Alaina

6.29.09 8:30 a.m.
Baby Alaina was born Saturday morning via emergency c-section. After her mother, Stephanie, labored for several hours, the baby's heartbeat kept fading from the fetal monitors. After she was born, the doctor found that she had been living in a severely significant amount of meconium for about a week. The doctor was able to remove a large amount of the meonium, but the remainder of it is preventing her from breathing properly and has to be dissipated by her body. She is making small improvements, but she still has a long road of healing ahead of her.
Fortunately, every report received form her doctor has been encouraging.

UPDATE 6.29.09 3:50 pm
Alaina’s blood pressure is bottoming out. She is receiving a blood transfusion in hopes of stabilizing her, but if this does not work, Alaina will be transported to Egleston this evening. Please, please pray.

UPDATE 6.30.09
Alaina is moving from North Georgia Medical Center to Egleston Children's Hospital. Alaina has continued to be in stable condition since my last update, but her precious doctor feels that she will receive better care with his mentor in Atlanta.Please be in prayer for the Angel Team from Egleston who are en route to fly Alaina to Atlanta, as well as the medical team that will be responsible for her care until she is able to come home with her Mommy & Daddy where she belongs.

UPDATE 7.31.09
Alaina has made significant progress over the past month. Last night her mom was able to "room in". There are still a few more "hurdles" to jump. Please pray for Alaina's continued progress and pray that she'll be home soon.

http://www.happyhughes.blogspot.com/

Rhyla-Kayte

I received this request this morning...

My little sister is 22 weeks pregnant with a little girl,to be named Rhyla-Kayte, and I went with her for a routine ultrasound on Friday. Everything was normal, except that the ultrasound showed a cyst on 1 of her kidneys. The cyst is approx. 1 cm in diameter, which isn't really big until you remember that the baby weighs 15 ounces right now.So, the ob/gyn is sending her to a specialist in Jackson for a more detailed ultrasound in a few weeks. She said that it was abnormal to see a cyst, but not necessarily something that we need to be concerned about. She said that 1 of 3 things would happen:
1. The cyst would get bigger.
2. The cyst would stay the same.
3. It would go away.
We are praying that it will just go away. We have some kindney issues that run in our family so this is a concern.

We appreicate your prayers.

UPDATE 8-31-09 (FROM AUNT CENA)
I had asked everyone to pray for my unborn niece, Rhyla-Kayte, during the summer and am so thankful for your prayers. My sister went to a specialist twice for an ultrasound. The first time he discovered that the cyst on her kidney was actually a cyst, but no kidney....she only has 1. But he wasn't too concerned since her fluid output looked fine. Still it worried us that she only had 1 kidney. Last week she went back to the specialist and the cyst was gone (PRAISE!), and her absent kidney could possibly be growing, but he wasn't for sure. The specialist was not concerned at all about her only having one kidney. The great news is the cyst is gone, so she would not require any surgery to remove it. If everything goes as planned, the day after she is born she will probably require a MRI and other tests to see exactly what is going on. If everything looks okay, she will probably just require regular kidney ultrasounds.Please continue to pray!Specifically for1) Her absent kidney will grow to normal size.2) If that's not possible, that her 1 kidney will be normal and take over for both.

UPDATE 9/9/09
We definitely need more prayers tonight because my sister is in the hospital experiencing early labor. She is 32 weeks today. She is 2 cm dialated and has been having contractions since 1:00 pm today. Her 1st shot to stop the contractions did not work.....they started up again. She is probably going to get another shot soon. The doctor said that she is not in "seriously active labor" right now, but things can change quickly. The baby is not in distress, but we would like for her to stay put for another 4 weeks if possible.

UPDATE 9/29/09
RHYLA-KATE IS HERE!
Rhyla-Kayte, was born last Thursday (9/24) weighing 4lbs, 9oz. She was 34 weeks.....my sister had been in labor for the last 2 weeks with contractions and leaking fluid, so her doctor tried to hold her off until 34 weeks. She had to stay in the hospital for those 2 weeks to get monitored.The great news is that Rhyla didn't need any oxygen or feeding tubes; she was alert, breathing great, and started drinking 2 ccs of formula every 2 hours. As of today, she is up to 30 ccs every 2 hours. They did an ultrasound of her kidneys yesterday and she does indeed only have one. The neonatologist wants her to go to Jackson to see a specialist in a few months. However, everything seems to be working well right now.

