Josiah's upcoming surgery

I know I haven't blogged in forever but this seemed liked a good place to put this information for our friends and family who are interested.

First, most of you know that Josiah has had almost constant ear infections since Halloween. Last Friday we went to the pediatrician with yet another ear infection and she said it is time for tubes. We saw the ENT on Tuesday and scheduled the tubes for February 8th. It is considered a surgical procedure that he will have to be put under for but it should only take about 15 minutes. After a little while in recovery he will get to come home.

Later on Tuesday, I was changing Josiah's diaper and thought that his scrotum looked a little swollen. I decided to watch it and a couple hours later I decided that it was for sure swollen. I called the doctor and  when the nurse called back she said that I needed to take him in for sure right away. This was at 7:40pm. Praise God that my parents had been in town because Thomas was out of town for work! My dad stayed with Nate and Adah while my mom went with me and Josiah to the hospital. 

At the ER they ordered an ultrasound which showed a 5cm x 5cm loculated hydrocele. This is basically a collection of fluid. From my experience as an ultrasound tech, I did not think that all of it looked brand new. Obviously some of it was because that is how I noticed the swelling, but I really think that some of it had been there for a little bit. The ER doctor said that is could have just been caused by the virus that he had (with this week's ear infection) but he wanted us to follow up with a urologist this week.

I feel very blessed that Thomas knows so many doctors through work because he knew exactly who he wanted to go to. We just had that appointment today. It turns out that he has a inguinal hernia which requires surgical repair. I happened to mention that he is about to get tubes and the doctor said that he can coordinate with the ENT and they can do it at the same time. HUGE PRAISE! So, if the date works out for both of them Josiah wll have surgery for tubes and the hernia repair on February 8th at 7:30am. 

Please pray that it will all go well, he will do okay with the anesthesia, and that he will be okay eating his breakfast a little later than usual. Also pray for us to not worry and to trust God with our little man. Thank you for your prayers in advance.

Here is some information on what he has if you are interested:

Inguinal Hernia
As a male fetus grows and matures during pregnancy, the testicles develop in the abdomen and then move down into the scrotum through an area called the inguinal canal.

Shortly after the baby is born, the inguinal canal closes, preventing the testicles from moving back into the abdomen. If this area does not close off completely, a loop of intestine can move into the inguinal canal through the weakened area of the lower abdominal wall, causing a hernia. Josiah does not has intestine in his hernia at this point which is great, it is only fluid.

Inguinal hernias occur in about one to three percent of all children and more often in premature infants.

An operation is necessary to treat an inguinal hernia. It will be surgically repaired fairly soon after it is discovered, since the intestine can become stuck in the inguinal canal. When this happens, the blood supply to the intestine can be cut off, and the intestine can become damaged. Inguinal hernia surgery is usually performed before this damage can occur. During a hernia operation, your child will be placed under anesthesia. A small incision is made in the area of the hernia. The loop of intestine is placed back into the abdominal cavity. The muscles are then stitched together. Sometimes, a piece of meshed material is used to help strengthen the area where the muscles are repaired.

A hernia operation is usually a fairly simple procedure. Children who have an inguinal hernia surgically repaired can often go home the same day they have the operation.

   

Addendum to Josiah's story...

After reading over this now that it is posted, I noticed that I did not (and can not) say enough about how blessed we are that God protected our sweet boy and got him home to us safely and in good health. God has big plans for this boy and we give HIM all of the praise for the healthy boy that is sitting in my lap right now!

Josiah's NICU Journey

NICU. Now there is a place I never wanted to be. At least not to see MY baby. I had been in NICUs before with different jobs I have had in the past and I always felt that they were terrifying. Now I had to go see MY baby all hooked up to wires and tubes. It was not an easy sight at all.

For the first 2 days Josiah was on CPAP to help him breath without his lungs retracting. During this this time we could not hold him at all. The doctor said that because he was early his skin was very sensitive almost like a sunburn so when we touched him not to rub him all soft and gentle but to just hold a hand on him still. The doctor also wanted us to be very careful not to stimulate him too much because it could make him breath to fast and cause problems. This was a VERY hard 2 days for me.

Finally, Wednesday night he was able to come off of the CPAP and just have a nasal canula for oxygen. This was the first time that we were able to hold him and it felt LONG awaited! We could only hold him for 30 minutes and then he had to go back under the warmer. 

The nurse warned us that he was probably going to have to have phototherapy for jaundice the next morning. Sure enough, when we got up there Thursday morning he was under the jaundice lights. 

 

He would have to be under them for 2 days which meant that for the next 2 days we could only hold him for 30 minutes a day. Words cannot describe how much I wanted to cuddle my sweet boy and this was torture. Everyone kept saying how good he was doing and I was thankful for that but that did not make the situation suck any less. Instead of nursing and cuddling my new baby I was having to use a breast pump and being told not to stare at him under the jaundice light because it was bad for my eyes.

