Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Reagan Makes the News!

Dear Friends,
Fox 8 news called us today and wanted to do a story about Reagan! We nervously agreed as we felt it would be a great way to give God glory for all He has done for us. If you did not see the news, you can highlight and copy the link below and paste it into your web browser to see Reagan on TV. Make sure to see the extra footage that was not shown. Thanks to Fox 8 for allowing us to share our faith on television. Praise God for a platform to exalt His name!

Robert, Amy, and Reagan

http://www.myfoxwghp.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6434358&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Reagans 8 week old pictures


Daddy's little girl.


"I've got you wrapped around my finger already!!"


Daddy has the magic touch.


Lets talk mom.


Mommy, Nana, and Nurse Angie gave me a bath. I smell so good!


Mommy is scrubbing my head. Oh Boy! It feels so good.



"OUCH!! That hurts mom. Just kidding I'm getting sleepy."


"I am sooooo relaxed and happy. Thanks for the bath Angie!"

An Extra Prayer Request

Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for praying for Reagan! We are so thankful for her progress and we give God all glory for His gracious help for her. I have a tremendous peace that God will bring Reagan home to us safely! I will keep this short...I could really use some extra prayers over the next few days and weeks. I'm not sure what is going on in my mind but I have been very easily distracted lately and need the ability to focus on several different things that I would like to accomplish within the next few months as well as be available for my daughter and wife. Pray for sharpened focus and a clear mind for me if you will! I love and appreciate you all!

Robert

Monday, April 28, 2008

Thank God for His Help! Reagan is Looking Good!

Dear Friends,
I hope that you enjoyed and still enjoy the pictures that Amy took last week. They have been such an encouragement to us and we hope that they have made you smile as much as they have us. We are so thankful for Reagan's progress over the last couple of weeks. Our apologies for not updating for several days. While she has been doing well, we have been trying to catch up. Thank you for your continuous prayers!Some days, we come in to see her and she just looks so good and it is so very encouraging. That does not mean that there won't be some more bumps in the road over the next few months, but we do know that God will help us overcome those as He has previously. I am thankful to God for allowing "bumps" in our lives that help us to rely on Him. The lessons that He teaches and the things that we learn during the hard times of our lives are things that we will always have available to tell others about God's faithfulness when the opportunity arises. So, I am grateful for everything God has done for and with us thus far!

Oops! I forgot to update you specifically about Reagan's progress... Today, she weighed in at 2 lbs and 8 oz. she is nearly 14.5 inches from head to toe and she just looks really good :) She has been sleeping a lot more over the last couple of days and Amy says that this is a good thing as she will not burn as many calories and will get fatter and grow faster! Her lungs are performing very well on the nasal canula and she is currently only on it and not alternating with CPAP anymore. She likes this a lot better and doesn't seem to get as upset. She enjoys her pacifier and getting her head rubbed and sometimes likes to wrap her little hands around a fat finger! Her feeds are still going pretty well and are given over 2 hour periods. They tried to give them over 1 hour but she did not tolerate it very well so they will try again when she grows a little bit bigger.

Another thought that I have had over the last few weeks has been about the importance of raising Reagan to be prepared for circumstances such as these. I now know why I was taken to church every Sunday morning and evening as well as Wednesday nights. Pretty much every time the church doors were open, we were there. Faith plays such a key role in dealing with hard circumstances and our faith has been what has carried us through this situation. We learned to have faith in God, to accept Jesus at a very early age, and were taught Bible verses and songs about His goodness and strength and help in our time of need. All those silly kids church songs really do have a purpose! They ingrain truths gleaned from the Bible into soft hearts so that later in life they will be remembered and relied upon. One thing that we had to do when I was young that I really am going to work on in the future is memorizing scriptures about God's promises to us. The peace that I have had over the last eight weeks has been directly from God and from faith in God that started growing as a small child and continued through different life experiences including church, school, family contact, circumstances, and etc. So, I say all that to say thank you to my parents, relatives, friends, pastors, teachers, and everyone else that helped to prepare me (and Amy) to have faith that God is with us every step of the way. Life would be meaningless to me without God! I want to make sure to help instill values such as these in my own child as well as other people. So, thanks to everyone who has had an impact on my life! Thank you God for loving us and giving us strength and for giving Reagan a special touch! We love you and trust you God!

