Finally, A Photo!

Finally got my blog to take photos again. Here is one of Titus at the hospital. I will get some more up soon. Now we are just waiting for the report from the surgeon to tell us when the first surgery is. Titus is up to about 9 pounds and doing great.

All Systems Go!!!

Well, I need to apologize for an extremely late entry. I will post a couple of entries now and then promise to be more timely in the future. First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has been praying. The more I hear from you all, the more humbled we are. I know there are people and churches all over the United States (and one in Tanzania) praying for us. It is amazing that God saw us a fit to be part of His plan in Titus’s life. Thank you so much for all your prayers.

As many of you know, the last week before Titus’s birth was a bit of a whirlwind. On Monday we found out that his bowel issues appeared to be no more. This was great news. We were however, still prepared for a 1 week stay in the baby Intensive Care Unit. The doctors all told us that most Cleft babies are transferred to the unit because of feeding issues and difficulty gaining weight.

Abi started having contractions at around 6pm Wednesday. They were severe and regular enough that we got up at 1am to head to Madison. We called our friend Rachael and she came over to sleep with our kids so we could go. Right before we left, Micah vomited all over her crib. That should have been our sign to stay homeJ She ended up throwing up 2 more times and Rachael treated Micah as one of her own. We are so blessed to have such good friends.

So we got to the hospital around 4am and the triage nurse told Abi that while she was likely in “pre-labor” it was going to be a while. We chose to leave, versus being admitted then and there. We crashed for a couple hours in my car, window shopped for some used cars, ate at the olive garden, and walked about 15 miles through target. At about 6pm we went back to the hospital and they admitted Abi. The contractions intensified, they broke her water at 12am, and Titus was born at 12:53am on Friday morning. I make it sound pretty easy don’t I? Well, Abi was a champ. Her best performance yet. She continues to amaze me with her strength and resolve.

I do have to tell one quick story about the birth. We knew we would get an “on-call” doctor that we had never met because we were going to a large birthing center with many OB docs. Abi was a bit concerned because Dr. Patricia Harrison, from Cherokee Iowa, had delivered all 3 of our prior kids, and she knew Abi and Abi knew her as well. So, in walked a young resident that I recognized. Within a minute we realized that he was Dr. Harrison’s student doctor who had performed two clinical rotations where we lived in little Cherokee Iowa. He knew us and we knew him! He had left Iowa for the residency program in Madison. He was great during the delivery! What a comfort to Abi! God is truly amazing in that he would work all that together for our good.

So…Back to Titus. He was born at a healthy weight. The cleft was present and pretty severe, but the symmetry of it is a positive as it often improves cosmetic outcomes. The three intensive care docs (there as a precaution) quickly left the room after seeing how healthy Titus was. He urinated immediately, which told us his kidneys were working properly. Not long after, he had a bowel movement and that was an answered prayer. His bowels are still working great and Abi and have resolved never to complain when he poops or pees at times that are inconvenient for us. We remind ourselves that it was an answer to prayer!

Abi and Titus were doing so good that they let us leave the hospital in less than 48 hours! What a dramatic change from what we were anticipating.

The following Friday (Feb 13) we came back to the UW’s Children’s Hospital for the cranio-facial clinic. We met with all the specialists (facial surgeon, ENT, oral surgeon, social worker, audiology, speech therapist) and got a lot of info. We also had Titus sized for a mouth appliance that may work to close his cleft a bit prior to surgery. We went back to Madison last Thursday (Feb 19) to get the appliance fitted. We are having some problems with it and may have to go back Monday to see if it can be adjusted. We are also waiting for a letter from the cranio-facial clinic to see when Titus’s lip surgery will be scheduled. It should be within the next couple of months.

At home Titus is doing great. The new mouth appliance has thrown a kink in things currently, but hopefully we can work through that. Otherwise, Titus is eating like a champ and not spitting up and choking on his food (which can be very common for cleft kids). His older brothers, Jon and Noah, are ecstatic to have him home. Micah, at 18 months, is also quite happy, but not so thrilled with sharing the attention of mom and dad.

Now that I have this post written, I will hopefully be more diligent with my updates. We plan on keeping the log going through Titus’s first year of life and the surgeries that will be in it. As always, thanks for your prayer.

In his grip,

Titus Emerges!

After 36 hours of labor, baby Titus was born (2-6-09 @ 12:53am). 8 Pounds and 5 ounces. 19 inches long. Baby is very healthy and mom did great! Thanks fo all your prayers.

