Reagan Olivia Winslow

Summer Pictures!

2009-07-28T09:04:00.008-04:00

Wow is it the end of July already!! Hard to believe how quickly time goes by. Reagan is almost 17 months now! She is really developing her little personality these days. She is becoming independent, feisty, and very funny! Her favorite thing to do is make you laugh. She started walking memorial weekend and has not stopped since. She loves to try and climb up everything but she is still too short to reach. Reagan did have a big growth spurt and is now 28 inches tall and 19 pounds. Her only problem seems to be eating but she is improving every day. We have had a fun summer so far with a beach trip, park days, and lots of family time. Reagan loves to play outside and is not afraid of the dirt either. Below our some pictures of our summer so far! Hope you enjoy!

July Fourth at Baden Lake with the Winslow/Hicks Family! We had so much fun visiting with everyone and Reagan got to follow her cousin Avery around! They are too cute!!

Miller Beach Trip:

We had fun staying with my family at Myrtle Beach for a week! Reagan loved the sand and water. She was on the run constantly. No more sitting and reading a book on the beach for me.

Papa I really want to take out my hair bow!

Miss you Steve! We thought about getting a bystander to stand in the picture for you but left a space between Robert and Michelle instead!

Reagan went with Taylor to have pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. She was 15 months old and walking all over the set. We had to do some quick shots!

Reagan's One Year Birthday Party

2009-03-19T14:30:00.008-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you to all who came and celebrated Reagan's First birthday. I am so glad we got to share the day with all of you. God has blessed us so much this past year! We not only received a beautiful healthy little girl but God has drawn us closer together with family, friends, and the community. Thanks to each of you who have supported our family through your prayers, thoughts, and kind words. I can never express how much your love has meant to Robert and I this past year. It is hard to believe a year has past since the birth of our 1 pound 5.9 ounce baby girl who now is a whopping 16 pounds. What can I say GOD is GOOD! Thanks again for the part you played in our life!

Much Love,

Amy

I was too busy socializing and forgot to take very many pictures of Reagan's party! OOPS! If any of you have some on your cameras I would love to get them from you. Uncle Steve where are you when I need you! Just kidding. We miss you Uncle Steve and hope you are enjoying Korea!

Princess Reagan

The Children's party table. (Sorry Danelle, I just had to post. )

What birthday girl would rather have a bottle than cake? REAGAN Thanks Aunt Holly!

The Following Pictures are were taken on Reagan's real birthday. We had a small celebration at Nana and Papa Millers! They gave Reagan her red wagon which she absolutely loves!

One Year Pictures

2009-03-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

Uncle Steve took these one year photos before he left! Thanks Uncle Steve!!!

11 months old! Can you believe it?

2009-02-10T10:35:00.006-05:00

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

It has been requested that I post some more pictures! I have been a little slack with the picture taking plus Uncle Steve moved away so we no longer have our personal photographer.(We miss you Uncle Steve!)I am posting the pictures from our latest beach trip and visit to the aquarium. Reagan loved watching all the fish she is really starting to get her own personality which is so cute. Unfortunately she is also starting to get a temper with the new personality but we find this cute too, for now anyway!! Reagan has two teeth now, is sitting very well but still no crawling. If she could balance by herself she would be walking and getting into everything. She is very nosy and wants to feel and see everything. She now has two words, Dada and Papa! I am working very hard on the Mama but no luck.
I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day and spend it with the people you love!

Love,
Amy

Reagan with her cousin Avery- So cute in their pink and browns!

The Winslow Grandchildren! Can you get any cuter?

Reagan and the sting rays

The man for the week keeping us entertained with Knock-knock jokes

Travel buddies!

Snow on the beach

11 months old

Reagans Slide Show

2009-01-29T14:52:00.002-05:00

Here is a video that my brother made of Reagan's miraculous life. I hope you all enjoy it and realize we serve a God of miracles!

Reagan visited the special care clinic and scored wonderfully on all her developmental scores! She now weighs 15 pounds and 11 ounces. She is 25.5 inches long. She continues to change daily. We now have our first tooth and she can say "Dada". Robert is very pleased to say the least!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year and I will update soon with more pictures!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-17T20:55:00.006-05:00

My how time goes by. Reagan is 9 months old now and weighed a whopping 13 pounds 10 ounces at our last doctors visit. She is about 24 inches long now so we have doubled our birth height. Reagan continues to learn new things each week. Her favorite thing to do this week is fake cough. It started out being cute but now she does it until she throws up. This is not so cute:)

Lady Bug Halloween Costume

Mommy's little turkey!

Reagan had the privilege to be the flower girl in Kristie Petterson's wedding this month. She did remarkable well for a 9 month old and remained quiet and awake the whole time. Kristie made Reagan's outfit for the wedding. I posted some pictures of trying the close on. We don't have any wedding pictures yet.

I have been brought to tears many times the past couple months thinking how different the holidays could have been this year. I am so thankful God heard and answered our prayers. I am honored and humbled that God is entrusting me to take care of this very special little girl. Thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers this year! We truly serve a God of miracles. Please enjoy the Christmas season with your families and take time to remember the most important gift of the season, Jesus!

May God Bless!

Amy, Robert, and Reagan

Up, Up and Away!

2008-11-06T13:06:00.002-05:00

Uncle Steve has a new hobby and Reagan decided to join in on the fun. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Fall Update-7 almost 8 months old

2008-10-30T12:44:00.008-04:00

Reagan loves spending time with Kristy!

Dressed for fall

Reagans clown face

Uncle Steve you are funny!

Daddy takes me to visit Great Grandma Nona

Reagan and Molly sitting on the family pew already

Daddy takes me to visit Great Grandma Kauffman too

Reagan's friend Eli comes to visit and she got lots of kisses. Eli is going to enjoy his baby sister when she arrives in March. Congrats!!!!

Thanks for the beautiful dress Glenda!!

Sunset on the pier.

I am ready to crawl out of here!!!

What??? I am innocent!

Dear Friends and Family,

Please forgive my negligence in updating the blog. While I can think of many excuses it mainly comes down to laziness on my part!! We have had a busy month during October with beach trips and lots of good news. Reagan went back to see Dr. Weaver, her eye doctor, and everything checked out normal. He said she doesn't need seen again till 3 or 4 years old. How great is our God!! Thank you all who have been praying for Reagan. We were expecting glasses but God once again has blessed us. Reagan went to the doctor Tuesday for some shots and weighed in at a hefty 12 pounds 12 ounces. Mommy finally is able to pack up the newborn clothes. We sure have got our use out of them.
Reagan is eating baby food now and seems to love sweet potatoes! She has started rolling over and is sitting with little support. She really likes to stand and thinks she is hot stuff when she does. Reagan recently found her voices and likes to make all kinds of noises and to our dismay she can cry too. Thankfully this does not happen very often because Mommy and Daddy have a hard time hearing it. Daddy (along with the grandparents) wants me to call the doctor to see what is wrong. I think we have been spoiled with our quite, mild tempered child!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

God Bless,
Amy

Wee Ree's 6 months old

2008-09-10T11:09:00.004-04:00

Reagan with the same bunny at 1 week old

Six months already! Reagan is growing fast. We haven't been back to the doctor but according to moms measurements Reagan is about 11 pounds and 21 inches long. She is all smiles these days. We have been blessed with a very happy child. We are working on exercises but so far Reagan is just enjoying kicking her feet and watching her toys. It won't be long I'm sure before she is rolling and babbling. It is so much fun to watch her develop and learn new things.

Vacation Fun

2008-08-22T12:25:00.005-04:00

Great Papa Bob at Reagans dedication

Reagan is all smiles when she sees her nurse, Kristy

Sleeping on the beach!

All smiles for mom.

Reagan and Molly at barefoot landing

Fun on the beach

Daddy and Reagan enjoy sitting in the shade.

I can't believe summer is almost over, time has gone so fast. Last week we decided to take a trip to the beach with my family for the week. The week was so nice we only had one rainy day which I spent at the outlets. Reagan did so well all week sleeping through the night and enjoying the breeze on the beach. Unfortunately the week had to come to an end and I returned to work. Robert did very well staying with Reagan alone as I knew he would. He is such a great Daddy, Reagan and I are very blessed!

Reagan and her cousin, Molly, were dedicated last Sunday. It was a lovely dedication that we were honored to share with our family and friends. Lots of tears where shed during the service as we remembered the past 5 month. Tears of happiness at the goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father. Thank you God for my beautiful, healthy, little girl.

Reagan at 5 months old

2008-08-08T10:23:00.005-04:00

Four Generations of Winslows

Great Grandma Nona talks to Reagan

Nona's first visit with Reagan

Happy July 4th- I am 4 months old today

Reagan at 5 months

Let me think........

Leaving the hospital at last!!!

Aunt Holly comes to visit. Thanks for all the clothes!!!

Papa Winslow says I am finally big enough to hold.

Aunt Gay came to visit and I got held all weekend!
I LOVED IT!!!

The Four Miller Cousins

The NICU babies, Reagan and Taylor

Reagan, Molly, and Matthew Can you believe Reagan is older than Molly? We have some catching up to do!

Reagans first sleep over. Taylor came over for a few hours and we had lots of fun. Mommy says it is a good thing she didn't have twins though!!!

I can not believe how fast time has flown by. Reagan is 5 months old now. Last week we went to the Doctor and Reagan weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was about 20 inches long. The Doctors are very happy with her weight gain and progress so far. Since our last hospital experience Reagan has not had any more episodes that have required oxygen. Thank you God for your continual blessing on my little girl. One bad episode was enough to last me a life time.
Reagan is starting to become very alert during the day, sleeping through the night (YEA!!!), and smiling when you talk to her. Her progress continues to amaze me. A day doesn't go by that I don't thank God for His touch on Reagan.
While so much has been going on in our lives it is such a blessing to be able to relax now and spend time with Reagan at home. I finally get to be mommy! My plan is to return to work next weekend so pray that goes smoothly. I love my job, I just love my daughter more! Robert will be with Reagan while I am working. He is a little nervous about her having an episode while he is alone with her but I know he will do a great job. I am sure the Father/Daughter bond will only get stronger while I am at work.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Amy

Welcome Home ReeRee!!

2008-07-18T23:44:00.009-04:00

Hi. This is Uncle Steve. Robert, Amy and Reagan are spending their first night together at their new home! It's certainly been a bumpy journey for lil' Reagan, but she continues to grow stronger every day and it is so nice to finally have her home! Amy asked me to post a few pictures that I took of Reagan this week, so here they are!