Love to all! We'll try to post more pictures very soon!

Robert and Amy

Prayer Requests

1. Continued Prayer for strength, growth, and health for Reagan
2. Praise God for the things in your lives that have brought you closer to Him.
3. Pray that Reagan will be breathing room air and off of the nasal canula soon!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Reagan's Funny Faces















Reagan was in rare form today showing off for the camera. I had to share these moments with you!! Robert and I have a collection of funny faces of the two of us and now we can include Reagan. I can't wait for this years Christmas Card.

Reagan had a great day today. They are letting her go 8 hours on Nasal Cannula (more like 12) and 4 hours on CPAP. She did not have any episodes were she quit breathing today. She has been averaging around 6 a day so this is a huge answer to prayer. Please keep sending the prayers up for her to grow strong!! They started condensing her feeds today and so far she is tolerating it great! She was quite the wiggle worm today and looked like she was feeling good. I always feel so encouraged when we have days like today! When Reagan has a good day Mommy and Daddy have good days too! We love you all and hope you had a good day as well.
Love,
Amy, Robert, and Reagan

Seven Weeks Old

Wow can you believe it's been seven weeks already! Reagan has come a long way in 7 weeks. I am amazed and very thankful for how well she has done. Like all mommy's I worry when Reagan has a bad day but in the life of a preemie her bad days have really not been so bad. She continues to alternate between CPAP and Nasal Cannula as you will see in the pictures. We are trying 6 hours CPAP and 6 hours on NC. She has yet to make it all 6 hours but she is in the middle of it now. Please pray that her lungs will continue to strengthen and her brain will remind her to breathe. She forgets this small detail at times and sends mommy and daddy into a panic. I think she panicked Aunt Holly last night. (Sorry aunt Holly!) Reagan is at her max on feeds so we will start condensing her feeds soon. This means we will stop feeding her hourly and give her more over a couple hours then a break to digest. Hopefully, she will tolerate this well without refluxing, another prayer request. If she tolerates condensing feeds we will be able to bottle feed soon. We have added more calories to her milk so pray this helps her to start gaining weight. She does not have any IV's anymore, YEA, and her blood work all looks great, another YEA!!! Reagan seems to be more relaxed and breathing easily on her own. It is so nice to see her start to progress in the right direction. We have crossed many hurdles and hopefully will be on the home stretch now. We continue to trust God to protect our little girl. I know He has big plans for her life and He's not through working on her yet. I think of the words of song "He's the potter and we are the clay", He's molding our lives and Reagans into what He wants us to be and He's not finished yet!
As always thanks for all your prayers, hugs, notes etc... We love you all!
Love,
Amy, Robert and Princess Reagan


"Hi everybody! See me on my big girl nasal cannula!"


"I'm a big girl now! 2 pounds 3 ounce and 14 1/4 inches long"


I get mad when I loose my pacifier so my nurse straps it on. (Guess whose temper I have!)


Step One: "Watch what I can do!"


Step Two: Reagan practices her yoga moves


Step three: "You big kids have nothing on me. I can roll over at 7 weeks"

Monday, April 21, 2008

Thanks for Praying - Another Stepping Stone has Been Laid

Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers throughout this process and especially over the last weekend. Going back to work was difficult for Amy but was a necessity. Thank God for helping her to be able to work under these circumstances. We were not sure how she would feel taking care of other babies while hers was in another hospital being cared for by another nurse, but Amy was quite a trooper and dealt with it as was needed. She is a wonderful wife and mother and I am proud of how she has dealt with this situation. What a blessing!