Make Like a Fetus and "Head Out"

145am. Contractions every 3 minutes. We're heading down to Madison...

"Now, What exactly are you saying?"

We had our final ultrasound today in Madison. A long day. We stayed up late with our kids and some friends watching the Super last night. And then we had to get up early to make a 9am appointment at the perinatal center (1.5 hrs away). On the way to the hospital I wouldn't say we were discouraged, but I would say that we were definitely prepared for the worst. I said to Abi, "These follow-up ultrasounds are no fun. Nothing good can come out of them for us. All they will tell us is that the cleft palate is still there and the bowel obstruction and enlarged kidney are noted as well." Or worse yet, they well tell us that they have findings that were not present on the previous ultrasound scan (which is what happened today).

We arrived for our scan and had the kids with us. Butch and Marian (Abi's parents) were kind enough to meet us and handle the kids during our appointments. We had our clinic visit with the doctor and then went in for the ultrasound.

We saw Titus's cleft again. It still appears to be quite severe, but his cheeks are chubby and he is weighing in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces. The sonographer continued to scan for growth markers and other developmental items. She alerted us to when she came to the kidneys and bowel. She methodically measured the bowel, noting it's size and then moved along to the kidney.

The view of the kidney was like nothing we had seen before. The right kidney appeared to be massive as compared to the left. 3-4 times bigger from what we could tell. "The kidney?" we were thinking. "We never really asked about potential complications with a kidney that big". Of course numerous thoughts were going through our minds about this. The most disheartening thing for me was when the ultrasonographer asked if our pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor) had requested specific ultrasound photos yet. We told her that we had only been referred to the facial surgeon and the general surgeon. She printed us some pictures and left the room to consult with the doctor who was to read the ultrasound. "Great, another specialist we will be getting to know all too well."

We have come to learn that if everything found on the ultrasound is as expected, the time it takes for the doctor to come in and see us is very short. However, if there is something out of the ordinary, it takes a while. The wait for the doctor was a long one. We knew something was going on.

After what seemed like hours, the doctor came into the room. He started talking and it seemed quite surreal. He was talking about the kidneys and the colon and movement he was seeing. Sometimes using words I understood, sometimes not. After his second explanation I said something along the lines of "Now, What exactly are you saying?" He proceeded to tell us that (in so many words) he did not believe the ultrasound results he was seeing and that he wanted to scan Titus himself to confirm what the ultrasonographer had done. He scanned for about 15 minutes with the following conclusion:

The abnormalities in the colon that were present on the last scan, (The ones that would cause Titus to have 3 major surgeries before the age of 1 and potentially leaving him with lifelong bowel management issues. The ones that all but guaranteed Titus was going to be diagnosed with some type of genetic syndrome that correlated the bowel and cleft with unknown mental and physical repercussions down the road) were no longer apparent! Abi and I were doing everything we could to contain ourselves. Praise God! is all we could think of. The doctor seemed a bit shocked as to how such an obvious bowel obstruction could just disappear. I am sure there is a perfectly good medical answer that completely misses the point of what our God is capable of. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us.

Now, the doctor was quick to say that because of what he saw earlier, the risk of there still being something present is still there, so please don't stop praying. Abi is currently 38 weeks pregnant. Jonathan and Noah would have already been born by now, but everyone agrees that the longer Titus stays in, the better. Cleft babies still have a difficult time gaining weight early on, and so we want him to be as plump as possible when he comes out. Of course that is easy for me to say knowing that I am not the one birthing this baby (sorry Abi).

So why (if there is truly no more bowel issue) did this all happen? Why did we go through all this. Well, I just have to trust that God knows what he is doing. I know that it has caused me to draw closer to him. It has increased our understanding of the power of prayer in so many different ways. And I hope that it has encouraged you as well. Would God be any less awesome if Titus had numerous bowel problems? Nope. He just must want to get glory this way at this time, and either way, Abi and I are happy to be in His grip.

Oh yeah, and as for that huge kidney. They said it would likely be something very low on the priority list. Perhaps a urinary tract infection. It only seemed so huge because of the magnification. They actually stated that normally with results in the kidneys and bowel like they saw today, they would not even tell the parents because the stress it raises would likely cause more problems than anything clinically.

Again, thanks so much for your prayer, and please keep it up for another few weeks!

God Bless.