Maclane and Mommy

This is an urgent prayer request as it has just happened this evening and is continuing right now. Kara, a young woman, was induced today, her due date, but had to have an emergency c-section due to Maclane's, her baby boy, heart rate dropping. During the c-section, she hemorraged and had to have a hysterectomy to control the bleeding. They have gone in a second time for the bleeding and it is still not under control, and she has not woken up yet. She lost baby Maclane's twin early in her pregnancy and this is her first baby. Maclane has a hole in each lung, is on a breathing tube, and may have further complications.
Please, please pray for healing for Kara and Maclane, and peace, comfort, and wisdom for Carson (dad and husband).

6/25/09 UPDATE: Kara woke up this morning and is recovering. She had to have 7 units of blood yesterday and almost did not make it. Maclane is stable and better as well. He has tubes draining the fluid from his lungs, but the color of the fluid is clear and they are happy with that.

Thomas Gaines

On March 18th, Brittany Daniel was in Washington, DC on business when her water broke. Unfortunatly she was only 24 weeks along in her pregnancy. At the hospital, she was prevented from going into labor for another 7 weeks. Thomas Gaines was born on April 24th. He has had an extended stay in the NICU, and unfortunately, continues to struggle on a daily basis. Currently, they are trying to determine if the has Chronic Lung Disease or heart failure. Please pray for this little baby and his family. His parents, Brittany and Beau have temporarily relocated to DC to be with their precious son. Their home is in Alabama and they have young pre-schooler named Reed. Obviously, they are anxious for Gaines to get well so they can return home as a family.

http://beauandbrittanydaniel.blogspot.com

Shaylee Crosson

Shaylee is a three year old little girl who was mauled by a pitbull on June 4th. She spent 8 days in ICU at Childrens Hospital in Dallas and is now in a long term room. She is missing 80% of her scalp down to her skull. She has so many lacerations to her face that they cannot be counted. The doctors aer still trying to figure out how to "put her back together".

She continues to improve each day , but for her its going to be a very long hard road, so lots of people praying for her helps so much !As of now she has surgery every other day or every few days so the docs can go in and clean her wound because shes at great risk for infection. Yesterday she had to have her 3rd blood transfusion . Shaylee is also fighting bouts with depression (she is just sad and she says she doesnt know why )but she is a very spunky little girl !!!!!

Prayer warriors...this little girl covets our prayers!!!

UPDATE 7/05/09
Let me just tell you where she is right now medically ! She had Integra ( synthetic tissue )
applied to her skull in early July , the Docs werent sure it would take , but it took off doing its thing and everything went just like they had anticipated (prayers answered ) , they gave it a few weeks to make sure , kept a very close check on it ! Next they did skin graphs , they took skin off her upper thighs on both of her legs and covered the integra , they gave it a few days , took her back into surgery to check the graphs , they were hoping for atleast 80% sucess of her graphs because that would mean she could take her wound vac off and they said 100 % would be *the pie in the sky* , and of course Shaylees graphs were 100 % , because she is that *pie in the sky* !!! So medically she is doin great , prayers answered !!!!!!!

And as far as Shaylee the sweet little precious girl goes , she has the BEST attitude , she smiles and laughs all the time , rarely complains ( she gets tired of having to do without food and water on surgery days because sometimes its late when they take her :(... but she rides her trike all over the hospital (very fast lol ) even the day she had her skin graphs done , the nurses gave her the option of riding her tricycle to the OR because she proably wouldnt feel like riding it for awhile because of the size of the places where they were taking skin would be so sore and hurt her if she rode but after waking up from surgery and having a bite to eat she took a ride on her tricycle and hasnt missed a day of riding it over all of the sky bridges in the hospital as a matter of fact she usually laps the whole hospital about every hour LOL , she hasnt slowed down a bit !!!! She is truely amazing , shes a big miracle wrapped up in this tiny little body !


Anyway just wanted to say THANK YOU to you and all of the people who pray for Shaylee , she has had so many prayers answered and been through so many hurdles , and of course shes still medically fragile and will have to stay in Dallas after her relase from the hospital for follow up care and many surgeries down the road but for now shes doin great , we couldnt ask for anything more !! She has had WONDERFUL care from all the staff at Childrens Medical Center in Dallas , wow what a GREAT place that is , cant say enough great things about the people there , they have done an amazing job taking care of Shaylee and her family , if you have to be in a hospital , thats the one to be in , such loving caring folks !!!!!!

