A big weekend in HK (and neighbouring countries) Part I

All, Attached is news (and some photo's and video's) from the HK Turner household. Its been a pretty big week all round. 1. We've moved house. Our new address is now 17A, Government Quarters, 122 Pokfulam Rd, Pokfulam, HK. Phone numbers, and other details stay the same. Jules pretty much managed this on Monday / Tuesday. 2. On Monday, one of my largest projects of the year went live (i.e. we now use a new computer system to trade on the stock exchange in Hong Kong). Quite an achievement actually, but couldn't have been more poorly timed. 3. On Wednesday, I flew to Manila (again). I met with some people in Manila on Thursday then flew to Bacolod (where one of ICM's main operations is). On Friday I visited a new training centre we have built to help provide people with a livelihood in a place called Don Salvador Benidicto (DSB for short) - can't tell there was an occupation by the Spanish for 400 years can we. This was amazing (I've got some photos). 4. I arrived back to Hong Kong this morning, and spent about an hour with Jack teaching him how to ride a bike - which he's now pretty much got the hang of. This new place has a much better area for that, and is much more conducive to him riding around. 5. In the afternoon, Cleo and Jack went in the swimming carnivale at the cricket club. It was their first competitive event. Cleo had to swim across the pool. I've got some great piccies (below). She came second. We were amazed as she was pretty much the smallest in her race. Jack came second in his freestyle race, then won his breastroke race (video included below), then he and I won the "father son" relay. A great day. 6. Tomorrow I head out for Japan. Has Josh left yet? I figured we'd overlap for time, but will struggle to meet up (lack of mobile phone coverage in Japan for his team I suspect will make it next to useless to try). Anyway, enough gab. Here's the piccies and video as promise. Here's Cleo - she was amazing. A couple of piccies required. Here she is ready to race. You can see she is the smallest kid there (in the middle in the red swimmers if you hadn't picked her) Classic dive / horsey. Made a good splash. The eventual winner got a much better start (as did many of the other girls), but Cleo was too quick in the water for most. Here she is nearing the finish line. Touch the wall - pipped at the post. Now for Jack. Here's a video of him winning the 25 metres breastroke. He starts ahead, but the kid next to him has better stroke and catches him (you can see that in the top corner of the video at about half way). Jack fights him off, and wins by a nose. Great race (can tell one Dad who was quite excited).

A big weekend in HK (and neighbouring countries) Part II

Continuing the pictures. Here's Jack's races. On the Blocks And away. Not too bad given he's not really practiced diving. He has a good stoke - long and slow, but generating good pace. After collecting their medals - they're both pretty pleased. - All the kids is quite a handful now. A bit easier with just the 1. Will obviously much bigger, and getting to be a regular baby - rolling over, etc.

A big weekend in HK (and neighbouring countries) Part III

Sorry, this machine won't let me post all the piccies I want to in 1 post. You'll note I've made the pictures smaller in the hope they won't monopolise so much space on the blog. Lucky last pictures. Here's Jack and I swimming in the relay. Woohoo, we won, and here we get the medals. Finally, my personal favourite. Will with Jules. He's had a big afternoon. Sorry again about monopolising the blog with pictures, I know you guys now how to put them on, so lets see them. H

Some final photo's

Harry has pretty much signed off and many people will have stopped checking on Will's progress now that he's home but I thought I'd add a few more photos and a final word. We have really enjoyed Will's first three days at home. He is a typical third child, being dragged from pillar to post having already attended a gymnastic class, gone to the movies, joined us at Care Group (Bible Study), gone out for dinner and then lunch the next day, finally made it to church and laid by the pool. It is so great to have him as part of the family. The kids are proudly showing him off to all and sundry, asking anyone who passes by if they would like to touch their brother. Will has been coping with all of this quite well, he is feeding and sleeping through it all and looking cute to boot. So the photos are: "look Mum, no catheter!!" Happy to say goodbye to Ward K10S at Queen Mary Hospital. They have been marvelous but it's time to move on. Back home with Jack and Cleo, lying on Will's handmade quilted floor play rug - thank you Deanna. Finally, thanks so much to everyone for their prayers, love and support. The old saying goes "a problem shared is a problem halved" and I have to say it feels like you've all taken a portion of our "problem" and we have been left with the smallest amount. Harry and I then gave this remnant to God so really you and He have taken the load for us both. It's been a busy, demanding and tiring 6 weeks but Will's life and your love have been just two of the excellent things to come of it. We've also seen the arrival of Tom, Katie, Toby and Jacob - 5 babies in 6 weeks, stop drinking the water people! I will hopefully get to sending out "birth announcements/thank you cards" but for those who have sent comments anonymously and for those of you whose email I don't have, thank you and please forgive the lack of personal correspondence. Please continue to pray for babies Isaac and Toby as they fight on to be released from ICU to go to their homes. Well, until the next adventure in the Turner 5's lives, good bye and loads of love, Jules.

Home at last

Great news. Will is now home for keeps. And he seems to be sleeping through the night without much problem (or at least he's not waking up loudly enough to wake Dad from his slumber). Its just amazing to remove the hospital routine, and to have a baby that can be stuck in a pram or a car seat and taken places. Jules was able to take the kids to gymanstics (although Will did sleep through it entirely - lazy little fella), and we were both able to go to our care group (Bible study) - Will included. So life is back to normal for us (although of course somewhat different given we've now 3 kids to deal with). We have truly had an amazing experience over the past 6 weeks. A lesson to trust in God, and a lesson that God's plans and our plans may not be in line. Last night at care group we read John 14. In John 14:1 Jesus says "Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God; trust also in me" (Colin Buchanan fans are fogiven for trying to sing this bit). This was said in the leadup to Jesus death (for us) on a cross. The listeners at that time had absolutely no idea how Jesus being captured and crucified could be for good (put yourself in their shoes for a minute) - yet it turned out to be the most amazing sacrifice of all time and the reason we can all have confidence in our salvation. A terrible event being in line with (and in fact totally required for) God's plan. So the lesson, Trust in God; Trust also in Jesus. REGARDLESS of the circumstance. God's plans are much bigger than ours. Sometimes we cannot understand them, but that doesn't make them wrong - that just means we need to trust that God has our best interest in mind. Thankfully God's plan has been to give us Will back. Not sure if there will be any further updates on the blog. Perhaps a few pictures. Now that Will is home, please thank God for his kindness. As you know we have also been asking you to pray for Isaac. Please continue to do this as he has a much longer road to travel than it turned out will did. His site is www.soniaandjong.blogspot.com Further, another very good friend of ours (Esther) is about to have a baby who has CDH - due 5th July. His name will be Toby, and they have also setup a blog. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you prayed for them also. http://baby-toby.blogspot.com Thank you all again for your wonderful support. A fantastic picture to us of what heaven will be like.

