Eyes to See

Hurray!!! Benjamin had another follow up from his eye surgery today and his doctor said that everything looked good, the vessels are currently growing in the right direction and he won't need another exam for two weeks! This is such good news. Thank you Jesus! It doesn't mean that he won't have any vision issues, but he is headed in a good direction and will have sight.

Benjamin's digestive system is working good after the surgery. I changed my first stinky diaper yesterday morning. The nurses in the area cheered (not because of my extraordinary diaper changing talent, because it meant Benjamin's system was working :) ) Ahh, the little celebrations that make life wonderful...

Eating from a bottle is still a challenge for Benjamin. Sometimes he does great and other times he forgets to breath and has Bradys (where his heart rate drops). I know that it will be a long road ahead. I have heard nurses and parents say that they can stay in the NICU for weeks after everything else is fine just because they do not have feedings down.

Be sure to check out "Benjamin's Big Boy Stats" at the right to see how big our sweet little boy is.

Thank you for praying for Benjamin. God is good and faithful!

Benjamin and the Bottle

Benjamin has been doing really well the past few days. On Sunday we arrived to find he was moved to a crib again (versus the incubator with the hood up) and Monday was an exciting milestone...(drum roll please)...a bottle! Yes, Benjamin was allowed to taste and see that the bottle is good. Ok, so it was only 5mL of Pedialite (1 tsp), but he was able to take it by mouth and not through a feeding tube! Now he is transitioned over to formula again and has increased his volume to 20mL every 3 hours. He gets pretty tired easily, so sometimes he can eat some, other times he just falls asleep. Tonight he broke his record and was able to guzzle down a whopping 13mL - way to go Benjamin! We have to celebrate the small stuff...it gets us through.

Today I was also notified that Benjamin may need yet another surgery. The doctor believes that Benjamin might have a inguinal hernia. It did not sound like it was a huge deal and not urgent at this time, just something that would need to be taken care of before he went home. Apparently this is a very common surgery done on micropreemie boys. Still, my heart sank a bit I must say, and part of me wanted to say "Why God, why another one? Isn't 4 surgeries enough?" Please join us in prayer that this isn't the case, and that the situation will resolve. I am relieved that it is not serious, but I would prefer that Benjamin not have two more scars to show for his time in the NICU.

Benjamin Unplugged

Today was Big Ben's second day post surgery. When we walked in, the first thing his nurse said was that he had been very naughty. I guess he was fed up with his ventilator and decided to "unplug" himself from it. Yes, my son yanked out his breathing tube. It didn't come all the way out, but enough that they would have to redo it, so they decided to let him try going back to the nasal cannula that he was on before the surgery. He was doing pretty good on it, but did have some apnea (momentarily stopped breathing) episodes this afternoon. I am praying that he won't have any more. His nurse said that was only the second time she has ever seen a baby do that in 26 years of working in the NICU.

Overall he is recovering pretty well. He didn't get a swollen as I thought he would and it is nice to only see tape on his belly and not an ostomy bag. He started to become much more active today too.

Benjamin's Grandma Helen is doing better today too as she recovers from her surgery. Please continue to pray for healing and wisdom for treatment options and decisions that they will need to make in the coming days/weeks.

Thank you Jesus!

Wow. What a day. I am writing this after spending over 12 hours in the NICU today. Though I used to do that nearly every day in the beginning, it was particularly exhausting today. Benjamin's surgery was supposed to be at 11:45, but like most hospitals, they went by their own clock and 11:45 turned into 3:15. Benjamin did good in the morning, but then must have remembered that his tummy was empty and became a bit agitated in the afternoon. He made it through surgery great and they did not have to put a central/picc line in (praise God!) and there were no complications (praise God more!!!). The only negative thing that the surgeon had to say was that the scar was not as straight as he would have liked. If the straightness of a scar is all the surgical staff is concerned about it is a good day!!! Through the surgery and really for most of the day, I felt a great amount of peace. Thank you for all who were praying for that specifically. I felt your prayers tremendously.

Right now Benjamin is resting and healing on the ventilator, but they expected to put him back on the nasal cannula sometime over the night. He was a bit uncomfortable later this evening, but after an additional morphine "bullet" he seemed to calm down.

Things to keep praying for: that he will be comfortable and for quick healing, that the intestine will heal properly so that he will not have to go through this surgery again, that his breathing will be strong so he can successfully come off and stay off the ventilator, and that when they reintroduce foods early next week (or even possibly over the weekend!) that his system will handle it and he will eat like a little piggy and get super big and fat (ok, we will settle for just "grow".)

