Sore, Sleeping Baby

Hey all, I just wanted to let you know that Grady did have his procedures this morning. He has been through a lot, but is doing well. Mommy, Daddy and I were allowed to go in together to see him after the nurses brought him back to the NICU. It looks like he will sleep most of the day. His nurse has extra pain meds just in case Grady requires it. All your prayers are very much appreciated. We continue to pray for this to be the last of the procedures so that Grady can concentrate on getting better and growing so we can take him home. This little boy will know how blessed he is to have you in his life. All of you mean so much to us.

Thank you and God bless you and your familes as he has ours.

Talk soon,

JoJo

Another Big Day

Grady has another big day coming up. He will have another 'procedure' done. The doctors call them procedures, not surgery. He has a little blockage that needs attending to. So, once again, prayer requests go out to all of you. Grady is a strong little guy and I know he will be fine. It is just a little nerve rattling to know that he will be under for few hours.

I tried four times to add the video I promised you. It will load, but will not play. I will have to get someone to help me add it. I am really sorry. I did want to brag on my little man. I guess you will have to see him in person. God willing, that will be soon.

As always, thank you for being here with us. Your prayers and support mean more than you will ever know. True friends are always with you when you need them the most.

Talk soon,

JoJo

Good News,Good News

By God's grace, Grady is going to be better. He has a little swelling issue that concerned his doctor so she ordered an MRI. They found that Grady needs his aqua ducts enlarged. He was born with ducts too small to maintain his body as it grows. Now that he is gaining weight and getting bigger, he is having some blockage. The doctors will go in and enlarge these ducts and Grady should be fine. Momma tells me, once this is corrected it should not return.

I am sorry I don't have the video to share. I am on my laptop and it does not have the sharing program yet. I promise to work on this tomorrow, but for tonight, I think I will get some rest.

You are truly God's gift to all of us. It strengthens me to know that you are in our corner. Thanks for all of your prayers and love. All of us recieved little notes, texts and calls letting us know you were praying for Grady and that a lot of you called your prayer groups to lift Grady in prayer. I know God has placed you in our lives.

Talk soon,

JoJo

Please Pray

Grady's doctor wants to run an MRI in the morning. They need to find out what is going on with him. Please pray for our little man and his parents. Tim tells me that Grady looks and acts fine. Tim also said, 'they will find out what is wrong and fix it!' So pray for our little guy and his parents as they go this scary time. I will let you all know something as soon as I find something out.

Grady stayed off of the respirator for several hours today, but they decided to put him back on until they are certain what is going on.

Until tomorrow,

JoJo

Mother's Day Weekend

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Moms. Hope your day was as blessed as mine.

Grady is doing very well. He is more alert and looking around. His coloring is wonderful. The boy had his eyes open when I got into his area. He would look at Daddy and then look at me. He had just had a bath though and he started getting sleepy when his nurse began his feeding. Grady is taking 35 ml of formula now. He has dropped most of the extra fluids he had. The nurse weighed him at 4 lbs and 6.6 oz without fluid. Yeah. He is just a little over 16 inches long. 41 cm is his exact length. I guess I was growing him too fast last week. I told you he was over 16 and 1/2 inches. Grady is not quite there, but he will be before we know it.

Now that Grady is 'post surgery', he is maintaining his stats much better. His nurse told us that he has not had a drop in a while. You know, when all his bells and whistles go off. That is very good news. Grady is healing and will get stronger every day. What a blessing.

Grady is breathing about 20-30 times over the respirator. It is set lower to encourage him to take breaths for himself. But when he is sleeping, Grady is letting the machine do all the work. So we have a little ways to go with this leason. The nurse started working on teaching Grady to suckle while he is eating. So, you may be getting a lot of pictures with a paci in his mouth. He needs to associate the suckling with his belly getting full. Just to brag, Grady is getting this lesson quickly. He enjoys his tummy getting full. Just wait until he gets to taste things. Suzanna and Tim will not be able to keep him full. Emma will teach him how good snacks are. I hope he likes cheese. That is Emma's favorite snack right now.

Our little man is a movie star. His JoJo learned how to video him using the cell phone. This blog will allow a video, but I want to let his GiGi and Pa review it before I put it out here. Grady's Uncle Brian and Uncle Charlie need to see it too. Maybe I can get it on here for Wednesday. The video will give you a short look into what a baby looks like when he is enjoying a paci. Stop laughing, you will watch every second, right? I knew it!

As always, you are the support that has gotten us this far. Thank you for your prayers and love. One day, Grady will get to meet all of you and know that you are his family, too.