His bladder looks to be working well - coming home tomorrow

His bladder seems to be working well. Unfortunately his nappy (daiper for all you Americans) is not. This afternoon I experienced first hand how well his bladder is working. While nursing (not to be confused with breast feeding) him he decided to prove that the Huggies were no match for his stream. Great news (although I perhaps ended up a tad warmer and wetter than I'd hoped to be). Julie suggested its revenge for the fact that I (apparantly) "refuse" to change his nappy. Complete rubbish of course. Its fair to say I ALWAYS get the bad ones - so not really sure where Jules is coming from. We also had an update today from the Doctor on the results of the ultrasound he had on Tuesday. In short, everything looks to be fine. No indication of abnormal distention of the bladder, no indication of problems with the spine etc. There was one slightly concerning result from the ultrasound in that they found some evidence of calcification in the kidneys. They don't seem at all worried about that, and have suggested that he needs a further ultrasound in 2 or 3 months to see how its going. So tomorrow he comes home. I was planning to go with Jules to the hospital for the big day, however, they are yet to make their minds up as to what time they will finish writing the "discharge" report (nothing to do with the stream I'm told). So Jules will get that joy on her own (I will particularly miss the bit where you line up for hours to pay the bill). We are overjoyed with thanks to God for his great blessing to us. It is now becoming something of a blur as to what happened. The concerns and stresses of just a few weeks ago are now completely gone. God is great indeed. Things haven't necessarily gone as planned (and even now I'm feeling just a tad enthusiastic about Will coming home tomorrow - hoping that this time I manage to line up with God's timing), but we have learnt a lot about trusting God - in particular that sometimes (perhaps often) we have to trust that Gods plans for us are better than our own. A hard lesson indeed. More on this tomorrow - all going well, one of our last posts to this blog.

A wee bit of progress

Jules and I both made it to the hospital this afternoon. It was really unbelievable to see will without any wires, tubes, pipes etc. attached to him. Its the first time I've seen that in person, so I was quite pleased. Jules fed him for about 45 minutes. One of the nurses had mistakenly defrosted a bottle of milk for Will, so after the 45 minute feed we decided to see if he'd take any of the bottle as a supplement. He wolfed down an 80ml bottle! Clearly nothing wrong with the appetite. This is the second time he's done this in the last couple of days, so Jules has gone out and bought some formula as a reserve and is planning on calling the Chinese herbal breast feeding person to try to help increase capacity (so to speak). Just as we were leaving the nurse decided to change Will's nappy (thanks to a wopper of a poo that I had politely ignored). She was going to place a little bag on him to catch the wee (test the volume or something). As she opened up the nappy he decided to demonstrate how strong his stream was. Jules and I were both pretty happy to see this as it gave us comfort that its definately getting better. When we asked the nurse whether this constituted a strong stream, she answered that it was ok, but that it turned to a dribble at the end. Hmmm. I couldn't help but say "that's the way it works isn't it?". I wondered if these nurses had in fact ever seen a boy do a wee before. Have they never wondered how those drips get on the toilet floor? I guess they're not going to teach him to shake are they? Anyway, the latest news is that if the stream continues to be ok he will be discharged from hospital on Thursday - 1 day before his initial due date.

Stream or no Stream.... The answer

Julie promised a short post about now to let you know whether or not Will's bladder is now working. The answer? A seamingly healthy stream. Jules turned up to find him off the cathetor, but in a nappy. She asked how they were assessing his stream if he had a nappy on and they told her that there was no need to keep assessing as he had wee'd on one of them while changing the nappy. When can he come home? Too hard. One of those questions that noone in the hospital seems to know the answer to. Praise God 'eh.

Praise God for small mercies

While Will continues his quest to come home, we can praise God for small mercies. Imagine if, while going through these current difficulties, he also had to watch Australia get robbed by a terrible refereeing decision last night in the game against Italy! Anyway, somewhat bleary eyed this morning (and totally disenfranchised by Soccer / Football) I have added the photo's as noted by Julie. She's taking some amazing closeup photo's. Every day a little closer. I might encourage her to stop soon as I'm not sure anyone's interested in a closeup of the small freckle on his left cheek.....

Take 4!

Tomorrow , Tuesday, 6am Hong Kong time, will be the fourth time Will’s catheter will be removed.  We are praying that the past few days of bladder control training has paid off and Will has a strong, steady, straw-coloured stream!  Wanting to be prepared, I asked the nurse what was the next step if he was still ‘dribbling” and she just smiled.  Quizzically I asked again and she told me the doctor thinks that this will work and we won’t need to do anything else.  Although I am not getting my hopes up it is the first time this doctor hasn’t covered all his bases and kept his cards close to his chest (can I use any more metaphors?).  Maybe she wasn’t supposed to let his optimism slip!

I took some lovely photos today. Will’s face is getting chubby, in my opinion, and his ears are also a little fatter.  “Fat ears?” I hear you say.  Fat in that they are no longer at one with his skull.  However, as Harry is not home you will have to wait for the photos and for tomorrow’s good news.  I won’t say bad news as even if we don’t get good news tomorrow there will come a day when we will, it just means waiting a little longer.

I’ll phone Harry at midday tomorrow (after I’ve seen Will) and he will update the blog then.  If you’re a blog addict, as several people have confessed to being, then log on then to find out the “stream report”.  Again, thanks for your prayers, I look forward to the day when we can joke with a teenage Will and tell him half the world was praying for his bladder and his “stream”!

Love Jules.

Dissappointment - the Cathetor is back

Well, fair to say Jules and I are a bit dissappointed this morning. After monitoring Will's "stream" last night, they determined that his bladder pretty much isn't working, and the wee was just leaking out. As a result, they've decided to put the cathetor back in. Their plan is to try to "train" the bladder. They will clamp the cathetor for 2 hours, then release it for an hour, then clamp it, etc. Trying to get the bladder used to filling and contracting etc. This will go until at least Tuesday next week, at which point they'll try to take the Cathetor out again and monitor his progress. If that doesn't work, there is potential that he has damaged his a nerve or his spine or somthing that tells the bladder when to contract and when not to. I pray that this is not the case because I can't get my head around what comes next if that is the case. So for us it's back to tag teaming at the hospital. Julie's back to pumping rather than breast feeding, and the kids are back to missing out on seeing Will again. Things just aren't easy are they. God has his plans for us, and we need to learn to live with them and trust in God's goodness for us.

Some Photo's as promised - No More Wires!!

As Julie promised yesterday, here are some photos of the kids interacting with Will. It has been great to have him home this week. He's back in the hospital, and its a tad weird. We're now constantly behaving as if he's here, trying to be quite in the bedroom, listening for him crying, even stressing over forgetting to give him his medicine. Yesterday at 3pm they took Will's final tube out. The cathetor is now gone. We're finally finished with a wired up baby. The plan was revised slightly yesterday. Will's going to nude it up in the humidy crib while they watch to see "quality of stream". If his wee is a constant dribble, there's probably something wrong with his bladder. If its a decent stream, then his bladder is working. Great fun fo Will, but can't imagine its the best part of a nurses job. I believe that if he has a decent stream, we may get him home sooner rather than later. I'm hopeful (and praying for) today, but who can tell.

Back to Bed 21

I guess I should start by apologizing for the lack of updates this week.  The reason for our tardiness is good though because with Will in the house I am suddenly a mother of three in action and there is no time to be sitting at the computer, or drinking a cup of tea, or sleeping more than two hours at a time, or watching a movie in its entirety!  And I am delighted!!  

 

Today Will has returned to hospital to have his catheter removed, hence I’m back in the saddle and doing my emailing and blog updating.  Will and I dropped Harry off to Jack’s school at 8.30am on our way to the hospital and as I collected Harry at 10.30am he asked if Will was in the car (you can’t see in the car seat from the front seat).  I said “You must be dreaming!” because of course we need to have him assessed by all and sundry and observed for many hours before that would be possible.  It is great that the team are so conscientious, I just need to be more patient!  Would you believe I met another Dr Chan this morning – this time a woman.  She was very helpful and explained all the procedures Will still had to have and why. 