--- Here is a picture of Reagan's new room

And Finally... Can you spot the real ReeRee?

Disclaimer: It probably goes without saying that extreme caution was used to make sure it was safe to shoot the doll house pictures. Robert was hesitant about posting these pictures, as he did not want to appear to be cavalier with his child's safety, however, he left it to my discretion, and I've decided the pictures are just too cute not to share. After so many months of stressful hospital visits, I think it's about time they are able to enjoy their beautiful little girl!

Thank You!

2008-07-17T03:21:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends,
Daddy here, just to say thanks for your support of my family. I know that you have not heard from me as much recently and I apologize for that. Between bringing Reagan home, adjusting to her sleep schedules and nightime noises, going back and forth to the hospital again, remodeling a house, moving into a house, selling a house, and all the other things going on, I have not taken the time to thank you all lately for your prayers and loving support of my little family and precious Reagan in particular, so, THANK YOU!!!! She is doing quite well, by the way, and seems to be back to her normal self! We will be posting pictures as soon as we can get settled in at our new house.

It may seem like it is taking us a long time to move, but that is because of all the crazy happenings in our lives as of late. We also have a great place to stay at Nana and Papa Millers, just around the corner from the house that we are moving into and therefore have not felt the need to be in a hurry (Thanks Nana and Papa). I think that Nana is going to sabotage our moving plans when the house is totally ready as she seems to be enjoying having Reagan around... probably ready for me to move on though (I really do love my in-laws)! Our new house is a downsize from our other house as well and we are trying to figure out where to put all of our "valuable items" (translated: JUNK)! Anyway, things are getting done slowly but surely and we are thankful for the progress that has been made, even though it is taking a while! Thank you to all of the people that have helped us to get our house in order, as well as those that have provided meals, visited at the hospital, and each and every one of you that considers us in your daily thoughts and prayers! We love you all dearly! I will update again soon.

Love to all!

Robert

By the way, the day Reagan originally left the hospital, I met a young man and his parents, at the hospital, that had twins. While I can't name them at the moment, I ask that you would pray for this family as they embark on their journey! I told them that I would ask you to pray for them! Also, please remember Reagan's dear friend Jasmine. She has had some struggles as of late, but seems to be doing a bit better and we thank God for that! Pray that she will be able to go home with her mom and dad soon as well and for extra strength for her mother!

Home Again

2008-07-15T12:46:00.002-04:00

Good News! Reagan came home yesterday afternoon. She is back to her previous active self. Looking at her you would never know she had a setback. Thanks for all the prayers this was a very scary experience that hopefully we won't repeat. I think Reagan has her appetite back again since she woke up at 4 this morning and took 4 ounces. We go to the pediatrician today for a check up and weight check. I am sure she will rock the scales.
Special thanks to everyone who came and worked at our house this weekend. You don't know the relief I feel to have the house set up and our stuff unpacked. I hope one day I can return all the favors.
God Bless,
Amy

P.S. I will post more pictures when I get my computer set up again, we are still at Nana and Papa's

Back to Brenners

2008-07-12T15:59:00.002-04:00

Thursday, July 10th Reagan was taken by ambulance to Brenners Childrens Hospital. Reagan was acting very tired all morning and would not wake up to eat. At 2:30 she had an apnic episode and quit breathing. She required severe stimulation and breaths to recover. Robert called 911 to have her checked out and we decided to take her to Brenners for further evaluation. She started spiking a temperature that evening which has lasted till today being as high as 103.5. So far all her cultures are negative for any bacterial infection so they are thinking Reagan caught a virus. She is back on a nasal cannula with hopes of weaning back to room air when she starts feeling better. Today they stopped her IV fluid and she is eating regularly again with a bottle. Her chest x-ray today showed extra fluid on her lungs so she received some lasix this afternoon. The doctors think they gave her too much fluid yesterday so the lasix should help and we can take her off the oxygen. We ask that you continue to pray for Reagan that she will have a quick recovery and we will be home soon. You can look in her eyes and tell she just doesn't feel good. Reagan is in a private room on the pediatric floor at Brenners which is nice so I can stay with her.
Good news- Reagan weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces on Thursday and has gone a week since having any episodes while eating!!!!
Thanks for the supportive phone calls already. It means the world to know people are praying for Reagan.
God Bless,
Amy

Home At Last

2008-07-02T20:06:00.002-04:00

Friday, June 27Th Reagan finally came home. The movers also came that day so we went to Nana and Papa's house. I have to say it has been a blessing to have the extra support taking care of baby Reagan. She is definitely getting spoiled with lots of hugs and kisses. She was 6 pounds at the doctors on Saturday. We will go back for another weight check this Saturday. Reagan has been doing very well, sleeping most of the night and eating like a pig. She came home with a heart monitor and standby oxygen. She has had a few episodes while eating, turning a little dusky, and I had to use the oxygen once. Each day I pray Reagan will get stronger and outgrow her reflux problems. It is such a blessing to be home but a little scary too.
I continue to count my blessings, God has been so good to me. I am finally living my dream with having my family at home together. I feel so blessed to have made it this far with so little complications for Reagan. God is so good and has answered so many prayers the past 4 months. Reagan is living proof of our miraculous Father.
We went to the eye doctor today and her eyes continue to get better each visit. The doctor thinks Reagan may be nearsighted so we will recheck her eyes in three months. Nearsightedness we can handle! We stopped by the NICU at Baptist while we were there. It was nice to finally be a graduate returning to show her progress and not a parent wondering if their child would ever get that big.
Thanks a million to all our supporters. These past 4 months would not have been the same without your continued thoughtfulness. May God Bless!
Love,
Amy, Robert, and Reagan

Work Shower Pictures

2008-06-26T12:27:00.004-04:00

Thank you NICU staff for the wonderful baby shower. Reagan and I had a blast at our first party together. Thanks for the wonderful unit gift. The pack-n-play is set up and ready for Reagan and the gift card will be so useful. The support I have received from my co-workers has been overwhelming, I appreciate each of you so much. I can not express the relief I have felt knowing you all have been watching out for "Princess Reagan" (named by the NICU). Everyone has given such wonderful care to Reagan. Bed 9 will always be a special place in my heart! Thanks again!!
Love,
Amy

Home Tomorrow!!!!!!

2008-06-26T12:18:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Well the doctors rounded on Reagan this morning and said they are sending her home tomorrow! What and exciting day! It has been a very long road but we made it thanks to God and all the wonderful medical staff. We feel so blessed with Reagans progress. She has gone 8 days with no episodes and is eating like a piggy. We are 5 pounds 12 ounces and 17 1/2" long. Reagan is coming home with a heart monitor and oxygen standby for moms security/sanity. I will continue to keep you posted with her progress and as soon as my computer works post more pictures. Thank you everyone for your constant prayers. Reagan is proof that God hears and answers! Well I must run and get things ready for Reagan to come home!!!!!
Love,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

Reagans Due Date- June 19th

2008-06-18T22:29:00.004-04:00

Aunt "T" comes to visit and I got lots of hugs and kisses!

Please not another picture

Hi Everyone!

Daddy's Little Princess-Yea Right!!!

Happy Fathers Day- I love you DADDY!

Are you done yet? This is getting boring!

TEMPER! TEMPER!!

Mommy's little girl

Reagan Update:
Well tomorrow will start countdown #4. So far the longest Reagan has gone without episodes is 3 days. First she decided her food wasn't thick enough, then she didn't like her iron, today she decided she didn't like her eye exam, so we will see what Reagan decides to do tomorrow. While this is starting to get frustrating I try to remember how far we have come and overall how wonderful she is doing. I have seen many babies that have suffered a lot worse than Reagan and am so thankful for the progress Reagans made. Reagan passed her car seat test, hearing screen, and the doctor said her eyes are looking better each check up. This is all good news and I am trying to focus on the positive and not how long we have been in the hospital (106 days but who's counting). Please continue to pray for Reagan. We are so close to coming home just not there yet. Also please pray for Robert. He is not feeling well this week with congestion, fever, etc... Please pray he will get the rest he needs and a full recovery before Reagan comes home. He is staying away from Reagan for her protection so pray we don't pass this on to her. We love you guys and as always thanks so much for all the support.
Sincerely,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-15T01:03:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
First of all Happy Fathers Day to all you wonderful dads. Reagan especially is lucky today to have a fabulous father and two super Papa's (great Uncles too). There is nothing more touching to me than the relationship between a father and daughter. I am so looking forward to watching this relationship develop between Reagan and her daddy as my relationship is with my daddy. A loving father portrays the relationship we can have with our heavenly father and there is nothing more important. Dad thanks for showing this to me. Robert I know you will do an awesome job teaching Reagan many of life's valuable lessons and loving her the way God teaches. Thanks Ed for raising a wonderful son for me to start a family with. I could not have chosen more wonderful men to be in Reagan's life than the ones she has. So Happy Fathers Day Dads, I hope your day is special!!!

Reagan Update:
Unfortunately, we are still on day 1 of our 7 day countdown. Reagan has been having problems choking when she eats. We are now adding extra thickener to her feeds so please pray this will stop the episodes and we can continue on our countdown. All of her episodes are when she is eating so we at least know what the problems is. While disappointing I am trying to trust that God has a purpose in even this. We will bring Reagan home soon, of this I am certain. Please continue to keep Reagan in your prayers. Reagan has lost a little weight and is back to 5 pounds 3 ounces but I am sure she will be packing on the weight again soon!

Love,
Amy

The seven day countdown begins

2008-06-12T23:04:00.008-04:00

"Ride for Reagan" Thank you bikers for showing your support for Reagan! Thanks Jeff for taking the time to organize the ride. We are overwhelmed by everyone's support. (Still waiting for benefit pictures)
Dear Friends and Family,
Well "Porky" is weighing in at 5 pounds 5 ounces today. She is growing so fast it's amazing. She came off her wedge pillow today. They want her to go four days off her wedge without any episodes, and 7 days off the cannula. We finished day 1!!! I am trying not to get my hopes up because I have seen how many times countdowns restart but it is hard not to. I am so grateful we made it to the countdown phase. We will be home before you know it. Reagan passed her hearing screen today. YEA!! We have not had any other big changes just waiting for day 7. Thanks for all your support. We are so blessed to have friends like you!!! May God bless. We hope you have a fun, relaxing weekend with your families!
Love, Amy, Robert and Reagan

Reagan at 39 Weeks

ROOM AIR!!!!!!

