Hooray for Seth!! And another big prayer request for him

I cannot wait to get this little guy home! Last night I got to give him part of a bottle and he did great! Not great enough to come home yet, by any means, but the therapist was happily surprised at how well he did and how calm he was with his mommy.

I got choked up talking to him, thinking back to how very, very sick he was, and how a couple of times we thought the Lord might be taking him imminently. My gratitude is just overwhelming. Once again, thanks a million times over for all your prayers and thoughts and concern! It's indescribably wonderful to see him so happy, fat and healthy. He still works at breathing much more than his siblings at home ("retracting"), but he just looks and looks into my eyes or at the pictures on the wall or the lights in the hallway, can follow an object and even turn his head to do so, and just does the same things they do at home! I even thought I caught a little smile once in a while. And his cannula is like Gracie's, so no more big ol' apparatus on his face, although he still has the stomach tube going in his nose.

Which brings me to the prayer request: The medical staff is trying to determine if it's better to (1) send him home with the tube, (2) put in a gastric "button"/stoma through which to feed him directly into his tummy, or (3) get him to full bottle feeds.

The problem with the first option is he is gagging/vomiting up his tube twice a day on average, which requires care replacement and verification that it is in the right spot (and not down his trachea into his lungs!!), plus increases the risk of him aspirating some of the milk into his lungs as he coughs and sputters, which of course can lead to aspiration pneumonia. Needless to say, pneumonia in his compromised lungs could be deadly.

The problem with the second option is that the surgery to put in the stomach button/stoma/hole will require he be re-intubated, i.e., a machine will have to breath for him and he'll have a tube down his trachea again, which will cause some damage to his already machine-damaged lungs, which of course could set him back. They hate to do that as he's doing SO well right now. However . . .

The problem with the third option is that it may take him a LONG time to work up to full bottle feeds, both because it's a lot of work for him to breath and suck and because he has a strong gag reflex very common in babies who have been intubated for so long.

The neonatologist coming on duty for the next two weeks will be the one to make the decision, in consultation with the other specialists and us, of course. We would love, love, love to have Seth home during the first half of January, but we don't want to in any way rush him or do anything harmful. So please pray for wisdom and for God's favor to continue to rest on our little blond boy! I keep praying the staff will LOVE him. I think they do.

He is so pudgy and has more hair than all the other babies combined; it's just bleach-blond so can hardly be seen in photos. I will try to take some good ones today. :)

All the others are thriving, despite minor colds again. Thank God the rest of us are well, including Isaac! I love to see his faith in asking you all to pray, and I love to see the Lord's answer. It's good to have the usual goofy, energetic Isaac back again.

Love and gratitude - to God be the glory, as always!
Carrie


Some older pictures of Seth from this past week and the week before (sorry if they are duplicates):

How CUTE is this pudgy shoulder!?

Now the others at home:

Will smiling and kicking away!

Marcie on Christmas day "all dolled up" (thanks Shauna and Sharon!)

Gracie's turn to be the dolly I got to dress up! Thanks to Jan and Diana for this headband.
It was a warmer day that day, before Christmas, hence the bare legs.

Will seems to enjoy group baths in the big tub the most

David, helping hold his own pacifier. He's starting to do the same with the bottle!
He loves to smile and giggle, and both he and Will are really into cooing.