Our gifts from God - Stories Page 4

This section is dedicated to updates on Nathans progress and watching him grow. The most recent posting will be in Green.

Nathan was born The day before Thanksgiving, weighing 4 lbs 6 oz and was 16 3/4 inches long.

***December 2,2007, Nathan has been home 3 days now he weighed 5 lbs and 3.4 oz when we brought him home Friday. he goes to the doctor Tuesday for his check up.

*** December 13,2007 , Nathan is 3 weeks old now, When we went to the doctor last week he weighed 5lds 11 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long, I weighed him on our scales yesterday, and he weighed between 6.5 and 7 pounds. He is eating like crazy. He eats 3 to 4 ounces every 3 hours.He is staying a way for longer periods of time and is becoming more alert.

***December 23,2007 Nathan went to the doctor friday for his one month check up, he now weighs 7 lbz 5 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.He is eating 4 to 8 ounces at a time just depending on the time of day.He is now staying awake for 2 to 3 hours at a time and has become very alert.The doctor said he is doing great .He was very pleased with how well he is doing.They switched him to lactose free formula , like Ruthie he too is lactose intolerant.He was VERY gassy on the regular formula, he is doing much better now.

*** January 13,2008, Nathan is 7 1/2 weeks old now. Nathan currently weighs 9 lbs 12 oz and is 21 inches long .We have spent the last week in The Pediatric ICU unit at Scottish Rite Childrens hospital in Atlanta.Nathan was admitted here Tuesday, January 8,2008.Nathan caught a little cold back just before Christmas. He was doing some better and around new years he got a little worse. I carried him to the doctor on Jan 2, they said he had a cold it wasn't in his chest I thought at that time he had a sinus inection,They didn't feel it was that serious being that he didnt have a fever. That weekend he got a little worse. I carried him to The Childrens health care of Atlanta emergency room in Fayetteville on Monday night after he sounded the alarm on his motion monitor twice, and they said he had a slight upper respitory infection and a sinus infection. They said is blood oxygen was fine, and sent us home with orders to see our Doctor first thing the next morn. Tuesday morn, he seemd a even worse I called the Doctor, They said bring him in at 10:45, as we were getting ready once again the motion monitor went off, which means he wasn't moving, which means he had stopped breathing for a second.The monitor is set to sense any movement at all including his breathing. At the doctors he continued to go down hill his blood ox was very low, they decided to send him to the hospital and over a matter of just a few min it got serious enough that he was life flighted to Scottish Rite Childrens Hospital in Atlanta.He was in very cridical condition when he got here.They first thought he had RSV, but all his RSV test were negative. They finally discovered he had Bacterial Pneumonia.The Doctor told us that it is the same bacteria that causes sinus infections,So that is what causes this episode. We have been in ICU for 6 days and I can honestly say,I know what Hell feels like. The first 36 hours or so was absolutely Hell on earth. I have never been so terrified in all my life. On day hree, however things began to turn around . That morn I was crying and praying and I heard God wisper to my heart " And on the third day"And I said on the thrid day God raised Jesus from the dead.God has given us Jeremiah 29:11 for Nathan." For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a FUTURE! He has also shown me Jeremiah 30:17' "I will restore your health and heal all your wounds, says the Lord" I know God has Nathan in his hand us is taken care of him.He has continued to work a mighty miracle in him. He is doing better every day. They are in the process of weaning him off the respirator, and are saying tomorrow they will be taken him off of it altogether.We know he is healed the recovery is all in Gods timing. While we are here, we will just share the love of Jesus with everyone who gives us the time of day.If you ever find your self with needing someone to pray for just simply lift up parents and children in places like this all over the world. God knows who they are and what there needs are, so just ask him to be there for them and meet there needs. I will update this page in a day or two so check back often.

*** January 15,2008 Update They took nathan off the respirator today, But he had to be re intubated, only moments later. They turned off all his meds early this morn and didn't get in to take out the tube for 7 1/2 hours. During that time he was awake and moving and pulling against the tube. Once they took the tube out his throat was extremely irratated and when they removed the tube it began to swell.So they had to put it back in. The plan now is to wait a day or so and give him steriods,then they will try to extubating him again. I am believing that next time it will be a success. This is a minor set back, he was doing so well with the weaning off process and when they got to where he was breathing on his own, but the machine was still there if he had trouble he was doing amazing, but they just waited to long, and all the moving and everything against the tube made an aggrivated condition worse.His lungs are looking really good, his blood count is just as it should be. I am just trusting that the extra couple of days will make it even easier once he comes off because he will be even better.