2008-06-09T17:44:00.002-04:00

Look Mommy I don't need my cannula!

Dear Friends and Family,
I wanted to send a quick update to let you know we took Reagan off her cannula today and so far she is doing great. Wow! I didn't believe this day would ever come. My emotions are going wild today I am so excited with Reagans progress. God has been so good to us and we continue to be amazed at His healing of Reagan. We are learning to never doubt the ultimate healer, with God all things are possible!!
Well, little "piggy" is weighing in at 4 pounds and 14 ounces. She is packing on the weight and getting quite chunky. She loves to eat and takes about 55mls every three hours (60 mls is 2 ounces). Her reflux has improved by leaps and bounds but she does still have the occasional spitting and choking episodes. Now that she is off the cannula we will try her off the wedge pillow, if she does well for 7 days without any episodes she can come home!!! We are getting so close the anticipation is building and we realize we need to start getting things ready at home. While she could be home as early as a week from today I am planning on two weeks. God is Good!
We only had the phone camera today but I will post new pictures of porky soon and pictures from our benefit. Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming support this weekend. We can not begin to thank each of you personally for your giving so we are sending out a HUGE thank you to all. You each have blessed us so much through your givings, support and most of all prayer. We know Reagans story could be completely different if it wasn't for the power of prayer so thank you so much for your faithfulness. The benefit raised more money than we ever expected and we feel so blessed! Thanks again to everyone and look for a post coming soon with pictures and more benefit details.
We love you guys! GOD BLESS!
Amy, Robert and Reagan

3 month pictures

2008-06-04T00:19:00.006-04:00

Dana and Taylor come to visit Reagan before going home.

Taylor tells Reagan bye. We miss you guys!!

The NICU twins

The proud Papa's

Our family photo

Mommy and Reagan make goofy faces together.

Aunt Debbie snuggles with Reagan while working. How lucky is she?!?!

Resting peacefully with daddy.

Dear Family and Friends,
Reagan continues to gain strength each day and is growing like a weed. She weighs 4 pounds and 6 ounces today. She loves her bottle and is taking an ounce every three hours. We are adding thickener to her milk to help with reflux. So far this seems to really be helping. She is still on the nasal cannula but if continues to eat well we will start weaning her off this too. She did have one ugly episode tonight while I was feeding her where she refluxed and decided to stop breathing again. This is always scary to watch happen and reminds me how I have no control of the situation. I am continuing to trust God to protect my little girl as that is all any of us can do. I know He has great plans for Reagan and can not wait to watch them unfold. Please continue to keep Reagan in your prayers that the reflux will go away and we can feel safe to bring her home. Thanks for all your support!
Love,
Amy, Robert, and Reagan

4 pounds! YEA!!!!!

2008-05-31T02:51:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Reagan reached her 4 pound mark yesterday. She continues to gain each day. We are so proud of her. It is hard to believe at 4 pounds you can have fat rolls but Reagan has some chunky thighs and a double chin. She continues to get cuter every day. The doctors are letting me bottle feed Reagan again. She is loving this and takes her one ounce in about 15 min. As long as the strider does not return we can start weaning her oxygen flow. She remains on 21%(room air)! Way to go Reagan.
We still are having problems with reflux and are back on the wedge but so far not as many drops in heart rate and oxygen. Our hope is that Reagan will be able to come home mid June. We are continuing to trust God to bring our little girl home soon.
Someone asked about the Doctors expectations once Reagan comes home. While no one knows what the future holds we hope Reagan will make a full recovery. She is given till the age of 2 years to developmentally catch up to her age. She may progress quicker or longer; time will tell. Right now there are no physical signs to think less than the best so that is what our hopes and prayers are. God has been so good to us and we know how blessed we are. Reagans future is in His hands!
We will continue to update and post more pictures soon. As always thanks for the prayers and support!
Love,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

12 weeks and 1 day old today!

2008-05-28T15:04:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends,
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support during Reagan's stay at the hospital. I am sorry for not writing as much lately, but have been just trying to get caught up on all the work that I need to get done. Reagan is doing awesome and I am thankful that God has brought us to this place where we can take a little breather to get caught up on other things. Lately, Amy has spent a lot more time at the hospital and I have been spending more time working in between visits with Reagan. My visits with her are a great experience, truly a blessing, and I just love that little girl so very much. I am proud of her mommy as well! She has really been stoic through this entire process and I am glad that I am married to her:) Most of all, I would like to take a minute to recognize the most deserving of all, Jesus Christ, for what He has done in Reagan's life. I do not take for granted the miracle that God has done in the life of our family and I am so thankful for the closeness we have felt during this time. We still have a ways to go, but I believe that God will continue to take care of us as He has and that He will give us what we need for each day! I firmly believe that God has covered Reagan (and us) with His mighty hand over the last 3 months and that He will continue to do so for the duration. I love you all and am grateful for your kindness and prayers! On another quick note...
Please continue to pray for Reagan's friend, Taylor Lilly. It looks like Taylor will get to head home tomorrow and we are so grateful for all that the Lord has brought her through. She is a precious little girl and it has been a blessing to have her and her family with us for the past few weeks. We are extremely excited (although we will miss seeing her precious little face in the room next to Reagan)that she is going home with her mommy and daddy and we look forward to Reagan building a strong friendship with her, Addison, Molly and all of the other little ones in our church as they grow bigger (boys too, as long as they know they can't date until they are 25). These children can change the world! I just thought of the song that goes "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world!" Taylor, you are loved more than you could ever know! May God bless Taylor, her family, and extended family as she grows! Amy and I love you all very much!

Love,

Robert, Amy, and Reagan

36 weeks today!

2008-05-22T22:29:00.003-04:00

I can't believe Reagan is 36 weeks gestational age now. She is growing like a weed. She is hanging out at the 3 pound 6 ounce mark this week but I am sure she will have another big growth spurt soon. Reagan still has periodic strider but it had improved so we cancelled the visit with the throat specialist today. If it worsens we will schedule it again.
Good news today. Reagan's 36 week cranial ultrasound came back normal so no head bleeds. This is such a miracle considering how small Reagan was so we are counting our blessings! Thank you God!! Now we just wait and see who's brain she got Roberts or mine! Hopefully she takes after her daddy, I know her teachers will appreciate it.
Reagan's friend Taylor has a blog if you would like to receive her updates you can click on her name at the top or go to www.taylorjordanlilly.blogspot.com I know they would appreciate your comments as well.
As always thanks for the prayers and will update again soon.
Much Love,
Amy, Robert, and Reagan

I still love my pacy!

Look mom I can whistle.

Thanks for the swing Aunt Holly and Uncle David! I love it!!

Mom says this is my boy outfit but I love the frog feet!!

Not bath time again!

Quick Update

2008-05-21T22:16:00.002-04:00

Hey Everybody!
Good News! Reagans eyes have improved and we do not have to go to Chapel Hill. All I can say is there is power in prayer. Thanks everyone for continuing to pray for Reagan. The doctor said he does not forsee surgery at all for Reagan and will recheck her progress in two weeks. I am so thankful we do not have to make another road trip!!!!
Reagan is still having periodic episodes of stridor so the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor is comming to evaluate her tommorrow. Pray that her stridor will resolve quickly and we can get back to bottle feeding soon. Reagan is staying at 21% (room air) on her nasal cannula and not having any episodes so this is a big step in the right direction.
I think Reagan is getting a little spoiled and board with being in her crib so we took her swing in today. She seems to really enjoy it; it's a nice break from her wedge pillow.
Thanks for all your love and support! God is good!
Love,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

Grandparents Day to Visit

2008-05-20T12:20:00.004-04:00

I love my Nana!!!

I am still number 1 Papa!

Meme and Papa came to visit! Oh boy I am so excited!

In true Winslow fashion Meme and Papa compare me to a 5 dollar bill.

Kristie my nurse says I don't burp I belch. I wonder who I take after?!?!

Daddy feeds me for the first time and I took my entire bottle!

Oh boy what a big yawn!

Is picture time over yet?

I'm out of here!

Reagan continues to ride the NICU roller coaster. She started taking her bottle every feed yesterday but then developed strider. The strider is caused by edema in the throat which they think is caused by her reflux. To make a long story short we went back to continuous feeds, increased her nasal cannula to 1 liter, and are giving dexamethosone to reduce the swelling. This mornings report is we no longer hear the strider!!! Hopefully we can start bottle feeding again shortly.
Reagan weight is 3 pounds 6 ounces! Way to go Reagan. Please continue to pray for her eye exam tomorrow.
Thanks for all the prayer and support!
Love,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

10 week update

2008-05-15T17:14:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
It is hard to believe it has been ten weeks already. Reagan is 35 weeks corrected age today. She has come such a long way since March 4Th. God has been good to us and blessed us with a beautiful girl. We are so thankful for Reagan and the protective hand of God. I still don't know why bad things happen in our lives but I know I would not be the same person today without experiencing these difficulties. I have learned many lessons these past weeks about prayer, faith, and character. I hope I continue to live out these lessons I have learned and don't retreat to my old ways once the stress of the NICU is behind us. The most important lesson I have learned is that when you get to the bottom issue of whatever trials you experience you realize that you are not in control but God is. I am thankful for this reminder for when I feel "stressed out" I can sit back and say God this is in your hands. His hands is where it should be to begin with but our human nature makes us think we have to be in control when that is not the case. I am trusting God to protect Reagan and allow us to bring her home soon.
Reagan is continuing to do well, gaining weight and strength each day. She weighs 3 pounds 3 ounces today. She is doing well with her bottle three times a day. Before long she will take off and we can get rid of that irritating feeding tube!!! She is still on the wedge for reflux and taking prevacid; both seem to be helping. Reagan is also still on the nasal cannula but we have weaned her flow from 2 liters down to 600mls. She remains on 21% (room air) which is great. Reagan was moved to an open crib today and continues to maintain her own temperature. We are finally moving in the right direction. The main issue we face right now and ask for your prayers is with Reagan's eyes. Due to her prematurity Reagan runs a risk for blindness due to detached Retina. I won't go into all the details but on her last exam her eyes looked worse and they will recheck them again next Wednesday. If they continue to get worse we will have to transfer to another hospital once again for eye surgery. The surgery has great success but requires Reagan being put on the ventilator. This is just another set back we hope to avoid. Please pray that Reagan's eyes will improve and we can skip this surgery all together. Your prayers mean so much to us and I know God hears them. I don't believe we would be were we are today without prayer! I would also request your prayers. I have been sick since Monday and not able to visit Reagan. Please pray for a healing touch and protection around Reagan so she will not catch another infection. We love you guys and appreciate all your support.
Sincerely,
Amy, Robert and Reagan

Oh Boy! Picture Time Again!!!!

