Reinstating E-mail Updates

I hope everyone had a good holiday season; our family was very blessed that we were able to be home with Samuel. We went down to our Grandparent's house and enjoyed an afternoon meal with them.

When I took over the updates my Dad sent out an E-mail saying that he was going to discontinue sending out Samuel’s e-mail updates because I did not have e-mail access and it would make things simpler. That is no longer the case. I now have an E-mail account and wanted to give everyone the opportunity to be placed back on that E-mail list.

Many people have told me that they miss having the E-mails sent directly to them. Many people have said that they miss some of the prayer requests sent out because they don’t know when I have sent out an update. If I could e-mail them then they would get the update as soon as I have one done. I would just reinstate the old list, but my Dad’s computer started acting up shortly after I took over the updates and he lost the list.

So, anyone who would like to be sent e-mail updates can e-mail me their address at kaitlyn@contractcallers.com. Please don’t feel like you will be adding more work to my plate, all I have to do is add your E-mail to my distribution list so that when I hit send the E-mail will travel to you along with the few people who have still remained on his list. It takes absolutely no more effort for me to send you an e-mail than it does for the people I’m already sending to.

However, everyone may want to check the blog every month or so. I’m going to be adding a third DVD of Samuel before long. I’m also going to try to add some pictures every now and again. Thank you guys for all of your prayers.

Kaitlyn

27th Update

It has been a few weeks since my last update. Shortly after I wrote the last update Samuel came down sick and had to be put on antibiotics, steroids, a Bronchodialator, and nebulizing treatments. Samuel was very sick this round and it lasted about two weeks. During his illness he developed a wheeze in his lungs. The concern that this brings up is that when babies develop a wheeze there is a tendency for it to reoccur. He has recovered fairly well this time, and his 2 storming episodes were somewhat minor in comparisons to his previous ones, though they were much closer together than is typical. As you may have guessed, Samuel was unable to attend the family christmas part due to being sick and not able to travel.

Aside from being sick Samuel has continued to do well and has not had any major upheaval in his life or body. He is continuing to grow, in weight more than height. Though Samuel’s length is still in the tenth percentile, he has maintained this growth rate instead of continuing to decline. He now is 19 pounds 11 oz and wearing size five diapers, his two year old sister Elianna is still in size threes.

Samuel has a new speech therapist that he responded well for on her first day last week. He seemed very focused and tried to move his eyes and follow the lights she was showing him. We hope that he continues to do well with her and that he will strengthen his eyes which we believe are very hard for him to move and follow people with.

We continue to ask prayers for Samuel’s brain development and healing. In addition we would like to ask prayers for Samuel’s sister Elianna who has recently undergone her eye surgery and is in pain and discomfort. The surgery went as well as it could, and now we must just wait and see what happens.

May God Bless,

Kaitlyn

26th Update

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Samuel has just turned 6 months old and weighs 19 pounds 4oz., 25 ½ inches long. This week has been a pretty uneventful week for Samuel which has allowed him to have some down time that he needs to get more often than he does. Things have been going well and now we are just hoping that Samuel is not coming down sick.

On December the 12^th our family will be heading down for our family reunion on my Grandmother’s side. This is going to be a long day for Samuel, and is a two and a half hour drive, but we are confident that he will do well for this one day. We would covet your prayers on his behalf that day.

I have had several people ask me about how Samuel has done on the protein supplement we were going to add to his milk. I must have failed to let everyone know that the Doctors had decided against adding a protein supplement to his breast milk. Were we to add it this would throw off his digestive enzymes and he could end up with constipation or diarrhea. No one thinks it would be beneficial to add this difficulty to Samuel’s other struggles.

May the Lord bless you all as you go through your week and thank you for your messages of encouragement and support sent to our family. They are a tremendous blessing to us.

