Christmas Miracle

Tuesday, December 23rd 2014

We cannot thank everyone enough for all your thoughts and prayers this week. Because of all of you we were blessed with a Christmas miracle. Late last night we brought our little bundle home!!!!

It was really crazy how it all happened really. Our Father was totally looking out for us. 

 It all started when something totally unexpected happened a couple days ago...something that most would call a "fluke" but I know it was our Heavenly Father. Justus had been needing a certain amount of humidified air to breath, leaving him with that awful tube in his nose. 

They told us that he was going to need to stay on that humidified air until his breathing slowed down a bit and he showed signs of needing no support. Because he still had this cannula in his nose and he was still on a good amount of humidified air he wasn't able to start breastfeeding or bottle feeding, he was getting all of his food through his feeding tube. 

When they even mentioned feedings with us they prepared us for the worst. Telling us that babies that are born with respiratory problems at this age have a harder time with feedings. They also told us that this is often times the hardest stage of the NICU  to get through because they are pretty much all better they just won't stay awake for feedings or consume all the calories they need to fully recover and go home. 

So one day...our precious Justus decided to pee all over his clothes (you know how baby boys can be) and his nurse and I had to change his entire outfit. While doing this we had to take his cannula out of his nose in order to get his clothes over his head and my nurse said "ok we have to do this really quick so we can put that back in his nose." But while dressing him my nurse looked up at his monitor in disbelief. "His respitory rate (breathing) is slowing down." In a good way! And he wasn't relying on the humidified air! So she said let's just leave it off a little longer to see how he does. Ten minutes go by and he's still doing amazing then fifteen minutes go by and his breathing continued to slow down. My nurse looked at me and said, "this might be against the rules but it seems to be working! It seems to me that the cannula in his nose was making him feel clausterphobic. I'm gonna go talk to his doc and see what he says." So after an hour or so his doc agreed to leave it off and he never regressed. 

Because of this, we were able to start breastfeeding the next day (Sunday). Again, they told me not to expect great results. Whatever he didn't eat from me, they would have to give him the difference through his feeding tube. When it came time for me to feed him he latched on immediately and ate like a champ. Afterwards the nurse weighed him and was astounded to see that he had eaten more during that feeding than they normally give him during a tube feeding! My nurse was blown away and exclaimed, "I have the chills for you! This never happens!" 

So we continued with the feedings and he continued to eat like a rockstar. The doctors and nurses were in disbelief with his progress and told us that we MIGHT just be able to go home before Christmas. 

So yesterday when I came in to do his feedings my nurse said to us "I'm not the one who calls the shots but I don't see why he couldn't go home tomorrow." We were ectatic at the thought of taking our precious baby home! So they started preparing us for all the "checking out" type things that we needed to complete before leaving and they scheduled for Justus' big "procedure" (if you know what I mean!) 

When he returned back from that my nurse looked at Guy and I and said, "How would you guys feel about going home tonight?!" My mouth dropped...I could not believe what I was hearing. "We don't see why Justus couldn't go home tonight" she said! 

At this point we were just cruising through the motions, in disbelief that we were gonna be taking our baby home. 

So here we are...December 23rd...at home...WITH our beautiful Justus! We could not feel more blessed to have a Heavenly Father that loves to show us just how much He truly loves us and desires to fulfill our hearts every desire. 

We cannot thank you all enough for keeping Justus in your prayers. The power of prayer is real and carries so much authority! Much love to you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Xoxo

Pray For Justus

Friday, December 19th 2014

Hello everyone...it has been some time since I have written but this last month and a half have been a bit hectic and if you've kept up with our social media accounts you might have noticed that the craziness has just hit an all time high.

For those of you who have not heard, on Sunday, December 14th at 8:20 AM our family of three became a family of 4. We excitedly welcomed our son Justus Keith Kirby to our family; weighing in at 6 pounds and measuring 20 inches long. 

As some of you might have known, Justus was supposed to cook a little longer and arrive on January 6th but like his older sister...he decided he wanted to make his entrance into the world a little bit sooner. 

I mentioned in an Instagram picture that the night I went into labor we were supposed to be attending our very first work Christmas party and as you might have guessed that didn't quite happen. Justus had other plans. That day was a little strange...well to be honest that entire week was a little odd. I knew something was different on Monday when I started having really bad contractions and again on Tuesday, Wednesday, and so forth. On Saturday I told Guy, "I think he's going to be coming soon." And on Sunday around 2 PM I went into full blown labor (without really knowing it). That night as I put on my make-up and did my hair I cringed through each and every rigorous contraction. I was GOING to make sure we made it to that party!

I was all dressed and ready to go,  and I sat down on my bed to bear through the contraction I was having when my mother-in-law walked in and demanded that I go to the hospital. With denial in my heart,  I agreed and we snapped this pic before departing for the hospital.

I wanted to make sure we could always remember that on this night I was willing AND ready to dress up and go to this party (in labor and all). 

When we arrived at the hospital we were quickly reassured that I was definitely in labor at 4 cm dilated and that we would be having this baby within the night or morning. My denial soon turned to excitement as we awaited the birth of our son! Being almost 4 weeks early we were advised that the some of the NICU staff would be present during the birth just in case there happened to be complications. We were aware of this since Rozalyn was also born at 36 weeks. We had no idea how fortunate we had been when Rozalyn was born with no complications at such an early gestation. 

Labor lasted a little over 18 hours and when it came time to push, Justus was quick to make his appearance in just 10 minutes. My heart melted when he was lifted on to my chest but I knew almost immediately that something wasn't right. His shallow cry lasted but a few short seconds and as they rubbed him vigorously, my fear soon turned into one my worst nightmares. With barely enough time to gaze at my sons beautiful face he was stripped away from me. As I patiently waited for him to be returned to my chest, I was quickly disheartened when I realized that things were far too worse than I had anticipated. With tubes and wires connected to his tiny, helpless body they whisked him down to the NICU. At this point, Guy and I had little to no idea what was in store for our precious Justus but we would soon find out that our roles as parents was about to take on a whole new job description. 

The only time I've ever seen Justus without anything connected to him

The last time I saw him before he was taken down to the NICU

As we awaited some sort of news, we prayed and celebrated the life that was given to us. When Guy returned from the NICU where he talked to a series of doctors and nurses, he was informed that our baby boy had Respiratory Distress Syndrome and his lungs were not developed enough to support his breathing. He was immediately placed on a large amount of oxygen, as well as, bubble CPAP to help keep his lungs open, a nasty IV that made him swell like a balloon, and a feeding tube.

The first time I held Justus since delivery

The first time I got to truly kiss my little man. Notice the nasty IV in his head. 

We have been in the NICU 5 days now and each day feels like a lifetime. I can honestly say that I have never been stretched so much as a mother. The feeling of helplessness that I feel takes over me at times and I can't help but weep. There is so much that I wish to do to fulfill my "motherly duties" but I am simply unable to. I never thought that I would be so happy to change a diaper in my life but if there is anything that I can do to nurture and love my son I will do it in a heartbeat. There is nothing more disheartening than watching somebody else do the job that God created you to do but I am so thankful for each and every nurse that has loved on our little Justus and I could not feel more blessed by the care they have given him. Even the smallest amount of cuddling melts my aching heart and when I leave the NICU at night my heart longs to make the seconds move faster so I can see him again.

Today we have seen the most consistent improvement with him and it shouldn't be long now that he is off of oxygen and CPAP. He is still a little bit jaundice so they have him on phototherapy for the next 24 hours to help his levels go down but other than that our next hurdle will be breastfeeding and bottle feeding! Here are a couple pictures of him from today. 

Wearing his first outfit!

Glowing like a glow worm! Wrapped in his bili blanket

Dad caught a special moment on camera with Justus. He loves his dad!

He sure likes to be swaddled!

We cannot thank each and every one of you enough for all the love and support you have shown our family the last couple of days. We are so incredibly blessed by all the prayers and well wishes we have received and have endlessly thanked our Father for the many people in and around our life.


Please continue to pray for our little Justus Keith. He needs to be home for Christmas!

As for our Rozalyn Grace...she has been getting lots of love these past few days from her Mimi and her Grammy!

Rozalyn asked her "Mimi" to take a picture of her doing the "cheese" face!

Because she hasn't been able to meet her "baby bra" yet, she remains somewhat confused as to why mommy no longer has a baby in her tummy and no baby at home. She loves looking at pictures of him and will laugh and giggle and say "oh my gosh...soooo cute!" She is excited for Justus to come home and so are we, as we are anxious for her to meet her precious baby brother. 

Again, we cannot say thank you enough for all of you who have prayed, encouraged, or sent us meals. We are completely overwhelmed at the way in which so many have reached out. It is truly reassuring to know that we are not alone. I look up to so many of you who have experienced NICU life and the strength that you must muster up to get through each day. 

Blessings to everyone this Christmas season! XOXOXO