 

What are they?  OK, first he had his temperature taken – not too high, therefore no infection. Second, they collected a urine sample which they will test for bacteria.  Third, they will take some blood to check his kidney function.  Fourth, he will have an injection of antibiotics (super strength on top of his oral Antibiotics) before fifth, Dr Chan (the pediatric surgeon) will remove the catheter.  Then we play the waiting game.  Will’s nappies/diapers will be weighed and assessed against his regular urination ability (which is well charted – even on his home leave stints we had to document it every four hours).  They are keen to know whether he can wee and whether it is dribbling out (that is, with no bladder control) or whether he can allow the bladder to fill and then use the bladder to contract and pass a wee properly.  They will then do the “tap” test (imagine John Cleese in “Fawlty Towers” checking the walls for hollow sounds) to see whether the bladder is empty (sounds hollow) or full (sounds hard).  If Will is fine after 1, 2, 3, x, y, z number of days, he can come home.  If not, further tests will be done, like another contrast or an ultrasound.  Problems could be due to swelling after surgery, dodgy bladder after the blockage in the urethra made it overfill and then leak or burst or something, or debris from the zapping of the valve in the urethra.  All of this info was given to me by Dr Chan (the woman) in less than 3 minutes – fantastic.  I make no comment on the ability of men vs women to pass on vital information!

 

So, that’s about it.  When Harry gets home tonight we will put some pictures of his home leave on the blog.  The kids had a great time with Will, Jack read him books and Cleo sang him songs.  Both were very helpful running and getting me things when I had my hands full.  AND, Jack managed to get out of being held in at recess time (because I hadn’t signed off his homework) by thinking quick and saying it was because I was so busy now Will was home for a few days that I had no time for such things.  His teacher fell for it, and it’s true I did forget but good on Jack for coming up with the excuse!

 

OK, I’m off to be patient, will know more this afternoon so do check in later!  Love Jules.

Please pray for Isaac now

Here is a note from Sonia regarding the time for Isaac's operation. Please pray for him, his operation is coming up in the next half an hour (from when I posted this of course). Don't forget you can always go www.soniaandjong.blogspot.com for updates. Dear all, Just a quick update on the start time of Isaac's surgery. We confirmed that his surgery will start from 9:30 am to 10:00 am Tokyo time tomorrow, which is:-10:30 am to 11:00 am Sydney time- 8:30 am to 9:00 am Hong Kong time- 8:30 pm to 9:00 pm Wednesday Eastern Standard timeYou can also check the time conversion on here - http://www.worldtimeserver.com/time_converter.aspx?f=JP We don't know how long the entire procedure will take but it might take up to 4 or more hours. Also, we have been told that so long as Isaac is stable, we can spend a lot more time with him than usual because its his day of surgery so we might be in NICU for a while and may not be able to update promptly or receive calls while we are in there. But we should be able to post something before we are allowed into NICU for the long visit.Isaac's CRP/infectious score was 0.1 today, which basically equals zero - praise the Lord! However, his eye check up today confirmed that he has Stage 2 ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). Isaac will get another eye check up next week to see if he needs laser surgery for his ROP. Laser surgery is a much, much simpler surgery than the heart surgery Isaac is getting tomorrow so we are not overly worried. But please do pray for his vision and his eyes as well.We have a very early start tomorrow so I will sign off for now. We really appreciate all of your prayers!God bless,Sonia

Home for a week - and then.....

After the successful operation on Friday, Will is at home on his second stint of 'home leave'. The current plan is for him to return to hospital on Friday to have the catheter out, then.... Well our prayer is that he will come straight home. However, at this stage, there may be a yet to be determined period of time while they keep him in on observation to ensure everythings functioning ok before they let him come home for good. We cannot wait. The catheter has been a right pain in the bottom. He pretty much has to stay at home while he has it in, which makes it difficult for Jules. Its also a little stressful always trying to make sure we don't bump it in the wrong way, keep the kids away from it, etc. In one sense it was actually a tad easier when he was in the hospital - however we're very happy to cope with the minor discomforts to have him home. We're still continuing to pray for baby Isaac (and for his parents Sonia and Jong). He is to undergo quite serious surgery on Thursday 22nd June. www.soniaandjong.blogspot.com

Found it

We've just spoken to Dr Chan following Will's surgery. His opening remark to us was "he won't be going home on Monday". Its fair to say that we weren't really sure how to take a comment like that. Anyway, after a little further conversation we determined that Will was in fact ok. The prognosis is that they did indeed find evidence of a valve in the Urethra. They used an electrofied cathetor to burn this evidence away. They also analysed the bladder and found evidence of previous trauma, but no evidence of a hole. Given the nature of the operation, Dr Chan wants to keep Will in hospital for 1 more week with a cathetor in to allow the area repaired to recover. On a little further questioning, it would appear that we may be able to take him home next week sometime for further home leave. In terms of longer term, there may be future problems with things like toilet training given the prior damage to the bladder. Given they are unable to completely cut out the valve, there may also be a future requirement to do further work, dependant on how he goes in the next few months / years. The very good news is that, despite some earlier concerns, Will is able to breathe on his own. No need for a ventilator. So I guess we finally have an answer as to what caused the problem. No idea why a valve developed and when, but at least we know what the problem was, perhaps a little peace of mind. Thank God for his goodness to us in providing such highly skilled Doctors in a very high quality hospital to look after Will. We are now looking forward to a speedy recovery, and a permanant trip home. We're now sitting in the elevator well waiting for Will to come out of recovery. They could do with some chairs as the window sills aren't the most comfortable

Friday's nearly here

Well, I was right. This week has flown. Tomorrow is Friday and Will is all set for his cystoscopy and the general anesthetic he'll need to get through it. I spoke with the surgeon and anesthetist today and I think I had a few questions answered. Its often a little hard to tell whether I have gained more knowledge at the end of some of the conversations! The summary is: Will has to stop eating by 10am in preparation for a 2pm start time (not too bad as he may even sleep that long and I was anticipating a 6 hour fasting period, I am allowed to stay with him from the special care room all the way to the theatre and up until the anesthetic goes in (a great blessing as I didn't expect to be allowed near him), his procedure lasts for somewhere between 15 and 45 minutes depending on what they find, and then I'm allowed back in to the post op area to wait for him to wake up. The procedure will look at two things, whether there is a valve in the urethra that has been held open by the catheter (if they find one they will zap it with some electric current so it doesn't grow back - Jack's concerned that they may fry the urethra itself but I reassured him the surgeon knows what he's doing and God's in control)and the condition of the interior of the bladder (the roughness or smoothness - technical terms - will indicate how much damage occurred during the initial blockage and therefore how many problems Will may face in the future - things like incontinence, urinary tract infections were mentioned). Depending on what they find, Will has to stay another few days post op after the catheter is out but we anticipate his home coming to be anywhere between Monday and Thursday next week. Still being patient... Please pray hard for the little tacker around 2pm tomorrow arvo, pray for Harry and me too, that we trust in God, not in man, and know that He has a plan for Will. Looking forward to updating you all tomorrow night when we may finally have some answers, Jules.

More photos, a video and a postcard too!

