We are about to head to the hospital to see our little man, but wanted to ask for prayers for Bennett's extubation that is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday)!!!

Bennett had a super day today- his ventilator settings were low, his oxygen assistance was low, and he spent most of the day snoozing away.  His doctors and nurses all stopped by to tell me that the plan is to give him 3 doses of steroids through the night to help decrease any swelling that the tube has caused around his throat, vocal chords, etc.  Assuming that Bennett has a good night and continues to tolerate the low ventilator settings, they hope to pull the tube sometime during the day and replace the tube with a CPAP that will provide some pressure and oxygen thru his nose.  We may soon be hearing our baby boy cry for the first time and we just can't wait for that moment.

Please pray that Bennett's little lungs remain strong, that they are able to produce the pressure needed to keep his lungs inflated, that his lung secretions/mucus will continue to dry up, that no infection will be detected, and that Bennett will not be too incredibly agitated with the CPAP (we have been told that babies get really annoyed by it).

We will update more later if there are any change in plans.......thank you SO much for your prayers for Bennett and all the encouragement given to us and our families.  God continues to amaze us with His goodness.

Love,

Kelly, Travis & Bennett

(My special thanks to Laura Mundie for graciously pointing out that there isn't a September "34th" as I had originally posted in this update!!) 

Just a quick note this morning to let you know that Bennett had a good night overall with very few
"minute" moments.  His vent pressures remained low, and his oxygen settings were between 21 and 26 all night.  His latest blood gas was also good.   This is all very, very good, and it simply means that his little lungs are finally starting to do more of the work!  Just how much of the work his lungs can finally do on their own remains to be seen, but our hope is that this little bird will soon be able to leave the nest and fly!

As always the doctors will make their rounds later this morning, so when we know more we'll post another update.  Until then, please continue your prayers for his lungs, for the transition off the ventilator, for his neurological functions, for his right diaphragm, and for his feeding "skills." 

Thank you all for standing with us in faith and for continually lifting our precious boy up to the Father.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett 

Bennett has had a really good day.....but the tube is still in!  The doctors continue to reduce the settings on the ventilator to ensure that his lungs are ready to "fly" on their own, so we are thankful that they are doing so with such caution.  So far Bennett has been very receptive to their weaning of the ventilator pressures, and today his lung x-ray looked better than it ever has in terms of black areas of air flow (as oppossed to being totally "whited out" with infection 5 weeks ago), so we are praising God for these blessings!   

Bennett had a really restful day today and he even let me change his dirty diaper without an infamous "Bennett minute".  He had just woken up from a 3 hour nap and decided that he was content to just stare at me during the diaper change while I distracted him with songs and silly noises.  I then got to hold him for about an hour - he was wide awake for the first half and fast asleep for the second half, so I was a happy mommy :).

The pediatric neurologist is offsite today and Tuesday but will physically evaluate Bennett on Wednesday, so we will most likely talk with him sometime later in the week after his review of the MRI & EEG results.  Please keep that meeting in your prayers as we know that there will most likely be a lot of information shared with us.

Our prayer requests for Bennett continue to be:

- Strength and complete healing for his lungs so that he will be able to breathe on his own without assistance from the respirator

- Protection from any/all infection

- Complete healing for his right diaphragm which appears to be temporarily paralyzed as a result of the ECMO procedure (a risk that we had been made aware of)

- Complete healing for the "areas of concern" in his brain that were found in the MRI

- Prayers that Bennett will eventually learn to drink from a bottle without too much difficulty or complication

Our angel boy is 5 weeks old today and we praise God for bringing him this far.  He is truly a miracle - we have been told this by numerous doctors and nurses - and we have witnessed God's miracles before our very eyes.  Another NICU mom recently told me that when the babies are sleeping and we see a smile come across their face, that means that an angel is kissing them.... I love that mental picture and know for sure that God has had many angels protecting and comforting Bennett throughout these 5 weeks.  We are so thankful for His goodness!

Have a great night and we will update more tomorrow.

