I will sing Praise no weapon forged against me shall remain!

When God and I spoke this morining I was reminded that my flesh is still of this world and God is in complete control. I have no control over the things of this world, I must trust our Lord and Savior and his plans for the future of my children. God opened my eyes to the great plans he has for my life and now the life of the generation to come. It is my duty to raise my children to fear and love the Lord. That is my reason for living so that both my children and I can grow in the knowledge of how love, forgiveness, and the importance the lives of others are to God. Jax is doing great compaired to a lot of other children in the hospital. Jax is in God's hands and not mine. Forgive me for the doubt of the devil and keep the prayers coming! Every prayer you pray for our family is truly heard and appreciated. I spent 7 hours today holding my GIFT from God. I did nothing but sit and think of the wonderful love and power God has already delivered. We love you all and appreciate you very much. May God bless your lives as he has ours.

worries

Jax appears to have another infection. He started having bradies yesterday and the doctors have not came in today. Looks like they will not start his feeds today and start antibiotics. His results will not come in until tomorrow. His white blood cells are low and he was given blood last night. He has not had anymore bradies since then. Will update once I speak with the doctor today. His stomach is still soft so they are not afraid that it is in his intestins but they can not be sure. I know that I keep asking for prayers and you are already praying for him but please get on your hands and knees today and ask that this not be another infection. If he contines to get the infections the antibiotics may quit working. We want him off of the liquid as soon as possible because it does affect his liver. They check once a week on his liver and he is not showing any signs of jondice.

Dear Savior,
I pray that you continue to put your healing hands on my little man and give him strength. I thank you for your continuious protection and his strong body. I pray that he does not have to come home with any tubes and that his health will grow so that he may come home safe and I will not miss out on any more of my babies life. I just want to hold and cuddle with him and be the mother for my son that you have blessed me with. I pray that I may be the mother to my children that will raise them to know and understand that you are all powerful. Thank you for my friends and family and all that do not know Jax but are praying for him. My love for you will continue but I need strengh at this time. In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen

Thanks to God and our Savior Jesus Christ

Thank you God for our daughter and son
Thank you God for our family and friends
Thank you God for allowing your son to die and rise again to allow us to live for you
Thank you God for your forgiveness and continuious love
Thank you God for laying your hands on our son
Thank you God for answerd prayers
Thank you God for allowing us to know everything is in your time
Thank you God for changing our lives
Thank you God for using our son to change others lives

Thank you all

Sorry for the lack of information. Jax had his upper GI and it appears that his feedings are going through but there is scar tissue at his incision sight. No news on if he will have another surgery since his feeds are going through. The doc has put him on no feeds until tomorrow and we will start him all over with 1/2 a cc for a few days. The doctor believes his intestines are not constricting and is giving them a rest. Thank you for your continues prayers. We have a great and powerful God who will bring us through this and send Jax home just as if nothing was wrong. I believe that and it appears that you do too. Jax has already touched so many lives including ours. God has a great plan and he has already begun to make Jax a powerful source of life changing experiences.

Pray for Jax today

I know Nathan and Amber are extremely busy at the moment so I wanted to post telling everyone to say a little prayer for him today. He is not taking his feeds well, he keeps spitting up after every feed, so dr.s have taken him from around 14cc's to 2cc's.
The hospital just called to say they are going to do an upper GI, to see if there is a blockage in his intestine. Pray that whatever the problem is that he doesn't have to have surgery again. Jax is doing so good, we really don't want anymore set backs. Pray for Nathan and Amber that the Lord will give them the strength they need to get through another valley and of course for Jax that God will heal him from whatever is going on right now.

Quick Update

Sorry again about the gap in posts! Time flies by and before you know it, we have not posted in a few days. The feedings are continuing to go well, and Jax is now up to 14cc every 3 hours. He is taking his bottle well and even has a therapist that works with him to make sure he is sucking, breathing, and swallowing with no trouble. The pooping is still going okay, but they could be a little more solid. The frequency is good so the feedings are not just rushing through him, and he should be adsorbing a good amount. Jax will go up again on his feedings tomorrow, and just continue to increase the amount as long as he tolerates it and his poops are good.

Its important that Jax maintains and increases steadily on his feedings because the milk nutrition versus IV nutrition is like being on a seesaw. As his milk volume goes up the IV volume goes down. We want the IV nutrition down as soon as we can because extended exposure can cause liver damage, but we are a long long way away from that.

I am guessing that he will need to get up to around 50 - 60 cc of milk to get 100% off the IV nutrition. That is if he is gaining weight off the milk, which I am sure he will be based on what we have seen so far. Jax is at 14 cc now so he is about a quarter of the way there. Once you get on a roll the increases come more frequently but if there is sign of concern they hold him where he is for a day and then continue as long as everything looks good.