Good evening. I had a lovely day with Will today. He was so relaxed both this morning and tomight. He's taking feeds a little better it would seem, a little more rigorous in the sucking even though he's often asleep for most of it. We had some nice little chats and I took a video of Will's faces he pulls as they are many and varied. His tummy is all but normal now and he has put on the weight he lost over the weekend (I think due to being entirely breast fed and therefore without the fortifier suppliment they add to the bottles). The other great news is the culture from the catheter bag came back and there is no sign of bacteria, which means the problem before was with the bag (no surprises there as 17 days of being soaked in wee is bound to do that to any bag!) and not with Will. They will still keep him on antibiotics until Friday though just so he doesn't come down with anything before or in fact during the procedure. I was trying to work out a few details of the operation today, asking when I'd speak to the aneasthatist, when Will would have to stop eating and when they would give him a drip. No satisfactory answers I'm afraid but I think I will meet with the surgeon and anesthatist tomorrow and they'll be able to tell me I'm sure. Harry has had a busy few days at work and has been getting to the hospital just before closing time. This actually worked out well last night as he got to give Will his 8pm bottle feed. Harry tells me he knocked it back in 10 minutes flat, reminding me of a comment from a waitress once to Harry after noticing his empty plate - "Where did that go? Do you inhale your food?" - to be said with a lilting Irish accent. Obviosuly there are a few new pictures today - some lovely ones of Will I think, a video that is probably too long, sorry i got carried away, a photo of Jack with his mohawk at 9 months of age (watch the video for the reference) and a postcard we received from Will's Uncle Ben (my brother) and soon to be Aunty Wendy who are travelling in France. Uncle Ben wrote that he hoped Will was all sorted soon and back to proper performance as per the picture! Enjoy the pics, have a great sleep for those in HK and Oz, time for lunch in the UK and Ireland and good morning to those in the US! Love Jules.

Request denied

For those who are logging on to see if Will has had a reprieve and can come home again, I'm sad to say our request has been denied. The pediatric surgeon is quite conservative and is a little nervous that if he lets Will go home again the chance of the catheter coming out or becoming infected is too high. I can appreciate where he's coming from and he only has Will's best interests in mind but it was hard to hear "no". In some ways it is harder having had him home. This sounds odd I know as we should just appreciate the time we got to have with him over the weekend but until then Will had been "Will at the hospital" not "Will, part of the family, in his own bed". It is hard to walk past his change mat or bassinet and do a double take because he's not there. Still, it is in his best interests and I am praying this week will fly and he'll be home again in no time. I'm back to the routine of expressing, driving and feeding. Please continue to pray for the Jack and Cleo as I will be around less for them. They are still handling things extremely well, not whinging and being very understanding when we tell them someone else is picking them up or taking them to x, y or z. I am so thankful to God for their mature response to Will's demands on our time, especially since they are both going through the emotional difficulty of having a brother in hospital. God is being so gracious to them and lifting them up every day. They too are leaning on Him, praying regularly, not just at bedtime and realising He can help Will and them. OK, must go and express, aren't you all envious of my new and exciting routine? I know you are, you can't deny it! Take care, love Jules.

A hole in the house

After a wonderful weekend with Will at home, we've felt a real hole in the house today. We dropped Will off at the hospital this morning and it felt very odd. To bring him back despite him being so healthy (seemingly) was very strange. To make it more difficult, a new baby has been admitted into NICU over the weekend. This baby is extremely sick, and has pretty much every form of life support possible. Jules and I both quietly prayed for that baby this morning. As a result, they have moved all the other babies in NICU out into the special care room. The machinery etc. that the new baby is on is very noisy, so to minimise impact on the other babies they've moved them. To make the situation of leaving Will behind even more difficult, the nurses started to ask Jules this afternoon why she didn't extend the home leave. Asking her if she was too tired to look after him! Clearly not the case as we would desparately prefer to have him home. The nurses will ask the Doctor tomorrow, and, who knows, we may have him back again tomorrow for another few days. That would be a great (and very unexpected) blessing. As mentioned in my last post, having Will home was a great thing for the kids as they really started to relate to him on a more personal level. They were a little sad this morning going to school knowing that he would be back in the hospital in the afternoon. Some piccies of the Kids, 2 off to school, 1 off to hospital.

A great weekend

So far so good on the weekend at home. In some ways its quite restricting to have Will home because, due to the cathetor, we're pretty much landlocked at home. However, that is a small price to pay, and the weekend at home - including a relatively sleepless night last night, has been fantastic. I could say much, but here's two pictures that speak for themselves. How great is it for Jack and Cleo to be able to meet their little brother. How great is it to give him a bath at home. We're so blessed. Enjoy.

No problems on his first night at home

Last night was Will's first at home. He slept amazingly well, such that Julie had to wake him up during the night to feed him. We need to make sure he's eating every 3 or so hours because he is still small and needs very frequent feeds to keep his growth up. Hopefully the night time feed thing doesn't become a habit, but necessary at the moment. We had a lovely birthday dinner for Julie. Our first dinner with us all together. A quiet relaxing evening with everyone at home. We marvelled together over the miracle the God had done for us to make it so. Outside of asking God to heal Will this was the only very specific prayer that we prayed, that Will would be home for Julie's birthday. Kicking myself for not adding "and that he could stay home" .... Oh well - need not be fussy.

A weekend at Turnies

Will is home! For the weekend. Not much to say in this update apart from letting you know that the systoscopy will happen next Friday. Will will be out for the weekend, and go back into hospital on Monday, and most likely stay there until after the procedure. Lots of pictures and a couple of vids of a home coming.

A bit of a dark one of him sleeping. Not even a black rainstorm was going to keep him from coming home. In the house. Isn't Cleo happy to see him. Jack will be too I'm sure when he gets back from school. A pretty good birthday present 'eh.

Happy Birthday Julie. A gift from God

Will is definately coming home today. What an amazing gift from God - he really outdoes himself sometimes (and he certainly outdoes me when it comes to gifts - better get down to the shops pretty quickly). How long will he be home for? At this stage, just one day. One day is better than no days. We will still try to convince Dr Chan that we are capable of looking after him and that the risk is not too high. However, we will accept his judgement as he is no doubt looking at Will's best interest. For those of you in HK, much as you may have strong desire to come over and meet Will, we will need to keep contact very limited. Apparantly its not particularly good for premi babies to have a lot of contact, and with Will still on the catheter its an even greater risk than normal. More of an update later today (hopefully when he is here with us).

And the answer is.... He will!!! or maybe He won't

Well the big day has come and gone. Will's scan was done, and of course, they found no sign of anything wrong. They put the fluid up into the bladder, then they watched it come back out no problem. So can we bring him home? Maybe, maybe not. Dr Chan (Surgeon) decided to re-cathetorise him. He wants to do the further analysis (a systoscopy) to determine what's going on. Therefore he thinks we should leave him in hospital for a further 10 days. The systoscopy will require a general anesthetic. However, the nurses and other Doctors (actually the pediatrician is Dr Ng - not Dr Chan - my bad) all think that Will can come home, and have been lobbying with Dr Chan to let him out. If he does come home, he will still have the catheter in, and therefore will require a little more management, and contain a little more risk (possible risk of it coming out, risk of infection, etc.). We think we're up to it. So tomorrow Will will come home (most likely). For how long? Maybe 2 hours, maybe the weekend, or maybe until the surgery. Don't you love a life of certainty. Anyone who suggests that God doesn't have a sense of humour...... In His great wisdom He decided not to cave to my bold request, but he didn't completely leave us high and dry either. He came forward with a new option that we hadn't even thought of. I cannot help thinking that God is not yet convinced that we are truly trusting in him (He's probably right), so wants to keep us on our toes. If / When Will does come home, we will have to pretty much keep him housebound, and we'll have to minimise contact with the outside world, to ensure we don't risk infection etc. So we won't be having any parties, etc. I think the plan is to allow people to come and visit, but cuddles, games, trips to ocean park or Church are probably right out of the question. In summary, a huge praise point that there was nothing found in the scan that required invasive surgery. Another huge praise point that its Jules birthday tomorrow as that was the clincher in the negotiation between the nurses and Dr Chan (apparently) .

Will he? Won't he?

A bit of an exciting day today in regard to the possible outcome of tomorrow's scan. The Doctors now seem to be more unanimous in the view that if the scan is positive, then we should have him home on Friday! Will he? Won't he? Only God knows the answer to that. To demonstrate the progress, they've started prepping him for coming home - including giving Julie the bill ($800 HKD - just blows me away how unbelievably cheap this is given the amount of tests, etc. he has undergone). So its now clear that there is an ever growing view that he may be ready to come home. The plan is that, after having the test (about 3pm tomorrow), they'll leave the cathetor out. They will monitor the nappies by weighing them (I suggested they ring them out into the cathetor bag - that one didn't really fly as a suggestion) to see that he is still passing urine fine, then, if he is, and there is nothing identified in the scan, he'll come home Friday (just in time to watch the Aussies wallop the Poms in the Rugby on Sunday). Obviously we want God's will to be that Will can come home, and we would like you all to pray specifically that the test tomorrow will go well, and that he won't need further work etc. Its fair to say that it would also be good to pray for us that we accept the result regardless, and that we will continue to trust in God's wisdom. For those interested, Jules recorded this video of Will and his living environment in Ma Lai Yi Yeun (Queen Mary Hospital in my best Canto - good enough for a taxi driver).

A further update with Dr Chan

Of course not the same Dr Chan as Julie had an update with this morning, but one of the other Dr Chan's we've dealt with in this last few weeks - no joke, we now have 5 Dr Chan's looking after young Will (I may have already mentioned this - sorry getting old) - and amusingly my Dr way back in my childhood days in the depths of Cobar (look it up on a map - a long way from anywhere) was Dr Chan? Anyway, Dr Chan the pediatrician (as opposed to Dr Chan the Pediatric Surgeon Julie) gave us an update on Will post the ultrasound this morning. The good news. The ultrasound shows the Kidneys and Bladder to be just fine so. Absolutely no sign of a leak or a weakness in either. Some questions we asked: Was there still fluid in the tummy? The answer - 'we didn't ask for them to test for that, but on looking at the results of the scan we believe there is still some fluid left' Was the cyst (identified in the earlier scan) still there? The answer - 'we didn't ask for them to look at that, however, there was no mention of it in the report'. Not sure about that one. For some reason I thought that the reason for the test was to answer those two questions. hmmm. So then we asked Dr Chan (pediatrician) about the procedure that was happening on Thursday to get his view. A slightly different story appeared. Basically, he said that unless they identified a potential problem they would a) not do any further surgery; b) not replace the cathetor. That would be just great. We asked specifically about the seemingly different advice we'd been given, and he was quite adament that, unless they could cleary identify a problem they wouldn't do further surgery. A great reminder that the only consistancy we can truly rely on in this world is from God. Maybe - just maybe - there is some chance of the home by Julies Birthday miracle still occurring. I keep praying, I keep hoping that through some strange stroke of chance my plans and Gods are the same. God can do what only God can do. I then asked him to further clarify the theory of the cathetor 'fixing' or 'masking' the problem (Godly husband rubbing it in - I even got to say "oohhh aahhhh" and pump my fists) . PS..... Just FYI, my "Hole in the Lung" theory is this. When a baby gets to about 16 weeks the amniotic fluid is actually urine (sorry, for all those girls who didn't realise this - a tummy full of wee when your preggars). The baby 'breathes' this fluid (wee) until its born. So my theory is this. Isn't it possible, that one of the potential breaches that has lead to the fluid going from outside to inside the baby is through the lungs? I'm no Doctor (as most of you would have realised by now) but kind of sounds logical. Noones ever checked - just can't get good help these days 'eh. Since my Cathetor might fix the problem theory has been justified, perhaps I should raise the lung theory with one of the Dr Chan's (although not sure exactly which one would be best suited to this discussion - perhaps my old home town Doctor as a tester).

An interview with Dr Chan

In Dr Chan’s absence (he’s been on holidays for the past 10 days or so) I think we have been lulled into a false sense of security. I know I for one was thinking: “Will’s tummy’s going down, he’s breathing on his own, he’s throwing down the milk and putting on the weight so he must be ready to journey back to Shouson Hill with us any day now”. Well, after the nurse organized an “interview” with Dr Chan I have to say that this is not in fact the case.

Apparently the contrast/X-ray on Thursday will have two possible outcomes.

Outcome No. 1: The fluid they inject into the catheter and up through the urethra and bladder will show a leak. If this is the case the catheter will be changed and Will will be placed in the queue for surgery. This will take one to two weeks to come about. He would then have a general anesthetic, Dr Chan would cut through the skin (somewhere on the abdomen I assume) and suture up the leak.

Outcome No. 2: The fluid injection up the catheter would not show any leak. I thought this would be a good thing and they would just say “Well there you go, who knows what happened, go home, live life, come back if you see anything out of the ordinary.” But, apparently an alternate cause of the problem is that the catheter is holding open a valve that has accidentally grown in the urethra, which without the catheter in would stop the urine from flowing out. (Dr Harry suggested this to me a few days ago and I didn’t even acknowledge this as a possibility so I will have to defer to his medical brilliance and suggest that perhaps medical school should have been his destination rather than IT, after all. Although I am still not going to listen to his “hole in a lung theory”!) So, if this is the case they will still do surgery but of a different type where they insert a scope into the catheter and go in and look at the area to see if they can find said valve. If they find it they would then electrify it so there is no longer a valve doing the wrong thing. This procedure would also be under a general anesthetic and would take one to two weeks to happen.

After each of these procedures I imagine there is a recovery time so it looks like Will is in Queen Mary for a good few days yet.

So, although I was a little shocked that Will has to have surgery no matter what (at this stage) I am feeling quite calm and just praying that God will guide the doctors’ hands and take care of Will through any of the procedures. God has held him up so far and I have no reason to doubt His ability, I just need to stay patient and faithful.

I also found out that they ran a culture on the catheter yesterday and discovered bacteria. Because they don’t want to change the catheter before the procedure on Thursday and because it involves squirting something back up the catheter (which could take the bacteria with it) they have started Will on antibiotics today as a preemptive strike. He is fine, no temperature or symptoms but they want him to avoid infection. I’m pleased that after the procedure on Thursday he will get a new catheter so he will have a fresh start. This one has been in since day 1 which is a long time in Dr Julie’s opinion.

Another titbit of information I gleaned today was that Will was moved out of NICU into Special Baby Care on June 1^st! This is exciting as it means he’s now considered very stable. The reason we didn’t know of the change in status was they’ve kept him in the NICU room as the level of care is higher – one to one nurse to baby ratio – and I think they like him! Please pray that he can stay here for as long as possible as the care is better – he can stay as long as no other babies need the spot.

Finally, someone has commented on the pink wraps Will is in! Good question Katie and Stephen from Dublin! I think Queen Mary got a bargain basement price on pink flannelette fabric from somewhere in China. All the sheets and wraps in the NICU and Special Care are pink, I think the kids’ ward might be the same and it is the same fabric I got to wear when I was admitted and in the Maternity ward. Will has been wearing blue outfits so I’m confident that he will grow up strong in his masculinity despite such a covering in pink!

As the weeks go on, I am still amazed at everyone’s desire to read and stay informed on Will’s condition, thank you for your continued prayers and love. Every prayer makes a difference and glorifies our wonderful God, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Again, I took more photos but these will have to wait until Harry loads them up tonight. Hope you’re all well, have a great day wherever you are, love Jules.

Down to 33! I'd love to lose 9cm of my tummy

Yesterday Will had come down to 33.5cm and weighed 2.51kg. Today he's gone down further to 33cm but up to 2.52kg's. That says that all that food he's eating is doing him some good, which is great news. I'd tell you a bit more about the success of his feeding, but the recurrence of the word "breast" has caused various peoples net nanny filters to block our site! Anyway, his b####t feeding is going well. He's hooking up fine, and seemingly getting a full feed worth. Great news for Jules as she'd been quite concerned that he'd suffer confusion with the bottle (definately can't put the technical term for that in). Will has an ultra-sound tomorrow to determine how much fluid is left, and to see what's happened with the cyst that was identified in the last ultrasound. Praying that it is gone (or at least substantially healed). Thursday is the big scan where they pump some fluid back up his cathetor tube, and do a full trace on where it goes. If they find nothing, then they will pretty much never know the cause (or at least that seems to be the likely result). Friday, well.... still praying that Gods plan is for him to come home. That's certainly my plan (I guess you've heard the old joke "how do you make God laugh? ... Tell him your plans"). Anyway, sorry for my slowness of update. I've been a tad busy at work. This photo, for all those who want to see the difference between now and back when he was first born. Here's a tummy shot. This last picture has to be the look of a boy whose had just about enough to drink. Night night Will.

Will Wide Awake

Will's recovery is continuing well. He's now off the Nasal Canular, taking 2 breast feeds a day as well as bottle feeds for the rest. He is basically not on any form of life support any more. In fact he's now recovered to the point where a certain impatient Dad is wondering when they'll let him home. He will probably move out of the incubator today which is of course a good step forward. I'm now guessing that being home on or before Julie's birthday is a real chance. While he has still a little recovery to go our prayers are now usually prayers of thanks and praise at his recovery. We also continue to thank God also for the great support all of you have been to us. Having seen God's work first hand, I'd like to encourage you all to continue to pray for the same great recovery for baby Issac www.soniaandjong.blogspot.com Here are some great video's of Will that help you understand why we are now praising God so much. Enjoy.

Here's a few pictures and videos for you

Here's a few pictures and videos for you. As you can see Will is doing very well. Only 3 tubes left now. They've taken out the stomach thing as he has consistantly been processing all his food, so no more need to measure. They still have the nasal canular on, which is a bit weird as they're not really pumping anything other than a little bit of normal air through it. When they take it off his breathing is still somewhat distressed. So wait an see on that one. Check this video out. A great little smile from Will. As promised here is Will wearing his backwards clothes. Lucky it wasn't me who put them on, as I can blame someone else for something I didn't even notice. Finally, here's a link to another video. You get to here Mum's very fine singing.

Mum's turn at the computer

I guess it is about time that I take a turn updating you all on Will’s progress.  Harry has done a marvelous job on the blog, keeping everyone up to date with Will’s latest and greatest achievements.  Initially I think it was a distraction for him while Will and I were both still in hospital and Will was still critical.  It was a great way for him to contribute something at a time when he could do nothing else but pray and wait.  We have both been amazed at the response we’ve had to Will’s condition through this blog and have been blessed by 24 hour coverage of prayer as each part of the world wakes up and then goes to sleep, passing the baton to the next timezone.  I received an email today from a friend’s Mum in Texas saying she’d just hung up the phone from two friends in the States (whom we have never met) who were sitting down to pray for Will as she had phoned them.  It really is a blessing to be held up to God by so many friends, but even more so by strangers.  Thank you so much for glorifying God, having confidence in His ability to heal Will and nurture us, through your prayers!

 

So, how is Will today?  Yet another day on a roll I feel.  He is down to 35cm in the tum and his feeding tube is out.  He has been able to consistently process the milk from each feed (meaning there was less than 2mm in his stomach every time they went to feed him) so no need to monitor that anymore.  I gave him his second breast feed this morning too.  Although he was asleep for the entire two hours I was there I managed to get him to take 15 minutes from each side.  I feel he latched on better today than last night so I’m confident he’ll be able to breast feed without too much drama.  For those who don’t mind praying with the word “breast” in the sentence it would be great if you could ask God to help both Will and I adjust to the mixed bottle/breast and expressing/breast routine we’re now on. 

 

Will had another cute outfit on today, although it was on backwards – I don’t know if this is because it is too big so the nurses, wanting to cover his chest put the high side to the front, or whether it was a mistake.  I don’t like to push things on the questioning front and he still looked cute so we’ll have to cope with backwards clothes for today.  Harry will load a photo later tonight.  I can email but loading a photo is pushing my computer skills way too far!

 

OK, I have now officially entered the world of the blog, thank you again for reading today’s update, I look forward to having time to respond to everyone’s comments individually but for now, know that I appreciate every single message, thought and prayer for we Turner 5 up here in Hong Kong.

 

Have a great day!   Jules.

 

 

Only 4 wires left

Great news again this afternoon - and a strong sign of his good recovery progress. Will only has 4 wires / tubes left. The Nasal Canular, the tube into his stomach, the cathetor and the thingy on his foot that measures SpO2 (whatever that is - I think oxygen content in the bloodstream). He was also wearing a cute little outfit. Here's a few photo's for you. They've taken off the heart and breathing monitors, and they've taken out all the IV stuff etc. Jules gave him a feed tonight, and it went ok - although a little harder work for him and he fell asleep quite quickly. I think he subscribes to the Homer Simpson theory "If its too hard, its not worth doing" (good lad, takes after his Dad).

Amidst all the good news

Amidst all the good news we've had re Will, its easy to forget the sobering reality of the world in which we live. Many people have shared on this blog the difficulty they've had in either recent or past times, and many people have sent me information about other things happening for our prayers. I received an email this morning from a friend regarding one of his work colleagues who lost a baby at 23 weeks and the difficulty they are going through. We will definately be praying for them. Its a great reminder to me of the great blessing we have in Will, and of the great blessing we have of our faith in Jesus Christ and the work he has done for us. Without the latter, I believe what we've recently gone through would have been vastly more difficult for us. Onto the news re Will. He is still progressing very well (tummy size actually a tad bigger, but measured after a feed). He managed fine overnight without the drip, and he is now up to 50ml feeds. They are even planning now to take the next big step and have asked Jules to give him a breast feed this afternoon rather than a bottle feed. Looks like he might be weaning of feeds from Dad. A real shame as I very much enjoyed that bit, however I'm sure I know what Julie's preference is. In addition, he's now in clothes (picture to come later), and they are considering moving him out of the ICU into special care. The main reason why they haven't done that yet appears to be that they are currently quite quiet in terms on number of babies in hospital so there's no driver to take him out of ICU (which has a much greater nurse to patient ratio). As a short note re clothes, thanks to the many people who have offered to send 0000 clothes over. Nanna has (happily) taken on that task, so no need for anyone to send others. Thanks very much to you all for your kind offers.

11 Days! Can you believe it.

Can you believe Will was born 11 days ago? It really amazes me how fast this has gone. For some reason I was thinking it would be great if he were out within 2 weeks, not realising that was only 3 days away. Anyway, more great news today. They've removed the IV Drip. Partly because his feeding has substantially improved, and partly because they don't like having the IV in for more than 10 days. I cannot wait to see him tomorrow without the drip. They will also apparantly put some clothes on him tomorrow, so the photo's should be specky. We're now genuinely praying for him to be well enough to come home. Perhaps we should organise a coming home party? Perhaps we should organise a big praise session to thank God for his goodness to us? Perhaps we should do both? (as usual getting a tad ahead of myself). We're not sure if they'll let him out before the scan booked for next Thursday, regardless of how well he is (they are quite conservative). Who knows. God knows. I asked Jules the other day what she wanted for her birthday (9th June - please send loads of cards and presents, she particularly likes computer software, xbox, golf supplies, fishing magazines, fishing trips to Mongolia, etc.). In response, Jules suggested that having Will home for her birthday would be the best present she could get. I think I'll have to leave that one in God's hands (can't ask for a better cop-out for present giving than that 'eh).

Holiday in HK so I get the morning shift

It's kind of exciting doing the morning shift as you get to see the ovenight progress (although you do run the risk of being booted by the morning round as is the case right now).

This morning Will's girth is down to 36cm's.  After a couple of days stable on 37 its great to see him going down again.  He's also down to 2.66kg.  Assuming he hasn't lost weight since he was born and that he hasn't out on weight either, that infers there isn't much fluid to go (says doctor Harry). 

His feeding has also steadily improved. He took 40mls this morning and i'm about to give him a similar amount shortly.   I am now quietly confident that they will take the drip out tomorrow.  That is my prayer now. 

They daily take out the nasal canular for periods of time to are how he goes.  Apparantly when they do this, after a period of time, he starts to struggle with his breathing, so still some work to go there.

Its easy to be impatient, but we are now getting used to working on God's time.  Definately a lesson in patience and trust.

--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
 

NOTICE
The information contained in this email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose or use the information in this email in any way. If you received it in error, please tell us immediately by return email and delete the document. We do not guarantee the integrity of any e-mails or attached files and are not responsible for any changes made to them by any other person.

Starting to eat like a Turner

Young Will is showing strong signs of recovery. I had the opportunity again today to go to the hospital to feed him. As you know they've been trying to increase his milk intake on a daily basis to remove the need for the IV drip. This morning Jules fed him 25 mls (an increase on the previous day). This afternoon I fed him 35mls. I was amazed at how fast he gulped it down. He really does eat like a Turner (way too fast). He followed that with a "Barney-esk" (from the Simpsons) belch. Boys will be boys, even at 1 week old. They have now scheduled the further study on his bowel for the 8th June. The delay seems to now be that the case is no longer an emergency (good news) and that the Doctor treating him (one of the 4 Dr Chan's we've dealt with) is on leave for a good chunk of this week. This study involves squirting some fluid (some sort of dye I guess) up through the cathetor (ouch) into his bladder, then doing something like a cat-scan. Who knows what they will find (if anything). Still praying for them to remove the IV. Quite possibly only 1 or 2 days until this happens. Once they do this, then he may well be downgraded to 'Special Care'. For those who count these sorts of things - 4 dirty nappies today. Not sure if its relevant. They told me yesterday we should bring in some clothing for him (not sure when he'll wear it - perhaps he goes out with the lads in the evening). Julies struggling to find 0000 size baby clothes - he's not even really that small ! Tummy still at 37cm, and weight static at around 2.7kgs. As I know full well, its easy to loose the first few kilo's, its the last few (in my case around 10 - 15) that are the problem. I just thought I'd note that we do read all the comments on the site (in fact they are auto copied to our email). I'm amazed and very much encouraged by everyones commitment to continue to pray for us. Thanks so much, its a great blessing.

One less tube

Just a quick one. Yesterday they removed one of the tubes from Wills arm. This tube was previously used to do constant blood tests, and to measure pressure inside the blood stream. As his blood tests have all been strong recently, there's no need for the tube. Good news. They are also targetting getting rid of the IV drip. They apparantly don't like it in for more than 2 weeks (absolute maximum). As a result, they are continuing to step up his feeding (now at 25 mls, and processing well). Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Another lovely photo for you all.

For those who think we're a tad nutty

When I first put this blog together, it was written with the intent of asking our Christian friends around the world to pray for Will and for us. We didn't know how serious the problem was at that stage and so realised we were totally in Gods hands. As mentioned earlier, we gave Will his name as we believe that whatever happened with him was Gods Will. We believe God exists, we believe God cares for us individually, and we believe God wants us lay our needs before him, so this was a pretty obvious thing for us to do. However, this blog pretty quickly became the primary communication source for all of our friends, colleages and other interested parties (regardless of religion). When it became clear that this was the case, I was tempted to "tone it down a bit" so that our non-Christian friends reading didn't think me nuts, too full on etc. However, I resisted this temptation. Many of our Christian friends have also resisted this temptation while posting many gracious, and prayerful comments. So, I am aware that there are many people reading this blog who, while very interested in and supportive of our family, think that we're (aka broader Christian community) a tad weird, or over the top when it comes to our faith. I had thought of trying to offer a clear description of why we have such faith. To give an overview of why I believe. Why I believe Jesus existed, why I believe he is who he claimed to be, why I believe in the amazing free gift of salvation he has given us and why I believe we need that salvation. However, I'm not much of a writer, so was struggling how to do this. My task was made a bit easier this Sunday. I went to church and our pastor (Brett Hilliard) gave an absolute corker (v. good for the non Australian readers) of a sermon. Its based on John 11:1-44, the story of Jesus raising Lazerous to life after being dead for 4 days. In this sermon, Brett gives an excellent description of why we can trust the authenticity of this story. The text as written (shortly after the death of Jesus) records many very specific facts that could have been easily refuted - but were not. Given the Jews and the Romans both tried desparately to discredit the story of Jesus this would have been a pretty easy target for them. However, they were never able to. This is not the main point of the sermon, however, if you have questions as to the authenticity of the Bible, listen to this sermon. Secondly, (and this relates very much to this blog), Brett gives an excellent review about how the text describes Jesus interacting with and caring for his friends in their suffering. The family of Lazerous (his sisters Mary and Martha) were suffering terribly after the loss of their brother. When Jesus arrived, he grieved with them (see the very short verse John 11:35 "Jesus Wept"). Why did he do this, when he knew that he would raise Lazerous from the dead? Why didn't he turn up earlier and stop the suffering? The answer? Too long to type here, but let me encourage you that if you are wondering about why God allows suffering, why he wants us to pray, his desired relationship to us, how he cares for us, etc. read John 11, then listen to this sermon.The Most Important Lesson Not wanting to steal Brett's thunder in the sermon, but his conclusion is that "God is God, and we are not". I have learnt this lesson very clearly thanks to the recent events. God is a great teacher. I very much encourage you all to read this passage then to listen to this sermon.