I don't have a very good update on Helen, Brian's mom. All I know is that her surgery went well without complications. Please continue to pray for healing and wisdom.

Thank you prayer warriers!

Twas the Night Before Surgery...

It's almost here. We have waited over 9 weeks, knowing this surgery would come and now we are counting down hours instead of weeks or days. It is with a mix of excitement and a bit of nervousness that I write this. I can't wait to look at my son's belly and NOT see his intestines (sorry if that sounds disgusting, it is a fact of life for us.) I am still concerned about the actual procedure, especially since they were unable to successfully put a central line or picc line in today. They mentioned that they will likely put one in during the surgery tomorrow. When I heard this my heart dropped since one of the more serious complications occurred when trying to do this when they put in the ostomy. Here is where the rubber meets the road on faith, I suppose. I know that Benjamin is in some of the best hands in the northwest and even the nation, and better yet I know he is in God's hands.

He did well today, but they removed his normal food at 6am and replaced it with Pedialite. It was not nearly as satisfying as his normal food and he spend most of the day a little fussy. This is new to us as we have not really heard him cry much. He would only settle down with a paciifier in his mouth and some good snuggling. He is not able to keep the pacifier in by himself for very long, so I called for backup and his aunt Jenny came to hang out for a couple hours to help cover when I needed to step away from him. For about a 30-40 minutes in the afternoon, he was accidentally unplugged from his oxygen, but amazingly he did not drop in oxygen saturation - basically he was breathing on his own with room air and did great! That was so encouraging!

My mom was able to hold him for the first time yesterday. It was the first time Benjamin had been held by anyone other Brian or me. He sure loves his Grandma!

We have to send out a big thank you to some of our neighbors and members of Bethany Church. Last weekend we were totally blessed by this wonderful group of people lead by our neighbor Jeannine that did a total yard makeover for us. Our grass was really tall and seeding out, weeds were taking over the flowers, and our vegetable garden spot was looking really scary. This amazing group of people transformed our weed patch into a beatuiful, welcoming yard. It looks better than it ever has! THANK YOU! May God give you back the hours you gave to us and then some!

Thank you for continuing to pray for us!

Jamie

Eventful Day & Counting Down

Benjamin is now 4lbs! He is still around 16 1/4" long. He has recovered well from his eye surgery and we are getting ready for the next big surgery day...Thursday. Since he prolapsed more over the weekend and again some today, it is a really good thing that it is only 3 days away. Please continue to join us in prayer that he will be healthy and strong going into the surgery and that everything will go smoothly without complication, and that God will protect the prolapsed part of his intestines until he can get into surgery.

Today was a fairly eventful day for Benjamin - in a good way mostly. First thing this morning he had his first try at a bouncy chair, which he seemed to enjoy. Then since he was on room level oxygen and did so well on his CPAP check in the morning, he was moved to a nasal cannula, which is less breathing assistance. Shortly after that he enjoyed another bath with real baby shampoo this time! In the afternoon he spent some time being held by Daddy.

Here are some pictures from today:

Benjamin on CPAP this morning in his bouncy chair.Benjamin on nasal cannula (Brian's hand)Hanging out with Daddy.

Benjamin loves his pacifier! It is his new best friend.

All,

Quick update: Benjamin's surgery went well today! Thank you God and thank you all for praying! He had to go back on the ventilator since they sedated him, but he was already at low settings and room level oxygen when we left this evening and they expect to put him back on CPAP sometime tonight. The Ophthalmologist said that about 10% of preemies have this condition, but most of time resolves itself. Micropreemies like Benjamin have a higher risk since their blood vessels in the eye have not grown out very far when they are born. He was awake and even opened his eyes some this evening. They are just a bit puffy, much better than I expected. He was pretty tired so we are praying for good rest tonight and tomorrow.

What's next regarding his eyes? He has a follow up exam later this week to see if they will need to do more surgery. We are praying that he will not need any more, especially since his ostomy is being put back together Thursday, and that will be a major surgery for him. Four surgeries in 10 weeks is enough for us, thank you!

Thanks again for praying for Benjamin. We could not have asked for the surgery to go any better.

Jamie

At 8:51 am this morning:


We just got off the phone with an Ophthalmologist for Benjamin. He is requiring emergency eye surgery today. We knew this would likely happen after his exam on Thursday, but we didn't know it would be so fast. The blood vessels in his eyes are growing abnormally and if left alone will cause the retina to detach, likely causing blindness. This surgery has risks and likely some loss of peripheral vision, but the potential benefits greatly outweigh the risks at this point.

Please pray for protection for Benjamin, as he will be undergoing anesthesia, pray for the Ophthalmologist to have wisdom and supernatural skill.