Friday, November 30, 2012

Had to share...Chance's birthday verse

This is from Lorie Irland my long term maternity sub who I'm so blessed to have taking over my classroom!

Hi Ashley-
I was flipping to a new day on your daily verse flip calendar next to your PC here in the classroom. I thought I would turn to Nov. 19 just to see what it said on Chance's birthday:
"When life doesn't seem to be going our way, we can take comfort in this- it is according to God's plan". Verse: Jeremiah 29:11. I have goosebumps! Just had to share it. Great week with your sweet class! All is well here.
Lorie 


I looked up the verse:

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God is so good, all the time.  Even when the the sky is cloudy and you think the sun will never shine again.  The next day always brings more sunshine.  

That's what our (Joc and I) hope is in Jesus Christ!

Children's Day 4 -11 days old

Chance had an awesome night last night!  Yay for him!!  He definitely deserved a good night.  After rounds today with the doctor, Chance is pretty stable.  The surgeon came around this morning and looked at his drain and changed the bag.  He's still pleased with the results and surgery isn't immediately needed at this time.  All his levels are where they should be.  The light therapy is no longer needed. His jaundice levels were way down.  

The team will re-discuss tomorrow about taking out the IV line they have connected through his belly button which connects to a main artery.  I can't do Kangaroo Care until it's taken out.  There's pro's and con's to having it in.  It can cause infection or a fungal infection being left in but he's on antibiotics and an anti fungal now, so infection won't happen.  The pro's of having it in: they get a accurate reading of his blood pressure and when they need blood for various tests, they take it right from the line instead of having to stick him each time.  So, it helps the doctors and nurses out by leaving it in but they said there's other ways to measure those things when it's taken out.

I told the doctor that I wanted it left in as long as they thought it necessary.  I've waited this long to hold my precious baby, so I'll continue to be patient.  

My little guy is such a fighter!!

We're just praying for God to show a miracle in Chance.  Specifically for the healing of his bowels and no surgery will be needed.  For the healing of his lungs.  For the PDA in his heart to be closed.  For the Grade 1 bleeding his brain to subside and not worsen.  There's so much more to pray for but I'm mostly worried about the most critical.

 He spent most of the morning contently sucking on a purple pacifier.   

My good friends Michelle and Charlotte came to meet Mr. Chance today.  It was nice to take my mind off things for a bit and grab some lunch!  
 
By the way, that is Charlotte's wonderful singing voice you hear in the video!!!!


















Pacifier

I just called to check on Chance and the night nurse said something was making him mad earlier so they gave him a little "happy juice", repositioned him, and gave him a little pacifier! I was like you gave him a pacifier?! Awww! She said yeah, it's hard for him to keep it in because of the breathing tube but he had his little hand over it trying to hold it in. *heart melting*. She said he sucked on it for a bit and then after a while, he tired out and fell back to sleep.

Yes, it's 2:35 am!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Cards from my 1st graders

My adorable students wrote me some sweet cards...



























Children's day 3

Chance had a rocky night in the respiratory aspect. They had to do some tinkering to get it right.

It's funny how these little guys can get ANGRY when touched! Last night, the nurse was in there messing with him and man his blood pressure went up... He was pissed! They had to give him a small dose of "happy juice" to calm him down a bit. They just don't like too much stimulation and Chance isn't shy to tell u about it.
**** Already taking after both Joc and myself in that sense*** ;-)

He's happily active now!

He's off blood pressure medicine for now. He's able to maintain an acceptable level himself.

He's on 25% oxygen. We breath at 21%.

The surgeon who put the drain bag in came this morning and was still happy with the amount of fluids that is draining out. They positioned him a little more to one side to help the flow.

They're still watching very closely to see if things change as far as needing the operation.

He's still getting the light therapy to help with jaundice and the bruising from labor.
His little back and backside sustained the brunt of the bruising but looks so much better. They're taking it down from 2 lights 1 today.

The doctor, RN's, attending nurse, respiratory therapist, and the dietitian just made their round with Chance. They so this daily and it's where everyone goes over the previous day/morning to get on the same page. It's a whole lot of info and acronyms and numbers. Dr. Shavini then breaks it down into laymen terms for us.

He has two major complications still:

Acute lung disease and the perforation of his bowel or possibly inflammation of the bowel. They can't decipher which because they haven't gone in and opened him up.

The doctor obviously doesn't have a crystal ball and can't predict Chance's future. It's a book that we read that's written by our baby boy.

The doctor said he is in grave danger and for the the next two months it'll be that way. He is hopeful because Chance is responding well to all the treatments so far.

But, our God is an awesome God and He will see Chance thru this.

I asked the doctor if he continues to improve, when can Kangaroo care start? He said ASAP. He said he'll give it 2 days! 2 DAYS guys! Prayers prayers prayers. I can hold my baby in 2 days. So that's Saturday!!!!!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Children's day 2

Chance had a rough night. We were called around 10:30 and all we heard was problem after problem. He was having trouble keeping his blood pressure up so they had to give Hydrocortisone which is a steroid. He's still on Dopamine which helps maintain his blood pressure. As of now, he is still very sick.