2008-05-12T22:35:00.006-04:00

Can you believe I am 3 pounds 1 ounce today and 15 1/4 inches long!!!!!

Dad compares me to a Mountain Dew

Quit it Dad!!! You are too funny!

Yes, everyone knows I look like my daddy!

Mommy's two favorite people! Can you blame her?

This is my wedge pillow I sleep on to help with my reflux. I am getting a lot better and not having big scary episodes. My prevacid and wedge are helping a lot.

"Aunt" Dana and baby Taylor come for a visit.

Taylor and I are buddies for life. We already act a lot alike. Our mommies don't like it but we keep them on their toes. Please continue to pray for my friend Taylor she has an infection and needs lots of prayer. Her mommy and daddy do too.

That all for now! Bye Bye

Reagan Update...Happy Mother's Day!!!

2008-05-11T18:56:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends,
The last few days for Reagan have been great! She is continuing to grow bigger and stronger with each passing day and we are very grateful for her progress! Thank you all for continuing to pray. We still have around 6 weeks before Reagan will come home and she needs to continue to grow without any major setbacks, so please pray that her feeds will continue to go well and that she will be able to breathe room air only in the very near future. She seems to be progressing to that point quickly, so lets thank God for her progress and continue to ask for His divine hand to be over her to help her with her growth and development. She weighed in at 2 lbs and 15 ozs. today and should hit the 3 lb mark very soon!!! It is hard to believe that she has more than doubled in weight..Thank you Lord for helping her to this point and for giving us the grace, patience and peace to deal with each passing day.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!! Without you, the rest of us wouldn't be here! I have three special moms that I would like to especially thank today...They are in no particular order... My mom (Carolyn)... My wife (Amy)... and My Mother-in-law (Connie).

Mom,
Thank you for having me and for helping me each second of my life to grow into the person that I am today. Thank you, when given choices that would affect my life for many years, for making choices for me that would be the very best, even if I did not like them at the time. Thank you for loving me through all the phases of life as well as for letting me "bend your ear" as the obsessive compulsive child I was! Thanks for always making sure that I made it to church on Sunday, Wednesday, and whenever there was a church function that I could attend. Most of all, thank you for helping me to grow to know and accept Jesus at an early age. He has made all the difference in my life and I credit you for showing me love as a child so that I could understand how much I am loved by God! I'm sure that times were not always easy when I was a child and that you faced many struggles of which, I was never aware. Thank you for giving me a peaceful childhood in which I could grow up without the fears that many children feel today. Thank you for helping me to feel secure each day and for letting me sleep on the floor in your room when I was scared at night! Thank you for raising me in an environment where the expectations were great, but the love and selfless motivation behind the expectations was even greater. Thank you for the discipline that I received as a child (often administered by dad :) ) as I feel that it helped provide a more peaceful existence within our family and set boundaries for what was acceptable and what was not. I plan to do the same with Reagan. Thank you for always providing a stable family environment in which I could grow up to know that my mom and dad were committed to each other, no matter what life threw at them. Thank you for always being fair with David and I. Thank you for supporting our home as Dad worked so that he could provide for us! Thank you for your love! Love is such a powerful expression that I wish more children could feel. I think it is hard for many kids that don't feel a parent's love to understand God's love for them. I think that God is very misunderstood and that if people knew just how much God loves them, they would want to live their lives to serve Him. So, thanks for showing me God's love. Anyway, just know that you are loved and appreciated on this Mother's Day and that I am thankful for all that you have done for me. May you have a wonderful year and again, thanks for everything!

Amy,
I was not expecting to be able to celebrate Mother's Day this year as Reagan was not due to make her appearance until late June...But, God had other plans and I am thankful for the opportunity to wish you a happy Mother's Day. You are a wonderful wife, friend, and now, Mommy!!! I always knew that you would be a fabulous mother and that is one of many reasons that I married you. You have been an inspiration to many by your attitude during the early birth and subsequent days of Reagan's life. Thank you for having a good attitude throughout this process, understanding the risks, yet choosing to rely on God's Sovereignty and help. It has not been an easy journey for you or for me except for the fact that God has been with us, and knowing that has made all the difference. I feel that we both decided to trust God's will early in this situation and to believe Him for something that was unknown to us. Thank you for making that choice with me not to blame God, but to be grateful each day, hour, minute, and second for Reagan's progress and to see the beauty that God had to show us as we chose to trust in Him. I remember you saying that you had wondered at one time why this had happened to us, and then you said your thought changed quickly to "why not us?" Thoughts are human sometimes, but I appreciate you rationally looking at things and agreeing that God would not give us something that He had not prepared us for. I cannot imagine what you dealt with during the early days of Reagan's birth, knowing what you know from your work experiences, but I am grateful for your Godly reaction to the circumstances. You are and will be an excellent mother! I look forward to raising Reagan with you! She will be home before you know it, playing with all her little friends (if we ever let her out of the house :) ) I love you and am proud of you!

Connie (Nana),
Although you are not my biological mother, I wanted to tell you thank you for being such a great mother-in-law. Many people complain about their mothers-in-law but I have no complaints. Thank you for your caring attitude toward your family and for always being willing to help when needed. Thank you for being by Amy's side as much as you were able to during the early days of Reagan's birth. It would have been hard to make it without your help and I am grateful for you and for your willingness to help lighten our burden. You are a blessing to my life as well as Amy's and I appreciate you. Thank you for helping to raise Amy into the person that she is today. You can read many of the things that I said about my mom and I'm sure the same could be said for you. You are loved on this Mother's Day!

To all you other moms out there...just know that you are appreciated. Thank you for the sacrifices that you make each day for your kids. My mom said something to me the other day that made a lot of sense. She was telling me about a compliment someone had paid her about raising me (I think they were probably getting me confused with David :) ). Her reaction to the compliment was very humble and she basically said that she did all that she knew to do and laid the best foundation that she could and then she allowed God to fill in the cracks. I know as a father that I will not be perfect, but I will allow God to mold me into the father that He wants for me to be. I will rely on Him to help my child to grow into the person that He wants her to be and will ask Him to fill in any areas in her life that are deficient. I'm sure glad that I don't have to be a perfect parent, but just teachable and open to hear from God. May God bless you all this Mother's Day!

You all are loved!

Robert

Four Good Weeks and One Rough Day!

2008-05-07T23:18:00.005-04:00

Dear Friends,
Thank you for your continued prayer support, even while Reagan has been doing well. She has had several wonderful weeks of growth and development and weighed in at 2 lbs and 14 ozs today. We are very grateful for her tremendous growth thus far! Yesterday was a rather rough day for Amy and Nana. I wasn't there when Reagan had her episode, but it apparently was pretty bad. As usual, Reagan was receiving her regularly scheduled feed when she refluxed and decided to stop breathing and to slow her heart rate down to around 40 beats per minute which is extremely low. She apparently turned purple as she just wouldn't breathe. The nurse called respiratory and her nurse practitioner and after what seemed like eternity to Amy they had her breathing again and her heart rate was back to normal. They suctioned a lot of milk from her airway due to the reflux and followed with a chest x-ray to see if Reagan aspirated milk into her lungs but so far everything looks good. She is back to her normal range on her oxygen. Just when we start to get comfortable God sends a reminder that He is the one in control. We ask that you continue to pray for Reagan specifically that she will outgrow her reflux. I wish it was as easy as taking the "Purple Pill" but for preemies that is not the case. We know with God all things are possible so please continue to pray.
Thanks for the prayers for our friends Dana and David. They gave birth to a bright beautiful little girl. She is Reagans neighbor and seems to be doing very well. I know they appreciate all the prayers.
Thanks again for your continual support. We love you.
Robert, Amy and Reagan

Reagan is 9 weeks old

2008-05-06T11:15:00.003-04:00

What a sweet face!!!

Reagans first bottle

"This is good stuff mom."
Reagan took 15 of 20ml the first time and 22mls of 22mls the second time she bottle fed. She is a big girl now!

My first tub bath and I didn't even cry.

I am always happy and relaxed after my baths.

Talk to me mom.

Oh boy, another ride I am so excited!!!!

I'm strapped in and ready to go. Bye Brenners thanks for taking care of me!

"Aunt" Debbie (moms cousin) is taking great care of me at Forsyth.

Our Unspoken Request and Reagan Update

2008-05-04T05:14:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,
Please be in prayer for a close friend of ours. Dana was due to have her little girl within a week of Amy's due date. We received a phone call Thursday that she apparently went into pre-term labor. She would be around 32 weeks gestation at this point. The doctors are currently trying to stop the labor (it looks like it has been successful so far) and will hopefully send her home on strict bed rest until the baby comes instead of delivering the baby early. Our understanding is that her water has not broken! Dana and David are dear friends of ours and we ask that you pray specifically for them today as this was a big surprise.

Reagan Update:
Reagan continues to do well after her TV debut. Thursday evening we transported Reagan back to Forsyth Medical Center so she good be close to mommy while at work. This has made my work weekend go by much quicker. I am not allowed to be Reagan's nurse but I remain close by and stop and peak when I get a chance. Robert and I are very thankful for the care she received at Brenner's. Everyone treated Reagan so well and we became quite attached to the staff. Thanks Lisa, Danika, and Angela for taking such wonderful care of our baby girl. We look forward to the day Reagan is big enough to come for a visit.
This morning Reagan lost some weight and is back to 2 pounds 10 ounces. The doctors restarted her diuretics yesterday (medicine to make her pee)so this would be some of the weight loss. She continues to do well with her nasal cannula at 1.5 liters. Everyday her desat episodes improve. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her! She continues to tolerate her feeds well also. She gets 20 mls every 3 hours. This is a big change from 0.3 mls an hour that we started on. Reagan still will reflux during her feeds. Pray she will outgrow this quickly so we can bottle feed and come home.
I can not believe how fast the weeks have gone by since Reagan entered the world. I feel so blessed with how well she has done. God has given her the strength we all prayed for and she continues to grow. Thanks again for all the wonderful support. We love you all and thank God for giving us a wonderful group of friends. I hope you have a great week and I will update again soon with more pictures!
Love,
Amy, Robert, Reagan

P.S. Reagan's message to her friends.
Jasmine I am so glad we met. Continue to grow and stop worrying your mom. I look forward to our day at the park!

