Growing UP!

On November 21st I started crawling. On December 3rd my 1st tooth broke though the skin. Now that I am crawling I am into everything I can get my hands on.

Timothy is Two Months!

Timothy was two month on Saturday and today at the doctor he weighed in at 10lb and 14oz, with a height of 23.25 inches.

False Teeth

So, last week, something white started growing out of my son's gums on the top of his mouth. The first thought was "he is growing teeth." I thought this was kinda early, but I didn't want to under estimate my son. So, I did what any respectable dad would do and googled it. I found out that the bottom teeth are supposed to come in first at 4-6 months (not weeks) and the top ones are supposed to come in 6-10 months. Just to make sure that Timothy is not super grower Lynn made a doctor's appointment. MY CHILD DOESN'T HAVE TEETH. Apparenatly, his gums are sheading. Crazy huh? Actually, everyone's gums shead, but adults brush our teeth and brush away this sheading of skin, therefore we never notice. Unless of course you go 6 weeks without brushing your teeth.

Circumcision

It wasn't on the 8th day, more like the 24th, but Timothy finally got circumcised last Thursday (7th). National prayer day. It was a surprisingly easy process and our pediatrician explained everything really well. They took Timothy out of the room for about 10 minutes, which seemed like forever, the doctor did his magic, and then they returned Timothy back to us. Timothy was strong and wasn't crying or anything. Since then he has been more fussy and needy, but won't you be too. The doctor will check Timothy, this Thrusday, which is when Timothy should be all healed and back to his normal self. We are praying for a quick and normal recovery for our son. Our friend Anne told us a story of a man who had to be circumcised when he was 80 years old and it made us thankful that we took care of our son as soon as possible.

First Family Walk

Today we lots of fun. It was the first Saturday that Timothy was home, so we decided to take him out on the town. We ran some errands and then went out to lunch a KFC. Timothy had milk and Lynn and I had chicken. What a big surprise I know. Then, we had our first family walk. We went to the bike path near the river walk park and had a stroll. We loaded Timothy up in the stroller and headed out to enjoy the nice sunny day. I'm sure Timothy enjoyed it too, even though he was a sleep the whole time. I can't wait to have more fun walks as a family.

First Doctors Visit

So, Timothy had his first doctor visit today. The bad news: he had to get naked and that means Timothy got fussy. The good news: he is healthy and well and has gained 4 oz. in 2 days. He is now 20 1/4 inches long and 6 lb 8oz. Our first office visit took a little longer than we wished because the doctor had to find out why he was in the NICU. Timothy took this time to take a nap with mommy while she read all the books in the room to him. All in all, Timothy did really well and wasn't terribly fuzzy.

TIMOTHY IS HOME!!!

I can't express in words how Lynn and I feel taking our son home. We are overjoyed at the blessing that God has given us and thankful to God for giving us the strength to endure these last two weeks of Timothy being in the NICU. Here is the story of his homecoming:

I got a call from Lynn about 9am on Monday, April 27th, while I was at work in a meeting with Ian (my boss) reviewing some plans. I took the phone call and Lynn told me what I wanted to hear, "Timothy is coming home today."
So I grabbed my things and hurried out the door. Sheila and Brenda asked me as I was headed out the door, "How is Timothy doing?"
And I joyfully answered, "I'm going to pick him up right now!"
I rushed over to the hospital, trying not to speed. Once I arrived I pulled the car to the front entrance of the hospital, grabbed the car seat, and headed up to the NICU. When I arrived, we received some "take home" instructions which mainly outlined the reasons we needed to call our doctor. Then, we unhooked Timothy from all his monitors and placed him in the car seat. He looked some cute and so small in his big car seat. I got to carry the car seat down and Lynn carried a few belonging that we had in the NICU. It was so glorious to walk out the hospital doors with my son in hand. I felt like I just won the biggest game of my life, the crowd was cheering, and there was a huge grin on my face.

The drive home was very peaceful. One, knowing that God had healed our newborn child. And two, Timothy was fast asleep the whole time. About 10 minutes after getting Timothy home he woke up and opened his eyes. He looked all around at his new surroundings with great curiousness. Then, it was time to change his first diaper at home. I gave Lynn the honor of this. Once his diaper was changed, it was time for feeding. Lynn nursured him and he fell fast asleep. As my sister Melissa said the cycle will continue: sleep, poop, eat, and sleep again.

I can't say thank you enough for all of your prayers and support through these last two weeks. God has healed our son and brought him home to us. We are so blessed.

2 down, 1 to go

So the doctor told us that if Timothy is stable (meaning no drops in his heart rate) for three days then he gets to come home. Timothy was stable on Friday and Saturday, so today is the last day he needs to be stable. If he continues to do well (I am so proud of my boy) then he will get to come home tomorrow. We are hoping and praying that nothing happens to Timothy and that we will get to enjoy his company in our home tomorrow. So tonight is the last night of freedom, and I can't wait to lose my freedom to my son.

Well, I hope I am writing tomorrow about the great joy it is to have our son home, but until then we are trusting in God to deliver Timothy to us on His timing.

Slow but Hopeful

Thank you all for your prayers. I can feel God's peace and hope in my life and I know Lynn is feeling much better as well. God is truly teaching us a dependence on Him I have never had before. We now trust our son's health in God's hands and know that the sovereign God with protect Timothy through what he needs. It is definitely a growing process.

