What A Wonderful Day!!!

I want to apologize for not having this up sooner. There was some software difficulty slowing up my process, but that has been resolved and I was able to get the videos done at least. The pictures will have to wait until tomorrow unfortunately. The good news is the Videos show a lot of what you will get from the pictures so we hope you enjoy.

The update for today is that Elias had a wonderfully alert day!! He was awake when we arrived at the hospital & we played for a while (pop the bubbles & mimic daddy, IE; sticking out his tongue). Hey its the little things that make us happy don't you know. He was very aware and seemed happy to be visited and stimulated. His eyes were so wide open and following us all around. Clinically, he is about the same, no changes have really been made the last few days. He is just becoming more stable. He will be getting an upper GI tomorrow (or rather today as I look at the time) to test the esophagus. If that comes back positive, then preparations will be made to take the ventilator off and then to begin feeding. The chest tube will remain in until he show that with feeding there is no fluid build up again. If he tolerates the feedings without that then he will lose the chest tube. Soon after that we should be able to hold him!!

Cheryl from occupational therapy came by again today. She has made Elias a brace for his right hand which he wore some of yesterday and today. She also took measurements for the left hand as well. She told us that he is tolerating and cooperating very well to her stretches and the brace. She taught us how to put it on him and we discussed watching him to determine what his threshold is for tolerance with it on. We had it on for almost 4 hours today with no problems. Elias is apparently enjoying the arm exercises so much he continues them even when Cheryl is not there. That was amazing to us that he "learned" and mimicked it later. Cheryl also let us know that physical therapy would be coming in to visit and work with him as well starting tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures of his brace and the diagram that is attached to his bed:

David, the minister at the hospital who performed Elias' baptism also stopped by today. He visited with us and asked about our little one's progress. That was very nice and deeply appreciated. He was happy to hear that so many people were praying for Elias and we told him that we know God has many angels watching over him, as well as us. For that we are thankful.

All in all it was by far the best day so far. We are very blessed to have had a day like today. We remain cautiously optimistic as things are really starting to progress, but as we learned early on that can change very quickly. We know that the prayers and thoughts are working. One day at a time he is continuing to battle, overcome and defeat these hurdles. Please enjoy the videos of this miraculous day!!