In Christ,

Kaitlyn

Samuel's 25th Update

I want to thank everyone for being patient with me while I got this update done. I realize you were probably anxious to receive information as to how Thursday’s long day of events went. Let me start out by saying that our God is an amazing God whose Mercies never end. Over the last two weeks our family has wondered how best we should pray for Samuel. Did we pray for his brain to be growing and developing and then need to perform the high risk and painful surgery? Or did we pray that we didn’t have to do the surgery which would entail that Samuel’s brain was still just as damaged as before? In the end we simply had to say ‘Thy will be done oh Lord’, and submit to whatever the good Lord deemed best. And I realized yet again that His ways are far above ours. We came out of the Hospital with the best possible situation, a situation we would not have expected.

The day started out a little rough for Samuel because we had to withhold food from him. The Doctors planned on sedating him to do his MRI. However, upon arriving at the hospital the consensus was that the Doctors felt they could get the information they needed from just the CT scan and then we wouldn’t have to put him through another MRI and sedative. My Parents spent a number of hours waiting for the procedure to be completed and results to be brought out. While all of this was in process Samuel had to have another process done that we had not originally anticipated. Samuel’s stoma (the area around his Trach) did not heal the way it was supposed to. He began to develop skin tags around the Trach which could pose a very serious threat to Samuel if it wasn’t taken care of. So Samuel’s stoma was chemically burnt on Thursday as well. This procedure is now passed down to us (A.K.A my Mom) to do weekly for a month in the hopes that the continuous chemical burn will take care of the skin tags. If not the tags will have to be surgically removed.

We had an amazing miracle happen that day at the hospital, one that may seem odd to some people. It was an extremely gut wrenching blessing, but a beautiful one none the less. Samuel cried, not audibly, but for the first time he cried during his stoma’s procedure. His eyes got red and puffy, his face became blotchy, and tears streamed down his face. This is just another big step for Samuel as he continues down his road of healing. It tore at all of our hearts, but it also was an unbelievable blessing. He has continued to cry when we have to clean the stoma, so this has been a reoccurring event.

Finally Dr. Sugarbaker brought the results. The CT scan showed that Samuel does have a fused skull, but the scan also showed something else. Samuel’s previous MRI’s showed that his brain contained a lot of pockets of fluid where the brain had been damaged and died off. The CT showed that some of those pockets no longer contained fluid. This can mean one of two things, either the brain soaked up the fluid and will refill again, or the brain is beginning to heal itself and reform brain tissue in those areas. This process would take a long time to occur, but it is very possible. The prognosis was that it did not seem wise to put Samuel through the surgery at this time. His brain would still not be pushing on the skull and so it is very likely that the bones would refuse even if we did do the surgery. This is not to say he will never have the surgery. If the brain continues to grow and develop he would then need the surgery, but at this point he has room in his skull for growth. For us this is wonderful news. The Lord is truly wonderful, and not just because things turned out so well. We will praise him no matter what comes our way, though it may not always be easy. In return He continues to encourage and bless us not only with this amazing little bundle of joy, but in constant reminders that He is faithful.

Kaitlyn

Samuel's 24th Update

Samuel has had a good week and is continuing to recover from when he got sick a few weeks ago. All symptoms have been gone for about two weeks, but the cold set him back in his progression on the vent. We hope to have him back to his previous six hours off the vent before long. Right now he is up to four hours at a time.

Over the last few weeks Samuel has begun to move his tongue backwards and forwards when stimulated with a pacifier being moved along his tongue. Speech has ordered an “ice finger” for Samuel that will work similarly to the pacifier we have been using. The difference will be that it is cold. The two biggest stimulants for swallowing are the use of something sour or cold. Because Samuel has so much secretion we don’t believe that something sour would be beneficial. Moving his tongue is the first step towards swallowing, and what a blessing that would be.

We are working on trying to figure out how to calculate Samuel’s calorie intake and balance that against the protein his body needs. Because Samuel is not very active he stores most of his calories and uses very little of those stores unless he is storming. Samuel’s weight has continued to increase normally, but his length has increased at a much slower rate, dropping him from the 90^th percentile at birth to the 10^th percentile at five months. This makes his otherwise normal weight excessive for the length of his body. We are now looking into possibly adding a whey protein to his milk which would give him the building structure for body development but will not add extra calories.