As far as Timothy's health, he is improving. As far as we know, he only had one bradie (heart rate drop) while eating yesterday. It is exciting to see Timothy developing his skills. We can't wait to hear from the doctor today and see what he thinks of Timothy's improvement.

Comments

I know before if you tried to comment on a blog it wanted you to log in to a google account or something similar. Now anyone can leave a comment, so feel free.

An Update on Timothy

So Timothy heart rate and oxygen levels fall when he is eating. He has not mastered the skill to eat and breathe at the same time. The nurses and doctors said that is going to take a few days for him to develop this skill of when to breath and when to eat. So Lynn and I are being patience, know that Timothy is in the right place to get the treatment he needs. So we aren't banking on a certain day our son will come home, but enjoying each day with have with him. Today we learned that he is gaining weight and back up to his birth weight of 5lb 15oz. Our baby boy is such a joy and blessing to us and we know that God is in control of the whole situation. For now we will wait and try to get as much rest as possible.

Not coming home quiet yet

So it has been a very emotional day. We had all the hope in the world that Timothy was going to come home today. We were excited and pumped to finally see the day he was coming home. BUT today is not that day. He is having trouble when he eats from a bottle with his breathing. It is dropping his oxygen levels and makes his heart go too fast or too slow. So they will need to let time train him to gain this skill to eat and breathe. This training will take days, but we are not trying to think of the day he is coming home, we are trying to take every day to love on our son. We know that God had him in the NICU to protect him and help him with the skills he needs to learn. We thank God for the nurses and doctors who have been there to help Timothy through ALL of his struggles. God has been faithful and standing next to us (and even holding us when we need it) through all of our emotional and physical struggles.

Coming Home

So the doctor said today that if Timothy keeps up his feedings like he has been, then he gets to come home tomorrow (Tuesday, the 21st). This makes Lynn and I extremely excited.

No more blue light

Like I said before, Timothy is improving each day. With the help of the blue lights and lots of pooping, Timothy brought his jaundice levels from 15 to 5 and was taken off the blue lights. Praise God for a quick recovery! HE is so good to us. One more goal that little Timothy need to accomplish before coming home: EAT. Right now the doctor has a goal for Timothy to eat 65 ml (which is a little over 2 ounces) every 4 hours. He is currently eating 52 ml. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Through all of this God has been standing by my son watching over Him. Let's review and praise God for all he is done. One, Timothy can breathe without the use of oxygen. Two, he can keep his body temperature up without the use of the heater. Three, Timothy fought of infection with the help of some antibiotics. Four, Timothy is eating enough that he didn't need an IV. Five, his jaundice cleared up with help from the blue lights. God is truly faithful to my son and to my family!

Working

I worked yesterday and am working today so that I can save a couple days off for when Timothy comes home. It helps a little to keep my mind off of everything going on, but it is also hard to stay away from my son. I got to see Timothy last night chilling under the blue lights. There is actually a blue light above him AND below him to give his maximum exposure. His skin is looking a lot more pink and a lot less yellow which great to see. I hope that the blood work shows that his jaundice is decreasing.

Friday April 17th Update

Good news today, Timothy is off his IV and antibiotics! He is so strong and making progress each day. The doctor decided to put him under the lights for his jaundice. His jaundice is continuing to decrease, but the doctor wants to give him some assistance. My son's other goal (other than getting rid of the jaundice) is to be able to eat enough. The nurses are increasing his feedings and hopefully he will be able to eat a health amount soon.

Thursday April 16th

It is hard to see your new born son being hooked up to monitors and having an IV, but I know it is for the best of him. Timothy's jaundice is going down a little, but it is better than it going up. We found out today that he has an infection (the doctor didn't give much detail) which they are treating with antibiotics for five days from his birth, which means they will be done on Saturday. Also, he is eating more which will help him hopefully to rid himself of the IV tomorrow. Timothy is the cutest little boy EVER! I love my son so much.

The story of Timothy's birth

Here is the story of Timothy's birth. Lynn started having regular contractions about 7:30pm on Saturday while coming up from a dinner date. They lasted until about 9:30pm and then stopped, so we went to bed. Lynn woke up about 3:30am with more regular contractions which stopped about 5:30am, so we went back to bed. When we woke up for church on Easter Sunday with our Easter best clothes on, the contractions came on again. And they were close together about 3-4 minutes apart. It was time to go to the hospital not to church. When checked in about 11:20am to an observation room to see if Lynn would make any progress. After much walking around and a little help from the doctor Lynn dilated to 4cms and it was time to be admitted to the birth center. The happened around 6pm. During this time we had friends visit us and keep us community (Phillip, Kristina, Mihaela, and Sundeep). At 10pm, they broke Lynn's water, our friends left, and the 10 out of 10 pain began. It was hard to watch Lynn is so much pain. Lynn requested an epadiral, but Baby Timothy was coming too fast. By 11pm the nurse check Lynn and she was fully dilated to 10cms and Lynn was ready to push. Only one problem, no doctor. The doctor was doing C-sections back to back, so they had to call in another doctor. This was very difficult for Lynn not to push because everything in her body told her to push. About 11:45pm the doctor came in and Lynn started push immediately. At 12:17am, Timothy's head popped out and daddy cut the cord. He was a beautiful 5lb, 15oz, 18inches long.

Timothy is Born

On Monday, April 13th, at 12:17am Timothy James Warkentin entered this world at a weight of 5 lb and 15 oz and a length of 18 inches.