another wonderful day

"Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with my right hand of justice." Isaiah 41:10

Today Coy is 13 days old! I can hardly believe my baby is almost 2 weeks old! Although it has been a very trying and exhausting two weeks, they have been wonderful! I still have to pinch myself sometimes and think how lucky I am! I am a mom & have a beautiful baby boy! Some of you might think I'm crazy---of course these aren't the circumstances I would have chosen for the birth of our child--but that's just it--I didn't chose them because I'm not in control--God is. At first, we were angry, mad, confused....we were on track to have a healthy, bouncing baby in March---what happened?? I can't even speak about how badly I wanted to rewind time---If I could just go back and change time...how we felt like we were in a bad dream and couldn't wake up. But then we realized, this was God's plan---we don't quite understand it, but we have to trust in him, that he will take care of our baby; that this is the way it was meant to be. Coy is such a wonderful gift from God, regardless of the circumstances in which he came into this world.

So today the doctors stopped Coy's antibiotics because his blood and urine cultures did not grow anything! Thanks be to God! Please continue to pray he stays infection free; the doctors say it's almost guaranteed that he will get one infection during his stay in the NICU; please God prove them wrong again!

His urine output did improve today; one of the antibiotics they stopped (Vancomycin) can cause decreased urine output---so hopefully this medication was our culprit and his output will improve to exactly where it should be! Please ask God for this tonight!

Coy will have a repeat brain scan tomorrow to check for brain bleeding again---it's a routine test, we got awesome results at 10days, please pray again to keep Coy free of any bleeding in his brain!

So daddy got to do Kangaroo care today and held baby Coy for 3 hours! Chris's chest hair was tickling Coy's face; the nurses were laughing so hard at this. It was amazing to see Chris hold our son; he's been such a wonderful father and I know how proud he is of Coy. The nurses and me included all agree that Coy is a "spitting image" of Chris--one of them said it didn't look like I had anything to do with it--thanks!!!

Since Memorial Hermann is a research hospital affiliated with UT medical school, we have had numerous offers to enroll Coy in studies different doctors are doing---yes, kinda scary when you hear "study" but we believe research is a good thing. If no one accepted research or participated in studies, babies like Coy would not be living today---so we agreed to participate in a blind study where he will receive 14 doses of Hydrocortisone, a steroid that is to help lung and brain function. Since it is a blind study, there is a 50/50 chance Coy will receive the drug; he may receive the placebo. The doctors are very optimistic about this medication; the benefits greatly outweigh the risks; there is a chance if he does receive the hydrocortisone, they will be able to wean him off the ventilator very soon---this would be amazing! Please pray that God will protect our baby, that they will find this drug very beneficial and help babies like Coy in the future.

I know I say this after every post, however, I can't state enough how thankful we are to all of you! Chris and I feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, and support from some of you who we've never met! Please praise God for all he's done and keep praying for Coy!