Bennett has had a quiet morning after his "tube yank" last night.  In fact after his "tube yank" he had an aweseome blood gas report, so maybe he just decided to shake things up to show how well he can perform.  I was just sitting next to his crib thinking he was sound asleep when a nurse peeked in at him and said his eyes were wide open with a look like "I hear you guys talking out there, what am I, chopped liver?"  He was precious and calm as could be as he lay there, so we had our little mommy chat/prayer/singing time and then he was back to snoozing away. 

The MRI should be taking place sometime today or tonight, so Bennett will be heavily sedated for that.  Please pray that this test goes smoothly and that all results are normal.  He will have a nurse and doctor looking after him during that procedure, so we are so thankful for that.  Speaking of nurses and doctors, we cannot say ENOUGH how much we love Bennett's nurses and doctors.  Each one of them is amazing and shown our baby boy such incredible care.....we are going to work on getting pictures of each of them so that we can later show Bennett the amazing team that cared for him.

The 24-hour EEG will take place at some point- he does not need to be intubated for that, so there is a less of a rush for that.  The MRI requires to have him intubated so that they can sedate him to ensure no movement, so that is why the MRI is a priority before his respirator tube comes out.  One thing about the tube coming out- once this occurs it will be more difficult to suck out all the secretions (clear mucus) that they have been getting out of his lungs, so please pray that his lungs dry up prior to the tube being taken out.  John, the respitory therapist, has said that it is more annoying for the baby to get the secretions out without the tube down his throat, so we hope that his lungs can be as dried out as possible for when that tube comes out.  The less annoyed Bennett gets, the happier life is for his nurses, doctors, and parents :). 

We have had so many acts of kindness and love shown to us and we cannot thank you enough.  We also cannot thank you enough for the prayers you are saying on behalf of Bennett.

Love,
Kelly, Travis & Bennett

Bennett had a really good day.  He spent most of the day snoozing and only had a few irrate "moments"......usually involving a diaper change- shocker.  Tonight Bennett indulged us with some of his wide-eyed, happy and alert time spent with mommy, daddy, Uncle Chris, Grammie, and Grampa, so that was a really special treat for all of us. 

The MRI has yet to take place but will be happening any time, so please continue to keep Bennett in your prayers for that procedure.  We have heard the MRI machine is super loud and quite containing, so we are praying that Bennett does well. 

Travis and I have a meeting tomorrow at 2 pm with the doctors and social worker to ask questions, talk about Bennett's current state, and discuss the future plan for our precious boy.  Obviously we will hope to gain more wisdom after that meeting takes place, so we will post an update tomorrow afternoon with those details.

Bennett got to listen to his daddy whisper into his ear and give him lots of kisses tonight on his cheek and head.  I had so much fun watching Bennett's face as he listened intently to the words of his daddy and as he closed his little eyes each time Travis kissed his face.  He is so happy when his daddy is talking, singing, or touching him- it is the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

The top prayer requests are tonight are continued strength and complete healing for Bennett's lungs, for the secretions in his lungs to dry up, for his MRI & EEG results to come back normal, for Bennett's blood pressure to lower (it has been a bit high, which is somewhat normal for babies as sick as him), and for continued wisdom for the doctors and nurses caring for Bennett.

Also, a huge praise that the ECMO baby got taken off last night and is doing wonderful!  We have gotten to visit with his parents several times and they are so thankful that he is off.....his parents are also very thankful for all the prayers lifted up for their son.  God is very good.

We will post more updates tomorrow.......

Love,

Kelly, Travis & Bennett

Bennett had a good night last night, so thank you so much for all your prayers!  His nurse said that he was resting peacefully this morning and his feedings continue to be increased, so that is a good sign.  The doctors have yet to make their rounds this morning so we will update more later, but we just wanted to pass along the news about Bennett's "good night". 

Have a great day everyone!