Reagan is doing well on her CPAP breathing apparatus. She does not like how it fits over her face, but doesn't have much choice as to whether she will wear it or not. There are days that we have wondered if she was getting too tired to continue breathing without the ventilator, but each day so far, she has proved that she could continue. Recently, she has had quite a few apnic spells where she forgets to breathe while she is sleeping. She is closely monitored by the nurses so that when she does have one of these spells, they stimulate her to wake her up so that she will remember to breathe. This, according to Amy, is very common in premature babies. Today, Reagan weighed in at 2 lbs and 4 oz. I can't wait for her to hit 2lbs and 6 oz as that will be her first pound of weight gained. I see all of these little victories as signs of God's faithfulness and am thankful for each one. She also had her PIC line removed today. I'm not exactly sure how to explain what that is, but my understanding is that it serves the same function as an IV without having to put in new IV's every few hours or each day as Reagan was needing them regularly. She had this line in for close to two weeks. It is good to have it out as it can sometimes be a catalyst for infection which can be a major setback for a baby her size. We are just grateful that it is out now and that so far there are no signs of infection from it being in. We are also thankful for the purpose that this line served during the time it was in. It is awesome to see her progress as she has improved over the last (almost) 7 weeks. No matter what the circumstances, good or bad, we are grateful for God's goodness to us throughout this entire process thus far. "For I know the plans I have for your declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." I continue to claim this Bible verse for Reagan, Amy, and myself, and hope that you will claim it for yourself as well.

I have had many interesting thoughts about God throughout this process, and although I don't always understand all of His ways, He has always been faithful to help me get through whatever I needed help with. I think that I mentioned the following quote in an earlier blog, but wanted to remind you through each of the "storms" in your life that God will be with you. The quote says "Sometimes God calms the storm, and sometimes God calms His child." I have great hope for life, no matter difficult circumstances, because I know that God will always be with me to either calm my circumstances or calm my heart. Either will be enough as I trust in Him! He has been more than faithful to Amy and I during this blessing (yes, it is a blessing) that He has allowed in our life and I love Him today for his help in our time of need. My prayer for you is that you know and love Him today and that you will lean on Him always. If you don't know Him, please call me on my phone (336-215-5510) today and tell me that you want to know Him and I will introduce you to Jesus! He loves you more than you could ever imagine. We were created with a need for God in our lives. I don't understand everything there is to understand about God, but I do know that He is in love with you today and wants to help you with whatever you are facing! May God richly bless your life today!

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray that Reagan does not get any more infections
2. Pray that Reagan is able to stay on CPAP or, preferably, a Nasal Canula (sorry if misspelled)
3. Pray for continued, healthy, growth and development for Reagan's lungs and other organs.
4. Prayer of Thanks to God for His help thus far in Reagan's life as well as ours (and your own lives).
5. Amy and I have some unspoken requests that we ask you to pray for us about.
6. I would like to ask that you all be in prayer for a family that is going through a very hard time right now. Larry, Terri, Josh, and Justin Payne need your prayers at this time in their lives and I ask that you pray especially for each of them by name today and daily as their names are brought to your minds. God knows the need!

We love you all dearly and are thankful for such great support!

Robert, Amy, and Reagan

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Prayers for Reagan, Amy, and Dad

Dear Friends,
Thanks for everything once again. I know Amy updated early today, but I just felt the need to share some specific prayer requests...so here goes...

Reagan: Reagan has had a good day today, but tonight they had to increase her pressures on CPAP to help her out a bit as she seemed to be working really hard to breathe. She had a bit of swelling in her nose (I think) that they gave her medicine for so hopefully that will take care of the problem. It could be that she is just tired out from all the scooting around and fighting she has been doing as well. So, the prayer request is for STRENGTH FOR REAGAN'S BODY - SPECIFICALLY HER LUNGS.

Mommy: Mommy is getting emotionally drained from the roller coaster ride. I think that deep down she knows that Reagan is doing quite well, she is just tired. Amy is usually pretty cheery to be around, but she feels like she is losing some of that cheer so pray that she will feel encouraged throughout this process. I think that she really gets her hopes up that Reagan will not have any more problems, and when something small arises, it is just hard on her (the possibility exists that it would be much harder on me if I knew what she knows about premature babies). She will be going back to work this weekend as well and that is a new element that we have not experienced yet. Pray for 1. PHYSICAL STRENGTH FOR AMY. 2. EMOTIONAL STRENGTH FOR AMY 3. ABILITY TO FOCUS ON THE NEEDS OF HER PATIENTS AT WORK 4. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR AMY.