I took this
Pic as soon as they let us back in after taking him off the Resprator he is smiling!

*** January 18,2008 Nathan is Off the respirator! Praise God!!!He is doing very well. The removed the breathing tube this morn, And he is doing great. They are weaning him off the drugs they had him on now and weaning him back up to full feads ,then the bottle. hoping to be home mid next week. He is working his pacifier over time he is ready for a bottle!

*** Jan19,2008 Day 12 on ICU Nathan is doing amazing! They said he can have a bottle tonight, he is counting down the hours. As long as he does well tonight, they will take out the nasal canon tomorrow, which is just blowing humidified room air into his nose, and if that goes well we move to a reg room tomorrow and will go home in a couple of days.He got a bath today and was able to get dressed. He is in a basinet now instead of the warming bed. He is a much happier camper. He is having some with drawal from the drugs they had him on, but that is to be expected.That should pass in a couple more days.

*** January 20,2008 Day 13 In the Hospital, No more ICU!!! Nathan is doing amazing . He has been moved to a private room. He is off all tubes and back on the bottle. They had left the feeding tube in his nose to give him his meds through, but he had other ideas, he pulled that out today him self. They said that was fine, He can have his meds by mouth. He is only in zantac, Mylacon, and Methadone( Which is for the with draw al he is having to the fentnyal he was on to keep him sedated while he was sick) Over the next few days they will wean him off the methadone the we can go home!!! We will be meeting with a Pulmonologist for a consult. We want to do everything possible to make sure we don't end up here again. He isn't having any problems, but we want to meet with a specialist just for good measure. They will be sending him home on an apnea monitor as an added precaution. He hasn't had any episodes sense he was admitted when he was sick , but being that he was a preemie,low birth weight,and has had this illness he is at greater risk, so just as a precaution, he gets a monitor.He will now get the RSV vaccine, which he didn't qualify for before he got sick. We are not sure if he will have to continue breathing treatments once we get home at this time or not, That is up to the Dr. His prognosis is excelent.We will be taken extra precautions to make sure he doesn't get sick, like not taken him out any where for a while, and being very selective about people holding him, obsessive about hand washing and the likes .But all in all he should be just fine.

*** January 22,2008 Nathan came home from the hospital today!!! Nathan was discharged from Scottish Rite this afternoon. He is doing amazing.They sent him home on an apnea monitor, just as an added safe guard.He will continue breathing treatments for at least a month, until we see the pulmulnologist.He is on Zantac to reduce the chances of him throwing up, and we are continuing weaning off the methadone.His lungs sound good.( I bought my own stethiscope so I can keep an ear on him ) He is doing amazing the fact that we are home two weeks after this nightmare started is proof of what an awesome God we serve.The doctor said had he been admitted to the hospital the night before when I took him to the ER he probably wouldn't have gotten as bad off as he did, he also said had we not gotten him to the Dr. when we did on Tuesday, we probably would have lost him.So the very fact that I am sitting here holding him at home tonight is a miracle.Thanks for all your prayers.What a mighty God we serve!

