Some GREAT News!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, but I'm hoping you'll all forgive me. :) I have great news to report aboout Atticus.  He has now been extubated (off the ventilator) for over 6 days!!  He's just got a little oxygen tube that runs under his nose, and is breathing wonderfully on his own!  God has been so wonderful to us!  The doctors are amazed and extremely excited with Atticus' progress.  They believe that he seems to have finally turned a corner, and they are even beginning to discuss the game plan for transitioning us towards home!  It won't be a quick process, nothing with Atticus is, but we are excited that it is on the table now.  God has also blessed in some recent physical developments by Atticus.  Atticus has been able to reach for objects and touch them.  This is such a miracle because the last brain bleeds that Atticus had were over the vision center of his brain, and the doctors were afraid that he might end up blind.  But God has spared Atticus' vision as he has proven beyond all doubt now because he is able to display hand/eye coordination.  His leg has also healed incredibly well.  There is a long scar on the outside of his leg, but it is so amazing because again, the doctors believed at the beginning that he might lose his leg due to a lack of circulation.  Other than the scar, and a little bit of splotchy coloring, you'd never know.  He can move it and kick it and wiggle his toes.  The doctors are now working on feeding Atticus' stomach instead of his intestines.  Normally Atticus has a lot of trouble whenever they change anything about his feedings, but everything is going well so far this time.  They are beginning to compress his feedings so that he is getting more food in less time (like a normal feeding schedule).  His stomach seems to be tolerating it all well also.  He has extremely bad acid reflux, but he is on several meds for these. (Atticus does mean "father-like"...lol) Atticus is God's miracle to me and Robbie.  He has revealed His healing power, and His amazing grace on too many occasions to number.  I am humbled to be blessed so greatly.  Thank you all for your many prayers.  I'm trying to attach some photos to this email so that you can see who you've all been praying so diligently for.  Please continue to pray for our family.  He still has much to do before we are finally able to bring him home.

Another step backwards

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Atticus is doing well. He's had an interesting last few days. As I mentioned before, the CT scan was positive, and they don't think he needs any kind of procedure/surgery right now because the narrow spots aren't causing any blockage to the blood flow. They did have to put a PD (Perinatal Drain sp?) back in his belly. He was starting to have a hard time breathing. They've gotten over 600cc of fluid off his abdomen. The doctors were hoping that if they waited; they could force Atticus' body to reabsorb the fluid,They believe he's getting close to getting off the ventilator, and they didn't want to ruin his chances of getting off. But his breathing has slowed back down to the 30s and 40s bpm, and his heart rate is back to around 147 bpm, and his oxygen sats have been better because he can take deeper breaths. He'll still have to be on it for another week or two, but it's getting close--if all goes well. Please keep praying for Atticus. He's made it through so much already. I"m still hoping for a sort of miracle that we can all be home together for Gideon's 3rd birthday on March 14th. That would be a dream come true. Talk to everyone soon!

Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week

Congenital Heart Disease awareness week starts today. CHD's affect nearly one out of 125 babies born in the U.S. every year. Atticus is one of the 125. (He's condition affects 1 out of 10,000.) Please help us raise awareness as CHD's are the most common birth defect, and the leading cause of birth defect related losses.... February 7-14 is CHD awareness week!

Quick update

Quick update. Got full results of CT from docs and everything looks good. 2 spots that are kinda narrow, but nothing that time won't fix. They aren't causing any blockage, so that's a good thing. He's swollen, but they're trying to make his body reabsorb the fluid vs just draining it, and having to repeat that step.... Still doing good on his CPAP trials. More in AM. Nite.

Good news/bad news

Well, we have some good news and some not so great news. The good news is that the docs are continuing to chip away at the ventilator, and have even started CPAP trials again. The not such great news is that the initial results from the CT show that his pulmonary arteries are kinda small, which is why his O2 sats aren't as great as they would like. Keep prayin' and I'll update more as we find out.

Not much change

I wish I could say that Atticus was doing much better, but he's not yet. He's still very swollen, although that has gone down ever so slightly. His O2 sats were better today, and he wasn't having to breathe quite so hard. They did another CT Angio on him today, but I haven't had a chance to talk with the doctors about... the results yet. Please keep prayin' for him! I'll update about the CT when I find out something.