Daddy: Well, Daddy is calm (yeah right), cool (ha ha ha), and somewhat collected (notice I said somewhat). Overall I am doing good. It has been interesting to me how God has taken extremely stressful circumstances and given me the greatest peace that I have ever experienced in my life. Suddenly, everything seems to be in perspective. Yes, I do still have concerns and stress that I have to deal with at times, but the Lord has been especially good to me and I am grateful to Him! As long as the two ladies in my life are having good days, then I usually have good days, so pray extra for them! You can just pray for some unspoken requests for me.

I love you all dearly and appreciate your faithfulness to pray and to encourage us!!!

Robert

1 week post surgery update

Dear Friends and Family,
Well Reagan decided to do it again. At 8:00 yesterday morning the nurse checked in on Reagan and she had pulled out her ET Tube (breathing tube). She was able to do this with her boxing gloves on. She didn't desat right away as you would think so we don't know how long she was without oxygen. They quickly put her on CPAP and she is doing great. She has been breathing well on her own for 24+ hours now. Way to go Reagan!!! God continues to work in our little girl giving her extra strength each day. She is off all pain meds and antibiotics and back to increasing feeds each day. Yesterday she weighed 2 lbs 5 ounces but after the extra work of breathing we are down to 2 lbs 2 ounces today. She shows no signs of distress or infection for which we are very thankful. I finally got to see her face without a bunch of tape and tubes and come to find out she has chubby cheeks.
Every day I thank God for blessing us with a beautiful baby girl. He continues to show Himself to me each and every day one way or another. I was dreading going back to work this weekend not knowing how Reagan would do when they took her off the vent. but now I don't have to wonder because she or He decided it was time. I had a stern talk with Reagan (Since she listens so well!) and she knows she is not allowed to go back on the vent. I asked the nurse if we could keep her ET tube so she can hold onto it. I believe this is her security blanket. No laughing when you see my daughter walking around carrying it when she is two, four, or older. As long as she is doing the breathing on her own I don't care.
Thanks again for all the support!
We love you!
Amy, Robert, and Reagan



Look at those chubby cheeks!!


"I love my pacifier!"


An Angels Face


"I want out of here!!!"


Reagan's Boxing Gloves

Monday, April 14, 2008

Doing Great...

Dear Friends,
I hope everyone is doing well! Reagan is progressing and healing quickly and we are very grateful for her progress! God is really taking great care of her and of us and we owe all the praise to Him! The last few days, she has really perked up and seems to be getting healthier every day. The Doctors are considering taking her off of the ventilator again late this week and I believe that she will do well without it! Her settings are fairly low now and she seems to be getting stronger each day! Thank you God! I am very thankful for this experience over all as the Lord has really worked in the life of our little family, as well as scores of other people. He has been so good to us throughout this process thus far and I have great faith that He will continue to help us over the next few months and continually throughout the years to come. I'm not sure how one would cope with circumstances such as these without God to help them through. As I was walking down the hall of the hospital with Amy the other night, there were two ladies, one standing on each side of the hallway, talking. Right as we passed between them, one of the ladies looked at the other and said something like "I am so glad that I know Jesus." I immediately looked at her, said "me too" with a big smile, and continued walking down the hall. No more needed to be said as we both had a big grin on our face and knew exactly what the other one was going through, without any specifics. I am thankful today that I do know Jesus and that He listens to our prayers and cares about us. He has been closer than ever in my life and I love Him today for His provision not only for Reagan, but for His provision for my life so that I can spend eternity with Him. I'd like to share a story with you about one of our experiences with God during this process and hope that it will deepen your faith in Him as it did ours....