I met a lady on the elevator today that worked at Children's today that tried to show me a shortcut to the parking garage and got me totally lost....on our way out we were talking about Jax and she said isn't the Lord just wonderful....Look at everything he has done for that baby....God is amazing isn't he....I was like yes yes and yes. She also said and you know He is going to continue doing great things as long as you keep trusting Him. We were where we thought I was going by then so I said thank you and she left to another floor in the garage. I thought that was pretty cool and a good reminder of what God has already done and how you can see Him working every day on Jax.

Please keep praying that his feedings continue to go well and he can get of the IV nutrition as soon as his ready. Please also keep praying that he will digest his food and adsorb his nutrition from the milk, and continue to gain weight. Please pray that God will shield him from infection and sickness. We thank God for everything he has done so far and thank you for your prayers and support along the way. Amber and I could not have made it if it were not for the support of our families and friends. We love you and we will try to update more often and not so long!

Quick Update

The feedings are going pretty well and they decided to increase him to 5cc every 3 hours. He is sill fluctuating on his residuals but things look pretty good. He is also pooping (I know gross) but a good thing for Mr Jax because this means things are passing through. Keep the prayers coming because they are probably going to let him keep increasing as long as he keeps everything processing. We will keep you updated as the week goes on.

bottle feeding

Nate got to feed Jax out of a bottle for the first time the other night. He is still taking his milk this way even though he is not digesting it he is learning to eat. This is a GREAT thing because he knows how to suck, swallow, and breath on his own. The nurses at NEGA said he would have to be able to do these things before he could come home. This is a sign that his brain is functioning very well. He is having less and less residual and the night before last he had none. The residual is a very light yellow and a little milky so this is very exciting. When I fed him last night he drank the bottle so fast he almost drank all 5cc's when he is only suppose to have 3. Our little angel is fighting with everything he has and God's hand is on him we can all feel it.

As far as we know he will still have another surgery but the testing will not begin until Monday. What would they all say if he just starts eating, the swelling goes down and he is healed? I asked God to heal him with his hands and he is showing signs he is doing so. (in his time) I have not given up on God and his power please do not either because someone in that hospital may need to see God's GREAT power and Jax may already be doing God's will.

love song

"Bring me to the cross, where your blood poured out. Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down. Rid me of myself, I belong to you. Oh lead me to your heart."

Prayer

Dear God our Father and Protector,

I pray now for your healing touch. I pray that you put your hands on Jax and take his pain away. God you are the creator of miracles and your love for us is beyond our understanding. I pray that I may also understand your time and not mine and continue to hold on to your promise for Jax. I am posting my prayer dear Lord so that others may know your power and love. I love my son but you allowed your son to die for us and our sins. I only ask that you will heal Jax, in your time, and make him a great man who will do great things for you. You are the all powerful and all knowing creator and I trust you will keep your promise and teach me to be patient in the process. I only ask that this not be a lesson to me but a testimony for everyone because we all believe in your healing hands. I thank you Lord for my family and friends. I thank all that are praying for us, even people we have never met. I thank you Lord for providing strength to this family and allowing us to know you will never leave us nor forsake us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Good Update

We got a good update today. The x-rays did not show any signs of a blockage!! The feeding tube was sitting a little too low and they think that was why he was having the green residuals. The nurse tonight said that she got a tiny bit of yellow residual tonight and that is a good sign that the tube was the cause of the bad residual. If things continue to go well over the night he will start feeding tomorrow again. Keep the prayers coming that he will accept his feeds and his belly will process the food and pass it along.

mountains and valleys

The time between updates have been pretty eventful, so sorry for the lack of updates. Overall Jax is still doing well, but it seems like a 2 step forward and 1 step back process. He is still on antibiotics but his infection seems to be gone based on his lab work. He is active, he has no oxygen support, he has no IV's other than his pick line, his color is great, he has not had a Brady in a few days and all of his stats look great.

By Monday the infection became under control enough to start feeding and we were excited to get back on the right track. He had feeds for about 12 hours and unfortunately they did not go so well. He had a large amount of residual that built up and they had to stop the feeding because it was not flowing through properly.

Today we had a good opportunity to talk to the nurses and they are not sure what the doctor will advise, but they may just give him a little break and try again later or start doing some upper GI tests. The GI tests will show if there are any blockages in his belly from the surgery that may need to be remove.

Its crazy how many mountains and valleys you go through in this process....One day you feel like your doing great then the next you feel like things are going in the wrong direction. I just thank God that there has been so much to be grateful so far and remind myself that there is nothing I can do but be there and Jax is in God's hands.

Please continue to pray for Jax. Pray that God will touch his belly and give him strength as he learns to digest and process his food. Pray for no blockages or bottlenecks in his belly. Pray for protection from infection and illness. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!!!