Love,

Kelly, Travis & Bennett

Good news to report from the NICU.  I spoke with Kelly, who had just spoken with Bennett's nurse and doctor.  Overall, he has had a very good day respitory-wise, weaning himself down to very low oxygen and pressure levels on the ventilator while still maintaining high sats and good blood gases.  This is a very good sign.  He has tolerated his increased feedings well, so this is also a positive sign.  They continue to give him sedation medicine to keep him as calm as possible, but they haven't had to give him too much over the amount that is to be expected.  The plan at this point is to perform another chest x-ray this evening and hopefully take Bennett OFF the conventional vent after a couple of days, thereby allowing us to finally hear that first cry!  However, this was also the plan this past Sunday afternoon before he had a couple of bad nights in a row, so the plan forward could always change again.   

In addition to his sats, blood gases, chest x-rays, and ventilator settings, the two biggest things he has coming up are a full body MRI and 24-hour EEG of the brain.  The results of these two tests will be critical, so we ask that you join us in prayer that all results/readings will be good.  The medical staff has been wanting to do both of these for a while, but he just hasn't been stable enough to endure them.  We will let you know when both of these have been scheduled, and if there is more info to share tonight then we'll plan to post again. 

Thank you for all of your prayers to the Father on Bennett's behalf.  They have sustained all of us thus far, they have kept Bennett standing and moving forward on the tightrope, and we are convinced that they will bring him safely to the other side. 

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett  

We just got back from the NICU and had a good night with him.  Mommy was making some funny sounds for him, and he was just captivated by them!  We've posted some new pictures of our boy looking at Kell and refusing to look anywhere else!   

He has had a good day overall, "behaving" much better with the different settings on the vent and responding much better to them.  After a few bad blood gases this morning, the gases for the rest of the day have been much, much better.  His oxygen settings were eventually lowered again, and his vent settings were placed back on the settings they were the day before.  So far he has responded well to the settings and hasn't become very agitated.  We're praying for his nights to be as good as his days.

Our prayers remain as before - lungs to strengthen and expand, good blood gases, protection from seizures, and for the ability to just rest and stay as calm as possible.  The more agitated he gets, the harder it is for him to breath, so we need him to try to be as calm as possible. 

In other NICU news, his roomate Peter is doing much better and has been moved to the "Hilton," or the room next to the critical wing of the NICU where babies are moved for a time before they eventually go home.  His parents are so happy for how he's doing, so thank you so much for praying for them.  Kell and I hope to have our own "Hilton" experience soon.  Also, please continue your prayers for the new ECMO baby.  He's doing a little better than Bennett was doing a week into ECMO, and he may be able to come off ECMO soon.  But things can change quickly, so please continue your prayers for this precious little boy and his family.   

Have a good night, everyone, and thank you again for your faith and commitment to prayer on Bennett's behalf.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett

I just spoke with Bennett's nurse and he had kind of a rough night respitory-wise.  Everything is much better as of right now, but during the night he was just real uncomfortable and they tried many different things to try and settle him down.  His blood gases were not very good, so they finally decided to replace his breathing tube.  He was ex-tubated for a short while and then they re-intubated him with a new tube.  Still, there was no change.  So they finally changed his pressure setting on the ventilator to "assist control," which essentially means that the vent does most of the work for him instead of allowing him to do some of the work himself.  Evidently, this change really calmed him down, his blood gases became much better, and he is currently sleeping very, very peacefully.   

In a way it's kind of a step back, but this is to be expected for someone that is as sick as Bennett is.  However, his latest chest x-ray shows a little bit of improvement, and they are also increasing his feedings (frequency and feeding size).  These are both good signs.  As Bennett gets older, he is becoming more and more fiesty and agitated at all the tubes around him, and so it can be a little more difficult to calm him down.  The thing that is most challenging for the staff right now is to find that "perfect mix" of care (vent settings, laying him on his back or side or stomach, feeding frequency and size, etc) that keeps Bennett as calm and relaxed as possible.  This can change by the hour.

In sum, after another rough night Bennett is currently stable and peaceful.  Please continue your prayers for Bennett's lungs, for good blood gases, for the protection from seizures, for peace and calm, and for wisdom and guidance for the wonderful medical staff taking care of him.