Cassidy, Alexandria, CPAP (your mom and dad need to hurry and pick a name) continue to grow inside mommy. Befor long we will be big and chubby like our cousins. Mommy says I have scared everyone enough as it is so maybe you should give them a break. I can't wait to meet you but lets wait a couple of weeks!

Angela, Danika, and Lisa thanks for spoiling me. I looked forward to the days you took care of me. Mommy always rested better when you were around so a big THANKS. Angela be careful jumping out of the plane but take lots of pictures because Mommy says I am NOT allowed to jump or do anything slightly dangerous ever.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and all the gifts too!!
Love,
Reagan

A Special Request

2008-05-01T09:32:00.003-04:00

Dear Friends,
Please be praying for a special unspoken that does not involve Reagan. God knows the need and we will fill you in soon. Thanks for praying!

Robert and Amy

Reagan Makes the News!

2008-04-30T22:50:00.005-04:00

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

Reagans 8 week old pictures

2008-04-29T22:31:00.012-04:00

Daddy's little girl.

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

Daddy has the magic touch.

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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

2008-04-29T16:46:00.003-04:00

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

Thank God for His Help! Reagan is Looking Good!

2008-04-28T18:07:00.006-04:00

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!

Reagan's Funny Faces

2008-04-23T21:35:00.011-04:00

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

2008-04-23T00:00:00.008-04:00

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"

Thanks for Praying - Another Stepping Stone has Been Laid

2008-04-21T13:59:00.003-04:00

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

Prayers for Reagan, Amy, and Dad

2008-04-17T23:44:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-17T13:55:00.008-04:00

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

Doing Great...

2008-04-14T19:48:00.003-04:00

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 :)

Reagan is Recovering!!!

2008-04-12T19:15:00.002-04:00

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

24 Hour Post Surgery Update

2008-04-10T16:52:00.007-04:00

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.!

Prayers to Ease Reagan's Pain

2008-04-09T17:12:00.002-04:00

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!!!

2008-04-09T12:41:00.002-04:00

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

See How Big I Am Now!!!

2008-04-07T22:46:00.009-04:00

Surgery Scheduled

2008-04-07T15:49:00.002-04:00

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

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

2008-04-04T22:57:00.000-04:00

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

Infection Update

2008-04-02T23:36:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-04-02T15:27:00.001-04:00

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!!!!!!

Reagan, Mommy, and Daddy Could Use Some Extra Prayers

2008-04-01T17:58:00.000-04:00

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

Almost 4 Weeks Old and Looking Good

2008-03-30T23:50:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,
My apologies for not posting for the last couple of days. Amy and I have been catching up on some rest during Reagan's couple of good days that she has had. The internet connection where we were staying also had not been working properly and we were having to update at the hospital where we could get a wireless signal. I have also been quite busy trying to get caught up on some work. Anyway, enough excuses!!! It's time for an update....So here it is:
The last time that we updated (Thursday - shame on us) we told you that Reagan had her Echocardiogram and that it still showed a small PDA (open valve in her heart). The heart doctor was out of town during the week and we were told that he would be back the following week. On Thursday and Friday, the nurses said that they heard a heart murmur which would indicate that the PDA had not totally closed. But, on Saturday, no murmur was heard... and on Sunday, no murmur was heard!! Praise God for that!! This does not mean that the PDA totally closed, but it is a good indicator that it has gotten much smaller if not totally closed. Apparently, PDA's can get smaller and then reopen to a larger size but we are going to pray that God has sealed that thing shut and that there will be no more problems with it. I'm not sure when we will be able to tell you for sure if it is totally closed as the staff will have to do another echocardiogram to tell and they may not do one if they think that it is closed. There are many things that we have had to trust God for throughout this process, many unknowns, and we have learned to just take one day at a time and deal with that day as it comes. We are thankful that we have one "known" every day and that is that God loves us, He loves Reagan, and He knows that which is best for each of us. God has either been faithful to help Reagan's situation, or to help us deal with each situation that has come up...I've heard it said that sometimes "He calms the storm" and sometimes "He calms His child." We have experienced both over the last 4 weeks and are more grateful than we could ever express for His faithfulness toward us. Many of you have heard the song, "The Anchor Holds" by Ray Boltz (I think). If you get a chance, google that song today and read the words or just listen to the song...it is very powerful and will help you to put the storms of life into perspective with God's faithfulness. Our "Anchor" is holding strong in our lives and I know that He will for you as well.

Okay... Back to the Reagan update. Sorry for preaching (not really - I just type what God lays on my heart). Reagan is still having some trouble with her breathing but not as much. Her settings on the ventilator are very low which is a great thing, but her blood/oxygen levels go up and down regularly instead of staying steady. We originally were seeing her oxygen levels decrease at the same time that we would see her heart rate decrease, but during the last two days, her heart rate has stayed strong when her oxygen levels have decreased. This probably means that the PDA is not causing all of the breathing problems but just some of them (we seem to learn something new every day). She has had to be bagged several times over the last couple of days to get her to breathe normally and that has several risks that I won't bore you with. Just pray that when she does have to be bagged, that the Lord will protect her lungs from any harm. According to Amy, and some of the other nurses, it is very common for premature babies to forget to breathe on a regular basis. Reagan seems to forget to breathe while she is getting blood drawn or other things that she doesn't particularly like...she likes to be held, but you don't want to disturb her when she is resting peacefully with a sharp stick to her heel! Sometimes she just forgets for virtually no reason (I guess we will excuse this for now given the fact that she came four months early). Different methods can be used to get her to remember to breathe or to help her breathe. She can be "bagged" or given oxygen forced into her lungs from a bag, or she can sometimes just be touched to stimulate her body to remind her to breathe. Sometimes, her settings just need to be turned up momentarily until she perks back up.

Reagan weighed in at a healthy 1lb 14oz today without showing signs of a lot of fluid retention. She has been doing very well with her feeds and I think that she could easily reach the 2lb milestone this week (what a porker huh!?). She just looks really good right now and we have been greatly encouraged. She is such a beautiful little girl and I love her sooooo much!

Prayer Requests for Reagan:
1. Pray that God has closed her PDA without surgery...I'm going to go ahead and thank Him for closing it without surgery as that is what I asked Him to do and I feel that He may have done it already. If it isn't closed, I'll trust Him to take care of it and will give thanks then for the results. I just want God to know that I am grateful that He is listening to me.
2. Pray that her lungs will continue to strengthen (supernatural strength) and that she will be able to get off of the ventilator very soon.
3. Pray for her brain, ears, and eyes that all will be very healthy. It will be awhile before her ears and eyes will be tested and she has not had extremely extensive brain testing yet, so lets start praying ahead of time that all will be in great condition.
4. Pray for Amy and I for continued strength to get everything that we need to get done accomplished.

I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know that my God holds tomorrow and knows each and every circumstance that we will endure. He proved Himself faithful yesterday, the day before that, and over the last 28 days (can you believe that tonight -Sunday night- marks the 1 month anniversary of Amy being admitted to the hospital) as well as throughout many other times in my life, and I have no doubt that He will be faithful tomorrow. I love Him tonight for keeping His promises to me. The same promises that He kept for me are true for you as well! Claim them in your life! There has honestly not been one day that I haven't had peace in my heart about these circumstances - I find that to be an absolute miracle as well as a tremendous blessing and am thankful for God's provision. Thank you all so much, again, for praying. God loves you and so do we!!!!!

Robert and Amy

Go! Reagan, Go!
Go! God, Go! Show yourself strong in Reagan and in our lives!!! Your creations are priceless!

Premie Daily Affairs (PDA)

2008-03-27T15:49:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Well the saga continues. Little Miss Reagan loves to keep us on our toes. Her echo cardiogram results are back and her PDA is small again. This means we continue to wait and see if it will close on its own or if it gets larger again we will have surgery. God is really testing my patience. It would be nice to not have to wait and either go to surgery or not but this is out of our hands. Since the surgeon is on vacation I guess it is an answer to prayer that the PDA has become smaller. All things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.-Romans 8:28
I am very thankful that Reagan's only issue seems to be her PDA. She continues to do well with her feeds, she's infection free, and gaining weight. She weighs 1 pound 14 ounces today. She still has a little bit of fluid retention so we are up and down on our weight but overall she looks really good.
Thanks for all the comments, cards, care packages, gifts for Reagan, PTO donations, and prayers. We are so thankful for each of you. I hope some day we can return the blessings to you. God has been so good to us and continues to meet our needs sometimes even befor we ask! I am not going to say this has been smooth sailing and I don't question "Why me/us?" but than I think "Why not me?". I feel that Robert and I are as prepared as anyone can be to take on this new curve of life. I continue to focus on the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. He knows our hearts desires and cares when we hurt and He rejoices when we rejoice. My prayer for you is that you too feel the peace that passes all understanding and the wonderful love of our Saviour. May God bless each of you for your faithfulness!
Love Bunches!!!
Amy and Robert

Three Weeks Old Today!

2008-03-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,
Today marks Reagan's 3rd week of life and we are sooooo grateful for God's provision thus far for her. I appreciate the extra prayer's as they are working. I trust that she is gaining strength and power day by day and that God is at work in her little heart right now. Reagan had a pretty good day today and did not have as much trouble with her oxygen desaturations. This afternoon, she had an echocardiogram and again, it showed that her PDA (basically, a valve in her heart that usually closes at birth) which had become smaller, was again enlarged and opened. This just reaffirms what the medical staff here suspected. So... as for treatment, they will give her another round of Indocin. The first time they gave her Indocin, it worked for a while and helped her PDA to shrink but it did not close all the way as it needs to. We are praying that God will help her PDA close all the way with the Indocin this time as we really don't want her to have to have surgery. We will know whether the PDA has closed or not on Thursday sometime during the day. If for some reason it is not closed, she will require a procedure to close it. We'll deal with that if she has to have it but right now, we would like for everyone to really lift her up in prayer and ask The Great Physician to close the hole in her heart!!! (It is interesting to me how so many physical things in life relate so significantly to spiritual things). I know that He is more than able to do it! Thank you all so much for continuing to pray. I know that prayer is what is helping her. We are counting on your prayers and are so thankful for them! Please, "Do not grow weary" in praying. Reagan needs your help! It seems that we have a great team of people that pray regularly for Reagan and we can't tell you how much we appreciate it. I believe that these circumstances have been allowed in our life to strengthen our relationships with God and each other. You all mean more to us than we could ever tell you. You have held us up, and continue to hold us up in our time of need. This is going to be a process that will take time, but together, we can all grow stronger in our faith in God. Let's all look Higher for provision for this precious little life! If there is something that we can pray about for you, please let us know as we owe a lot of prayer! May God bless you all and your families and "cause His face to shine on you," He loves you like no other could. We love you too!