***Feb 2,2008, Tuesday Jan 29,2008 Nathan was re admitted to Scottish Rite. Friday the 25th, he developed a noise in his throat. I carried him to the pediatrician, She said she felt it was upper airway inflamation, she sent us to Scottish Rite to have it checked out, they agreed and placed him on steriods,Monday we were back at the Dr. The noise was still there, so she sent us to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr. We saw the ENT on Tuesday He reffered us to an ENT at Scottish Rite. Late Tuesday afternoon, his breathing began to change, He was breathing very hard and fast and making a strange noise. I called an ambulance to take him to the hosptal. he was diagnosed with a a condition called Stridor.Which is inflammation of the upper airway and vocal chords. They also thought he may have a touch of Pneumonia again. They gave him antibiotics and steriods, and transfered him back to Scottish Rite.He was admitted, and treated for Stridor. They have ran alot of test on him, including a CT scan, Floroscopy,X-rays, Scope down the nose, and a PH probe.All of which have been negative.They now, do not feel he has pneumonia, He does have some congestion, which is odd because his lungs sound clear.They have talked of starting him back on antibiotics, and changing his breathing treatments up some, starting him on a different steriod.(although thye do not believe his problem is infection, as his white count is perfect.)Now they are not sure about that. The pulmonologist, says he doesn't feel his breathing difficulties are in his lungs.They don't know what is wrong. He is not gassing off his Co2 properly, breathing to hard and to fast, and there is no apparnet reason for any of this,they think maybe it is a metabolic disorder, possibly genetic diorder, or maybe neurological,maybe possibly even cardio related.They do feel that he has some issue that needs to be addressed in his upper airway that is causing the noise, so the ENT will be doing a more indepth scope Monday or Tuesday, they however do not feel that is the cause of his breathing difficulty, as it would not affect the Blood gasses, and his oxygen is 100 % They just don't know what is wrong with him. Currently he is the mystery case here at Scottish Rite.They are doing an Eco Cardio gram in the morn, more X rays, and more blood work. He is currently in Stable but serious condition.We have been here for 5 days now looking like we will be here at least several more days at best.If your reading this I ask that you please pray for Nathans healing, as well as my own sanity. I will post more up dates as we know more .If you would like to participate in the prayer vigil for Nathan email me @ Msmeri67@aol.com or post a comment on the comments page and let me know the time you will be praying

*** Febrauary 3,2008 Nathan had his Eco-Cardio gram today.It showed his heart muscle has thickened slightly. This is causing him to have a high heart rate, Higher blooded preassure,and probably contributing to him breathing fast. Three things can cause a thickened heart muscle, Dehydration,Steroids, And genetics. The question is what is causeing his. He is not dehydrated,He is been on steroids,So is that the cause? don't know. They are running genetic testing on him. They have moved his breathing treatments to being done as needed. He seems to be breating easier. That is a Praise. The breathing treatmens have steriods., So hoping that will help, they also increase the heart rate, which we don't want. He is still on the oral steroid.Talking of making a change with that. Some talk of putting him on a Beta blocker.The Heart Dr has to meet with the lung Dr, to figure our what is the best course of treatment.If his heart condition is caused by the meds, once he is off the meds it will self correct, if it is caused by a genetic problem, then it is something we will have to manage medically for ever.Still don't don't know about the Co2 problem trying to figure it all out. The ENT is doing the scope Tuesday morn to look for airway obstructions.Will post more as we learn more.If your reading this I ask that you please pray for Nathans healing, as well as my own sanity. I will post more up dates as we know more .If you would like to participate in the prayer vigil for Nathan email me @ Msmeri67@aol.com or post a comment on the comments page and let me know the time you will be praying

***February 9,2008, Nathan is improving, his Co2 problem is gone, Don't know what the cause of it was, but God took care of it. His stridor is improving slowly but surly. They are planning on doing a bronchial scope soon to check for scar tissue or other problems that may be casuing the stridor. They are trying to wait for a bit though, so that they don't inflame his airway anymore than it already is.He was suppose to go home today, but has caught a slight cold and it is irrating his stridor, so he is unable to get off the epi breathing treatments just yet, and we can't leave the hospital until he no longer needs those .Please keep praying for him. He still has a way to go,as long as he is battling this stridor, he will be in danger of having to be re hospitalized if he gets a cold.

