Caden's Homecoming!!

We are a wee bit late in posting our homecoming. Caden did indeed come home with us on Sunday afternoon. It was sweet bliss carrying my little boy from the Special Care Nursery to our car and home. Gavin and Reese are so in love with their little bro. Almost a little too in love! The amount of sibling smothering is sometime "OOC", and something we will have to work on. Reese refers to Caden as "my baby" and Gavin is a GREAT help with diaper changes and keeping Reese's hands out of Caden's face.
At Caden's doctor appt with his regular pediatrician yesterday, his health was right up there as if he were never sick! The doc was in such amazement and speechless! Power of medicine along with prayer and priesthood! Can't beat that baby!Here is Caden chillin with his daddy at home. In all, Caden spent 9 days in the NICU and 2 days in the Special Care Nursery. Now he is well and all ours! Bring on the all nighters! A special thanks to all those who have sent well wishes and prayers our way! We are forever grateful!

Off topic,...question and in need of advice for the breastfeeding ladies,..how in the world do you get rid of clogged milk ducts?

Caden Day 8 - A WEEK OLD!!

Caden is one week old today! When I went to see him today this is how I found him. (see pic) So peaceful and without his air assistance tube!!! I was so excited. He looked so healthy and such a cutie!!

He is now breathing on his own,..and passing the oxygen tests! One of the last things he needed to accomplish before he can come home. The only other treatment is for his antibiotics, and that will finish up on Sunday. So, the prognosis is good for a Sunday homecoming!

I just had to include this picture of him crying. Being that I only get to see him for a few hours a day, I don't get to hear it much! His cry is a healthy cry now; not one that sounds troubled and gasping for life.

Daddy was able to feed him during one of his sessions. He is now not on a feeding schedule of every 3 hours, but whenever he tells us he is hungry. He's setting his own schedule, just like any other newborn! And yes, that is another IV tube in his head!! He blew out the one in his arm, and had to have it back in the head again. He's blown out 2 in both hands, both feet and now in for a second round in the head! He just needs them out already! Poor baby!

And that is the progress for now. He is doing exceptionally well and will be coming home on Sunday. These last pictures are just for showing off a healthy Caden! Free from most tubes and with his eyes open! No eyebrows or lashes,...just like his mommy! But what a cutie! A little yawn to let us know he was done with the picture taking and ready for nap time again!

Caden's Day 6 & 7

Caden has been upgraded from his NICU crib to a nursery tub!! (see pic below) Yeah! He's just like all the other babies when not in the NIC unit! I love this shot of him b.c he is just chillin'! And he gets to wear clothes now!! He just looked more like my little boy today, more than ever! He doesn't seem sickly and acts just like a healthy little newborn! I was sooo thrilled! A close up of my little man. He is only on his breathing tube that "puffs" a small amount of air into his lungs every once in a while. The doc's tried to take him completely off of the air assistance last night, however, he failed the oxygen gas tests without it,...so, he will need to work on this before he can go home. Right now we are in the "no news is good news" stage. Not much to report other than he is continuing to get better. He takes a bottle of my breast milk at every feeding, every 3 hours. He gives a good holler at the nurses too when he's hungry! He drinks 30 ml a feeding, which is GREAT for him! Here he is at his 1:30 pm feeding, with his eyes open!! He's opening his eyes more and more and I just can't get enough of him! He is such a babe! He has such a little old man look to him that I just want to kiss him bunches!
Here's another feeding picture. I just can't stop taking pictures when his eyes are open! He is also gaining his weight back fast! He is now up to 8 lbs 3 oz!


We feel so blessed at his tremendous come back! The power of prayer is so real! Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We know the Lord has heard and answered them! Christopher and I were just talking about how we feel like we are in a "blessing bubble" right now! We just feel really blessed and comforted in every aspect of our lives at the moment.
Caden has a discharge date of Sunday the 17th in the afternoon. They would like to move him to the "Special Care Nursery", however there isn't any room for him at this time. Yea, Caden!

Caden's Day 5

Today was a really good progress day. He took his first bottle for his 10:30 am feeding. He ate 12 ml and then fell asleep. Little bugger. That was the only feeding he did by bottle,..but it was progress! Here in the picture he's sucking on his binki. You'll also notice the IV has been moved back to his left hand. Last night the nurse was doing something with the IV and Caden jerked his head and caused the IV to break his vein and leak some solution under his skin causing his left eye to swell. I don't know if you can see it that well in this picture or not, but it's swollen. When I first saw him this morning, he was awake and we locked eyes for a few moments. Mine immediately swelled with tears. I know he is going to be alright, but I worry about everything like any mom would.

The doctor told us that he may have gotten pneumonia or some kind of virus that caused all these problems with his lungs in the first place, but we may never really know for sure. They want to keep him in the NICU until at least Saturday to complete his antibiotic treatments. This will help ensure that there won't be a relapse of the illness. The hole in his lung seems to be healing quickly because the x-rays don't show an increase in the leaked air outside his lung.

In other news, I was discharged today. And we won't even begin to go into the emotions that were unleashed when I had to leave my new baby alone at the hospital.

Gavin and Reese are real troopers and have been extra good for their babysitters this weekend. We are definitely feeling all your prayers. Thank you!!!