Two weeks ago today, Reagan was doing great. She was eating well, breathing incredibly well, and seemed to be developing stronger and stronger with each day. We had experienced many emotions throughout this process as every day seemed to bring us different news of her condition. It seemed like each time that she started doing well, something came along to slow her progress. Many people have described it as 2 steps forward and 1 back. That is the way it felt. Well, this time was no different. We walked in one day and Reagan was doing awesome. The very next day, she seemed very, very tired and was found to have two infections in her body. Just when it seemed like she was making a turn for better, her condition worsened. As we looked through the glass of her isolet during these days, spunky little Reagan suddenly had only enough energy to lift her pointer finger. Now I don't know why God allows sickness and seemingly bad things to happen sometimes, but I do know that He was faithful to either help the situation, or to help us have the grace and patience to deal with our circumstances. By Tuesday night, Amy and I were both worn out and needed a touch from God. As we laid in bed that night praying, I recalled my morning devotions that I had with a couple of good friends. During our prayer time that morning we prayed specifically about things that were going on in our lives and in our businesses. We decided that during our prayer time that evening, we were going to pray specifically for two of Reagan's needs...

Reagan had been struggling with her CO2 output and her levels were in the 80's during the day, so we prayed that God would help her levels to get back down below 67by the next morning. When we called that morning, her CO2 levels were around 53 if I remember correctly. We were quite thrilled!

The other problem that Reagan was having was her urine output. It seemed that she was getting quite bloated from fluid buildup and we knew that she really needed to urinate! As we were praying, I asked Amy if Reagan could pee 4 cc's. (We are all friends here and ya'll know that I did not ask Amy if Reagan could urinate 4 cc's....so let's just call it pee!) Amy said that she could easily do that so I increased it to 10 to give a specific number to God. So, we prayed for 10 cc's or more of pee by the next morning. We just needed to know that God was with us during this process and that He was hearing our prayers. You can deal with a lot of things in your life when you know that God is with you! After praying, we slept! The next morning, we found out that Reagan had several diapers with minimal amounts of pee during the night. But...around 9am we received a phone call that she had a diaper that had not 5cc's, not 6,7,8, or 9 cc's, but, yep, you guessed it 10 cc's of pee! Now I do believe that coincidences happen at times, but this was no coincidence. As if that was not enough, later that afternoon, Reagan again had her diaper changed, and once again, it contained exactly 10 cc's of pee!!! We needed to know that God was with us and He showed us that He would be with us throughout the process. It was the calming hand of Almighty God saying to us... "Robert and Amy, I love you both and just want you to know that I do care about you and I care about Reagan. I am with you today, and will be tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on, until we meet together in Heaven where we will be together forever. I am watching over you and know exactly what is going on with you all every second of every day." At that moment in our lives, God gave us enough! What a pivotal moment! Not only did God answer our prayer, He answered us twice! I strongly feel that He wanted to remind us a second time later in the day that He was there.

Well, that's the story. God has His hands in the lives of our little family and He surely has His hands in your life as well! We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we do know He who holds tomorrow and that He will be with us! Thank you so much for praying for us! We are so grateful for people that care and are willing to pray. We love you all!

Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for continued healing for her body and no infections or other illness.
2. Pray for her lungs to be supernaturally strong by the time that they take her off of the ventilator.
3. Amy and I have several unspokens that we would like for you to pray about for us!

Robert, Amy, and Baby Reagan

P.S. DAD, Congratulations on making it through to April 15th!(for those of you that don't know, my dad is an income tax accountant)...Oh, shoot, I need to call him to file my extension, gotta go :)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Reagan is Recovering!!!

Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your continued prayer support over the past 5 and 1/2 weeks, and especially over the last couple of days. I am so thankful that Reagan's surgery went well and that her body is beginning to function more normally again. Her urine output has increased significantly and her blood pressure is much higher than it had been (which is a good thing for her - I knew she had some of my blood in her!). She seems to be getting better and better each and every day. Her feeds were started again today which should help her to pack on some good weight. She seems to be tolerating them well for now and they will continue to increase them incrementally. Although she still has a long way to go, we are soooooo grateful for God's provision in her life thus far. Thanks again for all of your prayers...they have pulled her through thus far and I know she will continue to do well. I will update again soon and share how God has been so good to Amy and I throughout this process thus far. It may be a lengthy blog and I don't have time to do it now so I just wanted to let you know how Reagan is doing. Keep praying! She still needs you! I can't wait until she gets to come home and you all get to meet her - but I'll warn you now, she is pretty stinkin cute!!! We love you all!