Beckham Cooper

Beckham was born on May 21st, eleven weeks early, weighing 2 pounds, 7 ounces. He remains in NICU. Today he is four pounds, but still has a long way to go. He has been having trouble digesting, and still needs assistance to breathe. His mother, Rachel, would appreciate your prayers.

6/26/09 UPDATE:
-He's been doing really well with his breathing and his doctors are going to try and wean him off of his oxygen support within the next few days.
-He's learning to regulate his temperautre and *hopefully* being moved to an open crib, rather than an isolette, within the next 24 hours.
-His feedings are increasing but he still needs IV fluids, as he isn't recieving full feedings of milk yet.

UPDATE: BECKHAM IS HOME!!!!
He came home July 15th and as of last Friday (the 31st) he was weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces, healthy newborn weight. We are so so happy to have him safely at home with us. He did come home on oxygen so we do ask that you'll pray about that. Just that his lungs will continue to develop and become stronger so oxygen isn't needed (it makes traveling with him VERY difficult and time consuming). Other than that, he is doing wonderfully and acting like a "regular" baby. We are so blessed! Thank you for all of the prayers!! We so appreciate it!!

Luke

At 20 weeks gestation baby Luke was diagnosed with a heart defect and wasn't expected to live to term. Well, God is good and not only did Luke make it to term, he was born and has been alive for 6 weeks! He underwent his first heart surgery a few weeks ago and still has several more weeks/months in the NICU plus several more heart surgeries down the road. This family appreciates your prayers!

6/25/09 UPDATE: Luke got his chest drainage tube out this morning! We're so excited for this step towards recovery! The combination of medications the docs have put him on seem to be having an effect on his arrhythmia. We're a step closer to figuring out exactly how to treat it and keep it under control. Thanks for your prayers.

6/30/09 UPDATE: Luke has an infection which they're trying to fight with antibiotics. Having some complications with his abdomen being irritated because of the dialysis, but docs aren't too concerned about it. Just plugging along today, not making a lot of progress. Heart rate's in the high 180s low 190s. Thanks for your prayers.

7/10/09 UPDATE:After debating for about two days, Luke's team of doctors have decided upon a three step plan:

(1) We max out the doses of Amioderone and Esmolol. Amioderone has been maxed out for quite some time, we're now slowly increasing the dose of Esmolol. By tonight he should be maxed out. Massive doses of the Esmolol has in the past caused Luke's heart to drop beats and have an adverse effect on his blood pressure. We're praying that it won't this time, but if it does, they can back off the dose rather quickly and get him out of trouble. Since we've tried variations of this option for three weeks, we don't have high hopes for this one being very effective in bringing his heart rate down.

(2) If the maxed out combo of Amiode and Esmolol doesn't work, we move to step two. This is a drug called Flecanide (sp?). This drug can only be administered orally and can not be administered on an empty stomach, and so we face quite a substantial obstacle. Luke hasn't been able to digest breast milk for about two weeks. They started up his feeds at 1 mL per hour night before last, but he threw it all up again. Today, they are attempting to feed him 1 mL per hour of Pedialite, which is basically water with vitamins and electrolytes. The goal is not yet to give him nutrition through this method, it's only to put something in his digestive system so that he might absorb the Flecanide. If Luke can keep the pedialite down until tomorrow afternoon, they plan to start the Flecanide. This medication also places Luke at risk for a different kind of arrhythmia, so they will be doing an EKG every day to monitor that. We are praying earnestly that Luke can keep the Pedialite down. If he can't, we can't give him Flecanide, then we must go to plan C.