Robert and Amy

P.S. her weight today was 1lb 11oz. That is slightly down from her high of 1lb 14oz but we are glad because she seemed to be holding a lot of fluid and looked very bloated.

Prayer Warriors...Reagan Needs You!

2008-03-25T02:19:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,
Our little girl could really use some prayers tonight / today depending on when you get this. She is doing okay, but seems to be having problems with her breathing again. Her oxygen levels have fluctuated throughout the day and she has had to be given breaths several times throughout the day (from the oxygen "bag"). A couple of times, it looked like she was not trying to breath on her own as her chest was not really moving. Thanks to God, the staff was right there to support her and help her to breath until she started breathing more on her own. They did an x ray to make sure that her lungs looked okay, and they do, but her ventilator tube looked like it was down too far, so they pulled it back up a little bit and were saying that that could have been part of the problem. Her heart PDA is not helping either. It is a scary thing to watch your child stop trying to breath on her own. I may sound a little bit dramatic and don't want to make this sound like a dire emergency situation as it is not, but it is a very serious situation that definitely needs prayer. She is so little and her lungs just seem to have a hard time...BUT...Our God is So Big, So Strong and So Mighty, There's Nothing My God Cannot Do.. and I ask that He will reach down from Heaven, or actually just over from the side of her isolet and give her body a special touch. I ask that He will breath the breath of life into her little body and give her super strength that could be given by none other than God Himself! Our child is a Blessed Child of God! I believe Reagan is gaining strength as we speak! I ask that you will pray for two specific things....
1. Pray that her PDA will close without surgery if that is what is best for her.
2. Pray that her lungs and body will gain super strength from God (He Can Do It!!!)
Now lets trust and believe that God hears our prayers and will answer! I believe!!!
Thank you for your prayers. My God is able to do "exceedingly more" than we could ever ask or think and I expect great things from God in this situation with Reagan. We love Him no matter the circumstances that surround us. Thanks for praying...He is able!

Robert and Amy

A Daddy's Prayer

2008-03-25T01:48:00.000-04:00

Dear God,
You know that I love you. Thank you for loving me back. I have this little girl named Reagan that you have entrusted me with and am so thankful for the blessing of a child. You made her "fearfully" and "wonderfully" and I love her. I can see the hairs on her head, but can't count them. You know the number by heart! Her life is precious to me and therefore, I know that it is to you as well. Thank you Jesus for giving her... a miraculous birth, a perfect brain, long fingers, big feet, little toes, a round little nose, a stomach that works, the ability to breath, smelly diapers, peeking eyes, a wrinkled forehead, a body that is well, a heart that will love you, a mind that will think about you, two arms to serve, two legs to go where you lead, a voice that will tell of your love, and all the love of her Heavenly Father. I ask that you would hold her in your loving, protecting hands and that you would shield her from anything that could cause harm. I pray that you would place angels at her beside for protection. I pray for supernatural strength in the development of her organs - such as only God can give so that He will receive all the glory. I pray for her heart to function perfectly and for her body to grow steadily and safely. Especially strengthen her lungs and her heart. Please help her PDA (whatever that is) in her heart to close so that her oxygen saturations will become more normal. Bless all of the medical staff that takes care of her on a daily basis, as well as those that have taken care of her in the past, and help them to know that You love them and that you created them just as you did Baby Reagan. Help them to know that they are the "apple of your eye." Please be with each member of the staff as they come to work that you would guide their minds and hands to give the best care possible, and as they leave work, that you would bless their families, protect them, and give them strength. Help their families with any life difficulties and heal their hurts. Bless the other children, and parents that have children, that are going through the same and even harder things than we are. Give them hope and comfort in You and help them to learn to love You more every day. I ask that You would protect my little girl and help her to grow strong. Give her her mommy's tenderness, patience, and love. Give her all the good that you see in me. Help her to grow to know you and to have a love for you that shines through to all. I pray blessings and strength over my little girl right now and ask that you will hear and answer my prayer. Thank you for being My Provider, My Strength, My Shield, Lord God Almighty, The Most High God, and My Source of Peace. I pray that Reagan will not only live, but that she will thrive and prosper!!! Thank you God for using this little life to bless the lives of so many people already. I'm already a proud, yet humbled father of this precious life. Thank you God for bringing us people that were/are willing to pray. Please bless each and every person that has prayed for Baby Reagan and give them strength in the trials that they face each day. Help their marriages to be strong, their children to be healthy, their families to know Jesus, and their lives to be blessed by You. Give them strength to face the challenges of life and let them know that You are only a word away from immediate help in their times of need. Thank you for being a Rock that I can lean on during this time. Give Amy and I patience as we proceed into the unknown. Stand beside my little girl until all is well and give her supernatural strength! Thank you for answering prayer! I Love You my Savior!!!

Your Child,

Robert

My First Easter

2008-03-23T21:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the new Easter Sunday dress, just too bad I couldn't get to church and show if off. Happy Easter and thanks for your prayers!

Love

Reagan

Saturday Update!

2008-03-22T13:10:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Reagan is continuing to grow! Today she is 1 pound 13 ounces. Some of this weight gain is extra fluid so her hands and feet are a little swollen. We started her on some diuretics to hopefully get rid of this extra fluid. She continues to do well on the vent and has been weaning effectively. Today her settings, for my RT friends, are 22 16/6 with a pressure support of 7. When her rate is at 15 we will discuss trying CPAP again. She is tolerating her feeds very well. We are at 2.5mls per hour. GO REAGAN GO!!!
Today Daddy did something very important. He noticed that a couple of Reagan's toes were blue. This was caused by her UAC ( IV in her belly button) going bad. They took out the line and now her toes are pink again. Way to go Daddy! I told him he would make a great nurse!
Thanks for the continued prayers. Since Robert posted I wasn't sleeping well and people started praying I have not had any more bad dreams. I have been sleeping so well I missed the Doctor rounds a couple times this week and took an afternoon nap. God hears and answers even the little prayers that matter to us!
Thanks again for your support!
Love,
Amy

Go Reagan Go!!

2008-03-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Thanks for all the prayers! God is answering. Reagan had another Echocardiogram of her heart yesterday. Her PDA is now "trivial" which basically means it is smaller. She is not symptomatic as she was before, thankfully. They decided to start back her feeds and see if her PDA will finish closing on its own. Unless she starts acting bad again we will re-evaluate with another Echo next Wednesday. Please continue to pray that her PDA will close, her lungs will strengthen and we can get her off this vent. Mommy is ready for the next step!!
Reagan weighs 1 pound 10 ounces today. She has been tolerating her feeds well until tonight at 8:00. Her belly still looks good so we are hoping a suppository will do the trick. She continues to look better and bigger every day.
Reagan has become known as the most fashionable baby in the NICU. Thanks to her friends who have made her a new wardrobe (Kristie, Joni, and Mandy). She continues to have a spunky and feisty personality. She loves to have her hands around her face and has had her feeding tube taped at least 5 times today.
Thanks again for all the prayers and the wonderful blog postings. I love to read the comments and get such encouragement from the stories, scriptures, and other comments. Robert and I love having visitors but are trying to cut back on Reagan's visitors due to different bugs going around. Please don't take it personally if we ask you to wait to see her. She is so fragile and as her parents we must do our best to protect her! We love each of you and can't wait for the day we can have a big party and invite everyone to meet the "love of our lives".
God is so good and we know He continues to have Reagan under His wing of protection. He has given Robert and I unbelievable strength and has helped us develop patience. I never wanted to pray for patience because it is not a fun thing to have to learn, but God had a different plan in mind and patience has become a BIG part of it. God knows what trials we can handle and I believe gives them to us to help us mature and become better Christians/people. I have a new understanding for my parents in the NICU. I have become the annoying mother who has lots of questions and wants lots of answers. I believe I will have a new compassion when I return to work for the families I encounter.
Thanks again for your overwhelming support!!!
Love,
Amy and Robert

Our first family photo!

"I Like my space!"

"Sweet Tink"- I love my new bloomers

Reagan gets smooched!

Good Morning! I am most alert during the morning. I must take after mommy!

That's all for now. Thanks for praying for me!

2 Weeks Old Today!!!!!!!!

2008-03-18T20:28:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,
Thank you all so much, once again, for continuing to pray for Reagan, Amy, and myself, as this is a very emotional journey and we are grateful for all the prayers that are being said on our behalf. Starting early this morning, Reagan began having trouble with her Oxygen levels again. I'll keep the medical terminology to a minimum as I don't know it as well as Amy. Basically, God created babies to be able to "breathe" in the mother's womb as you all know. He created a valve in their heart so that while they are growing inside mommy, their blood gets oxygenated through this valve. Normally, this valve closes almost immediately after birth as the baby starts to use it's lungs in a more normal manner. God sure didn't forget any details as to how He wanted to give us each life did He?!. This little problem that Reagan is having further solidifies to me that we were CREATED. Something so intricate could not have just "happened." Reagan's PDA as it is called, has not closed yet (although we have faith that God is helping this problem as we speak) and she is now receiving medicine to help it close. Please be praying that the medicine works immediately. She will be having an echo cardiogram on Wednesday to see if the medicine is working and if the valve is closing. If the medicine does not take effect quickly, then she will have to undergo surgery to close it. Let's all target our faith that God will help to close this valve immediately without surgery! Whatever happens, we will trust Him. As a side note about the heart surgery that she would have to have if the PDA does not close on it's own, the doctor here apparently was the doctor or one of the doctors that pioneered this surgery. I feel that we are in good hands with the Doctors here and even better hands holding us from above.

I do want to be honest and open about this whole process and feel that it will help you to pray if Amy and I open up to you on a personal level to let you know how we are doing. I have started feeling a bit tired and somewhat frazzled (if that is a word) yet I still have peace about the outcome. Amy is doing pretty well but seems to be concerned a lot of the time. Basically, she knows "too much" about what could happen over the next 8+ weeks. Pray that we will be able to remember that God is in control EVERY time a doubt enters one of our minds. We try to refocus together to remember that the same hands that created the world created Reagan and He knows every intricate detail of her being. He knows what will happen with Reagan each day and we are glad that He is in control.