The doctor showed us an X-ray of his lungs and explained to us that his lungs are very damaged. What he is seeing at 1 week of life is what he would expect to see at 1 month or after. It's a doubled edged sword because the ventilator is what's causing the lung disease but at the same time, the ventilator is saving his life.

The drain is doing what it's supposed to at this point. Chance is being watched very closely and surgery is still very much an option at this point.

The staff here are very friendly. Our main doctor, Dr. Savani- a neonatologist, is a compassionate and honest man. After speaking with him, the 2 month mark is when we should see a turn around.

Joc and I have 100% without a doubt turned Chance's life over to our Lord and savior. HE is the ultimate healer and will do with Chance as he sees fit. Joc and I have to be okay with whatever HE chooses to do with him at this point. If HE chooses to take our first born son, we will never understand on a human level why. The only solace we have if that happens is knowing our sweet, little baby boy Chance will be waiting for us in heaven.

So for now it's hour by hour. The medical staff basically waits for Chance to tell them what he needs and they respond accordingly.

As of now, please pray specifically for:

Healing of his acute lung disease.
Healing of his intestines, abdomen, and stomach.
Healing of the grade 1 bleeding in his brain.

I'm keeping track of scriptures that God gives to me and others my sweet friends send. Here are a few:

Deut. 31:8 "And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed."

Ps. 107:20 - He sent His Word (Jesus) and healed Chance and delivered him from destruction.

Ps. 91:16 - With long life will I satisfy Chance and show him My salvation.

Ps. 118:17 - Chance will not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.

Jer. 33:6 - Behold, I will bring health and healing to Chance. I will heal Chance and will let him enjoy abundant peace and security. (I love the word behold because the original translation means: "Watch and See"!) <-- thank u Marnie

Matthew 7:7
Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10 KJV) <--- thank u Michelle

Love to all.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Successful drain surgery

The drain surgery went well. The doctor is saying that If the drainage slows or stops that will be a very good thing. If it continues to drain, the surgeon will have to go in and operate.

The discharge from the drain line was better than what he suspected to see. And that he felt that there's only 1 perforation of the bowel.

So for the next two days, as long as he doesn't regress, spike a fever, etc things will remain the same.

Thank u for all your prayers. They're working so far.

Update

Ok so the surgeon is putting in a drain. He has air in his abdomen and they're trying to rule out a tear in his intestine. We wanted to try the least invasive option first. Prayerfully we won't have to o that route but it is def not out of the picture yet.

He has acute lung disease because he's been on the ventilator machine since birth. It's in God's hands. His lungs are repairable.

God is with us for sure. He was supposed to be in room 9 but moved to room 7. We're on the 7th floor. When I heard that Matthew 7:7 immediately came to mind.


7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Children's Dallas day 1

I'm in ambulance headed to Dallas children's now. Chance is stable.

Urgent prayer request

He has to transferred. His intestine has been perforated. He may not even make it thru the transfer. He's going to get sick very fast.

He's going to children's Dallas.

Pray hard. God is good.

Day 8

Chance's blood pressure dropped this morning. They're having to put him back on Dopamine- a bp med. They're thinking the PDA in his heart might've reopened. They're doing another scan to check and will have to start meds again if so.

He's also been throwing up some green bile looking stuff. They're putting a suction in to constantly suck it up and see what it is.

Prayers.

Monday, November 26, 2012

How God chooses moms of premies

I found this on Pinterest and fell in love


Mothers to Preemies

Did you ever wonder how the mothers of premature babies are chosen?
Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth, selecting his instruments
for propagation with great care and deliberation.
As he observes, he instructs his angels to take notes in a giant ledger.
"Beth Armstrong, son. Patron Saint, Matthew. Marjorie Forrest, daughter.
Patron Saint, Celia. Carrie Rutledge, twins. Patron Saint ... give her Gerard.
He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles. "Give her a preemie."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a premature baby a mother who knows no laughter?
That would be cruel." "But does she have the patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she'll drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it.
I watched her today.
She has that sense of self and independence so rare and so necessary in a mother.
You see, the child I'm going to give her has a world of its own.
She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."
"But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles. "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect.
She has just the right amount of selfishness."
The angel gasps, "Selfishness?! Is that a virtue?"
God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive.
Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect.
She doesn't know it yet, but she is to be envied.
She will never take for granted a spoken word.
She will never consider a step ordinary.
When her child says 'mama' for the first time, she will be witness to a miracle and know it.
I will permit her to see clearly the things I see – ignorance, cruelty, prejudice – and allow her to rise above them.
She will never be alone.
I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."
"And what about her Patron Saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in the air.
God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

-excerpt by Erma Bombeck



11-26-12 prayer list requests

Hi all-

I just got back from hospital. Today has been a very rough one for me and more so for baby Chance. Around noon he started having trouble breathing and maintaining his oxygen levels. He was needing 80-100% support. That had to bag him 2 times one for 1 min and again for 2 min. They noticed that his heart rate was resting when they gave slower, longer breaths. So, they switched ventilators to a step down from the one he was one which gave more rapid breaths.

