Little Samuel is 5 weeks old today!

We were hoping our little Samuel would be coming home this week, but the Lord just must want us to wait a bit longer. He's doing well, but still has a couple of issues. The biggest one is the bradys he continues to have (sudden drop in heart rate). These are normal for preemies, and Samuel was doing much better with them. But then he started to have more. If he is able to self resolve (the heart rate goes back up without any stimulation from the nurses...rubbing the back, turning him ect...) or they happen during a feeding, they don't really "count" those. But Samuel's been having them when he's sleeping and he's required some stimulation to get his heart rate back up. The nurse today told me that the earliest discharge date would now be the middle of next week.
Monday, they checked his blood and his hemoglobin was low (in the 8's). The doctor told me that possibly that could be the reason for the increase in the bradys. So they gave him 3 days worth of a special medicine to hopefully help his body prodoce those red blood cells and they'll recheck his blood tomorrow. If his numbers are still low, they'll talk about a blood transfusion. We are praying that the medicine will help his body do what it needs to and there will be no need for a transfusion.
We are very excited to report that our youngest little Lockwood is truly related to the rest of his siblings...he loves to eat! He started nursing today and is up to...are you ready for this....6 lbs!!!
Thank you so much for praying for him. I tell him all the time how much he is loved and prayed for...and sometimes, he smiles :)
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Here are the latest pics of our "big" little boy:
Biggest Brother/ Littlest Brother :)

Biggest Sister Rebekah

"Sammy's little Lamby" :)

After visiting Samuel, we took the children to the park down by the river.

Anywhere we go as a family, we have the children walk in a line so we don't "block traffic". Daddy leads and mommy is at the tail end to make sure nobody gets lost.

They have these big windows so you can see under part of the river. The children hope to someday see a fish.

I agree, Eliseo...Daddy is much more interesting to look at than a fish :)

Nehemiah stood there the whole time and said, "Peesh!" (fish)

We walked down the trail to the Sacramento River

While the older ones ran around looking for squirrels, the little ones played at the playground.

I love these next two shots :)