From a faith perspective, my faith has never been tried as it has during this process. I am sure that Amy feels the same way. Thanks to all teachers, pastors, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family, and especially to our parents for helping to saturate our lives from an early age with Faith in God so that we would be prepared for times like these. God is giving us each enough to get through each day. In general, I am not a very patient person. At times, I have to sit back when I am wondering what God is doing and tell myself that no matter what the circumstances, He is in control. For someone that is used to handling things by myself, it is hard for me to do that, but I am learning. I tell you all that to give you the next couple of things that we could really use help praying about. So, here goes...

1. Pray for Reagan's PDA to close without surgery and for her oxygen levels to stabilize.
2. Pray that no sickness will enter any of our bodies.
3. Pray for continued strength for Amy and I as our lives seem to be in a state of upheaval. God is constant and we hold firmly to that.
4. Pray for Amy, she continues to have bad dreams at night and I know that God can take them away. It is hard to be so emotionally drained at the end of the day and then to wake up the next day after a night of bad dreams. I ask God to take those bad dreams away right now and to give her rest (He promised to "give rest to the weary" and we claim that promise right now!)
5. Pray that souls will be effected for eternity and lives will be changed throughout this process.

We love you all dearly. At some point, I am going to try to set up a web page where people that view this site can type their name in so that Reagan will have a list of all the people that are helping to keep her lifted up!!! (Not to put you on the spot David Winslow). More pics coming soon! She is getting cuter every day!

Thanks to everyone for what you have done for us!

Go Reagan, Go!!!

Love,

Robert and Amy

St. Patrick's Day Update

2008-03-17T19:12:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Reagan has had a fairly good weekend. After being placed back on the vent. her blood gasses have not been as good as before. The doctors thought she might have early signs of pneumonia so they ordered some blood work yesterday. Everything came back normal; no elevated white blood cell count or CRP. The NNP taking care of her heard a murmur so today they did another ECHO of her heart and she has a moderate PDA. They are treating this with medication so please pray that the medication will work without any side effects and we can avoid surgery. Overall she is doing very well. The doctors are attributing the bad blood gasses to her PDA and have ruled out pneumonia so for this we are very thankful. She was doing very well with her feeds but they are holding them for the next couple days while she is being treated for her PDA. She is still 1 pound and 9 ounces! I was able to hold her again today for 2 hours and she did great!!!!! This has quickly become the highlight of my days! I don't know what feels better than holding your child close to your heart and feel her breathing and wiggling around. Everyday has been such a blessing to share with Reagan. I can't wait for the day we can bring her home and share her with our friends and family.
Thanks again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Some say she is doing well by coincidence but I believe she is doing so well because she is in our Heavenly Fathers Hands. There is no one who can take care of her better than God. He is hearing and answering our prayers so please keep praying. We love you and are so thankful for all caring remarks and prayers.
May God Bless!
Love,
Amy and Robert

Mommy Holds Reagan

2008-03-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

Getting Ready to Kangaroo with Mom- What a tangled mess.

Here I Come!

"Kangaroo Care" Skin to Skin with Mom

Cuddle Time and I'm Not Letting Go

Three Generations-(Where's Reagan?)

Today's E-vent (title by Nana)

2008-03-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,
I hope that you have all had a good weekend so far. I apologize for not updating the blog more last night. Reagan had good success on her CPAP for 36 hours, pretty much breathing on her own. This morning, around 10:00 AM the Nurse Practitioner checked Reagan's CPAP Mask and found that her nose was "blanched" which means that it did not have sufficient blood flow to her nose. They decided to use a nasal canula instead of the mask so that Reagan would not have to have cosmetic surgery on her nose. The nasal canula would not fit her as well as the mask and could not maintain pressure as well and therefore needed to be put back on the ventilator. We are very grateful for the 36 hours that she was able to be off of the vent, and for the strength that we trust her lungs gained from the experience. She does have strong lungs!!! The main problem is that her body is so little. Many of the attachments do not fit as well and it is harder to maintain pressure for the oxygen to get into her lungs as she breathes. Please continue to pray that her lungs will stay strong and that next time they put her on something other than the vent, that it will fit perfectly and will serve the function intended, even on her little body. Let's even take it a step further and pray that she will be off the vent and CPAP as soon as possible and that she will have no need for either. I know that God can do it! He has proved Himself time and time again already and I have no doubt that He will do it again!!! He made this little girl and can give her the strength that she needs to grow strong and to breathe on her own!

Thank you all for reading and replying to this Blog with your thoughts. We appreciate your prayers throughout this process as that is what is getting us through. God is listening and providing help! Thank you for caring. I can't tell you how grateful we are for your prayers and encouragement. We will be up here at the hospital for at least another 8 weeks and know that it will be a long road...but we have made it almost two weeks already with your prayers and support and know that God will help us make it the rest of the way.

Reagan has gained 3oz since born so she is now 1lb and 9oz...Thank the Lord! She is even starting to look a little bit bigger. We are so thankful for this little life and want blessings and strength to be hers!!! She is adorable and so sweet and I love her dearly. Another request we would like to make is that God will protect Reagan from any infections or sickness that could slow her progress - I know He is able!

Amy got to hold Reagan on Friday for the very first time and was grinning from ear to ear (of course). I haven't yet, but am excited to hold my little girl soon. She did great with Amy and all her vitals stayed very strong. It takes a while to get all her tubes and wires arranged to be able to hold her, but it is definitely worth it. They call it Kangaroo Care as it provides skin to skin contact for the baby and mother. Make sure to look at the pictures that Amy will post shortly of her holding Reagan. They are absolutely precious!!!

Praise God for the progress!!! We are trusting HIM for his power and wisdom and to guide the medical staff and us to produce the greatest outcome for Baby Reagan.

Go Reagan, Go!!!

We love you all!!!

Robert and Amy

Defending Daddy

2008-03-14T08:06:00.000-04:00

Now all of you that know me know that I am not stubborn as was previously posted.(wink,wink). Okay, anyway, I was praying last night between the hours of 11 and 1 o'clock as well as working on writing a prayer for Baby Reagan that I will post later today. Little did I know that Reagan had pulled out her oxygen tube and had been put on the machine that makes her do a lot more on her own. I was praying that God would give her lungs special strength and, little did I know, that as I was praying, God was giving her incredible strength with her lungs! God is answering your prayers as well as mine! On a human level, it would have been hard for her to get on the CPAP machine, but nothing is too great for our God!!! I remembered a song from my children's church days as I was thinking about God's strength the other day and it is reverberating in my head today..."My God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's nothing my God cannot do." I love Him today for hearing a humbled father's plea for supernatural help! A lot of you have been encouraging Amy and I by telling us how wonderful we are handling this situation. I appreciate the kind accolades (and you are welcome to keep sending them), but I really want to let them flow through directly to God as He is the one that is getting us through this. For those of you that know me, I can get worked up pretty quickly (no comments please :) ) but God has given me a "peace that passes understanding." All glory and honor and praise goes directly to Him! God bless you all and have a great Friday!!! I will probably post an update again later this afternoon. Love to all!

Robert and Amy

P.S. Go Reagan, Go!!!

I'm Just Like My Dad!

2008-03-14T06:33:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Reagan is showing her stubbornness today (Just like her dad). She decided to pull out her endotracheal tube last night at 11:00. The doctors put her back on CPAP. She is doing well so far this morning. We have had a few apnic episodes where Reagan dropped her heart rate but nothing compared to last Sunday. God has answered our prayers by giving her new strength. Please continue to pray for her today that she will not tire out and will keep breathing on her own. She is doing far better than any 24 week baby I have taken care of. I know this is God's power working in Reagan. We have a mighty God who can and will do miraculous things in our lives as long as we ask and believe. Reagan is 1 pound 9 ounces today. She had a very large dirty diaper that dad changed last night. This was her first dirty diaper without a suppository. YEA!!! She is on an auto increase for her feeds. Every day she goes up be 0.2mls per hour. She is currently getting 1.4mls per hour. The doctors stopped all of Reagan's antibiotics due to negative cultures showing no infections. She is being a feisty, stubborn little girl! We are so thankful!!!!
Thanks for the continued prayer and overwhelming support!
Love,
Amy and Robert

My New CPAP!

"Snuggle me? I dare you!"

4 Good Days in a Row!!!

2008-03-12T23:19:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,
Dad here again...I hope you aren't tired of me yet. Reagan had another great day today and I have no doubt that it was due to the prayers that are being said for her. Reagan got a new line on Wednesday through her arm that provides nourishment to her body and that went well. She needed this as the tube that went in through her belly button needed to come out to reduce the risk of infection. Anyway, that went quite well and her day ended with lots of her favorite visitors stopping by to say hello. Have I told you we are thankful for you all? Well, we are! Every day it seems that I hear from someone new that has heard about baby Reagan and has been praying. One little fellow (Nolan) from church even took a picture of Baby Reagan to hang up in his classroom so that his friends could pray for Baby Reagan. Another little boy prays for baby "Raggin", and yet another child and her mother prayed for Reagan on the way to school. It blesses me to know how much the children care as well as the adults. I have also received emails from people that know me through a friend of a friend of a friend. Those have been encouraging as it shows me that there must be literally tens of thousands of people praying. It is amazing to me how good God is to us. As you are praying for Reagan, I ask that you will specifically pray for supernatural help with the development of her lungs. That seems to be her biggest obstacle at present. "Ask and you shall receive."

One thing that God is doing for Amy and I through this is helping us be more comfortable praying with each other. We had never really prayed together on a regular basis until this happened to us. Now we pray together every day, sometimes several times and we believe that God will answer our prayers. It is something that I plan to implement into our daily lives, even after this ordeal is complete. I'm not sure why we didn't use to pray together, but for whatever reason, it seemed a little uncomfortable. I hope that you can take our experience and pray with your spouse about all the things that are going on in your lives. I think that you will get the same blessing that we have received. It's interesting to me how God is using a child that can't even talk to change, shape, and mold our lives. On a much larger spiritual scale, God used another child (Jesus) to change the world as well as our hearts and that is what gives us hope for the future with Baby Reagan. I am grateful for that hope and pray that it is in your heart as well!

Go Reagan!!!

