Monday, April 24, 2006

Gonzalez's Heart

Just a quick update and prayer request. Overall, Jaden is doing very well. Everything looks good and all of his tubes and lines are out but his feeding tube and then one other line. We started bottle feeding today and it went ok. It is so amazing what steps and things you have to do to teach a child to drink from a bottle. It is so different when you have a baby and it nurses right away. The process to teach a 3 week old baby who has never eaten on his own and has had heart surgery is so intense. You have to make sure they are not stimulated by light and noises around them or they get to stressed out and pretend to be sleeping. You have to watch his breathing, his nostrils for flaring his mouth and you even have to hold them a little different. There are so many things. Heart babies get very stressed when eating and if you do not catch the signs then other problems can occur.

The prayer request is for tomorrow. Jaden will be having an x-ray at 1pm with him drinking from a bottle and they will watch to see how things go. Heart babies do not have strong neck/throat muscles so sometimes when they drink it can go into the lungs. They also can have reflux. If either of these problems happen, he may not ever get to nurse. When we fed him his first feeding, he was choking some on the milk and then he sounded raspy for awhile after. This is when they were concerned if he may have a problem. So please pray that he is fine and will be able to drink without the milk getting into his lungs. This is such an important part of parenting for me. When the cardiologist was explaining all of this to me, I had to do everything to hold back the tears. I do not want to worry over it unless I have to.

Anyway, I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for their help. Mom, I hope getting Ash ready for her dance pictures was not to difficult and thanks for watching them so many days each week. Thanks to all of you who will be helping with the kids (watching them and driving them around), and thank you all who are bringing meals to my family. Karen, I have been meaning to call you and thank you for the wonderful care package and cute baby blanket you sent. The snacks have really come in handy and I will be bringing the blanket to the hospital tomorrow.

I love you all and we are so lucky to have you all in our lives. We have such an incredible support system. Love you all!!!!!

Love, Steph

4 comments:

Karen said...

Steph,
Of course we will pray for little Jaden - especially tomorrow. Don't worry about calling us - you need all of your strength for him and for yourself...You have been so strong through all of this - but what a precious baby he is....

I'm always checking your blog - Sam asks every time he calls - and everyone at work keeps asking. We are all praying for all of you!

We love you!

Karen

Krista said...

Hi Steph,
Things really seem to be moving along so well. It is so hard to imagine that he just had surgery and now is trying to eat from a bottle. I know it can be very trying when he is trying to learn to eat but you have shown such patience with all that has happened so far, take a deep breath and just let things fall into place. He is a very tough little guy and will be eating like a tropper nefore you know. Make sure you are getting the rest you need so you have the milk to keep up with the big guy!!
We will continue to pray for you and hope that all goes well with the x-ray tomorrow.
Love,
Krista & Family

Steph T said...

I am praying for you! I hope that you get a good night's sleep and are ready to face tomorrow head on. =) I am still amazed at your strength and faith. I know that God has been helping you sort through everything and He has given you the right words to say when communicating with the medical staff too. You're doing great!!

Love ya,
Steph T

Steph T said...

(((Hugs))) Steph! I hope that things went well today. You have been on my mind all day and so I did remember to pray! I can't wait to hear the news. Hang in there, you are so strong!!

Love ya,
Steph T