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Day 5 - He is Here!!!

Oscar decided he was too excited to meet us so he came 4.5 weeks early. His gestational age was 35 weeks, 4 days. Julie and I went into the hospital late Friday night and Oscar was born at 1:35 AM on Saturday, November 18. One day before his big brother, Theodore’s, third birthday. He is definitely a fighter and doing as well as can be expected. Julie is doing well too and thinks c-sections might be the way to go, at least if I‎t was like Oscar’s delivery where minimal labor took place. 

 Thinking back to Friday night/Saturday morning it is a slight whirlwind, but there were instances throughout Oscar’s delivery that helped to remind us that God knew what was going to happen and had the master plan. First, Dr. Waggoner, Julie’s OB, was on call Friday night. We were so glad a familiar face came into triage as we had not made Oscar’s official delivery plan and Dr. Waggoner knew how deeply we wanted to meet our son. After a quick assessment it was evident Julie was going to need an emergency c-section as she was 4cm dilated and one of Oscar’s feet could be felt. From there things moved very quickly as Julie’s water then broke, she began getting prepped for surgery and I was given scrubs to put on to go into the Operating Room. Once I was allowed to go into the OR surgery began quickly and they were successful in doing a spinal block for Julie, so she could be awake to meet Oscar.

Upon  his arrival Oscar had to have a breathing tube put in which was a bit of a challenge for the doctor. They described his airway as critical and he had to be put on a ventilator to help with his oxygen supply. Once he was stable we stopped in recovery to see Julie and moved up to the NICU were an awesome team was waiting for him there. First he saw a x-ray team that checked to make sure all of his lines were in the correct place as well as Paulette, the Heart Echo Tech. Paulette was another sign that God had this all planned. Paulette gave Oscar his first Fetal Echo and works with his Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Whitfield. Looking back now at Oscar’s “Birth” day the Lord knew exactly when Oscar was going to take his first breath outside of the womb and he placed familiar individuals that night to ease our minds and remind us that He was with us.

Both Saturday and Sunday went similarly with Oscar getting lots of good attention and care. Doctors and nurses seemed most concerned about his oxygen saturation level and trying to stabilize it as much as possible. Julie also started pumping and they started to give Oscar some oral care for nourishment. With the majority of his sustenance coming through his lines. The staff was very kind and moved us to a very big room, the NICU pent house, Julie likes to call I‎t.

Monday and then Tuesday came along and it felt like the flood gates opened with doctors and specialists. We saw and spoke with Endocrinologist, Cardiologist, Orthopedic, Nephrologist, Neonatologist, and still more to come. The most pressing issues that Oscar is facing are his breathing/airway and transitioning to full feeds. The ventilator is helping stabilize his oxygen saturation levels and helps in the occasional panic moments that he may not choose to breathe. They are beginning the process of increasing his feeds both in amount and frequency and hopefully he will be at his max per kilograms soon.  At birth he weighed 5 lbs. 13oz, but is down now to 5lbs. 3.25oz. The doctors are not overly concerned about his weight loss at this present time.

Looking back and looking forward we have many praises and prayer request.
Praise 
  • We had the opportunity to meet our, Oscar, alive!
  • Oscar has been with us 4 days and is stable! 
  • We are beyond blessed by your prayers and out pouring of love to our family. Thank you.

 Request 
  • Oscar's O2 levels would stay consistent, so he could come off the ventilator.
  • Oscar would continue to tolerate the upping of his feeds.
  • For Julie - That she would give herself grace as being a Mom to 2 boys now and not let herself be overcome with Mom guilt of not feeling like she is enough for either of her sons.
  • For us as a new family of 5 (gotta include Chuck) to have so much patience, love, joy, and hope to be present when we are together. Life will be hectic in the next weeks to months, but we serve a God who has the master plan and meets us daily where we are on this journey.
- side note we are transitioning from computer to iPhone/iPad for blogging, so formatting is a bit tricky. It will get neater...I hope -

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