We continue to ask for prayer for Samuel’s appointment this Thursday, and that the Lord would give us discernment. May the Lord bless each of you as you go through your week. I encourage you to look about this week and not take the “ordinary” miracles that surround us for granted. When you see a sunset or the intricacy of a spider’s web remember that those things in and of themselves are miracles. The Lord surrounds us with testimony of His love and His mercies. How can we say there is no God? It is the God who created heaven and Earth that we look to for guidance and strength as we continue to pray for and love Samuel. What an amazing God who could make such an incredible little miracle like Samuel.

Kaitlyn Emery

23rd update

This week I would like to bring a prayer concern to everyone’s attention concerning Samuel. Shortly after Samuel was born we noticed that he had very subtle ridges on his head. You couldn’t see them; you only knew they were there if you felt them. Over the last few months these ridges have been becoming more prominent. Now they are very visible, running down the middle of his head, the back, and from one ear to the other. We have wondered if this could be part of “his head appearing small eventually” that Dr. Hall mentioned after his MRI and ultrasound (or if it was something else we should be concerned about). When Dr. Hall saw the amount of dead tissue in his brain she felt that eventually the brain would not grow enough to cause the skull to expand properly causing his head to look small for his body.

Last week my Mom and Dad took Samuel in to see Dr. Sugarbaker. Dr. Sugarbaker has been extremely optimistic concerning Samuel and has seen things the other Doctors have not. She was one of his advocates during the ethics committee, and she looks past what the charts and statistics say. My mother expressed her concerns to Dr. Sugarbaker and so she looked him over at the appointment. She was very concerned by what she found. Samuel has no soft spot on his head, something he should have until he is at least 18 months old. That and the ridging together are prime indications of a fused skull. She has scheduled Samuel to have an MRI and a CT scan on the 12th of November to try to confirm her assessment. We will use the information from both tests to try to decide an appropriate plan of action. The risks for not doing the surgery are that if his brain were to continue to develop (something most of the Doctors think is not likely) then it could reach its max capacity inside his skull and cause one of two things. The brain could stop developing and he is then stunted at that place, or the brain could continue to expand and the consequences of that would be obvious. This is part of the reason for having the MRI done. We will be able to compare this new MRI to the old one and see if the brain has grown or expanded any. We will also be able to see how much room there’s left in the skull for growth. Based off of what the tests say we will have to decide if we believe Samuel needs the surgery or not.

The surgery is major and would consist of splitting open Samuel’s skull, breaking through the fused plates to allow the brain to continue to grow and expand. From what I understand Samuel would then have to wear either a helmet or a head brace for a year or so to protect his skull from being shifted or damaged. At this point we do not know if Samuel actually has a fused skull, but the Doctor is very concerned that he does. We would appreciate prayers of discernment for all concerning this issue. When we hear anything else we will let everyone know. Thank you, and may God bless.

22nd Update

Hello everyone. My Father has just handed over the task of Samuel’s updates to me and I hope that I will be able to fill you in as well as he did. This has been a major task for him because of his many other obligations as Husband, Father, boss, employee, and the many other hats he wears during a day. I will try my hardest to keep these updates short and readable, since I am known for rambling on and giving too much detail. I’m sorry if this first one is rather lengthy.

Our family was tremendously blessed last Sunday when we were able to take Samuel to church without the use of his ventilator. Our church has a fellowship meal after every 2nd and 4th Sunday and Samuel was also able to stay for that which totaled to about 5 hours off the vent.

Samuel now has a Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Special instructor, and Speech Therapist (not for speech) who come to the house weekly. Saturday his Special Instructor had scheduled to be here at the same time as OT to learn some of Samuel’s range of motion. So instead of one person working with him for an hour he had two people working with him for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Samuel decided he had had it for the day and the poor guy slept for a few hours after they left. He also made sure to protest whenever any of us messed with him after that. He did really well in spite of all of this and even tried to use some head control while Sue was working on him.

Obviously we would like continued prayer for all of the things previously mentioned in Samuel’s updates, but there are two very specific areas that we would like everyone to pray for that would increase Samuel’s daily comfort. The first of these concerns is his swallowing. There is a difference between Samuel swallowing, and Samuel developing the gag reflex. You can have one without the other. The second is his difficulty with regulating his body temperature.

