He's A Fighter!

Our hearts are overfilled with the LOVE that we have for our son Beckland. Days old and yet so knitted into our family.

NICU stories and journeys are rough ones. We have already gotten a taste of that and are continuing  to learn how to live with a little one in the NICU. Things change daily, hourly, even minute by minute. Some days are filled with hard news, trying times, and others are filled with nuggets of good news. The first day in the NICU was a rough one per usual. He was intubated and had hard times figuring out how to breathe and exchange gases with "22 week" lungs.

On his second day of life, he developed a hole in his lung. This hole was in the front of his lungs and the leaked air was filling right in front of his heart, so his blood pressure was failing. They did an emergency surgery on him to try and release the air. They had to transport him down to regular OR(for imaging purposes) and had to gather a whole team of doctors, some even from Seattle Children's, for this surgery. Jake was not allowed in, he waited outside for the two hour procedure. (most of the time was spent figuring out how to stabilize Beckland and position him for surgery). The tube was placed between his heart and breast bone. They successfully removed 75% of the air, which allow enough relief for his vitals to return to normal.

The tube is still in, and is used daily to remove the build up of air around his heart. He is still on nitric oxide to help him exchange gases, and he is still on oxygen. However, every little thing they do to try and help him, he response very well to. Every day is balanced with figuring how much of what he needs. Every day is some steps backwards, and many steps forward.  He has to stay sedated for most of the time right now because he is too big for his lungs. He thinks he is a big boy already and moves too much for what his lungs can handle. We have a little fighter on our hands! Beck is also a little jaundice, so he is now catching rays under UV light for a couple days.  Amy got to change his diaper a few nights ago, and today he started a feeding tube with Amy's milk! Praise the Lord he is responding well to it. Kangaroo care is able to start once his chest tube comes out.

Every sweet baby down there gets their own room. One of the nurses make signs for the baby's room.  The other day Beckland's sign showed up! This is officially his room now:) let's hope he stays and fights there longer!!

Amy is having a rough time recovering from surgery. She lost just over a liter and a half of blood and is having a hard time replenishing it. She has fought already numerous obstacle and we are praying for more miracles to happen so she can join the rest of her family down in the NICU.