a tough time with their respiratory status. We know they would appreciate the prayers just as much as we have.
We promise to be more diligent with our updates!
All of our love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan