The sneaky little fellow bought himself some time!

On Friday, following a routine temperature check that showed 38°F, the doctors thought that Daniel might be fighting an infection. As he wasn't displaying any symptoms, it was good that they had caught it early. With the risk of infection, there was certainly going to be no way that they would operate to close up the PDA. However, they needed to do all sorts of nasty tests to figure out what the infection might be (they suspected pneumonia). He had a Lombard puncture to collect spinal fluid. He had a catheter placed up his... where us men would prefer not to have anything placed... to collect a urine sample. Not a nice day for him. But he managed through it without letting it get to him too much - and people commented on what a lovely character and personality he has! In fact, the nurses have noticed a peace (that passes understanding?!) in us which afforded us the opportunity to share our faith, which is great!

Anyway, back to Daniel... To look at him, none of the nurses believed he was fighting an infection: he was neither irritable nor lethargic, and tolerating his feeds very well. Indeed, all the test results came back negative and his temperature is back within normal limits, so: false alarm! But as a precaution, they are keeping him on antibiotics for a couple of days. But this episode has bought some time for him to gain weight and hopefully for the PDA to close up without the need for surgery. That is indeed still the doctors' preferred approach - to limit his fluid intake, but up his calorie intake (tricky to do... but they're clever) and hope he grows. As of yesterday he was 1,120g. We had thought of getting him an "I am 1" badge and writing a little "kg" next to it to celebrate this momentous milestone! Indeed, at a quarter to 1am tonight, Daniel will also be celebrating his one month birthday!! He's doing so well, and the Lord is sustaining both him and us through this time. (Note to self: we've found we feel a lot better about things when we've read the Bible in the morning than if we don't. Funny how that works...)

Reinforcements also arrive tomorrow. Nicci's mum is coming out to visit for a week. The original plan was for her to take over nursing duties for Nicci (who was still meant to be pregnant) while I went back to the UK for work. Well, clearly my plans got the kibosh, but it is great to still have Liz with us to be with Nicci during the days as she visits Daniel, to keep her sane and to get to hold her grandson! A BIG thank you to our friends back home in Arborfield & Barkham who very generously put in to pay for her flight!! You guys are awesome! (We're coming up for our 1 year anniversary of being in the States and, as you can see - we're adopting some of the lingo...)

Right. Shower calls, then off to church and then the hospital to see our boy!