1-6-08

1-5-08

Zoey had a big day! Her oxygen levels have been stable now for almost 24 hours. Praise the Lord! Since her levels were stable, they let us try her first bottle feed! It was so exciting. She takes 31 cc's every feed which is equal to one ounce of milk. The doctors don't expect babies to take more than 5 to 10 cc's the first time they try a bottle. My little miracle took 20 cc's!!! She is amazing and amazed the nurses and drs today too. She even burped like a big girl! Her oxygen even stayed up. She made her mommy and daddy proud. She did so well. We will try again tomorrow. We will only bottle feed once a day until she can take her full feed. Then we will move up to twice a day and so on. As you can see from the pictures, she is smiling more and showing so much more expression. It is so fun to watch her. We are praying for another fabulous day tomorrow! Thanks for your prayers! Today was a step toward home. I am so proud of my little one month old, 3 lb 9 oz princess! She is precious! Every step toward home makes me more anxious to get there! Hopefully it won't be long! Thanks for your prayer support! It's making a difference!

Love,

Macy

1-4-09

Just a quick update...Not much has changed since yesterday. Her oxygen levels are still fluctuating. The more she grows, the better those will get. She continues to gain weight. She is now weighing in at 3 lbs. 8 oz! She is changing in looks everyday. Today she was caught making some silly faces. Ashton caught them on film! We are hoping to start the process of bottle feeding in the next couple of days. It's hard to believe that Zoey is going to be a month old tomorrow! She is getting to be a big girl. Mark had to head back to Roswell to work for a few days. It has been a blessing for him to be able to spend time with us up here. God continues to bless him with good health. He is feeling really great. He will be back on Wednesday. Ashton is up here to stay with me this week. We are looking forward to our time together before she heads back to Lubbock. The pictures are courtesy of her today. As for me, I am feeling good. My blood pressure is doing great. I am hoping to be weened off my medicines soon. God has really taken care of all three of us. More tomorrow...

1-3-09

What a beautiful little girl! It has been a good weekend. Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky came up to hang out and see Zoey. We don't pretend to think that they came up for us. We know better! We were able to give her a bath today (a first for us) and Macy got to hold her for over an hour. Throughout all of this Zoey's oxygen saturation remained perfectly stable. Her percentage of oxygen was hovering around 28, down from around 80. Our friend, Suzanne Green, shared a scripture with us that really fits. "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." (Job 33:4) We know that God is in fact breathing for this little girl, and we praise him for this miracle. She is getting stronger and stronger every day. She is weighing in at nearly 3 lbs 6 oz. The difference is incredible. She is already getting that Dodson double chin. :) She has moved up to the big girl pacifier and is taking to it like a champ. The nurse informed us that they are going to start the process of bottle feeding. This will be slow going but it is a very critical step. If there is anything specific to pray about (other than her oxygen saturation) it would be that she takes to this. We thank you for your prayers. They are certainly felt up here.

Mark, Macy, and Zoey

1-1-09

Happy New Year from the Dodsons! We hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season. We feel truly blessed this season. It's hard to believe that we have started a new year! 2008 has flown by. We will always look back and remember our year of miracles. It has been a year of growth for us. We are so thankful for all that God has done for us this past year. We can't wait to see what God has in store for 2009. Zoey has had a tough last couple of days. Her oxygen levels have been all over the place. Her little lungs are really struggling. She is either really high or really low. They have not been able to find the happy medium. Neither high or low levels are good for her. They were a bit concerned today so they ran a bunch of blood test and ordered another chest x-ray. Her blood tests came back normal. Praise the Lord! On her chest x-ray, it showed that her lungs are still 'under inflated' meaning that they are still really under developed. There was no sign though of any haze or infection. We are believing for our first miracle of 2009 to be a complete healing of Zoey's lungs. We are praying for a speedy development of her lungs. Please believe and pray with us. We will be sure to keep you posted on her progress.

The ups and downs of our situation are wearing. Our nursing staff in our new unit has been a challenge. The information we receive from different nurses is really inconsistent and that has been frustrating. Please pray for strength and wisdom as Mark and I deal with emotions of it all.

More later... We love you!

Macy


P.S. Mrs. Lanning,

We did receive the package that Threads of Love sent us. It was so fun to get a package up there. We love the goodies that you sent us. They have already come in handy. Thank you SO much for thinking of us! Zoey, Mark and I hope to meet you sometime soon.