Caden NICU Day 3 & 4

Day 3 (Saturday Sept. 9) started off without much change. Caden was still on the ventilator to aid him in breathing. However, they were trying to wean him off of it slowly and by 11am he was down to 10 ventilator assisted breaths a minute. The rest of the time he was breathing on his own. He was scheduled for another x-ray later in the afternoon and Christopher’s mom took Gavin and Reese around Dallas to run errands so Sariah could get some rest. We figured if the NICU didn’t call to update us on anything, nothing had changed. So when we went down there again later that evening, (around 8pm) we were surprised to find Caden totally off the ventilator! Instead he had nose inhaler tubes pumping normal air to help keep his lungs inflated while the hole in his right lung heals. He still had the feeding tube in his mouth and the oxygen monitor in his umbilical cord. But he was making awesome progress! We were very excited and couldn’t help but snap a picture.

Day 4 (Sunday Sept. 10) we woke up excited to see Caden again. So we went down to see him after Sariah had finished pumping a few ounces of milk. When we arrived we learned that he had been fed through his tube! So he wasn't relying solely on his I.V. for his nutrition anymore. The nurse was glad to see we were breast feeding and pumping milk to feed Caden. He was resting so soundly that he wouldn't wake up to take a bottle. His next feeding was in an a few hours and the nurse was going to take the oxygen monitor out of his umbilical cord so we could hold him!We also noticed that his I.V. had moved from his hand to his head during the night.The hour finally came and we were able to hold little Caden. He still wouldn't wake up for us enough to feed him. It's important that he be awake because he needs to be aware of the suck-swallow-breath rhythm of feeding. Otherwise he could complicate his condition. So Sariah got to feed him some breast milk through his feeding tube, and was very happy to finally hold her little baby boy.Daddy was very proud too, but ended up bumping the I.V. in Caden's head which sent off a flurry of alarms and lights. Doh!

Later we met with the doctor and he said they wanted to keep Caden in the NICU for at least 10 days from the time he was admitted to keep the antibiotics in his system and keep monitoring him.

Day 2 NICU Update

Just a quick update....
When Caden was born via c-section he had difficulty breathing right from the start. However, after about 4 hours he became stabilized and we got to take our little man in our arms. As the day went on (Thurs. Sept. 7) we noticed that he seemed to be wheezing and uncomfortable most of the time. He also would NOT eat (from me or a bottle) and when he would (you could tell he wanted to) he would choke on it or throw it up. He was also born with low blood sugar, so not eating was causing him to crash out with dangerously low levels. About midnight we noticed Caden's color not looking so hot and saw that his blood sugar was in the teens (below 45 is not good). We also noticed he was working really hard to breathe. Chest X-rays showed that he STILL had fluid in his lungs. After vacuuming out time and time again, he was not getting better. That's when "Dr. D" a Neonatologist with Dallas Presbyterian Hospital took a look at him and admitted him to the NICU around 5:30am (Fri. Sept. 8). This photo below is his first that was taken right after being admitted. Later that afternoon, we discovered through blood test that his white blood cells we elevated and that meant infection. The fluid in his lung had become infectious, so they started antibiotics right away. That's when he had to go into an oxygen tent (shown below). The tent is a more effective way to get oxygen to a newborn. An adult would use an oxygen mask, but an infant is annoyed by a mask and constantly fights to get it off its face.
The tent only worked for so long. While his little lungs were working so hard to breath his right lung blew a hole and collapsed. This was due to the right lung working so hard to compensate for for the left's infection. Caden needed to be put on a ventilator (shown below). The ventilator goes down his airway and breaths essentially breaths for him, giving him time to rest and his body a chance to find the strength to heal. This was around noon the same day. The tubes irritated him and his excitement made it hard for the nurses to stabilize him and he had to be sedated for the rest of the evening.
We can't hold him nor feed him. He is only receiving nutrients through IV. He needs to be off the ventilator in order to be feed through a tube in his stomach. We need that to happen before he gets jaundice. So we pray for his infection to start clearing up and his hole in his lung to repair itself quickly. We are SO fortunate that his condition is NOT life threatening. He just needs to get well, so we can feed him and raise his blood sugar and take him home. We are not sure what long term effects might arise from this experience, however, we pray for his long term health as well. Especially going into the cold and flu season now.
Caden really didn't like being touched because for the past day every time he was touched, he was poked or inflicted necessary pain. When I was able to to finally see him and hold his little hand, I was so emotional when I realized he knew his mommy and her touch and held my finger....AH,I LOVE MY LITTLE MAN!!

We will have an update on Day 3 (Sat. Sept. 9) soon. Christopher will also be working on a little video presentation once we get back to the house. I will be going home on Monday the 11th (Gavin's B-day!), and sadly, it will be without Caden. Right now our hope is that he will be discharged the following weekend. Keep the prayers coming,..we feel them already!

Caden's First Day

September 7, 2006

Caden Benjamin was born at

4:58 am.

Sariah was scheduled for a C-section at 7:30am but he felt he had waited long enough and would not wait any longer, putting Sariah into contractions and labor at 1:00am in the morning. At birth he weighed

8 pounds 8 ounces

and was

21 inches long.

More pictures and video coming soon. In the meantime, please keep Caden in your prayers. He is having a hard time breathing. Liquid in his lungs caused an infection that has caused one of his lungs to collapse. He's in the Neonatal ICU and is a fighter. He will be there at least for the next 7 days, we pray that that will be all he needs. We will keep daily updates on his progress here on the blog.

Thanks for your love, friendship and prayers.