Baby Steps

Well, Davis had another really good day. He was making really tiny moves in the right direction. The goal over the next while is to ween him off of his oxygen, meds and machines and ready him for surgery. This could take 10-14 days.  As of now, his oxygen is down from 100% to 79%. The jet ventilator that he is on has gone from a pressure of 30 to 25 and he is responding really well to these adjustments. These moves are really slow and his reactions tell everyone if he needs more or less of a certain thing. We are so very proud of our little man and we are very thankful that all of you are posting, commenting and praying for our son and sending him good love. Not much to say tonight. Carolyn was discharged from the hospital tonight and we finally get to sleep in a real bed back at Parker's House ( www.theparkerreesefoundation.com ). We really enjoy being beside our son and gushing over him with all of our hearts. Whenever his nurse on duty checks his diaper and looks under his headphones and eyecover we like to be there to see his eyes. Since he is already being touched it is a good time for Mommy and daddy to touch him too. Carolyn got to wipe his eyes. We just happened to have the cell phone in there and snapped these today. It is really hard to leave the hospital. We are very tired and need rest but we still want to go back really late tonight to visit him. I think Carolyn is torn between healing and resting herself or going back to the hospital. Thank God we have that decision to make. -Mike

These guys are amazing

Davis stayed stable throughout the night last night! The team gives him fluid boluses to help control his blood pressure, and they seem to be working. We stayed with him until around 12:30 last night, just sitting with him and sending him all our love and positive thoughts. We can't make noise around him or touch him, and he is still on minimal stimulation with the big headphones and eye mask. Despite all this, we really believe he can sense that we are there. We are so incredibly lucky to be his parents. He is such a special baby. I never knew you could love something so much. 

The NICU team is amazing beyond belief. If I ever had any doubts about our decision to have Davis at Duke, they have completely evaporated. Yesterday Dr. Goldberg, the medical director of the NICU, came in on his day off to care for Davis. Last night Dr. Goldstein, the neonatologist, slept at the hospital instead of going home because she wanted to be nearby in case he had another bad night. These doctors and nurses save our son's life multiple times a day, and care for him so thoroughly on what is literally a minute to minute basis. There is never a time when someone is not there monitoring him and making adjustments to make him as comfortable and stable as possible. We can feel how much they truly care. I am in awe of their level of skill, patience, and compassion. Because of them, we know that Davis is going to come through all of this. 

If you have a prayer circle at your church, please put Davis on your list. Send his blog to as many people as you can. If you don't pray, send positive thoughts his way. We believe in the power of thinking positively, and we want as many people sending him love as possible. 

-Mom

What a day!

After this morning's ECMO scare, Davis showed some improvement in his blood gases and his hypertension is stabilizing with the epinephrine. He also had an echo that came back the same as yesterday's, meaning his heart is still functioning at the level it needs to, so we've dodged the ECMO bullet for now. It's still on the table, and while it scares the hell out of us, we're also glad that it's there if we need it. It's nice to have a backup, even if that backup is scary.

The best news is that today's x-rays showed some progress on lung growth! I don't know a lot about x-rays, but it looked like really significant growth... you could definitely see huge improvement from the time he was born. The stomach and intestines, which were both in his chest, had a lot of air in them that they've removed. This has given some room for the lungs to grow. There might even be a possibility that one or both the stomach and intestines (now smaller) could drop out of the chest entirely. Seeing the x-rays tonight was really encouraging. We're so proud of our sweet little son, how hard he's fighting, and the progress he's making. We are so happy to be his parents and enjoy just being by his side. 

We are definitely learning to live only in this moment. Things change so quickly (as today has shown us), and Davis is showing us that he is the one calling the shots. As of now, we're moving in the right direction. 

Thanks for your prayers, we need them!

-Mom

Welcome to the Rollercoaster

That is what we were told this morning. Sometime through the night while we were sleeping, davis started to have problems. His blood gases weren't looking like they should, so they decided to administer a third drug for his blood pressure (that's right, we've had three) and that wasn't having the desired outcome so we are ready for ECMO. That is the scary heart lung bypass machine that we didn't want initially but if that is what he needs then of course we will consent.

We were told this morning he is going on ECMO, so we called down to his nurse and asked if we could be with him before he had the surgery for the machine but she said that they were rethinking it. Five minutes after they left our room, they were rethinking it. That shows you what we are in for with CDH. One minute verses the next.

We went to visit him this morning after speaking with his nurse and he was doing great. His numbers where right where they needed to be (except for his lactate acid number that was creeping up through the night) and we will know more about his numbers in a little while.

As of now, no ECMO and he is doing okay. Fight boy.......

-Mike

P.S. this is an early picture. He is still on minimal stimulation but we saw him without his eye mask today.

Minimal Stimulation

Here you can see that Davis is not supposed to have much interaction with the outside world right now. He is kind of sleeping and he is in his own little bubble. The more uninterrupted time he has on the ventilator the better he will be. We are just enjoying our time being along side of him and meeting all of the incredible staff that stays by his side at all hours. 

This next little picture is of Davis' buddy who is looking out for him.  Papaw would want it to be more of the Wolfpack color, and "uncle Gino" doesn't really want the Blue Devil Pride to be involved here, he is more of a Tarheel but Davis has obviously become a huge Duke fan..... this little buddy came from Brad and Kellie (bradandkellie.blogspot.com) today as they came up to see us and check on Davis. We are very excited for them because they are finally taking their son home.

 Thank you all for your kind words and prayers. We should be checking Carolyn out of here Sunday morning so we can sleep in a real bed again and hopefully start a visiting and learning routine with our son. Check back soon.......

-Mike

Hello World!!

This morning at 1:05 am Davis Michael Ashworth was born at Duke University Hospitals. It was a long process with very few contractions and finally the doctors decided to perform a cesarean. We heard five little cries (which is a good sign) and then the massive team that was on hand whisked him away to the room next door to stabilize him. He was immediately intubated and in a few hours the team in the NICU allowed me (dad) to go and visit with him. This is when the docs and nurses explained that he was doing great!!! He is now on what they refer to as minimal stimulation. He has a little sleep mask on and he has some Bose noise canceling headphones on as well. The team has Davis on a paralytic to keep his movement down to a minimum so he doesn't try to out breathe the machine the is gently inflating his lung. I know, this sounds like a lot but this is what we have been preparing for. This situation has to be taken day by day but today was a VERY good day. Davis is doing "remarkably well" and we are very proud of our little man. More to come soon after hours of sleep and healing for mommy.

Here We Go....

Okay, it seems like Davis takes after his mommy and not me, he wants to be early. So this morning (6 a.m.) we arrived at Duke hospital because Davis is on his way! So far we've only been here nine hours. Some family are on their way and lots of you have already been in touch. Thank you all for your prayers and support. more soon.

-Mike