Boooooooooooo!

Well, we had some fun with Colby this evening.....maybe at his expense. LOL. Even the nurses were getting into it and laughing. Colby...well...we wasn't too sure what to make of the whole ordeal. Because Colby is having surgery tomorrow, he won't be able to be dressed for a while, he'll be back on the respirator and may have some extra tubes running from him for a bit. Tonight was our opportunity and we took it and Colby got his first taste of Halloween two night's early.

Tracey had found a Halloween Onezy thing on e-bay. Like everything else right now, it's a little big on Colby. But we managed to tuck him inside of it. Then we took the incubator cover that Tracey made and laid that over a pillow. Lastly, we propped Colby up and snapped away. : ) I think he enjoyed it though. He was watching me with the camera,Tracey and all of the nurses laughing. So as you can see we did our best to keep a fun, light hearted mood for him this evening.

As for his "medical stuff". His results from his eye exam came back. Last week he had stage 1 ROP. Stage 1 is just the beginning of any signs. This week....stage 2. There are 5 stages in all. A child may only progress to a certain level and stop. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he's done at stage 2.

He's also getting another blood transfusion tonight before his surgery. He's been a little lethargic and his blood numbers have been a little low. So this should make him good and strong before his surgery tomorrow.

Other than that, no real news today. No results yet from his head ultrasound. We'll probably find that out tomorrow. Tracey and I are headed to the hospital first thing in the morning. Colby is scheduled to go into surgery at 1pm, so we want to see him before they take him from the NICU.

These past couple weeks we've seen Colby's weight bobble around. His head grew, but then slowed down. And now the start of ROP. Tomorrow will be no different than all the other days. We will just take it one day at a time, one hurdle at a time and no matter what happens, we'll just make the best of things. Given all that Colby's been through, he's a very content little boy. He rarely cries. He loves to look around. He loves to hold your finger (he can't really hold your hand yet as his whole hand barely goes round my finger). I like to think that our being with him so often and doing what we can to help him keep his head up through all of this is in some way making his stronger and making it a little easier for him to get through things. It's that same sense of being there for him to help him deal with things and overcome the obstacles that life brings his way that I look forward to.

Many people have said that they don't know how we can continue to keep going or how we can keep a good outlook. Honestly, it's not easy. But Tracey and I understand the alternative. We could tumble over and say how tough things are. We could sit and cry and talk about how this is the farthest thing from what we envisioned when we started trying to get pregnant 4 years ago. But why? Crappy stuff happens every day. And if it wasn't this, it would be something else......finances, work, relationships, raising a teenager....or even the weather. It's all the same. Just stuff you sometimes can't control. And although you can't change it, you can change how you react and how you get through it. So we recognize the reality of the situation we're in, but do our best to focus on the good in life. We focus on all that we DO have, on the good days Colby has and of the possibilities that are still open to Colby and our family.

Your support, comments and e-mails have had a big impact on us. We are not alone during this journey and that makes a difference. I want to say thank you to everyone for all you've done and all you are doing. It certainly makes it easier to keep our chin up and to continue trudging through some of the harder days.