Days 7 and 8...it's not just the little things.

Sometimes it's not about the little things. Sometimes it really is the big things. 

Think about it. 

 We simply take for granted the miracle of the breath of life in a newborn. They just simply do it. 

Or how about the gift of touch. To be able to hold your child. To be able to rock them to sleep, or sing them a lullaby? 

The journey we have been through has made this so clear to us. 

Sure, the little thigs in life make it extra sweet. But big it weren't for those BIG things, we never could enjoy the little. 

When you have to watch your 8 day old infant struggle to relearn how to breathe on his own, it is a quick realization how much we take for granted the birth process. The 'simple task' of that first breath and every one that follows...what a gift from God! 

Let me back up a bit here to apologize in the huge lacking of updates on the blog. 

A major event on day 7 really shifted our priorities, and blogging suddenly took a back seat. 

Myles was still intubated to give his lungs a bit more rest on day 7.  We had an awesome nurse that day that just couldn't believe we hadn't been able to hold our baby boy up to that point yet. When they placed Myles in my arms the day he was born, it was for a few mere seconds before they wisked him away to the nicu.  On his 1week birthday, we got to hold him for the very first time. Pure bliss is the only way to explain it. That gift of touch, it's not a little thing. It's huge!! 

Leading up to this day they had also slowly began removing all the tubes had in from surgery. His stomach drainage tube was removed day 5, his chest tube was removed day 6, also a neck iv line was removed. With all those gone, he was much more comfortable. 

Day 5 the surgeons had also ordered to begin Myles on feeds with all the breast milk I had been pumping up to that point. 

They started with an oral feeding tube, since he still had his breathing tube at that point.  

Day 8: we knew they planned on trying to extubate him again that day. We were very nervous about it since the last try had poor results. 

When we arrived that morning, we were pleasantly surprised to find him already extubated, and breathing quite successfully with a little help from a hi-Flo nasal cannula. A big step forward!! 

He was still a bit puffy here from surgery fluids. He had iv lines in both hands, as they had taken the central line out of his umbilical. 

He was fighting as The Lord enabled him too, and we just can't help but Praise God every time we look back at all that happened. 

 His hand was on Myles every step of the way.