Samuel has basically no down time. He has care twenty four hours a day (16 hours from nurses and 8 from us when nursing is staffed properly). For Samuel this means he has no uninterrupted sleep. We cannot let him sleep for a few hours without getting him up because it would put him in jeopardy. If he’s not suctioned he could aspirate his oral secretions and this could cause pneumonia.

If Samuel were able to swallow this would mean he could rest more because we wouldn’t have to suction. The suctioning is also shooting us in the foot in some ways because the more you suction the more desensitized his gag reflex becomes. His lack of swallowing will also become a bigger issue when the time comes that he needs more nourishment than the breast milk can provide. Artificial liquidized nutrients are not the best option.

Samuel’s temperature is a big issue for two main reasons. Again we come back to not being able to let him rest. We’ve tried the thermometers that you place on the forehead, but they are not accurate enough. Samuel’s temperature can be 97.4 one time when you check, and shortly after you have to strip him down to his diaper because he’s now 99.8. The end result is that when Samuel’s temperature goes up, so does his risks of storming.

Samuel’s temp struggles will also cause him to become house bound. He usually ends up cold despite all our efforts to keep him warm while he’s out. He usually has three to four layers of clothing and a blanket and still gets cold. Cold and flu season also poses a threat. Samuel has a direct passage to his lungs for germs to travel through. For him exposure means life and death, for us as his care givers it means guarding ourselves as well. We might not be affected by the germs but they could infect Samuel if we are carrying them.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers, support, and many e-mails sent. We love reading them and knowing that the body of Christ is there to weep with us when we weep, and to rejoice with us when we rejoice. We wish we could thank everyone individually, but know we couldn’t possibly because of the number of people from around the world who have gathered together in prayer. Our reconciliation is knowing that one day you will be rewarded for your service and prayers to our family. The Lord will bless you for your faithfulness in prayer and your love. The Lord has afflicted Samuel with a great trial to bear, but he has also blessed Samuel abundantly for it. He has had the tremendous blessing of ministering and impacting hundreds of people in his short little life. One day Samuel will come before the Lord when his work here is done and the Lord will say “Well done my good and faithful servant.” I look forward to the day when Samuel will have his new body and we will be able to hear him testify of the Lord’s mighty hand. Until then we daily pray and wait for God’s plans and healing of Samuel to unfold. The Lord is faithful, even though the road is hard for Samuel and all those who love him, but on that day when Samuel is given his new body, you will never hear him complain, but praise the Lord his maker for ever breath given.

May God bless you,
Kaitlyn Emery

21st Update

It has been about a month since my last update and I apologize to all who have sent emails asking for info. I have been very busy playing catch up at work and at home, the new school year has started which requires teaching and grading schoolwork, and getting things setup and into a routine with Samuel’s care. I’ve had an update on my to do list and replying to emails, but it hasn’t seemed to make it to the top. We thank you for all the continued prayers, gifts and for checking his blog site for updates.

Samuel is doing well at home. He is on the ventilator, but we have been doing trials off the ventilator and he is up to anywhere between 3 to 6 hours a day with a minimal amount of oxygen. Samuel is opening and closing his eyes, and at times will track your movement, but still no blinking. He has been moving more and will at times try to turn towards the direction of voices. He has started making some vocal sounds, especially when you are doing something he doesn’t like. He still does not have a gag reflex and we ask for specific prayers in that area. Samuel now weighs 16 pounds, 3 ounces and quickly catching up with his 2 year old big sister. He has made one trip to the pediatrician and has been to church 3 times since he came home.

This will be the last email you receive in your mailbox unless that is the way you prefer to be updated in the future. Since it is becoming more difficult for me to keep these updates coming, I am turning it over to my daughter Kaitlyn, who will be updating the blog site. I’m sure she will be a lot more consistence than I was and she has recently added another video to the site. If you need the address again, it is http://prayforsamuelian.blogspot.com you can check for updates there, but if you would still rather receive the updates by email, I can quickly copy what Kaitlyn posts to the blog and send it to an address list she will create, just reply to this email and let us know that you still want to be updated by email.