Love,

Kelly, Travis & Bennett

Bennett had a good night overall and he is resting peacefully now, so we are very thankful for this.  When he is calm, his oxygen and pressure settings on the ventilator are at pretty low levels, so this is a very good thing.  His breathing tube right now is kind of a catch 22 - it provides him much better assistance and allows him to rest more, but at the same time it can really agitate him and cause him to become really worked up.  Once he's worked up sometimes the only way to calm him down is to give him morphine or opium, and he has been receiving several doses of both lately.  But when we can finally get the tube out, then hopefully all of this will be less of an issue.  Although not official at this point, the tentative plan is to try to extubate Bennett within the next 24-48 hours and to place him on a much lesser form of assistance called CPAP.  This is another big step for him, so we ask that you please be in prayer for his transition to the CPAP. 

The results of his EEG from last evening are not in yet, so we're still waiting on those.  A pediatric neurologist is coming to examine Bennett sometime in the next day or two, and at some point this week we will sit down with everyone to review the MRI, EEG, and examination results, and to then make a plan for the way forward. 

Our prayers continue for his lungs, for his neurological funtions, for his right diaphragm, and for his withdrawal from the pain medications.  Because they've had to give Bennett so much pain medication at times to calm him, and since they're also trying to wean him as much as possible from those very medications, at times he can experience some pretty heavy withdrawal symptoms.  This is normal and to be expected; it's just hard to watch his little body have to experience it.  

But, as always, he continues to fight, and he has many good things going for him right now.  Our prayer is that this coming week can be one of those great weeks that we remember for a long, long time. 

Thank you all for your love and prayers.  We'll try to post again later today after we know more.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett  

Just a small note to let you know that Bennett is doing very well right now.  He's very calm and sleeping quite peacefully, and his oxygen and pressure settings on the vent remain very low.  In fact, at one point he was able to sleep 6 hours in a row and go several hours in a row on room air, or 21 on the ventilator.  This is the first time when he has been this consistent, and it's exactly what we need him to do.  We're still optimistic that Bennett can be extubated within a day or two, so we'll keep you posted on how that goes.  He has had a very good day overall, has slept well, has eaten well, and has only had a few of his famous "Bennett minutes" (thanks Mrs. Moss for coming up with this great catch phrase - everyone in the NICU is using it now!!).  Our hope is that he can have a restful night just like his day. 

Thank you all for your love and concern for us and our boy.  The main issues to be in prayer about are his lungs, his neurological functions, his right diaphragm, and his ability to feed well on his own.  Respitory-wise he is doing quite well right now, so we need this to continue in order for him to become extubated and of course eventually come home with his mommy and daddy!

We'll plan to post again in the morning after we hear from the nurses and doctors.  Have a blessed night and beginning to the work week.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett

Hello friends and family,

Please see last night's post for a summary of yesterday's events.  Today we are good and Bennett is as precious as always.  After a night of some agitation due to secretions in his lungs, he has gotten a lot of that suctioned out, the prince is now more propped up in his "throne", and has been resting peacefully today.  The EEG was re-scheduled from yesterday until today, so that should be taking place soon.  He is getting 100% breast milk now, so it is extremely encouraging that his digestive system is liking what it's getting.

We spoke with one of Bennett's doctors today and she said that his right diaphragm actually looked a bit lower today, so that was encouraging to hear.  His lung x-ray also looked better than it has previously looked, so we are extremely thankful for that.  Here is a major praise- the mass of infected fluid that was between his right rib-cage and lung appears to be gone, so surgery is no longer a consideration at all.  Thank you Lord!  It is still their goal to extubate him (get him off the respirator) sometime in the next few days, but obviously we don't want to rush Bennett's body, so his lungs will tell us when they are ready to start breathing on their own.  Please continue to pray that Bennett is protected from any/all infections.

Obviously the MRI results were not what we were hoping for; but at the same time we know that we are so blessed to have Bennett as our son and we know that God is sovereign and more than able to continue working in miraculous ways, so that continues to be our hope and prayer.  The doctor today was encouraging about the MRI results, so we will know more detail when we talk to the pediatric neurologist this week.  The great thing is that baby brains are known for regenerating and "fixing" themselves, so we will keep hoping and praying that this is what happens in the "areas of concern".  Bennett looks into our eyes and follows us with his eyes, he hears us and sees us, plus he squirms around like a newborn, stretches, and punches and kicks when he's mad- all things that the doctors say are right in-line with a baby his age. 

We will update again later, but just wanted to give a quick summary for today.  We fully know that God is good and God is faithful, so please don't worry about us and just KEEP PRAYING for our sweet angel boy.