*** February 13,2008 were going home!!! Nathan is doing much better, We are being discharged from the hospital!

***March 15,2008 Nathan is almost 4 months old, and now weighs 13 lds 13oz and is 24 inches long. He is finaly healthy Praise GOD! He got is first set of immunizations today. ( been to sick to get them!) he did good his little legs are sore, but other than that is did very well with them.He is off the steroids, and is only on his pulmicort breathing treatments for the stridor, pevacid, and nasonex.He still does albuterol as needed, for reasons unknown at this time he will wheeze every now and then. He goes back to the pulmunologist next week, maybe they will have answers about the wheezing.We still hear the stridor more than I would like, he goes to the ENT dr April 9th they will decide about doing the scope then.I hope they will wait a bit longer, I am so affraid they are gonna irritate his airway doing it and cause us to go backwards. Chances are he has a condition called trachea malasia, which if that is the case he will have to outgrow it.What ever it is I wish it would go away. He is what they call a happy wheezer, which means he sounds terrible sometimes but it doesn't interfere with his O2 saturation.Any way, he goes back to the cardiologist next month for anotehr eco. The last one looked much better, than the ones in tthe hospital, they feel his Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is steroid induced and will clear up over time now that he is off the steroids.In other news he is doing very well developmentaly, he is 15 weeks old, and adjusted age he is 7 weeks old( he was 8 weeks premature, the adjusted age is how old he would be if he had been born when he was due.It is what is use in terms of how he is doing developmentaly)He is smiling alot, and starting to giggle ,(making his nose say toot -toot is very funny, as is kissing the chin) he has developed an interest in his toys and will bat at the toys on his exersauser, and hold his rattles. He has started to reach for things and try to get them. He is really developing a neat personality.Very sweet, loving and VERY happy, just like Ruthie .He is doing everything a 7 week old should do and then some. The Dr is very pleased with his progress.Premees usualy catch up around 18 months to two years or so.He really isn't too far behind, so he should catch us fairly easy.

He is such a big boy!

***April 21,2008. Nathan is now 5 months old, he weighs 16 lbs 7 oz and is 25 inches long.He got his second set of shots today, He is doing AMAZING! We went to the Cardiologist yesterday and his heart is COMPLETELY healed. The Hyper Trophic Cardio Myopmathy is completely gone as is the heart murmur. The Dr, was amazed, she said it was a grace of God Miracle. She said that she rarely ever sees that happen. He saw the Opthomologist yesterday too, they also said he is great no problems ( Preemies sometimes have problems with there eyes and an over development of the blood vessels) His eyes are perfect. He is growing like crazy, as you can see from the fact that he has gained almost 2 1/2 pounds in the last month. ( And he isn't on steroids now!) He is eating baby food now, he really likes his Squash , bananas, and sweet potatoes. However applesauce and pears are really yucky as far as he is concerned . He is starting to try to roll over, he can sit up for a few seconds at a time, he is working on that balance thing. He really like playing in his Jumper, he as figured out how to jump. He is quite the talker, He smiles all the time and giggles all the time. He loves to be tickled under the chin,he laughs uncontrollably at that. He is so amazing. We are getting closer to sleeping through the night, he now wakes between 4 and 6 most nights. I have to admit I am looking forward to him sleeping from 11 to 6 ish without waking up! He is still on the apnea monitor, He hasn't had any episodes of apnea, but I have to admit that monitor helps me sleep better!. The Dr, has assured me they will leave him on it as long as I need it.He is truly a miracle baby, and proof that God is still in the business of answering prayers.

***June 10,2008 Nathan is now 6 1/2 months old. He weighs 19.8 pounnds and is 26 1/4 inches long. He is doing great. Health wise he is great, he has asthma which is an on going battle, but we are managing it. Other than a little reflux he is great. He is rolling all over the place, trying to sit up and has learned to say "mama" which I absolutly LOVE! He is such a sweet boy all smile and giggles. He loves watching Ruthie he is all the time " talking " to her. I think we are in trouble when he gets a little bigger, I have a feeling he and Ruthie will be thick as thieves. He is now an uncle , we are going to teach Belle ( his niece , my grandbaby ) to call him "Uncle Bubba" . We have dubbed him "Bubba". He is such a blessing I am not sure how on earth I lived before he was born!

*** August 6,2008 Nathan is now 8 1/2 months old, he is such a big boy! he weighs 21 lbs 8 oz there about and is about 28 inches long I think.He has mastered the art of sitting up, and is starting to stand while holding on to the furniture. He still loves his jumpy, that boy will jump 'til the cows come home!In addition to Mama he can now say bye bye, dada, baba, and Bubba!He wil say Mama, mama, mama bubba, bubba bubba together when he wnts me to come get him. He is absolutly the love of my life, I don't know how my world went around before he came along. He is doing good health wise, still battling the Asthma, but that is the nature of the beast.. He is Such a sweet boy, He now has his own room, that was a bit of an adjustment for me!He is doing great and is such a blessing, you would never know that he almost died 7 months ago!

