Wednesday, December 31, 2008

ben passes his esophagram

just to let everyone know that ben passed his esophagram with flying colors!! we feel like that is kind of a mountain that we've crested. the next step will be bottle feeding, and eventually breast feeding. the nurse is going to begin to bottle-feed him here at 3 pm, and hopefully it will go well. the better he does, the more they will give him, and eventually he'll be able to get his tube out of his intestine. we are so thankful that God is healing little ben up so fast. we look forward to seeing how he will do in the coming days. keep us in your prayers.

Monday, December 29, 2008

on the road to recovery

ben is doing really good right now. i'm sitting with him today, and i feel lucky, because i thought that i would be at work today. turns out that we don't have anything for today, which would normally be a downer, but today i get to spend it with my son! it's amazing the feelings that fatherhood arouses.
ben is cruising right along with our sights set to his esophagram on wednesday. that's when they check to see if there are any leaks in his esophagus. he is off his iv's now, and on full breast milk feeds. he is fed through a tube that goes through his nose, and straight down to his intestine. we've had a couple of scary moments with him almost pulling the tube out, but it's remained where it needs be, so we praise the Lord for that. if he passes his esophagram on wednesday, then they can start bottle feeding, and hopefully we can get him home before too long. it all depends on how he reacts, though. so far, he hasn't had any major setbacks, so we pray that that will continue. mommy and daddy can absolutely not wait until he can go home with them.
we continue to ask for prayer for ben. i know that there is so many people that have been praying for him, and for us as well. we feel overwhelmed by it all. i have come to realize how much of a blessed life we lead. God bless you all as the New Year comes.

Friday, December 26, 2008

ben update

well, i thought that i would let you all in on what's going on with ben as of today. today was a fairly eventful day for ben. he had an x-ray taken, a couple of labs, and he had a drainage tube pulled out of his chest. he was awake for a couple of hours this afternoon because of it all, but he is sleeping peacefully now. he's doing great. he's getting 6 ml's of breast milk an hour now, so we are excited about that. he's getting it through a tube that goes through his nose and into his intestine. that is one prayer request. he has a tendency to grab things, and his feeding tube needs to stay in his nose. pray that he doesn't pull it out. the second area is concerning his esophogram. an esophogram is when they check his esophagus to make sure that there aren't any leaks. they will do that this coming wednesday. if his esophagus does not leak, then we can start bottle feeding him, and we can hopefully get him out of here before too long. so pray that his esophagus heals quickly and that he be able to ingest and swallow his food and all the mucous that is in his mouth. with God's help we will make it through this, it's just going to take some patience and prayer to make it through. thanks to everyone of you for your prayers, and for supporting us through this rough time.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Ben

Well, it's Christmas morning, and Tina and I are here at the hospital with Ben. He's doing well, he has about a million tubes running into him right now, although he will probably be getting his respirator out this afternoon. He's a little trooper, and so far things have gone very well.
We just thank God for the way that he has used the medical knowledge of all the professionals here to help our son. We are truly blessed. We ask that you keep us in your prayers. Honestly the hardest part of every day is going home without him. We know that one day he will be able to sit in his carseat and ride home with mommy and daddy.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

so i was looking at the last time that i posted on this blog, and it was almost a year ago. it would seem i write in spurts. probably when i have things going on in my life.
many of you know what's happening in tina and i's life right now. in the last 2 days we've gone from apprehension about the birthing process to elation at a healthy and quick birth to fear of the unknown as we saw our little boy laying on a hospital crib with tubes and wires running into him, not knowing what surgery would do to him. i have to say that i've cried more in the last two days than i have in probably the last 5 years put together. there have been tears that come from seeing my son in such a condition, tears of frustration at not being able to bring him home, which has brought an unusual feeling of loneliness for tina and i. tears of joy, yes, there have been tears of joy, shed as i held my son in my arms and stared down into his inquisitive and trusting eyes. but staring into those eyes has also brought sadness, knowing that i can't stop my son from suffering.
i have seen how blessed we are. i think it is a sign that you are leading a blessed life that when you are going through a hard time, you have more people offer to help than you have needs. for that i am eternally grateful.
i won't rattle on, i know new days will bring new developments and feelings. i will just say that i have learned so much in the last two days. my heart has been pierced by this little boy named ben, and i know that no matter what the future brings, my life is changed forever. this is fatherhood, and even though my introduction to it has not been normal, i believe that i'm developing a love for my son that knows no bounds. that's something worth living for.