Love to all,

Robert and Amy

My First Foot Prints

2008-03-11T23:08:00.001-04:00

Poem by Uncle Steve
*click to enlarge

1 Week Old!! - Pictures

2008-03-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Cranial Ultrasound Shows Perfect Brain!

"I Can See! And I found my fingers! Yay!

"I'm soooo comfortable"

"Oh say can you see....."

"Uncle Steve has really fat fingers!"

Covered with love and prayers

"Thanks for the bunny! I love it"

Gaining Strength

2008-03-11T21:03:00.000-04:00

Well, it's daddy's turn again and I am grateful for the opportunity to give you all another update about sweet little Reagan. First let me tell you that I am so very thankful for each and every one of you that has been praying for us. The encouragement we have received has been overwhelming at times. I could never thank you enough for all your prayers and love that you have sent to Reagan, Amy, and myself. Throughout our time at the hospital, we have met people that don't have family and/or friends that are there for them in their time of need. We are blessed to have you! God is listening and I know that He is answering your/our prayers. I believe that Reagan is being strengthened by the hand of Almighty God. He is also giving Amy and I strength and encouragement for each and every day. Our little girl is blessed! She is gaining strength! She is full of life and health and we are thankful!

Well, Reagan had another great day today. It was nice to have two good days in a row. It is so neat to watch a baby grow. We have had the pleasure of watching Reagan's eyes open as you will see in the new pictures. I fall more in love every day! She is just so precious to us and we thank God for her! Reagan is quite a spunky little girl and we are glad to see her willing to fight. She also has her calm relaxed moments where she is all stretched out in her isolet with both arms outstretched behind her head and both legs propped up on her little blanket. I guess she is already dreaming of what the beach must be like. I wish I could give her a great big hug and can't wait for the day that I am able to!

On another note, as you are praying for Reagan and us (even though she has had 2 good days, she still has a long way to go and we appreciate your prayers) I ask that you would pray for some of the other families that we see here on a daily basis as well as the medical staff that takes care of the babies. We want to make a difference in these people's lives as much as we possibly can. Many of the people that we see on a daily basis are dealing with the same things (some worse) than what we are dealing with and they don't have the support here with them that we have. So lift them up as well! We had one lady at the Ronald McDonald house where we are staying tell us about her little boy's upcoming surgery (tomorrow) so we stopped and prayed for her son. I ask that you will do the same. I would love for more opportunities like that to arise so that we can share God's love. Thanks again for your love and support. We love you all.

Robert and Amy

Reagan Turns One Week Old

2008-03-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

Reagan made it through week one. She weighed 1 pound 8 ounces today. She continues to do very well on the conventional vent. We increased her feeds to 1 ml/hour today. I might be prejudice but she just gets cuter every day. We are very thankful for our good days this week. We thank God for every moment we get to share with Reagan. She has already blessed our lives! It is amazing the network of friends we have. During times like these you realize how much we take for granted. Thank you so much for all the prayers. May God bless you for your faithfulness.
Love,
Amy and Robert

Reagans Ambulance Ride

2008-03-11T14:40:00.000-04:00

The Roller Coaster Continues

2008-03-10T21:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends and Family,
We made it through our first day without shedding any tears! Reagan had another great day. The doctors did a scan of her brain and everything looks perfect. No head bleed which is common for her age. They also did another echo of her heart and everything looks great there too!! She had a very large poopy diaper so they restarted her feeds today. She now can peak at us with both eyes. I believe daddy was the first person she saw. I guess we have another daddy's girl. She is still on the ventilator but they switched her from the jet to conventional for my RT friends. Oxygen is still 25%-35%. The doctors promised me they would not try to take her off again for a week. Everyday something different happens; I know there is a lot more to come but I pray they are more like today.
I wanted to say a special thanks to my church family and Sandra for the beautiful prayer quilt. We have it above Reagan's bed. I know lots of prayers went up for Reagan yesterday and I can't image what our day would have been like without them. Thanks so much for all the encouraging notes. I hope we can bless your lives as much as each of you have blessed ours. When I get my computer working more pictures will be posted!
We love you!
Amy and Robert

Pray for Reagan

2008-03-09T16:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,
I am writing today to request prayer again for Little Reagan. She gave us quite a scare a few minutes ago but has been stabilized again. Basically, she had been on a jet ventilator that forces oxygen into her lungs and had been doing great and was breathing without too much aid. Today, they needed to try to let her breath on her own with just a CPAP machine. I don't know all the details, but basically, this machine provides the oxygen, but does not force it into her lungs like the other machine. The doctors are monitoring her oxygen levels very closely as she could have brain damage if they do not get her breathing more on her own (that is why they wanted to change the machine - they needed to see if she could cope). I would have a very hard time making the decisions that the Doctors and Nurses have to make, but am grateful that they are available to help. There are apparently many risks no matter which machine she is on and the doctors have to make decisions based on those risks. She had a fairly hard time with the CPAP from the very beginning and eventually began to have some major problems. Her heart rate dropped to zero on the monitor (I'm not sure that it actually stopped, but it appeared to). The nurses and doctors immediately did chest compressions to get her heart beating again as well as re-intibated her (put her back on the jet ventilator). These details are not fun to write or to read about, but we want you to know what is going on so that you know how to pray. Our God is soooo much bigger than this whole situation and we know that He will carry us through. The unknowns are the hardest part of this experience.

I still have peace in my heart that God is in controlf of this situation. I cried out to him during the scary situation that we endured earlier and asked him to revive her. He did! I don't know why God allows some of the things that He allows but I know that He has a plan. I have probably been a hard read for many of you that have been up here to see me. I have had a hard time understanding my own emotions...even after all that just happened, I still feel the peace of God in my heart. Usually I am the one that can't seem to cope with hard situations as well, but God is helping me. Amy has been a little bit more emotionally shaken, yet very brave. Although we both have great faith in God's power and might, which gives us peace, we are still both struggling with the unknowns. We will keep trusting God so that He receives all glory, honor, and praise. Amy and I are used to being able to take care of the situations that confront us in life, but this one is far above our means. We ask that you would continue to pray for God's touch in Reagan's life as well as ours. We are in need of a touch from HIM! Pray for God's healing power for Reagan. Please also pray for the Doctors, Nurses, and other people that work here. We want them to see Jesus in us. Thank you for your faithfulness to pray. We love you all and are thankful for you!

Robert and Amy

4 Days Old and Doing Great!!!

2008-03-08T23:58:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Reagan had another great day today, Saturday March 8th. She accomplished a lot of first today. She opened one of her eyes and is trying very hard with the second. She had her first very tiny dirty diaper! They started her feeds yesterday and doubled them today. She is getting 0.6ml per hour for you nurses. There is 5 mls in a teaspoon if that helps. She is doing well with heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen. The doctors thought about taking her off her ventilator today but I, being a worried mom/nurse, talked them into giving her another day to rest. If she continues to due this well throughout the night they will put her on CPAP tomorrow. Yesterday they stopped her bili light so she no longer has to wear the shades.
God has been so good to us and Reagan. I know He hears all the prayers being said. Thanks so much for continuing to pray for us. We look forward to giving you more positive updates!
Love,
Amy

Today Was a Great Day!

2008-03-08T00:05:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,
It's Daddy's turn! Wow, I can't get over the response we have received through this blog as well as through emails and phone calls. We are so blessed to have so many people that care about us and about Reagan! Thank you all for the prayers. Amy and I were talking about how hard it would be to get through this without our faith in God and the support of our friends, family, coworkers and etc. Amy and I have experienced about every emotion possible over the last five days. Believe it or not, one of the greatest emotions that I have felt during this time is peace. Last Sunday in Sunday School we were learning about how God allows trials to happen to help us grow in our faith. Little did we know that Sunday afternoon, Amy and I would begin the greatest trial of our lives so far. During the Sunday School lesson, we learned that even though the storms of life are somewhat inevitable, God is still watching over us and protecting us. We are grateful.

Reagan did very well today. I am so thankful for the fact that she had a great day and I have faith that she will continue with more great days ahead. She is such a precious little girl and I am so thankful to be her daddy. Someone actually said that they thought they got a glimpse of me in her today. I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not as my wife is much better looking than I am, but I was proud none the less:) The intricacies of her little body are nothing short of amazing. She is covered with the fingerprints of God from her round little head to her perfect little (and I mean really little) toes. She has the cutest little nose and chin that you will ever see as well as the ability to tap her foot to the beat of the ventilator according to Uncle Michael. I wish that you all could see the little life that you are praying for daily. Pictures don't do justice to what God has created in Baby Reagan. She is a blessed child of God and that gives me great hope and comfort knowing that He is watching over her every minute!

Thanks again for writing to us. I check this blog several times a day for new encouragement. If you would prefer to send an email, and receive email updates about Reagan, you may email me at robert@winslows.org. We love you all and are very thankful for your kindness and support. Your prayers and support have brought me to tears several times and there is no way that I could express my heartfelt gratitude to you all. Thank you so very much, and please continue to pray!!!

Love,

Robert and Amy

2008-03-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Thanks so much for all the encouraging notes. Baby Reagan gave us a scare today. She had some fluid around her heart that the Doctors removed early this morning. Due to the severity of this if it should recur the doctors decided it was best to transport Reagan to Baptist Children's Hospital where a heart specialist could watch her. The transport team said Reagan enjoyed her ambulance ride but she is under strict orders to not stress her mom and dad again. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. The doctors all say she is doing great especially for her age and size.
Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Amy

2008-03-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

Reagan with Roberts Wedding Ring
Reagan with Robert's Ring

Reagan saying her prayer
Reagan holds hands with mom

2008-03-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

2008-03-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

Reagan Olivia Winslow

1 pound 6 ounces

12 inches long

Reagan Olivia Winslow

2008-03-05T07:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,
Most of you have heard by now that Robert and I are proud parents of a baby girl, Reagan Olivia Winslow. Unfortunately, she decided to make her appearance early. She was born March 4 at 4:09am weighing 1 lb-5.9 ounces. She is 12" long. We ask that you continue to pray for her and mommy and daddy as we have a long stressful road ahead. She is currently stable and doing what a 24 week infant is expected to do. Please pray that God will guide the doctors, nurses, and staff taking care of her and continue to help her develop and mature. Nothing is too big or small for God to handle!
We will update this website regularly and add some pictures soon. We enjoy reading your emails. Thanks for all your love, prayer, and support.

Sincerely,
Amy and Robert