CJ's due date is today, October 16th!

Today is CJ's expected due date!  He was born almost 3 months early and he made it to his due date!  Yay!  What an accomplishment.  Tomorrow is his first appointment with the pulmonologist, the doctor who regulates CJ's oxygen process.  I will be so nervous when they take him off the oxygen but even more scary will be when they take away the monitor that goes off when he stops breathing.  I don't know how I will survive that change. I will be freaking out with nervousness and fear all the time and minute, by minute giving it over to God.  Giving things over to God is a million times more difficult now that I am a mother.  It is my instinct to worry.  I can never get enough prayer and sometimes I feel like I am living by it alone, so please keep praying.  It means everything to us.  CJ also has an appointment to have a head ultrasound tomorrow and we really need prayer for that.  He had one right before being discharged from the hospital and the results showed some haziness in the brain in regards to the spinal fluid.  We are praying that the haziness is no longer there and everything looks great!  Thank you for all of your support and reading this blog.  Please feel free to click the comment area below.  I love to read the comments!  Love to all!

CJ's Graduation from the NICU on Tuesday, October 4th!

 Chad and I made CJ his graduation cap and onsie and they played the graduation song as he made his farewell walk out of the NICU last Tuesday!

Going home in the car with CJ for the first time!!

Sharlotte, one of CJ's favorite nurses during his stay.  She taught us so much and made the experience so much more bearable. We love her!!

CJ graduated from the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) last Tuesday, October 4th and was sent home with his Mommy and Daddy finally!  It was a really difficult day, because he had the worst episode that I have witnessed in the 2 1/2 months that he has been in the NICU.  Chad an I roomed in with him at the hospital the night before he was going to be sent home.  He was being sent home on oxygen and a monitor, so we had to practice with them before coming home. CJ slept perfectly, only waking up twice for his routine feedings, but the monitor woke us up at least 20 times.  We were dreading bringing that home.  Fortunately, it hasn't been nearly as bad since coming home.  So, the day that CJ was scheduled to come home, he was lying on our double bed at the hospital doing his physical therapy test and he choked on some saliva reflux. The choke episode was so bad that he completely stopped breathing, turned white and blue around the lips.  He looked like he had left his body.  The physical therapist ran to get a nurse and the nurse that we had major issues with, rushed in and stuck the wall suction so far up CJ's nose that it sucked out a bunch of blood.  It was awful!  He began crying and the nurse said that was going to keep him in the hospital another week at least.  After speaking with the doctor, she said that the Apnea (loss of breath) and Bradecardia (loss of heart rate) were due to choking, so she was still okay with sending CJ home.  This really scared us.  He has had 3 small episodes since but it has been a week at home and over all, he is doing very well.  Graduation was a huge accomplishment for our little boy.  Chad and I made him a graduation onesie and a graduation hat, which was all the rave as he took his graduation walk out of the NICU.  They played the graduation music for him as he said goodbye to all of the nurses and doctors that helped him in his 2 and 1/2 month stay.  We love having him home!!

Minor Set Back

Cayden was supposed to come home tomorrow and there has a minor set back.  He has his immunizations yesterday which resulted in a slight fever which then led to a small Apnea spell.  Once he has Apnea, this sets him back 5-7 days.  The soonest he could come home is Monday or maybe Wednesday.  Please pray that he has no more Apnea or drop in heart rate.  The worst thing to happen would be to bring him home and have him have those spells at home.  Please pray that he can come home as soon as possible and than when he comes home, he is ready.  Thank you to all!



More past pictures of Sweet CJ and all of his loving visitors!!

Cousin Heather and Aunt Cathy made the drive out to visit Cayden. How sweet!!  Aunt Rosie and Jamie came a different day and I can't believe we didn't get pictures of them!

Passed out on Mommy!

Wow!  He has come so far!

Bottle feeding and breastfeeding now!  He is on an amazing three hour schedule and he is the best baby ever so far!  He doesn't even cry when he wakes up. He just sits patiently waiting to be fed.

Like father like son!

He loves his Poppy!

Aunti Megs came to visit at least 3 times a week before going back to work!

Mimi holding CJ

This was the day that Cousin Connor got to see CJ for the first time through the NICU glass door.  They won't let anyone under 10 years old come in. ConDog already loves his baby cousin!

Rock Star CJ Rodney!

Mimi at one of her many visits to see Cayden!

Autie Mal drove all the way home from LA to see Cayden at 10 pm!!  Her sticker says, "Cayden's Proud Auntie."  She made that to wear for him!

My wedding ring fit over his entire hand at birth!

This is when they took the Bubble CPAP off to give Cayden a break and he still had the feeding tube in.

No folks!  This is not a photoshopped picture of Chad's face on CJ's body!  This is 100% CJ!

These are past pictures to remind you of how far he has come and how prayer absolutely works!!  He was intubated at birth and once again during his one and only set back and then the other pictures are of him on the bubble CPAP.  Thank you for praying!

We are planning for Cayden to come home this Saturday!!

Cayden had 5 days Apnea free and then had a small episode at 4 am last Friday, so the soonest he can go home is Saturday October 1st.  He has to have 7 days Apnea free to go home and he will also be coming home on a small dose of Oxygen.  We are so excited.  I am going to post a few pictures now. I aplogize for not posting more often.  We are so busy going back and forth to the hospital all day long. We finished his nursery and we are really looking forward to having him home in it!! It has a Noah's Ark theme and we chose that because "Noah" means "survivor" because he survived the great flood. Love to all!!