Our Boy is 5 months old!!

December 24th, 2009 by mariahbuck

Wow does time fly! Jeremiah is doing great! He had NO TROUBLE gaining weight anymore. I am still nursing and Jeremiah is a chub! My sis in law jokes that I don’t make milk but buttermilk. :) God has been so gracious! He has chosen, in His wisdom, to heal Jeremiah completely of his breathing problems. We have not used an apnea monitor in quite some time. Just as the doctors can not explain what was causing his breathing problems, they can not explain why they went away. But we know. We serve a loving and gracious God!

Jeremiah can roll from his back to front, but not front to back yet. He is the happiest baby ever. He has never met a person he didn’t like. He loves to snuggle and sleep in mommy and daddy’s bed. (But we are trying to break him of that.) We have just recently introduced him to rice cereal. Boy does he like that! His big borthers love him so much! He is a really lucky boy! Brandon calls him “Chubba, Chubba, Choo, Choo” and Tyler calls him “Handsome Prince.”

We have begun to settle into life with three boys. It is wonderful. What a blessing to have three healthy, happy boys. God is so good!

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Chubby Bubba

December 23rd, 2009 by mariahbuck

Earlier this month I picked Jeremiah up from his crib after his nap. I had put him to bed with his pacifier but I couldn’t find it anywhere. After much searching, I realized that he had it lodged under his neck fat. I love my chubby little guy!

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Tyler’s musings

December 23rd, 2009 by mariahbuck

Tyler: “Oh crap!”

Mommy:” Tyler we don’t say crap.”

Tyler: “Oh yes we do mommy, you and daddy say it all the time.”

On another day:

As I have Tyler bent over my knee to spank him for disobedience, he says, “Mom, can it be a little tiny spankin?” I told him no. So he said in the sweetest most pitiful voice, “Please don’t hurt me mommy, pleeeeeease.” It is kinda hard to spank when you can’t stop laughing…

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The last 3 months

December 23rd, 2009 by Mariah

Well, the last three (almost four) months since Jeremiah was born have been a world-wind of emotions. There have been such highs and there have been such lows. God is working in our families’ lives like you wouldn’t believe.

Jeremiah has had breathing problems since birth. He has always been a noisy sleeper with moaning like sounds, gasps and whimpers all night long. I took him to the doctor time and time again and was told that it was nothing to worry about. Well, I changed pediatricians and finally got a doctor who would listen to me and who cares about my son. We have had a sleep study done that showed Jeremiah has severs sleep apnea. He stops breathing 20 times per hour!!! And he was sleeping all day long. My poor baby was never awake for more than an hour at a time. After having the sleep study done we realized that it was because he was not getting good quality sleep therefore making him tired all day long. The sleep study was done in Salt Lake City, Utah and it was hard on my little guy. He was hooked up to 100+ probes monitoring his brain waves, breathing, O2 concentration, heart rate, you name it.. You can see in the picture that he has a little hat on that keeps all the wires together.

The night in Salt Lake was hard on me. I cried much of the night looking at my baby boy and feeling so helpless. Shaun had to stay home with the big boys and had he come, the hospital would have only let one parent stay overnight anyway. So it was for the best. But it was so hard to go through that alone! All I could do was sit up most of the night and stare at my baby and stare at the monitors, watching the brain waves and heart rate waves go up and down. While I thought this was hard, I had no idea how much harder it would get!!

We were referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. I have been told by more than one person that she is the best! Well, she did a procedure in her office to try and determine the cause of Jeremiah’s breathing problems. She “scoped” his throat and did not see any abnormalities. But she wanted to do an additional scope to see further down his throat past his vocal cords. She suspected that he had a condition called tracheal malacia. Jeremiah would have to be sedated and have anesthesia for this procedure. However, if she was right about the diagnosis; it was something he would grow out of.

One early evening when Jeremiah was taking a nap in his swing I noticed that he was very pale but his ear and eyelids were bright red. Like blood red. I got him out of his swing and he woke right up. The color returned to his face pretty quickly and his eyes too. But I managed to get a picture of his ear. His eyelids looked just like this too, I just didn’t manage to get a picture quick enough!!