Robert, Amy, and Baby Reagan

Thursday, April 10, 2008

24 Hour Post Surgery Update

Dear Friends and Family,

We are now 24 hours post surgery. Reagan is having difficulties in a couple areas today. Her blood pressure is low and doesn't seem to be responding to medication (Dopamine, Dobutamine, Hydrocortisone). She also is having difficulty with her urine output. This could be a result of her decrease in blood pressure. Please pray for Reagan as she is trying to recover from the stress of surgery. She appears to be resting very comfortably and is doing great with her oxygenation. We've been told it usually takes 24-48 hours to recover and start improving after a PDA ligation. Reagan, Mommy, and Daddy send their thanks for all the extra prayers and ask that you continue to pray for a quick recovery.

Thanks Again!


Love,

Amy, Robert, and Baby Reagan


Reagan and Mommy Prepare for tomorrows surgery!


Reagan gets a good nights sleep to prepare for her big day.


Pre-Surgery: Reagan is ready to go to the Operating Room!



Reaga's Boo Boo


I Love My Pain Med.!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Prayers to Ease Reagan's Pain

Dear Friends,
Reagan is doing good but having quite a bit of pain. The medical staff is trying to regulate it with medication and I'm sure that it will kick in quickly. Just wanted to tell you how to pray for her today! Thanks for everything!

Robert

SURGERY IS OVER - PDA IS CLOSED!!!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers today! We received a phone call early this morning that Dr. Hines (Reagan's heart doctor) had a cancellation this morning and would be able to start her surgery around 9:00 AM instead of noon. Amy and I headed over to pray with Reagan and to spend time with her prior to having surgery. Soon after, she was taken down to the operating room for her procedure. After about an hour and a half, the Doctor came out and told us that everything went well during the surgery and that Reagan was doing great! He showed us pictures of how the procedure was done which was quite interesting. Reagan seemed quite tired when she came back up to her parking space in the NICU but her body responded well to the surgery and her prospects are good for a full recovery! We are very grateful for all that God has done to help Reagan and are blessed to have friends that have been willing to stand beside us and will continue to stand with us for the next couple of months. Thank you all for your help! We will keep you updated as Reagan continues to improve and will probably be posting more pictures either tonight or tomorrow! We love you all dearly!

Robert, Amy, and Baby Reagan

Monday, April 7, 2008

See How Big I Am Now!!!























Surgery Scheduled

Dear Friends and Family,
Reagan had another ECHO today which shows she still has a moderate PDA. I met with the surgeon and Reagan is scheduled to have a PDA ligation on Wednesday around 12:00pm. This is considered to be a minor surgery (as minor as heart surgery can be). Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers that everything will go smoothly and we will have a quick recovery. She is doing very well today. She remains on low ventilation rate and pressures. They are planning to extubate Reagan from the vent. around 1000grams. She weighs 920grams today so we are getting close. Our hope is that she will rebound quickly after surgery, start gaining weight and breathing totally on her own. Her blood cultures have been negative since the 4th so hopefully we will stay infection free!!!!! The only bad news is Reagan has a IV infiltrate on her foot. It seems to be healing nicely so we hope to have little or NO scarring. If we get through this NICU visit with only a scar I will be ecstatic!! God has been so good to us! We are continuing to trust Him and rely on His ultimate expertise to get Reagan and us through theses next couple of months. Please pray He will guide the surgeons hands and give Reagan's medical team all the knowledge they need to take care of her. As always thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
We love you!
Amy and Robert

Friday, April 4, 2008

2 LBS. Today! (And One Calendar Month Old)

Dear Friends,

I hope that you are all doing well and would like to, again, thank you for all of your prayer support. We have definitely felt it over the last few days and we know that God is with us! Reagan had a few rough days, as noted in previous blogs, but seems to be getting her energy back. Today she was quite active and very alert at times. Before we left tonight, her eyes were opened wide just checking things out. I'm not sure what all she can see at this age, my guess is just light and darkness, but she sure seemed to be looking at us and it was great to just look into her eyes. It was love all over again! Her day started out a little bit rough as she had several IV's that did not work and had to be stuck several times...but eventually one IV worked and she didn't have to be bothered much throughout the rest of the day. She still has a couple of infections (not just one as we previously thought) that I will not try to pronounce, and is being treated with antibiotics for those. A common infection in Hospitals is MRSA and it appears that Reagan has this (I don't know what the initials stand for). The staff takes a blood culture each day to see if the infection has been taken care of or not. The last few cultures still show that she has infection but we are praying that she will overcome the infections quickly and they will not show up anymore in her body. I am very thankful that Reagan is energetic despite having the infections. She gets cuter every day!!!!