FINALLY, Saturday morning he came off of the jaundice treatment and we could hold him anytime we wanted. BEST. NEWS. EVER. If a child could be spoiled in just one day, Josiah would be rotten! Of course mom and dad were the first to hold him but through the weekend Grumps, Gram and Aunt Wendy all got a turn.

Now he was jaundice free, breathing on his own, and holding his own temperature so what were we waiting on, let's get this kid home! Well, he had to learn to eat. Who knew? I thought anyone related to me would have this skill at birth, but I guess not. ;) 

He had feedings through an NG tube in his nose for the first several days, then he began getting to have 2 bottles a day.The goal was to be taking all 8 daily feedings from a bottle instead of the ng tube and to be at "full feeding" level which was 46ml. 

 

This took what felt like forever, but finally 2 weeks after his birthday, we were walking out with our sweet boy in tow.

Another one of our sweet amazing friends had our kids that morning so we were able to get home and put Josiah in his bouncy seat in the living room to surprise them. They were very excited. Adah was confused at first and asked why here was there. She was pleased with my answer of "he is going to live here now."

For a while when people came over this is how Nate would introduce his baby brother, "This is my brother. His name is Josiah and he gets to live with us!" That is something we were ALL happy about!

Josiah's Birth

On Friday February 10th I was walking down the stairs carrying one of the kids' school books and my favorite sock monkey coffee mug. There was a box of baby wipes sitting on the stairs about half way up waiting to be carried upstairs. I stepped on it and then tripped and fell down the bottom half of the stairs. When I started to fall I leaned backward so that I didn't hit my big pregnant belly on anything. I succeeded in not hurting my baby belly however I twisted my knee and ankle so badly that I thought I was going to be sitting at the bottom of the stairs until Thomas got home! After a few minutes I was able to make it to the couch. The kids were so cute taking care of me. Adah told me to put a band-aide on it and Nate brought me a glass of water (pretty sure he got the glass out of the dishwasher that was NOT clean, but I thought it was sweet). I called my midwife and she said as long as I did not hit my belly and Josiah was moving well and I was not bleeding that I was okay. So my knee was in pain but I the baby was fine, I could deal with that. Oh, I was still pretty bummed out that my coffee mug was broken in this fall, but oh well!
Sunday morning when I got up I noticed that I had spotted just a little bit. I watched the over the next couple hours and there was nothing else so we got ready and went to church. Between services, I went to the restroom and realized that I was suddenly bleeding quite a bit. Trying not to panic I went and told Thomas we needed to go to the ER.
Since I was 34 weeks, they sent me straight to L&D to be monitored. I was not there for very long. They monitored Josiah's heart and movements, made sure I was not contracting and checked to see if I was dilated. I was only 1/2cm dilated so they sent me home and said to follow up with my midwife at my next appointment (which was Wednesday).
Well the rest of the afternoon I kept bleeding so I decided to call my midwife in the morning. So Monday morning I left a message for my midwife and got the kids ready to take Nate to his appointment at his gastroenterologist. As we were pulling out of the drive way, I got a call asking how soon I could get to my midwife's office for an ultrasound. Of course I went immediately.
Thomas met me there and we went back for the ultrasound. As soon as the tech put the transducer on my belly, my heart started racing. My amniotic fluid was low. Very low. I started to realize that this baby would be coming early. After seeing Chantal (midwife) we figured out that I was leaking fluid. I did not realize it b/c every time I was feeling the fluid leaking, I was bleeding too so I thought it was just blood. She started telling me that I need to go to the hospital and one of the doctors in the practice she is with was going to be called in to help decide my treatment, but one way or another, I would not be leaving the hospital until I had the baby. The doctor called in was Dr. Bruce who I knew a little because she had done my d&c last spring.

