Yesterday Josiah had to have 2 chest tubes put in. His chest x-rays have been looking hazy for the past couple of days and so they did an echo on him. The echo showed that there was some fluid around Josiah's lungs so they put the tubes in to drain it. The fluid that came out was milky in color, which the doctors said was chylous. It is a fluid that is basically fat. What that means is that there is a problem with Josiah's lymph in his lungs. It's really confusing and hard to explain but what this means for him is that he can't have my breast milk any longer. He will have to have a special formula that has no fat in it called Portegen. This will hopefully stop his lymph from pulling off this fatty fluid. He can't go back to breast milk for 6-8 weeks. This was really hard for me to hear. Pumping and giving Josiah my milk is just about the only thing I can do for him. I also have longed for the day when I can nurse him. Now Josiah will be about 3 months old before he can have breast milk again and at that point the chances are pretty slim that he'd be able to learn to nurse at that point. Milo and I talked about me continuing to pump or not, that's a big commitment, and I've decided to keep pumping. Even if Josiah can't nurse, breast milk has to be better for him then formula even if he can't get it for 2 more months. I can't even begin to imagine what 8 more weeks of pumping and freezing will look like. I think Milo and I are going to have to buy a deep freezer!

After draining about 150 cc (about 5 oz) of fluid from each side of Josiah's chest yesterday and today, the doctors have been able to make some progress on his vent. With the fluid gone, Josiah has been able to breath easier. There is not as much pressure on his lungs. That's good news! Please keep praying for out little guy. He's been a champ through all this.