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and encouragement.

Love,

Travis, Kelly, and Bennett         

Bennett has had a much better day after his "very eventful" night last night.  I think Travis' earlier post especially had Bennett's 4 grandparents super concerned, but we are thankful that things seem to have settled after his new tube was inserted and his respirator settings were changed to make him more comfortable last night. 

I (Kelly) got to the hospital today to find him resting peacefully and the official report was that his lung x-ray did look better today, so that is a great thing.  His feedings continue to increase (he is now over 10 pounds, some of which is probably water/fluid weight!), his respirator oxygen levels have been consistently low in the 20s (which is also great) and the doctors were wanting to get the respirator back on the "weaning" mode so that Bennett could establish how much or little breathing assistance he needs (this was the setting that he has been on the past few days before his total melt-down last night, and by late this afternoon he was back on the "weaning" mode).

The nurse came to get me when Bennett awoke from his morning nap and said that I was "free to change his diaper and take his temperature."  Since we all know how much Bennett detests diaper changes, I should have known that this was going to cause a fit.....but since it had to be done, I dove in and sure enough, the boy got mad.  The good thing is that he had not had any sedation or morphine since about 3 am that morning and it was then close to 1 pm, which was a nice long stretch of time to go without needing his drugs.  Of course by the time that I finished changing his diaper and attempted 10 minutes of soothing our boy, he was in major need of some medicinal comfort.  It is really hard to see Bennett get so upset; but as we can all imagine, it's not fun having a plastic tube down your throat, experiencing withdrawals from the narcotics you have been on for 3-4 weeks, and having your foot jabbed every 8-12 hours to draw your blood gases.  Bless his heart.

He spent some time awake on his left side this afternoon before drifting back to sleep for a nap.  I sat next to him for over an hour as I watched his heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation levels all remain at awesome levels, plus he had a great blood-gas report.  I just love watching him rest peacefully and thank God for those "good" times.

The tight-rope walk continues, but we are hanging on and not letting go any time soon.  Bennett is still sick and his lungs have a ways to go in their healing process.  We feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to walk along side him and will be as patient as we need to in order to one day take him home with us, Lord willing.

We will update more later tonight if there are any changes.....thank you so incredibly much for your prayers and hopefully we will get some new pictures taken and uploaded soon.

Love,
Kelly, Travis & Bennett

Bennett has had a good day after his "eventful" night.  I think he had the nursing staff hopping last night with his tube withdrawal and a few fits, but thankfully his day today was non-eventful.  I (Kelly) got to hold Bennett for about 45 minutes this afternoon and that was a real treat for me.  He was awake when I first got him, so I got to look into those beautiful blue eyes for a while.....pure joy.  He quickly drifted off to sleep and I then spent every minute soaking him up while he peacefully slept.  A dirty diaper ended our 45 minutes of bliss along with a pretty good fit from Bennett, but thankfully when he cries that helps to loosen up the secretions in his lungs (and hopefully also helps to strengthen them), so he was able to settle down eventually once he was settled in his crib.

Bennett's respirator oxygen level was 21 for quite a while this afternoon (which is the oxygen level we all breathe), so that was a great thing to see!  His milk feeds have been steadily increased again today, so that is a good thing as well.  His lung x-ray today was a bit hazy, but the doctors think he may have inhaled some of his milk last night, so they were not too concerned with the x-ray and more encouraged by the good respirator #s that his lungs were supporting.

Please continue praying for Bennett's lungs to heal completely and be "just like new."  This is the prayer that Bennett and I pray together every day since we firmly believe that God can do this.

We are now heading back to the hospital to see our angel boy, so if there are any updates later on tonight we will let you know, otherwise you will hear from us tomorrow morning.  Thank you for all your prayers for Bennett, Travis and I, and our families.  We are so blessed by each and every one of you reading Bennett's website and walking with us in this journey.  God is love and He has shown us His love and mercy in amazing ways.

Love,

Kelly, Travis & Bennett