Thank you,
Yancy

20th Update

It has been a long afternoon. The review committee did meet at 1:30 today and although we wanted to be present, we were told it wasn’t normal protocol and we would not be allowed. A nurse came to Samuel’s room at about 1:45 to inform us that we would be able to come to the meeting at 2:15. We went, they asked questions and wanted clarification on different issues; we spent about 30 minutes voicing our opinions and then left. They continued the meeting until probably 4:00 and finally decided to leave the decision of the home vent to us and made a couple of recommendations: to have a Cardinal Glennon pediatrician assigned to Samuel who is familiar with his situation and to have clear cut directives on what happens if he needs to return. Samuel will be placed on the home vent tomorrow and we will finish the training and transition home.

Yancy

19th Update

It has been two weeks since my last update. Sorry, I just haven’t found the time to compose and send. Samuel is still in the hospital and doing OK. Samuel was doing good breathing on his own for three weeks before we came home; however, he was slowly requiring more oxygen support. We took him home and had no problem until the following day when began to have issues breathing. We finally took him to the emergency room at Cardinal Glennon. Samuel stopped breathing and we put him on a ventilator which breathed for him thru the night and the next morning he began breathing on his own again. The reason this happened is because Samuel is not taking deep enough breathes to expel the required amount of carbon dioxide, so over time it builds up in his system and creates an imbalance which will shut down his breathing. Samuel can be off the ventilator for a period of time, but until he is able to clear his own lungs he would die without it.

We are no longer in the neo-natal ICU at Cardinal Glennon. The emergency room transferred us to the pediatric ICU for a few days and then they transferred us the TCU (transitional care unit) in preparation for going home. Our home ventilator was delivered to the hospital and we were training on how to use it and the plans were to go home the beginning of next week. Samuel’s pulmonologist (lung doctor) who was working on the requirements for us to go home, left on vacation and Samuel was assigned to a new pulmonologist. We were blind-sided a couple of days ago when he informed Evette that he had an ethical issue with sending Samuel home on a ventilator and was calling for an ethical committee review board. He made this decision by looking at Samuel’s medical record only. He never introduced himself until he spoke with Evette to tell her of his problem and he never even physically examined Samuel before his decision. He spoke to her about his concerns of the quality of life for Samuel and our family. I’m not sure who gave him the right to dictate the quality of life for our family or to determine the values we teach our children; I thought God gave us that responsibility as the father and mother.

I don’t know much about this new health care program they are trying to pass, but from what I do understand, if it does pass we wouldn’t be talking about this situation in the future because we would have once again given up our rights and the rights of our loved ones who can’t speak for themselves. We have been told that they can choose to not allow Samuel to go home on a ventilator, but that would not be a wise decision on their part because we will not accept that answer. This review could go as early as this afternoon and we would appreciate your prayers. I will send another update as soon as we have more information.

Yancy

18th Update

We did go home as scheduled and everything was going well until last night when Samuel started have problems breathing and we finally went back to the hospital. I will send more info when I have it. Please pray for his breathing.

Thanks,Yancy

17th Update

It has been a busy two weeks since my last update and a lot has happened. We are in the final preparation for taking Samuel home on Tuesday (Aug/11). Today is Saturday and we are doing our 24 hour Parent Care. This past week, we were trained on all the home healthcare equipment and have been checked off on all requirements, except 24 hour care. We will spend today and tomorrow providing 100% of Samuel’s care in the hospital. Evette will spend Monday coordinating last minute details and Tuesday we hope to be out of here by 11:00 am.

In my last update I asked for your prayers that things would finally level out from the surgeries and that he would get back on track with his progress. Prayer for continued healing, with no infections and no catheters. That all would go well with removing the G-tube and changing to the button; that he breathes well with no pauses or oxygen. Pray that his blood pressure would correct itself and as always, healing of the brain. Well we have many answers to prayer; things have leveled out from the surgeries, there are no infections or catheters; the G-tube was changed and he has a G-button that is working good and blood pressure has stayed in an acceptable range. Samuel had another EEG (brain wave) test and there are some additional signs of healing because there is more brain wave activity. His breathing no longer has the long pauses and his excessive “posturing” episodes have stopped. It has been a stressful two weeks with many ups and downs, but when we look at all the positives it has been a good two weeks and God has brought us to the point of going home.