Love,

Travis, Kelly & Bennett

Family and Friends, it has been quite a day for our little warrior, Bennett Mitchell.  Currently he is doing well and sleeping very peacefully, and we are praying for no more "tube yank" moments throughout the night.  Many, many things occurred today (meetings, tests, test results), and there's just no way to write them all down.  I'll try to be as brief and to the point as possible.

First, I cannot praise the medical staff here at Georgetown enough.  The doctors, nurses, respitory therapists, and many others are truly a joy to be with on a daily basis, and they continue to provide Bennett (and many others) such attentive and loving care.  God has truly worked through them to bring Bennett to where he is today. 

In order for Bennett to be able to come home, he has to "score" high in these three areas:  temperature, breathing, and feeding.  So far his temperature remains steady, so he has good scores on maintaining his temperature.  Regarding breathing, he's doing much better, but still has at least a few days remaining on the conventional vent.  They have been able to steadily reduce his vent pressure and oxygen settings over the last few days, and this is exactly what we want.  He's scoring well on the breathing aspect, but he has to score even higher to be able to be taken off the vent.  The feeding aspect, at this point, will be the most challenging for Bennett to master.  He's very behind in regards to all things feeding, but with the help of speech therapists and lactation consultants the staff hopes to bring Bennett up to speed within a couple of weeks. 

The temperature, breathing, and feeding areas mentioned above relate to how soon we can bring Bennett home with us.  Even being able to discuss the possibility of bringing him home excites us beyond our ability to express to you, so we are so very thankful and praise our God and Father for bringing us to this place.  As always, your prayers for these three areas, in addition to continued prayers for his lungs, heart, blood gases, and protection from seizures are asked for and are greatly appreciated. 

However, the following two areas of Bennett's body need your prayers the most right now. 

The first area is Bennett's right diaphragm.  One of the main risks ECMO posed to Bennett from the very beginning was nerve damage as a result of the catheters being inserted on the right side of his neck.  Although not fully certain just yet, one of the attending physicians now believes that nerve damage has potentially caused partial and possibly complete paralysis of his right diaphragm.  If this were the case, then evidently it would take at least one or two years for his diaphragm to begin working normally again (we are told that it should repair itself) and he should be able to breathe on his own because the left diaphragm looks to be working correctly.  I honestly don't quite understand all of the implications for this right now, but I know it's an area they are monitoring very closely, so whenever we have more info on this we will be sure to share with you.   

The second area is Bennett's brain.  The doctors reviewed the MRI results with us earlier this evening, and there are "areas of concern" the attending physician has with the results.  He will be reviewing the results with radiologists and other various doctors early next week to provide us more clarity on what they mean.  At this point, unfortunately all we know is that something is not right.  Exactly what is not right, and to what degree it is not right, is something that could take days, weeks, months, or even years to truly understand.  Because of Bennett's lack of sufficient oxygen at the very beginning after his birth, because of his high temperature and ensuing cooling blanket treatment, and just because of all the trauma in general, Bennett has always been at a higher risk for MRI results such as these.  We will be meeting with a pediatric neurologist early next week to review Bennett's MRI and to ask questions.  Again, once we know more will we share with you all we know, and we ask that you please pray for all of Bennett's neurological funtions.   

It's definitely not the kind of test results we were expecting to hear on Friday evening, but all we have to do is look back over the last 5 weeks and we are in awe of what God has done and how far He has brought our precious boy.  He has saved Bennett on numerous occasions, and we believe He can act again.  As many of you have reminded us over the last several weeks, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

We love you all, and we thank you for your love, support, encouragment, and prayers to the Father on Bennett's behalf.  We humbly ask that they please continue.  

Love,

Trav, Kell, and Bennett

Today is Bennett's one month birthday......wow, what a month he has had!  Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement each day of our sweet baby's life.....we cannot wait to one day share with him each and every bit of love that has been shown to him.

I am about to head to the hospital, but wanted to let you know that Bennett had a good night.  He yanked out his tube at one point during the night (which seems to be becoming a normal thing for him), but other than that he is doing well and resting peacefully.  We don't have any updates as to when the MRI or EEG will be, but will let you know as soon as we know.

I will update more when I know more, but for now please pray for Bennett's lungs to continue to strengthen, for protection from any further infection, for positive test results on the MRI (monitoring brain development) and EEG (monitoring any seizure activity), and for comfort for Bennett as he is weaned off of the morphine that his body has grown dependent upon.

Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for praying for our angel boy Bennett.

Love,
Kelly, Travis & Bennett