Thursday, January 15, 2009

My Cousin's Sweet Little Boy....


Hello everyone. I just wanted to see if ya'll could pray for my cousin's  little boy J.B. (Jonathan Benjamin). Here is what my cousin Adam wrote on he blog tonight....  

I'm sure by now, the majority of you know what's been going on here at the hospital but for those of you that may not...Yesterday Amber had a C-Section around 2:45pm and our son JB was born. He weighed 6 pounds and 14 ounces. He was 19 and 3/4 inches long. For the first hour, all was well. He was moving well, had decent color, and his crying was comfort that he was breathing normally. When he was taken to the nursery, he was given his first bath and kept in the nursery for sometime for observation. After a few minutes in the nursery, a nurse noticed he was spitting up a little bit of blood and his color had changed dramatically. He was then taken down to the NICU for treatment.


     He was kept in the NICU all afternoon and the treating doctor (Dr. Lail) came up to the recovery room speak to Amber and I about his condition. To say her words were difficult to digest is the understatement of the century. She said she believed he had a "pulmonary hemmorage" shortly after birth, that could potentially be fatal. The cause and origin was unknown, and remains unknown. She had to remove a large amount of blood from his lungs and stomach and she didn't mince words about his condition upon arrival at the NICU.


     He was kept in the NICU overnight and placed on a ventilator. He was also given two separate IV's in his hands as well as a line going through his umbilical cord. We were able to go down to see him last night, which was the most difficult thing either Amber or I have ever had to do. The cords and monitors were too many to count. His little body fought to breath over the ventilator, so he was given some medication to sedate and calm him. They told us his status was "critical but stable."


     This morning the doctor was back in the NICU and we again went down to see our little guy. His condition this morning according to the doctor and treating nurses was "fair." He was still on the ventilator and still had the cords and monitors hooked up as they were the night before. Last night and this morning, a battery of tests were ran with no explanation for the hemmorage. We were left with the difficult realization that "these things just happen."


     This afternoon, we went back down to the NICU and a Cardio-Tech was doing an echo-cardiogram of JB's heart to see if there were any immediate issues. We left the NICU while the tech completed her exam with the understanding that she "didn't see anything immediately apparent, but that the pediatric cardiologist would review the exam." While we were there, his heart rate was elevated at around 175 and he was still trying to fight over the machines. He was given more medication this afternoon and we were told we would be called at 6:00pm with an update. At 6:00pm the nurse called up and said a test they ran to check for issues with the ventilator were negative and the cardiologist saw no issues at first glance with his heart, which was good news.


     We are getting ready for bed tonight with hope and faith of better news tomorrow. We have both come to understand that his condition will not be better over night. We are in a room on the third floor but our hearts are with our son in the NICU one level below. We have not been attentive to our phones and email, and we hope and trust that you all understand that we are dealing with all of this the best we can. For Amber and I we have approached this trial like we would any other of lives difficulties with each other as our support system. That is not to say that your phone calls, emails and text messages have not been received or appreciated. We know how blessed we are to have our friends and family to help us through this time. We know our son is coming home with us soon enough and we can't wait to share his life with all of you. Thank you again to everyone, and we will give updates when we are able.


Sincerely,

Adam and Amber

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

7 comments:

Suzanne said...

Wow, Jan....I'll definitely be praying for little JB and his parents. Are they local?

Unknown said...

Thanks Suzanne! They live in Kingsport. So, they aren't too close! I wish they were.

Suzanne said...

I'm from Kingsport....

Unknown said...

Oh I didn't know that! They are at Holtson Valley Medical Center. They said they live about 3-4 mins from the hospital, so they can run home fast and be right back. He is doing a little better today. Gets a little better each day.

Aunt Tonya said...

Thanks for posting this, Jan!!

Suzanne said...

I was born at Holston Valley. :) I might even know your family members. Email me their last names.

Trillia said...

Hey Jan,

I'll pray tonight as well. That is a very difficult trial.

I pray all is healed and well.