I called the doctor right away and he told is to get to the ER fast! However, with the huge outbreak of swine flu, he did not send us to the ER. He had us go to the baby unit of labor and delivery. In fact, he told us to use an alternative entrance so that we did not even walk through the ER. He said that w/ Jeremiah’s breathing issues and since we don’t know what is causing them, it would be very dangerous for Jeremiah to get sick.

In the mean time, Jeremiah was also scheduled for an MRI. In addition to his breathing issues, he would become very red and blotchy sometimes when he nursed. I was worried that it could be that he couldn’t breathe and that was the cause. Here is a picture of what would happen to him.

Just as quickly as the redness and spots would come, they would also disappear. So the doctor referred us for an MRI. During the procedure for the MRI, Shaun was able to be with me. Jeremiah would be sedated for this procedure via an i.v. He did well. In fact, the anesthesiologist told us that the sedation medication when inserted into his i.v. would sting. he warned us that he would probably cry. Jeremiah proved him wrong. He was asleep in my arms when they inserted the medication into his i.v. Jeremiah opened his eyes, smiled and coo’d then closed his eyes to go to sleep.

We went home the same afternoon. As we were pulling out of the hospital parking lot to head for home I got a phone call on my cell. It was our pediatrician calling ALREADY to give us the results of the MRI. It showed that everything was normal with my precious baby’s brain.

The next hurdle we would have was the bronchial scope. Jeremiah would have to be sedated AND have anesthesia for this procedure. We would have to stay overnight in the hospital to have him monitored. I was very worried about this one! Shaun got sick over the weekend. He woke up with a fever so we thought it best that he stay home for this procedure. Also, Tyler woke up with a pretty high fever too. That being said, we both thought it best if he stayed home to take care of Tyler and to get better himself. Jeremiah and I got there and got settled in. He got his i.v. inserted. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me before the procedure. He warned me that there could be some serious side effects from the anesthesia - including death. But that I shouldn’t worry because he was sure Jeremiah would be fine. Thanks doc!

I had to let my baby go and trust in God’s goodness. It was so hard!! The nurse that came in to take him assured me that he would be fine. She was kind but she couldn’t make me feel better. I cried and cried as she took him. Then even more as I watched her take my sweet boy down the hall and into the O.R.

I called Shaun to let him know that Jeremiah was in surgery. The surgery was supposed to be 30-45 mins. After waiting for 15 mins, I decided to head down to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat. It was 1:30 and I had not had a chance to eat yet. The nurse gave me a pager and let me know that as soon as Jeremiah was out of surgery, they would page me (in case I wasn’t back yet.) No sooner had I walked down to the cafeteria, did the pager go off. I ran back to the waiting room and asked the nurse if everything was ok? It had only been 15 mins. Was my baby ok? She said he was, and that he was already out of surgery. I could see him in 10 mins.

It seemed like forever until I got to go in to see him. He was fine, just snoozing away. He looked peaceful. Nothing like he had just come out of surgery. We transferred in to our inpatient room. Jeremiah slept most of the day and almost all of the night. i guess it took awhile for the meds to wear off. The dr that preformed the surgery came in to tell me what she had found. NOTHING. He looked perfect. She could find nothing wrong and nothing to indicate the cause of his breathing issues. I was both relieved and frustrated. I felt awful for putting him through the MRI and now this surgery for nothing. They didn’t find anything.

Fast forward a few weeks.. We have gotten all of the results back from the many blood tests. All normal. No one can find anything wrong with him. Nothing to explain his breathing problems. We were given the apnea monitor that I mentioned earlier and we use that each time he is sleeping. We have had it for 3 weeks now and the alarm has not gone off once. We have been praying for healing. I am not sure if God has chosen to heal Jeremiah or is still in the process of healing him. All that I know is that he seems like he is doing much better! He does not make most of the sounds that he used to when he is sleeping at night. Still makes some, but most of them are gone. His alarm indicates that he does not stop breathing for more than 20 seconds. All signs point to our sweet baby doing great! By God’s grace!!!

We are still monitoring his weight but other than that things are going well. He is a happy and smiley baby. He loves to coo (or cooch as Tyler calls it.) He loves to have his big brothers make funny faces, voices and to play with him. Brandon seems to have a soft spot for him and can hardly pass his swing or baby seat without stopping to kiss or talk to him. Our family so blessed by God’s goodness! Please keep our little Jeremiah in your prayers. I will continue to update with his progress.

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