At this point panic was setting in. I called my mom to come help with the kids and then my sister to let her know what was going on. They were both very comforting and told me he would be fine, but of course I was still having a hard time accepting that he was coming early than I was ready for. Having worked at OB offices for several years, I know how early is too early for comfort and in my opinion I was a week and a half too early for MY comfort.
Monday was a blur. We got to the hospital around 9:30 or 10 and a sweet friend saved the day by taking the kids until my parents could get there. I starting having contractions pretty soon after getting to the hospital and had them all day 6-10 minutes apart with the exception of about an hour and a half when they stopped. We were basically told that it was going to be wait and see. They didn't want the baby to come early if he didn't have to but we needed to watch for signs of infection since my water had broken and there was bleeding. So basically if I did not go into labor on my own, or show signs of infection, we were going to wait it out until Saturday and then induce. I was not thrilled about possibly spending ALL week in the hospital but I wanted what was best for the baby.
The neonatologist came in to see us since it was very unlikely that Josiah would not have to go to NICU. He was so nice and we grew to love when he was the doctor that was there during our NICU stay. Late that evening Dr. Bruce came in and said that she had talked to a perinatalogist that suggested she give me magnesium because there are studies that she is protects a preemie's brain. I had expected that they would give steroids for his lungs because that is just what I had seen done with preterm labor at work. Apparently now however studies have shown that steroids don't really help after 34weeks and I was 34 and 2 days. I was a little discouraged by this because I knew that magnesium is what they give to attempt to stop preterm labor (I was given a lower dose though) and it was supposed to make me feel hot and dizzy and miserable AND I still could not eat until AT LEAST in the morning.
So the only meal I had eaten in over 24 hours was a bowl of cereal that morning, I had been having contractions all day, I knew Josiah would be early but didn't have a clue when he would come or what kind of shape he would be in, and the thought of being there all week waiting and wondering was not sounding so great.
Thomas and I both got very little sleep that night since I was contracting and he was sleeping in a chair. Then early the next morning, Valentine's day, the contractions suddenly got more painful and closer together. It happened so fast that it is such a blur. I had not decided if I was getting an epidural or not, mostly because I was curious. That curiosity was fading fast so I was considering just some iv pain meds but the nurse said that if I was within 2 hours of delivery they did not want to give iv medication. When they finally got the okay to see if I was dilating (they were trying not to check often because it would risk infection) I think they said I was a 5? I honestly don't remember but they did say that they thought I was going to be delivering soon. At that point I said yes give me the epidural. The anesthesiologist was there in about 10 minutes and about 10 minutes after that I had the epidural and was starting to have some relief. The nurse kept telling me to let them know if I felt like I needed to push. She had barely left the room when I sent Thomas to get her.
I remember that Dr. Bruce had come by and knew that I was about to deliver but she let my midwife be the one to deliver and was just on stand by on the floor if she was needed. The previous day I had 2 ultrasounds. One estimated that Josiah was 4lb 9oz and the other said 4lb 11oz. I kept praying that he would be 5lbs. I am not sure why I felt that was a magic number but I just wanted him to be big. He was so little (compared to my 8lb1oz Nate) that is only took 2 contractions and 4 or 5 pushes for him to be born. He looked so tiny when they put him on my chest, but he was screaming and I was so happy to hear that noise! He only stayed on me long enough for Thomas to cut the cord and then was given to the neonatalogist and his team that were standing next to me. He was 5lbs 1.5oz! I was SO happy that he was 5lbs! I guess all of the protein I made sure to eat paid off! ;) They checked him out and cleaned him up and let me hold him for what felt like seconds before they whisked him off to NICU.
After having probably 7 medical staff members and Thomas in the room during the birth, it felt insanely quiet when they all left except for my nurse who was cleaning up and taking care of me (and giving me a menu, PRAISE GOD). Thomas went with Josiah to NICU and I told him just to stay with the baby I had done this before and would be fine on my own.

This is the precious few moments I got to hold him before he went to NICU.

I could hardly wait to get upstairs to NICU! Thomas was sending me pictures and updates on how our little Valentine was doing. This is pretty much the end of his birth story. Now the NICU story begins...

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a recipe that I got from one of our MOPS mentor moms Rhonda Lehman. It has oatmeal, whole wheat and peanut butter (protein) so it is basically health food! ;) I have given a couple of people the recipe since she gave it to me so I decided that it would be easier if I just post it here.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shortening
1 1/2 cups Peanut Butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups cooking oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

In mixing bowl cream shortening and peanut butter. Add brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix well. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Flatten with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until slightly browned. Makes 4 dozen

It's a......

This first picture is a 3D picture that I took today of our sweet baby sucking on a thumb.
What a cutie!

This is a profile and hand where you can see all five fingers.

Last, but not least, the picture of our little GUY being proud to be a BOY!

I was going to post the video of us telling the kids, but the sound was not very good so I decided not to. Nate is happy because on his chart that we made for school it shows that there are now going to be more boys than girls in our family. :) We called all of the grandparents and let the kids tell them and this is exactly what Nate said every time, "The baby in my mommy's tummy is a boy and it's a brother for me and Adah." I think he would have been excited either way. Same with Adah, she doesn't fully get it so I don't think she care what it is! :)

We have picked out a first name but not a middle. The first name will be Josiah. We got this from a bible story that I like in 2 Kings chapter 22. You should read it. :) It is about a little boy that became king when he was only 8 years old and as is says in verse 2 "he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left."

Mommy is pregnant!

We decided to tell the kids that they are getting a little brother or sister today. I wanted to catch it on video because I figured whether they were excited or not it would probably be funny. Brace yourselves for loads of excitement... or not. ;)

"Cool Mom" That's all I got. I am not sure that they really believed me, but maybe when my tummy starts to grow it will sink in a little more. Also loved Nate's little shout out to his favorite girl Jade. When I asked it he wanted a boy baby or a girl baby he said "a girl like Jade." I think he would be satisfied if I just had Jade move in with us, but she wouldn't fit in the crib and I am pretty sure her family would miss her. ;)

Here is an 11 week ultrasound picture for your viewing pleasure! :)