Since switching, his oxygen level is down to 30% which is awesome and he's actually breathing on his own over the ventilator.

We got the brain scan results back and he has a grade 1 bleeding in the brain. A grade 1 is the lowest grade of bleeding but bleeding nonetheless. It's very common with micro preemies like him. The reason is the blood vessels are so weak and immature and when there's trauma, or with him being so sick it causes more blood to go up the brain and makes the blood vessels bust.

They will rescan in 3 days unless he get worse and they'll do it sooner.

For those of u who are praying, please pray specifically:
For the grade 1 bleeding to lessen and stop all together never to return.
For the strengthening of his lungs.
For there to be no permanent, long term damage caused by the bleeding.

1 Week Old and NICU life

Chance is 1 week old today!

I can't believe it's already been a week.  Seems like a blur of the biggest nightmare and God's greatest blessing all at the same time.
I don't even know where to begin with explaining all the ups and downs and in between of this past week.  In short, I had just started a pregnancy memory note on my i phone so I'm going to just copy that first:
  • 24 weeks- going to hear your heart beat again.  I can't wait!
  • 11-18-12- my water broke
  • 11-19-12- Chance born 8:03 am via c section, 1 lb 13 oz and 13 inches long
  • 11-21-12- Chance started hemorrhaging (bleeding) in his lungs
  • 11-22-12- Pastor Wallace came up to bless baby Chance
  • 11-23-12- 4 days old, Chance is very stable this morning.  They turned down ventilator machine he's on.  He's going to have an EKG done to see if the PDA valve in his heart has closed.
  • 11-25-12- I got to be there and change his 1st poop diaper!  yay!  digestive system getting a kick start.  Chance loves to pee right after fresh diaper is put on and before we get it closed up!
The nurses and doctors told us to buckle up and get ready to ride the roller coaster of ups and downs.  Chance is called a Micro Preemie because how small he is.  Obviously, he is still supposed to be inside of me where I regulate all his body systems.  So, it's a lot of trial and error trying to figure out his little system.
Progress today:
  • had to hold off on more feedings, his stomach just isn't tolerating it.  He's getting all nurishment thru the iv's.  They'll start feedings again soon.
  • PRAYER LIST:  main focus is getting his lungs stronger and making sure there's no bleeding in the brain and that his eyes and brain progress and develop perfectly.
  • PDA heart valve is smaller and they think it will close the rest on it's own.
  • He's needing about 49% oxygen level
  • He's progressing wonderfully!
They're running a lot more tests today so will update with results when I know more.

One day at a time!

Thank you so much to everyone for your sweet prayers and words of encouragement.  Joc and I love each of you dearly and it's made this situation seem a little more bearable. 
 We love y'all!


















    proud mama!


Sunday, November 25, 2012

Ready or Not...Welcome Chance McCoy!


November 18th started off like any typical Saturday. I got up and had a nice, big breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Natalie and Chelsea (2 childhood friends). I ran around all day and Joc and I had dinner that night. Around 8:00,  we got ready for bed (yes, I said 8 pm) we are like old people in 30 year old bodies!! At 8:30, I started getting contractions. At first,  I just thought they were Braxton hicks so I thought, oh they will go away. Well, they didn't and they started to get pretty painful.  I told Joc that something wasn't right, I didn't feel right.

This went on for about 2 hours. I was googling preterm labor symptoms and timing my contractions they were every 3 minutes. My stomach turned so I got up to walk around and wound up throwing up.  I stood up and BURST, my water broke.

Joc obviously heard it, man was it loud. He jumped out of bed as I'm standing there FREEEEAAAKKKING OUT.  I was frozen with shock and fear.  I was in my bathroom and instead of grabbing a towel from there I ran all through the house to the laundry room to get an old towel. I threw on a robe and as Joc tossed my poor Maverick who didn't know what was happening in his crate.

We drove (very fast!) to Las Colinas because that's one of the hospitals my doctor delivers and it’s closest to us. I was actually registered to deliver at Presby Flowermound.

I got the hospital and ran into the emergency room and of course no one is at the window to help us.  I'm half covered with my robe and towel and still majorly dripping. Oh gosh, I'm sure I was a sight to be seen! Joc reaches through the window and pushes the button to let you in the door to the back.  So, we head on in and I am immediately wheeled in the elevator to the labor and delivery floor.

There are so many details to this whole nightmare.  My doctor wasn't on call so the doctor who showed up I’d never seen before. It took them a while and many tests to figure out what caused my water to break and for me to go into preterm labor.

They found out that Ihad a bacterial infection called Chorio.

Get this...it infects2% of pregnant woman in the US. Jesus has something amazing planned for Chance!

I was transferred by ambulance to Lewisville Medical Center which has a level 3 NICU. Chance stayed in my belly for 1 whole day after my water broke. They wanted to get him out soonbecause the risk of infection increases the longer they left him in.

At 8:03 on Monday, November 19th, Chance McCoy Cappelli entered our world. We hadn't thought of a name yet but after the circumstances, I said, "God's giving him a chance." So, Chance it was!  How wonderfully blessed are we :-)