*** August 21 ,2008 we have a tooth, Nathan is now 9 months old, and weights 22 lbs and is 29 inches long.He cut is first tooth Monday. He is doing amazing.Growing growing growing,It seems like he grows right before my eyes sometimes I look at him and think wow, you look bigger than you did this morn!He is someting else, all smiles and giggles. He really wants to figure out how to crawl,Actually I think he would wrather he could just go straight to walking or maybe running,. He wants to stand up all the time.Once he figures out how to go, I think we are all in trouble around here!

*** September 13,2008 Nathan is growing like a weed.He is now over 22 pounds. We now have a baby scale of our own so I can really keep up with how big he is getting. He is doing well health wise his asthma seems to be in better control. We have to really work to keep him fomr catching colds he is becoming prone to ear infections and everytime he gets one it causes an upper respitory infection.He is on a big kick to feed him self these days he is big and can do it by him self! He is trying to figure out how to get into a crawling postion from a seated postion. He is so cute. I often wonder will he ever know how very much he is loved.

*** October 22, 2008,My baby boy is 11 months old! I can hardly believe in one month my little man will be one year old!Nathan is now 23.8 lbs, and 29 1/2 inches long. He is really talking a lot, says mama,dada, bottle, bye, more, yea,bubba,ball. and lots of things I don't understand but I am sure he knows exactly what he is saying. He caught croup to weeks ago and that landed us in Scottish rite hospital of 3 days. It wreaked havoc with his asthma. He is doing much better now. We are still battling the ear infections. He had one when he caught croup.The ENT Dr, says we are going to have to have tubes if this keeps up. I am really hoping to not have to do that if we can avoid it.He is going to be receiving services from babies can't wait to help him in his gross motor skills, he is still not crawling, or walking or pulling up. He will pull up if you hold his hands but he want just pull up on furniture. He is just started to attempt to cruise.So we had him evaluated and they found him to be on target in all areas, except gross motor skills, he is at about the age of 6 months. I know he will catch up soon. He just needs a little help. He is starting to pick up sign language. He signs bottle when he is drinking his bottle and last night started signing "more"when he saw Ruthie's drink and he wanted some, this morning he used the sign for "more" when he wanted breakfast, he hasn't quite figured out when to use the "more" sign he just knows to use it when he wants food or drink. He will figure it out soon, considering he is 11 months old physically but 9 months old developmentally ( because of being 8 weeks premature) for him to be signing at all is really impressive! But when he was tested in social and vocal skills he tested closer to 12 months than 9 months, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.Any way I guess that is about all for now.

*** November 22,2008 Well Nathan is one now, it is hard to believe my baby boy is one year old! He now has 4 teeth with number 5 just starting to break through. He weighs about 24 pounds or so. He has started physical therapy for his gross motor skills, to help him with his walking and such. He tested on target in all areas of development except gross motor skills, and he is some what behind there.He hasn't started crawling, he seems to have a tactile defense reaction in his left arm from some of the IV's he had when he was so sick, he gets therapy for that too. He is doing very well with his therapy making great progress.He is such a mess, He is talking more, he as started saying "sissy" and sometimes will repeat "Nathan"when we say it to him. He as started "conversating" he babbles in conversation mode as if he is telling you something. When he does this you can usually pick up key words like Daddy or bye bye, or sometimes play. He knows what he is saying, just wish I did! He had a nice part for his first birthday, unfortunately he was not feeling well. He had contracted Roseola a few days before his party and was some what of a grumpy boy, but all in all I think he still enjoyed his day.

*** Jan 5,2009 Nathan is now 13 1/2 months old.He weighs 25 lbs and is 31 inches long and has finally learned to crawl!!!. He is also cruising the furniture VERY well now. He can stand without holding on for several seconds when excited several min when he isn't paying attention. He is going EVERY where now. He is such an happy boy now that he can get about. He spends a great deal of the day playing in Ruthies room with her.( Her room is right off the living room, so I can keep an eye on him in there)He now has 6 teeth. He has accomplished all his 6 month goals for his physical therapy (and he as only been receiving therapy for 3 months.)He is catching up by leaps and bounds.He is still battling the stridor, his reflux appears to be aggravating things. He is having another scope of his upper airway done in a few weeks.As long as we can keep colds and such at bay we should be able to stay out of the hospital. We ended up being admitted the first if December for 4 days for a bout of croup again.He is doing great though, And is such an amazing little guy. I fall more in love everyday.He had a blast at Christmas and so did we. He got lots of toys and clothes and really enjoyed him self.