I was telling Pastor Dan the other day about how much I enjoyed just peeking through the curtain of Reagan's isolet to look at her without bothering her too much. Many of you know what an isolet is and have seen it in Reagan's pictures - it is basically a glass enclosure in which temperature and other variables can be moderated for maximum protection and health for a baby. It has an isolet cover that has 5 panels on it that can be moved to look in at her. Before she got her infections (I still peek in at her now, but just have to be careful not to spread her infection to others), I found myself, many times each day, just taking a peek at Reagan to see how she was doing and to feel the wonderful feelings of love and adoration that one feels when in the presence of one of God's greatest miracles... the miracle of life! I was always very careful to just move the panels of her bed a little bit so that she would not see light coming in her bed and get scared that she was going to be examined, moved, or stuck again. Sometimes, I would be looking in and would be just thrilled with the progress of the day. On other occasions, days where she was struggling, I would peek in on her to just make sure that she was okay. Either way, whether she was having a good or bad day, I still felt such wonderful feelings of love for this precious little one! It may sound silly, but there was also a very distinct smell that I would smell with my nose up close to her isolet. No, it was not a dirty diaper smell, but this sweet clean aroma. Amy laughed at me numerous times for smelling Reagan's isolet when I looked at her, but it just seemed to get hold of my senses and many times over I thought how unusually neat that smell was. It smelled of life to me as I looked at Reagan and reminded me many times of God and His wonderful creation of human life. Interesting or strange, however you find it, it was special to me and I thank God for whatever that smell was!

Okay, I had a point that I was getting to about checking in on Reagan... I was often reminded (almost every time) of how God loves us. I thought about how many times during the day, He pushes the clouds out of the way and looks in on me (and you) to just see how everything is going! I know that some days He looks down on me with pride as I follow Him every step of the way. I bet His smile lights up Heaven! Other days, I'm sure that He sees something in my life that is not pleasing to Him and just shakes His head with a look of concern, wondering when I am going to turn to Him for help or guidance so that He can keep me from undo pain. Maybe He longingly sits there looking at me, just wanting me to spend time with Him so that He can lift my burdens and help me with life, hoping that I will commune with Him and request His presence in my life so that I don't repeat past mistakes. But, however He is looking at me, I know that He looks down on me with the love of a Father! I'm sure there is a sparkle in His eye as He looks at me with love for this precious creation that belongs to Him! God loves and cares about us all, more than we could ever imagine and I am thankful to Him for choosing to love me!!! He loves you too!!!

Prayer requests for Reagan (Problems can arise at any time in a child as small as Reagan as her body is physically not able to fight like ours - so prayers are critical for her to thrive)

1. Infections to be eliminated immediately and for no more!
2. PDA to reclose when the infection is gone (or sooner) without surgery
3. Having problems keeping IV's and running out of places to stick - pray that she will always have a way of getting the medicines and nutrients that she needs. (there are several other ways but most are somewhat invasive - so pray that when she has to have these, that she will not get infections)
4. Continued help with her lung growth and development

Thank you for praying for this precious little one! We love you all and thank you for caring about our little family! God Bless YOU!

Robert and Amy

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Infection Update

Dear Friends and Family,

I apologize for my previous blog entry. I was in a hurry earlier and did not realize I rambled so much with medical mumbo-jumbo. Reagan had a better day yesterday. She is still very sleepy and does not like to be touched. I think with all the needle sticks yesterday she would just like to be left alone. She did better with her oxygen on the vent and tolerated her procedures better than expected. We received results from her lumbar puncture and so far everything looks great so we can rule out meningitis for now. (Praise God) I don't think mommy or daddy would have dealt well with more bad news. Her urine output is down so please pray she will fix this problem soon without having futher complications with fluid retention. I am so thankful Reagan made it a month without any infections or major set backs. Hopefully she had time to gain strength, grow and will be able to fight off this infection quickly. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

