Tuesday, December 23rd 2014
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
No comments:
Post a Comment