*** February 25, 2009 Nathan is now 15 months old, and still weights about 25 pounds. He is in a holding pattern on his weight right now.He has grown up in so many ways over the last month and 1/2 He is now walking EVERY where. No more crawling for this boy!He is such a mess! He is talking more and using more and more sign language. He is picking up signing like crazy! The other night he woke me up in the middle of the night when I went to his room he signed for me to pick him up and change his diaper.He can sign , Bath, Bottle, eat , drink, more, sleep diaper change , pick me up,and hurt to name a few. He is also talking alot more. We finally got to the root of his so called
"reflux". After three PH probes all of which said he didn't have Reflux.The DR finally came to the conclusion that something else has been making him throw up for his entire life. ( I will add here that 7 months ago I suggested to his tummy Dr that we try taking him off milk and see if that helped. She insisted it wouldn't make any difference) Well I happen to have to switch him to soy formula for a few days because he had a tummy virus and had a bad case of the potties, well surprise surprise, all his so called reflux vanished. As soon as he started back on whole milk he started throwing up again. So we switched him to soy milk and he fianally stopped throwing up, only trouble is is ran out the other end as fast as I could puit it in the top end.It appears he may have something called MSPI ( milk soy protein intolerance) He is now on Rice milk and doing great. We are having allergie test ran to find out if he has allergies or just an extreme intolerance. So He is walking and talking and growing like crazy and getting healthier by the day So that is what is new in Nathans world.

***April 7,2009 Not to much new going on. We saw the allergist last week. They are doing all the allergy testing and we will see where to go from here. Nathan contines to grow like crazy and is getting into EVERYTHING! I have had to baby proof in a way I never had to with my older children. He is such a climber and so so curious.I fall more in love everyday with this little guy. He is such a gift from God!

*** July 28,2009 Nathan is now 20 months old. He still weights about 25 pounds. He is getting taller every day it seems though.Haven't measured him in while, but I can tell you he is getting very tall.He is quite a mess these days. We have had to rearrange the house because he is such a climber .The boy would swing from the light fixtures if he could get up to them lol.He climbs on EVERYTHING! We have had to move furniture from rooms, anchor furniture to walls , push furniture against walls. All in an attempt to keep him safe. He is very smart ( sometimes to smart for his own good) He is talking up a storm, his favorite word is "Funny" which he always says after he does something he isn't suppose to ( like pull Ruthies pony tails." Nathan why do you pick on Ruthie"? his reply as he runs off giggling "funny")He truly is his mamas pride and joy.In other news we got all of his allergy test back, he is allergic to Milk ( surprise , surprise), Soy, Dogs, cats and dust mites. We had to get rid of our animals, and he now drinks Rice milk. he is doing MUCH better sense making these changes!All in all he is doing remarkable.Growing , learning and getting into everything! He definately is ALL boy!

*** Sept 21,2009Nathan is 22 months old now and growing like a weed. He is eating us out of house and home these days! lol. He is a VERY busy boy he runs and jumps every where he goes.He is very much a sweet heart and quite the ladies man. He likes to blow kisses to any pretty girl he sees.Is is becoming quite the talker these days as well.He seems to add more words to his vocabulary just about every day. We have nick named him the comedian. He is always up to something to make us laugh.He is such a mess. I have decided his calling in life is to be a Christian comedian/ gospel singer. He LOVES to sing! He can keep timing better than most adults. He can clap any rythym you present him.I don't doubt for a min he will be very musical.Health wise he is doing great. They have recently decreased his asthma control meds. He still battles the tracial malasia a little, had a slight bout of croup last week, we did have to go to the ER but managed to avoid a hospital stay.All in all he is doing great.Busy planning his birthday party. He wants either a wiggles party or Barney. We are going to see the Wiggles in concert agian in Noember as part of his birthday, so we may do Wiggles theme, not sure he can't seem to make up his mind.maybe we should do a Wiggles/Barney theme lol.

Include your state, I would love to know how far "The Miracle Of Ruthie ",The Miracle on Nathan "and "The Miracle Of Sarah" Reaches