I too would appreciate your prayers as I seem to become an emotional basket case at times. I am learning how difficult it is to see your child sick and you feel so helpless. I have moments where I feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent but then God sends someone along to lift my spirits and I make it another day. I was very excited yesterday to see a little girl I took care of in the NICU, who was 22 weeks gestation and weighed 15 ounces at birth, celebrate her 1 year birthday. Her mom brought her by Baptist and it was so encouraging to see how she has grown and seems to be right on schedule developmentally. She seemed very interested in Robert and talked a lot of baby talk to him. I don't believe this was just a coincidence; God knew Robert and I needed some encouragement. Isn't it amazing how when you feel like you're at your lowest God shows Himself in a miraculous way and lifts you up again?! We didn't think that little girl had a chance at life, but God is a mighty, powerful Physician and she is a beautiful, healthy baby girl.


As always thanks for the continued support and prayers!

We love you guys!

Amy and Robert

One month old (and 1 day)

I have room for the ET tube, feeding tube and my thumb!
Dear Friends and Family,
Here is a quick update on Reagan's condition. My non medical friends will have to excuse the medical lingo. Yesterday, the plan was to extubate (take off the vent) Reagan after her morning labs and gas. I think Reagan heard about this plan and decided to play a game with us. Her morning gas was bad with co2 in the 80's. Her CBC and CRP showed elevations indicating an infection. They quickly did blood culture from her PCVC, urine culture, and tracheal aspirate. Within 24 hours her blood and tracheal cultures were growing staphylococcus aureus which we are treating with Gentamycin and vancomycin. They pulled out her PCVC due to the infection. She had a lumbar puncture this morning to rule out meningitis. We are still waiting on these results. Hopefully we started treating the infection early and will not have any complications. Needless to say Reagan did not get extubated and went up on her vent settings. She was at a rate of 35 20/6 with support of 7. This mornings gas was much better and we are at a rate of 33 19/5. She is 25%-35% on her FIO2. Her PDA is moderate again so they reduced her feeds to 0.4mls/hour. We will talk about surgery if her PDA is still moderate after the infection is gone. Please continue to pray for Reagan. She has lost some of her spunk and you can tell she just doesn't feel well.

On a positive note Reagan now weighs 1 pound 14 ounces and is 13 3/4 inches long. She gained 8 ounces and 1 3/4 inches in one month. Way to go Reagan. She loves to suck her thumb as you see in the picture and is a big fan of sucrose. The sugar addiction starts early.

Grow Reagan Grow!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Reagan, Mommy, and Daddy Could Use Some Extra Prayers

Dear Friends,
This will be one of the shorter blog entries that I have written just because I don't have time to write a long one right now. Amy plans to write and explain more later. Reagan has had somewhat of a rough day today as have Amy and I. It is good to see her progressing but gets hard when she has setbacks. Today we found out that her PDA is moderate again and she will probably require surgery at some point in the near future if it doesn't re-close. Her white blood cell count and another test came out high today which indicates some sort of infection, which, Amy says, is very common. They will not be able to do surgery to close her PDA until they know that the infection is gone. The PDA could have opened due to the infection and may close again on it's own after the infection is gone. This process is at times wearisome, but our hope is in God! Our faith does not move! We stand on a Firm Foundation and a Solid Rock! God is our Refuge and Strength! Thanks for your prayers, letters, care packages and encouragement. I'm sorry that you have not received letters of thanks personally yet, but know that we are grateful.

Dear God,
Thanks for all that you have done in so many hearts and lives through this process. I ask that you would reach down and touch Reagan's little body right now and help the infection to leave her body. I also ask that you would help her PDA to close again so that she doesn't have to have surgery. Thank you for loving Amy, Reagan, and me and for blessing us with your love! We love you and put Reagan in your awesome healing hands right now and ask that you would heal her precious body! Please allow us to be a blessing to others during this and help hearts and lives to be changed for eternity. We thank you for allowing circumstances that draw us close to you and thank you for helping us.

Love,

Robert and Amy