Back to work now - getting phone updates for the morning

I've now returned to work, so I'm now getting morning updates from Jules via the phone. I'll be leaving work early while Will is still in hospital so I'll still get some good time with him in the afternoon (actually the 5pm is the best shift - get to feed him, also get to meet the Doctor during his round). So, here's the update. Tummy size still 37cm, however, he has lost a little weight (now down to 2.7kg), which, given his increase in eating, is positive news as it probably reflects the further loss of fluid. This morning they've bumped up the feeding to 25mls and he's been processing the 20mls no problems overnight which is also good news. Both Jules and I have now had opportuntiy to take Will out of his crib and feed him while holding him, which just makes the whole thing feel a lot better (and a little more interactive). It was the highlight of my day yesterday. Sorry about the short update - am catching up on a weeks missed work.

37 and falling

Great news again today. Will's girth has fallen to 37cm (I believe the "normal" size should be somewhere between 25 and 30cm). Theres no question now as to whether or not he's processing the fluid natuarlly. They've also stepped up his feeding. He's now moving to 20ml's. This morning when we visited him we got to both watch him have a bath (video attached - do you like the new tricky embeded way - thanks to Jon Cheng, the ultimate computer nerd), and feed him. As you can see in the bath, he didn't really like getting his face washed, but loved sitting in the bath. As for the feed, it was 15ml's (a step up from 10ml's toward the target 20mls). We managed to get him to take 10mls before he fell so soundly asleep that we couldn't get him to take another thing. The last 5mls were given to him via the tube into his stomach. While it looks uncomfortable, I guess there are millions of mothers out there who wish they had this option to ensure their children are eating enough. Tomorrow they plan to take out 1 of the tubes in his arm (leaving the drip), and the thing on his foot that measures blood pressure. These are great steps forward. He will then have only the nasal canular, the drip and the cathetor left. If his feeding continues as it is at the moment and he gets to full feeding (apparantly 60mls per feed), then he'll loose the drip also. Once the drip and canular are gone, he will graduate from intensive care to special care. One step closer to home. Of course we don't know how long this will take. It will happen in God's time. Thanks again so much for your prayer. Its fair to say that Will is by no means critical now. He's making a steady recovery thanks only to the work of God (as the Doctors still have no idea what caused or fixed the problem). We continue to be very thankful to God for the wonderful blessing is to us, for the great work God has done for him, and for the blessing of the very skilled and well equiped hospital staff.

Another first - Dad feeds Will

This is a first in more than 1 respect. Obviously its the first time I've fed Will, and I have to say I very much enjoyed it. I was amazed by how strongly he sucked away at the bottle. Its also actually the first time I've bottle fed any of my children. Both Jack and Cleo outright rejected bottle feeding, so I didn't have that opportunity before. As per my short update this morning things have gone well with Will. They are now planning to increase his food intake to 6 mls, then up to 10mls per feed. He's still not 100% on the food processing but doing much better. For the bottle I am feeding him in this picture it is just 3mls, as he already has 3mls in his stomach. We also discovered that they bath Will every morning at 7am. While they won't let us in then, they will hold off on the bath until we're around so that we can do it. Very exciting as its great to be able to interact with him in real tangible ways, as opposed to sit by his bedside while he sleeps (which is also nice, but its easy to feel a little useless just sitting there). Thanks Sonia so much for your wise comments yesterday. I now realise that as time has progressed my trust has been moving from God to myself / Doctors. We need to continually hand the situation to God and let him choose what happens - hard as that may seem to us at various times. Please pray that we will continue to have faith in God's goodness, regardless of the situation.

We gave him his toys back Davis

Dear Davis, please take a look at the attached pictures. We have given baby Will his toys back. He's not allowed to have them inside his crib yet, so we'll keep praying for his recovery so that he can have them to play with all the time.

38!!!!!

I've just come to the hospital, and had to come straight back out to give you all a short update. Will's tummy is no only 38cm's (still sounds big, but compared with 42 on the first day its a huge improvement). He also had completely processed all the food in his stomach when they went to feed him so they are planning to step up his feeding. I'm just so blown away by our God who answers prayer.

A rollercoaster day

Today was a day of ups and downs - fortunately ending on quite an up. In this mornings note I said that he has fought himself free of the breathing tube (this picture was taken this morning). Shortly after I wrote that I went back in only to find it in again. He was apparantly struggling too much with his breathing. Subsequently we learnt that he was not really processing his food. Using the aspiration tube they discovered that after 2 feeds (of 5 ml each) he had 10ml unprocessed in his stomach. This evening while we were there during the doctors round we questioned when they would do further tests. In short they do not want to for at least 2 weeks. We really couldn't get a good reason why. They very much want to see him process the fluid himself. We found this a tad frustrating to be honest. Then to further frustrate, we asked if his urine production was normal, and the doctor said no, it was high because of the problems with his kidneys (what problem with his kidneys?). After persuing this it would appear that his kidney function has been steadily improving since birth and isn't something to be concerned about. Actually, at this point, Jules and I were feeling a little sad. After the progress of yesterday we began to build great hope of a very speedy recovery. On a positive note to end the day, when they went to feed him this evening, he only had 2ml of unprocessed milk in his stomach. On top of that Julie got to feed him this evening. The final bit of good news was that his girth had remainded constant throughout the day. No afternoon expansion. I am very hopeful that tomorrow morning we'll have a sub 39 girth. Please continue to pray for Will and for his speedy recovery. Please also pray for Jules and I that we will remain in good spirits and that we won't let small setbacks dissappoint us.

The morning report

I've just spent an hour with Will this morning. He pretty much slept the whole time, but it was great to sit and watch him. This morning he is a tad smaller. Down to 39cm. This is consistant with the weird smaller in the morning, bigger in the afternoon theory. Having said that, he did look smaller me today than previously (I think previous morning size was 39.5). He has also managed to win the battle against all breathing assistance. The nose thingy has also been removed (I think largely because he kept pulling it out). They have said that they may put it back if he starts to struggle with his breathing. His feeding continued overnight. He continues to eat well, but is still supplemented by the drip. I asked the doctor when they would take the drip out. He said at this rate it would be in the next few days. That would be great as it would mean it is a lot easier to pick him up etc. As for further tests, nothing as yet. An update on Jules. After having the stitches out she's moving a lot more freely and is down do taking only panadol. I am returning to work today, but will continue to spend my time bouncing back and forward to the hospital. Perhaps not as much time in waiting rooms, so a few less updates to the blog. Thanks so much for your continued thoughts and prayers. Our prayer is now that he starts to process the fluid on his own. This would be the most desirable outcome. We may never have the explanation as to the cause, but I'd be happy to be ignorant if he recovers on his own.

A day of firsts

A great day of firsts for Will praise God. I'm going to put loads of pictures and a few videos up to describe, but in short: 1. They removed the ventilator, and he's breathing fine. 2. They started him on milk - from a bottle ! Totally unexpected, as we thought they would use the tube. 3. Jules got to cuddle Will 4. Will was opening his eyes big time 5. He cried (a nice kind of quiet kind - the type that doesn't quite wake Dad up in the middle of the night). Piccies first. The video's are just as good and exciting as the pictures. Will's first cry Will's first bottle feed We have again spoken to the specialist about the problem and in short, they don't know. They are keen to see if he begins to process the liquid unaided first. If he does not, they will need to commence a more invasive form of testing to determine the issue. This will probably start with some form of Cat Scan of the bladder & associated system. Not sure how long before they decide to do that. Once he has proven to himself stable, it is lower risk to move him around, therefore lower risk to do the tests. Anyway, we must continue to be patient and prayerful, and must wait for God's timing on a resolution.