Holding Steady

Just wanted to let you know that Jax is still doing well and seems to be fighting off the infection. We are still waiting on the blood results, but we should have some news tomorrow. There have been no more bradys and his stats are normal so that is a good sign also that things are moving in the right direction. They will probably keep his antibiotics on for about a week and try to start the feedings back when he is good and well. He looks great and we get to hold him a lot when were up at the hospital. The nurse and docs are all awesome, one thing that is awesome is to see how God works in other people to help in a time of need. Whether its the wisdom that he gives the doctors and nurses or the love that he shows in our family and friends, its an amazing thing to witness from our perspective. We are truly thankful for the prayers and the support. We love you!

God is with us

Thank you all for all of your prayers because we hear them. Jax is no yet eating and has an infection. We will receive tomorrow or Monday the results from his blood test. He has been having to have blood given to him. As of today he has not had any Brady's and is just sucking away with his binky. Jax is going to need a lot when he gets home the nurse said. Even with the tubes in his mouth he loves them. The nurses think he looks very good. Jax's belly and sounds of his tummy all sound normal. He has his days were we really wonder and sometimes question God's intention. But because of your prayers and God's great knowing love and understanding is getting us and Jax through this. Please also pray for Mattie Grace because she does not understand why we are gone so much.

Happy 1 Month Jax!

Dear Jax,

BB wanted to write you a little note to wish you a happy one month birthday today! You have been such a trooper and we are so proud of you! Keep up the good work and stay strong! Jai and I can't wait to see you this weekend! We love you and are praying for you every day. We can't wait to hold you soon and for you to come home!

Love you so much!
BB

Finally Feeding

Since Jax has started his feeds on Sat he has been doing great. He gets one CC every 3 hours and gradually moves up as he starts to gain weight. Over the weekend he got back up to his birth weight (3.9) and is now around 3.14, so he appears to be gaining weight! As his feeds increase his nutrition by IV will decrease so his goal is to keep putting on the ounces as he begins depending on formula alone.

When Jax gets over 4 pounds he will start to move to an open air crib and out of his incubator, because he should be able to maintain his own body temp. He is already doing that well so no worries there. Jax will also be coming off the antibiotics this week, and the Doctors are saying he should not need them any more. So far its been a great beginning for Jax!!

Thank you all for all of the prayers and support! Please continue to pray that his feedings will continue to go well, he continues gains weight, adsorbs his nutrition, and that God will protect him from any other illness.

Thanks again for everything!

Praise God our Father

First I would like to say that we serve an awesome God who we may trust and answers prayers. I wanted to tell my story because of the miracle of Jax's birth. It may be a bit graphic but I need everyone to know how God changed my life through my son.

It started on a Friday night and I was in a lot of pain. I woke up the next morning and I was bleeding so I went to the doctor. The doctor was able to stop my contractions and did not feel that the bleeding was enough to worry about. He gave me medicine to take to keep me from having anymore contractions. We did not want Jax to be born so early because of all the risks involved. So Sat. I stayed in bed still hurting. Sunday I got up and was again bleeding and having contractions so I went back to the doctor. This time I packed mine and Mattie Grace's bags because something told me I was not coming home. When I went to the emergency room they again gave me stronger medication to stop the contractions. Now at first I was scared because I knew he was coming no matter what they did. But let me tell you that our Father above gave me such a peace that I no longer worried. I know my family and friends thought I was crazy even after Jax was delivered but that peace stayed with me through it all. I can not explain how God put his hands on me and changed my life that day. I know people who say they have been touched by the hand of God but because I have always been so stubborn I had never knew the feeling. I had prayed that God would make Jax a great leader and hopefully a paster some day, and lead many people to God. So knowing that God always answers prayers I had nothing to worry about.

When Jax was delivered the surgeons realized that I had a small abruption in my placenta and had I not delivered Jax that day he would have died. God always knows what he is doing.

Jax was doing so good at NEGA and at 3 lbs and 9 oz (I tried to tell u he was a big baby) lol. We praised the Lord and gave much thanks especially to all that was praying for him. Now when they told us he was sick and would have to have surgery I almost lost my faith. This was a very scary time for us because the doctors told us he could die. Being told this as a mother was the hardest thing I have ever had to live with. While Jax went through his first surgery I was reading my bible and opened it up to this verse. "Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" Jeremiah 4-5 Now tell me we do not serve a Great God. Every day I would read this verse to Jax to remind myself mainly that God has great plans for my little boy. The second surgery was the hardest because if there was anymore infection they did not have anything to remove and he would defiantly not make it. I prayed during this time that God would send me that peace back because the devil was taking over my head. And guess what HE DID! When we went in after the surgery the surgeon told us that he could not believe that what they could save was the most important parts. I hugged the surgeon and told him thank you for saving my child. His response was it was not me that saved him. The surgeon even knew that God had his hand in this. I do not know how to express the changes that God has made in my life and how grateful I am that our Lord and savior is always with us. Thank you for all your prayers because they have been heard.