(3) Plan C is where it is on the totem pole because it's very risky. It is called an oblation study. They would take Luke down to the cath lab and again run a catheter through one of his blood vessels to his heart. They would then use the catheter to poke around his heart at different nodes to try and find the one node that is causing his heart to go into the super-fast rhythm. Once they found it, they would then cauterize it or freeze it and render it inoperable. The idea being that it would no longer be able to throw his heart into the rhythm, and we could manage it better. It was explained to us this procedure is quite risky when performed on adults. When performed on a baby as small as Luke, the risk increases exponentially. That's it. If one of these options doesn't work, that's it. Game over.So we're calling you to pray for yet another miracle. We asked you to pray, and Luke was born even though he wasn't supposed to make it to 26 weeks. We asked you to pray, and an ambiguous lump of lung tissue started moving air. We asked you to pray, and Luke survived a risky surgery, even after arresting in the elevator. We asked you to pray and Luke was able to get off the heart lung machine. So we're asking you to call out to God to slow Luke's heart rate down in some way. As his parents, we really don't want to get to the point where the oblation study is our only option. I believe God can and will intervene before that. Please pray, like you've never prayed before, that Luke will go into a healthy, steady, normal heart rate using whatever method God would like to use. That's the key to everything. Once we get that, his kidneys and bowls will heal, and we'll get him of the ventilator, and on the way to bringing him HOME. We're almost out of options guys, and I have to fight to keep myself from going frantic. But we know that God is in control. We know that God is merciful and loving and powerful. He has the power to heal Luke completely. I believe he wants to hear from us and from you that we want him to intervene in Luke's situation again. I believe he will answer.I am reminded of a passage out of Daniel 3: " Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Dan. 3:15-18)The God we serve is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or even hope. He can heal Luke and make him whole. But we want the world to know that even if he does not, even if we lose our precious son, God is still worthy of worship and praise and honor. We acknowledge his love and power over all other gods.We desire to join in faithful prayer with you for Luke's healing. Thank you for your love, friendship, and earnest prayer.

UPDATE 8/4/09\
Luke doesn't give us a chance to catch our breath. It seems like as soon as we get a chance to catch our breath something else happens. We need your prayers for another miracle folks.
Last Thursday, the docs attempted to take Luke's breathing tube out to see if he could breathe on his own. He only made it a few minutes before they had to re-intaibate him. They told us not to worry, Luke just simply wasn't ready to go on his own yet, but we would try it again this week. The doctor on call this week was shadowing the doctor on call last week, and was present for Luke's attempted extibation. He had a hunch that something more was going on with Luke than a simple, "he's not ready." So yesterday he sent Luke down to the OR where they put him under anesthesia and took out the breathing tube. While he was still asleep and breathing on his own, they dropped a scope down his airway to take some pictures of what was happening down there. They discovered that Luke's left bronchus is "floppy" (the highly technical medical term they used). It closes when it doesn't have the positive pressure from his ventilator. The bronchial tubes are cartilage - like your ear or your nose. In very young babies, the cartilage of of the bronchial tubes has not hardened like it has in adults - making it more "floppy". So they re-intibated Luke and brought him back to the PICU.
We are basically faced with two options. 1) They could do a tracheotomy. They would cut a hole in Luke's throat and insert a permanent breathing tube in the hole. Since Luke needs the positive pressure support of a ventilator, they would hook that up to his trach and he would go home on a ventilator. It's extremely difficult for a child to learn to eat with a trach. Since Luke never has learned to eat in the first place, that makes it even more difficult. So, we are also looking at them putting in a gastronomy tube (or G-tube). This would be a permanent catheter inserted into his stomach where he would receive breast milk for as long as he needs the ventilator/trach. It is difficult to estimate how long Luke will need the trach while his bronchial tubes grow and strengthen and harden. Likely he will need it until sometime between his second surgery (at 9 months) and third surgery (at three years). That's a big time window, and we're looking at several months to three years.
Option 2) is we could keep him in the hospital on hospital ventilation support until he can breathe on his own, which again would be several months to multiple years, there's just no way to tell. Needless to say this isn't really an option for us. We have to take him home.
Last night, I admit, I lost faith. I despaired. Maintaining a trach is a huge job. You have to clean it, suction it, and change it. Plus, Luke will constantly be attached to his ventilator. Though it's supposedly only the size of a laptop, we will have to haul it and all his back-up trach accessories everywhere we go. We would only be able to leave Luke with a caretaker who has undergone extensive training on how to care for his special needs (that's assuming I could ever let him out of my sight). Because Luke will still be on the ventilator, he still won't be able to make sound - no crying to alert mom and dad that something's wrong; no cooing and laughing when we play. Also, no swimming or submerging in water. I think the most heartbreaking for me is that it precludes nursing. I've gotten through countless tedious pumping sessions by thinking about the time when I would finally get to hold him to me and bond with him while he nursed. The death of yet another one of my hopes. We've buried and grieved for so many.
Last night I cried and cried. I doubted. I wondered how we will take care of such a special needs child. I worried about screwing up and that screw up being lethal to our child. I think that this is such a huge mental and emotional hurdle for me because we were ready for an extended stay in the hospital, but the expectation was that when we went home, we would leave this nightmare behind us as we prepared for round two at 9 months. Now it looks like this nightmare's gong to follow us home. Before last night I knew I was going to struggle to find the energy to do normal mommy things after staying so long at the hospital - how in the world am I going to find the extra energy to take care of a baby with a trach, a ventilator, and a G-tube without the everyday little gifts of joy that other mommies get like hearing her baby coo or cradling him at her breast? You think taking your first baby home for the first time under normal circumstances is daunting - lets add a trach and a ventilator...

