Jake's IV comes out!

It seems like it has taken forever for me to write everything that has been happening! The last post was very long!

Great News! Jake gets to come home!! Towards the end of day 5 (around 4:30pm)we were able to talk with another doctor about Jake. We were just shocked when she told us that Jake could come home! She said that although they are still very concerned about Jake and they still do not know what is wrong they feel like he should be taken off of the antibiotics. The antibiotics were helping in the beginning (and still potentially helping) but the problem with being on them too long is that they not only kill the bad bacteria that could potentially harm you, but they can kill off the good bacteria that could help prevent you from more serious illnesses and viruses too. The doctors were worried about him getting something else, so they wanted to try this route. The only problem is that with him off of antibiotics the hospital (especially the NICU) is not the place to be. The doctors figured that there would be less germs that he would be exposed to if he came home. They said that we had to be very careful with him though. We have to keep him kind of quarantined in our bedroom. The girls can not really see him, which is hard, but they have been such troopers and know that their little brother is sick and we are trying to get him better. Since I am still recovering Jake and I stay in my room and rest and so it hasn't been too difficult so far.

After hearing the news Josh and I were just thrilled that we were able to bring him home the next day! The doctors gave us strict orders to follow and told us to take him directly to the ER if there were any concerns or any changes that we noticed. We have an appointment with the specialist on Monday the 15th (tomorrow) to see what steps to take from here on out and to see what the "problems" are with Jake's body.

I really feel like the reason we were able to bring Jake home was because of all of the prayers from everyone (including his name being in the temple). Logically it doesn't make a ton of sense why they just all of a sudden switched from saying he couldn't come home for a long time to saying he could go home the next day. His nutrafils are still at zero. However, it was just perfect timing since he was able to come home the day that Josh and I were leaving the hospital. This solved all of our worries and concerns about feeding him and the trips to the hospital. I know this wonderful blessing was not a coincidence and that it was just another tender mercy from the Lord. It still doesn't entirely make sense to me, but I am just incredibly grateful that I get to have my son home with me!

The nurse took off Jake's IV and helped him get all ready to go for the next day. He had a bunch of tape residue on his head, so the nurse gave him a bath and washed his hair. He was such a good little boy! The nurses and doctors arranged for us to be moved to a special room right outside of the NICU to stay in for the night. It had two beds in it (yeah for Josh!) so we could be more comfortable. The room was so much bigger and so nice. Josh had been sleeping on a very uncomfortable cot the whole time, so to actually get a bed was wonderful. They said that we could move to this room and get to have Jake "room in" with us!! We were thrilled! Josh and I couldn't believe that we could finally have our son to ourselves (mostly) and get to just hold him! The nurses still came in to do check ups on him throughout the night, but he was able to come and be with us during the night. We were so happy and even more excited that the next day he would actually get to come home.