Talk soon,

JoJo

We are blessed

Hi everyone. Tuesday, Grady had a procedure done called PDA-lectomy (I think). Something like that. He did wonderful! The doctor told us that the surgery went just like it was suppose to. Grady is recovering nicely. He is sleeping a lot right now, but they told us his recovery time should be about two days. There is a lot of information about this on the internet. Type in PDA Heart and it will bring up some good sites. It is an artery that stays open while the baby is in the womb. It is suppose to close after the baby is born. Grady's did not close. As he continued to have more breathing issues, his team of doctors decided they needed to go ahead and close it. Now, the internet will tell you that the baby will make a major turn around, but the doctors told us to give it time. Grady will need a little time to let his little body heal itself. (Of course, we know God will heal him.) Oh yeah, the team of doctors are all the NICU doctors that work with the pre-term and premature babies in the hospital. It is good to know that they all agree on these surgeries before they are done, unless it is very urgent. We found out that the doctors meet daily and discuss all the NICU babies.

The first picture is before his surgery and the second picture is the day after. You can tell that Grady was not showing any nervousness before his surgery. Not much rattles him as long as he is fed, dry and warm. Oh, and don't bump his incubator, like I did. That makes him jump. The second picture shows you that he has no worries about getting better. Grady is just laying there with his feet propped up, just like he likes it. Daddy says he is a 'little trooper' and I think Daddy is right.

Since his 'procedure', Grady has received 8 ml of formula. They want to see how well he tolerates the change in his food as well as having just had surgery. Then his feedings should return to normal for him. He did great with his first 8 ml. He was NPO all day before his procedure. Momma told me, he was smacking his lips and chewing on his tubing after he started waking up from the anesthesia. He was wanting his groceries, poor little fella.

His weight was up to 4 lbs and 7.4 ounces after the surgery, but we are waiting to see what it will be after his swelling goes down some. The nurse thinks Grady will drop some of that due to the fluids he was retaining. He has also gotten longer, but I don't remember what that was. I know it is over 16 and 1/2 inches long. I guess I was a little rattled even though Grady wasn't. Our little guy just lets us do all the worrying while he allows the nurses and his parents to see to his every whim. He is learning fast, isn't he! hehehe

OH, guess what!?!?! The ban was lifted and Emma got to meet her baby for the first time. And Grady got to meet the best big sister in the world! He opened his eyes when he heard her talk to him. I think he knows that voice. Emma can scrub up like any of the doctors in the hospital. She went in every time we went to the hospital or could go back and see our little man. I think I told you all that we have to 'scrub up' for three minutes before we can go into the NICU. Germs, you know! Now we are waiting for Petey's turn. Not really, calm down! I knew that would get you.

I can never tell you enough how much your prayers and love mean to all of us. You give us strength knowing you are there. God has blessed us with YOU! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Talk soon,

JoJo

Beautiful Day, Beautiful Boy!

Have you ever??? I love this picture. It is hard to see, but he has his finger touching just under his mouth, on his chin. It is too cute. He is thinking. I don't know if you all are aware of this, but if you click on his picture, you will get an enlarged look. You might be able to see his finger on his chin. Do you know how hard it is NOT to wake this resting child up? I want to just kiss him and nibble on his little jaw and chin!

I took my friend, Kim, to see Grady for the first time. She agrees with me. He is just the cutest little fella'! Once you all get to see and meet him, your heart will melt. He is cute in the pictures, but his personality can't be seen in a still shot. He will kick that left foot out after the nurse covers it up with the lamb skin. It is almost like he waits until she is not suspecting, then he pulls that little foot out. He scrunches up his nose when someone's bells and whistles goes off. And you should see him, when one of his neighbors cries. He does not like that sound one little bit. I wonder where he gets that from???

Grady is getting bigger. He now weighs 3 lbs and 15.5 ounces! He is almost a 4 pounder! Can you believe he has grown this fast? The nurses in the NICU have a lot to do with that. They are so diligent with these babies. A machine goes off and all heads turn to ensure that baby is covered by one of them. I saw one nurse rubbing noses with one of the babies yesterday. Tell me their hearts are not attached! Suzanna gets so many compliments on how cute Grady is. I know several of his nurses are already under his spell!

I am sure you are now wondering what is on top of his head. Yes, it is an IV. Grady needed some fluids and antibiotics. He had to get the IV in the top of his head because they tried once to get it in his arm and it would not go. It looks worse than it really is. This way, it is not where he can reach it and I like that a lot.

While we were there, Grady decided that he wanted to look around some. You may not know this, but now is the time that most babies start to gain control of their eye movement. Well, Grady is doing a pretty good job of controlling his. When one of us spoke to him, he would look at Mommy and then look at me. This is the first time I have seen him looking around so much. I know we looked pretty funny bent over his bed, dodging the shadows on the plexiglass and peeking inside. OK, stop laughing. You would be doing the same thing, I promise.

As always, I want to thank you for your prayers. We have a big week coming up this week, so if you could remember Grady and his parents, in your prayers this week, we will love you for it..... Well, love you more for it.

Talk soon,

JoJo