UPDATE 8-31-09

Luke has been transferred to Our Children's House at Baylor in Dallas.

His parents have posted specifics...this is just a small piece...they have a long stay ahead of them... We are required to complete 6 trach changes on Luke and room in with him (doing everything for him) for 3 - 24 hour periods (I take two of them and Dave takes one). We've completed 2 changes already, and have the next 3 scheduled to take place this week. We have all of our other training classes scheduled for this week as well, except for our CPR (yes, we already took CPR at Medical City, but we have to complete it again at Baylor. Yes, that's frustrating, but we're just going to do it). So, we should be able to complete all of our training by the middle of next week, then we have to do our rooming in. I wish that was all of it.

UPDATE 9-29-09

PRAISE THE LORD!! Luke is scheduled to go home tomorrow. He still has a long road ahead of him, so please remember him in your prayers!!


prayingforbabyluke.blogspot.com

Whittaker Overstreet Wetherell

8/4/09 UPDATE:
Praise the Lord!
As of 7/18/09, Whitt is home and doing GREAT!

Whittaker (Whitt) Overstreet Wetherell was born C-section in Houston yesterday at 31 weeks. He is a tiny 3 lbs and 3 oz, 15" long. Whitt is currently in the NICU and his doctors say that the next 72 hours are critical. He is currently breathing on his own, and we ask that you pray this continues. Pray that his mom and dad, Corey and Andy, find continued strencth in the Father, and that Corey recovers quickly.

6/12/09 UPDATE

Whitt has been put on a ventilator. He began with 65% oxygen, but as of last night was down to 37% - great news! Corey is feeling much better and has been able to go see him several times.

Here is a picture of Andy and Whitt.

UPDATE 06/13/09

This morning Dr. B let us know that although Whitt is doing okay as of now, he would feel better if they moved him to Children's Hospital in Houston. They are coming to get him within the hour, and Dr. B assures us he will be in great hands there. As of now, they have given him plasma and blood as well as medicine to strengthen his lungs. The next 48 hours are very crucial, as they will do the brain scan Sunday or Monday morning to see if he his brain is bleeding. Please pray for a safe transfer to Houston, and over these next couple of days.

Corey is doing great. She is getting out of the hospital tomorrow, and will go to Houston to be with baby. She and Andy got to touch him, and be with him again today, and it was the most amazing thing i have ever seen. Her and andy are being so strong, and trusting in god to take care of everything.

I will write again with updates later today or tomorrow.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers. Please keep them coming.

6/16/09 UPDATE:
From Corey: Whittaker is also doing really well today, the sonogram of his brain came back and there was NO bleeding, which is a HUGE praise. He is completely off the ventilator and is breathing on his own. Praise the LORD!!!! He is definitely our little 3 pound fighter. It is crazy how I can love something so much while I have only touched the round of his foot and seen him twice. It is a great reminder of how much God really does love us as his children and how He has the power to instill so much love in us for someone else

Cash Paul Walker

UPDATE: We are THRILLED to report that baby Cash is at home with his family

and doing great!

Thank you, Lord for another miracle!

Cash Paul Walker was born by C-section on 6/11/09 weighing 6lbs, 11 oz. Cash started having some trouble with fluid on his lungs, causing him to breath very slow, quick breaths. However, we are happy to report that as of noon today, Baby Cash is out of the NICU and with his family. We ask that you pray for his continued recovery and that he will be able to go home soon with his mom Jessica, daddy Butch and big sister Riley.