Life Is Good: Journal Entry

Friday, February 13, 2009

Journal Entry

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JOURNAL
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Posted Feb 18, 2007 10:12am

We spent the afternoon and evening with Ryan yesterday. He had a really good day. I got to take his temperature, and I got touch him more than I ever have before. He responds to our voices, and he acted like he was trying to open his eyes when I was talking to him. The nurses say his eyes could open at any time. He is still very positional, and seems to a have a favorite "spot" for the ventilator. His O2 sats fall if it is not in that spot. Ryan's temperature did climb up to 100.5 yesterday afternoon which was cause for a little concern. They did blood work and, thankfully, everything came back normal. They did a lot of minor adjustments to the temperature of his bed, the temperature of the humidified air in his tent, and other adjustments. His temperature came down, but then it came down too far, so they began adjusting things again. It's all a very delicate balance. We were very grateful to find that the temperature was not because of an infection.

This morning we talked to the nurse. She said that Ryan had a good night. He gained another 3 grams. Praises to God for all our good days and our good reports. Today at 5:31 p.m. Ryan will be 1 week old!

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for Ryan as God leads you. We don't have any specific requests this morning. Please add to your prayer list a little one named Kenzie. She was born yesterday morning. I'm not sure her gestational age, but she weighed 1 lb. 9 oz. We met the family of this little one about a week ago, and each of our families has been praying for and keeping up with the other. I imagine we will become close friends over the next few months. Please also pray for the nurses and doctors. We have been blessed in amazing ways by the nurses and doctor that cared for me during the 2 weeks I was in the hospital, and we continue to be blessed by the nurses and doctors taking care of our son. God is using these very special people in very special ways, and I want to ask his blessings to be upon them. One last thing, please take to time to give praises to God because he is the Giver of Life and the one through whom all miracles happen!

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Brandy Danielle

Brandy is our firstborn, our precious angel baby girl. Her entry into this world wasn't without excitement. At 26 weeks I started preterm labor with contractions 5 minutes apart. With 10 weeks of strict bedrest, most of which were in the hospital, she made it to 36 weeks.
Brandy was diagnosed with "possible/probable" heart defect around 28-30 weeks gestation. After her birth she was whisked away to the NICU for monitoring and after a few days her defect was formally diagnosed and labeled...atrial septal defect and a cleft mitral valve.
Brandy, upon indications of failure to thrive and pulmonary hypertension, underwent her first of 2 open-heart surgeries at 4 months of age. A week after her surgery on the day of her anticipated discharge home Brandy coded for 13 minutes...a stoke.
From that point on Brandy's life was full of doctor's visits, endless crying, pain and suffering. She underwent another heart surgery, fundoplication and g-tube surgery, treatment for infantile spasms, and a mountain of tests and procedures. Her brain damage was extensive.
Upon counseling of our wonderful, most amazing heart surgeon, Dr. Christopher Knott-Craig, and many hours of prayer, we finally called in hospice and called off all of the extensive medical interventions and surgery needs that would prolong her suffering while possibly prolonging her life. Brandy, our precious baby girl...our angel...passed out of our arms and into the arms of her Saviour, Jesus at the tender age of 17 months.

Ryan Andrew

Ryan, our micro-preemie miracle, is a ball of life. After nearly a year of trying to conceive imagine our delight when we finally knew he was on the way. My pregnancy with Ryan was uneventful at first. It seemed perfect and with all of the precautions for preterm labor being taken and monitored we entered this pregnancy with cautious anticipation covered over by a whole love of naive excitement.
At 20 weeks we discovered our "Baby Peanut" was going to be a little boy. We began to make plans and began dreaming about the day we would meet our son.
Almost 2 weeks later everything changed in our lives. It wa a whirlwind of fear and emtions as I began to bleed, was sent for monitoring in L&D and eventually had an appointment with my OB only to find out that it was serious. I had incompetent cervix with hourglassing membranes. The doctor admitted me to the hospital immediately and an emergency cerclage was placed. The statistics were grim, but the hope was to keep our son inside for at least 10 more weeks. We only made it 10 more days.
Early in the evening of February 11, 2007 our son, Ryan, came into this world in emergency fashion at only 23 weeks 5 days gestation. He weighed 1 pound 8 ounces and was 12 ½ inches long. He was so tiny. All I could think of was “oh my goodness is he really that tiny? And is there any way he could actually make it?” I tried to hold on to hope, but in all honesty I had never met anyone with a baby born that early and that small that ever made it.
Ryan did make it! It was a long, hard road, but in the end he spent 90 days in the NICU. He was on a ventilator for 2 months. Finally on one fine glorious day in May we bundled up our 4 pound 4 ounce baby boy and went home...May 11, 2007.
Ryan is now a spunky, lively, strong-willed little boy. His laughter is contagious and his spirit is compelling. He is our miracle. There are no words strong enough to share our delight and joy that God has blessed us with this little boy.

Evan Alexander