Samuel still needs much prayer. For continued healing to all areas of the brain and for the gag reflex that we haven’t seen in a while. They are seeing enough brain activity now that we will have to be concerned about seizures at around six months. Although Samuel is going home without being on a ventilator, his breathing is not deep so he is still being assisted with some oxygen. We hope that all goes well when he gets home and that he continues to improve.

Again we thank you for continuing with us. God has answered prayers and I know He will continue to do so. I will send my next update after we have Samuel home.

Yancy

16th Update

Today Samuel is two months old and even though this has been difficult, we thank God that He has given us this little boy. Samuel’s had a rough week and a half with many issues that would take pages to explain. Due to the condition of his brain he has had what they call “posturing” since shortly after his birth. This is something I really haven’t talked much about in my updates, but it became a big issue this past week. Posturing is the brain sending signals to his muscles to contract, but not sending the signal to relax. Sometimes it makes his arms stiff, sometimes it makes his legs stiff and sometimes it makes his back arch. He has been getting regular physical and occupational therapy where they do range of motion exercises to keep him loose. Before Saturday (July 18), he would have times when he would posture throughout the day, but would always relax afterwards. After Saturday’s problems, he began posturing with arms, legs and back all at the same time and it was continuous. After trying several things, they finally gave him a mild muscle relaxer which did stop the constant posturing but it started causing him to take short pauses in his breathing that turned into longer pauses. He is still breathing on his own without the ventilator, although he has a slight amount of oxygen passing thru his trach collar. They have discontinued the current muscle relaxer and will begin a different med tomorrow that should not cause breathing issues.

He is no longer on the antibiotic for the infection he got from surgery, but is now on one for the bladder staff infection from all the catheters. Today they did remove the catheter and he is back to peeing and pooping regularly. He has had a fever from both infections, but as of yesterday that is clearing up and the fever is gone. His blood pressure has been an issue with the meds, fever and posturing but we are hoping this has worked itself out also. They still currently have him on blood pressure meds.

Last Tuesday Samuel’s G-tube was ripped while they were changing his feeding syringe and they had to change it out for a new one. Yesterday the balloon on the inside of his G-tube popped. Don’t ask how this happened, because nobody knows. Right now, he has a “Jerry rigged” G-tube until tomorrow and then they are going to give him a G-button early. He wasn’t scheduled to have a button for a couple more weeks.

We ask for your prayers that things will finally level out from the surgeries and that he will get back on track with his progress. Pray for continued healing, with no infections and no catheters. That all will go well with removing the G-tube and changing to the button; that he will breathe well with no pauses or oxygen. Pray that his blood pressure would correct itself and as always, healing of the brain and gag reflex.

Thank you for continuing with us,
Yancy

15th Update

Samuel had both surgeries last Thursday and everything went great. Friday was a really good day; he was taken off the ventilator and Saturday he was taken off pressure support, so Samuel has been breathing on his own since Saturday morning. He has a trach collar attached which only allows humidified air to blow past his trach and Samuel has to breathe in this air on his own. He has done, and continues to do well with his breathing and we praise God for this improvement. They changed his trach for the first time yesterday and it seems to be healing well.

On Saturday, Samuel started having problems. They gave him pain meds after surgery and one of the side-effects of this medication is that children have problems urinating. This was definitely the effect it had on Samuel. They had to give him extra fluids and a diuretic to make him start going again. That worked for awhile but he is back to having problems again and they have catheterized him. He has had four catheters in the last 24 hours and the last three have become clogged because of sediment in his urine. As of yesterday afternoon they no longer hear bowel sounds and he has not had a stool since yesterday afternoon. At 4:00 on Saturday is when he began having problems. He was moving around a lot; his heart rate, blood pressure and temperature began to rise so they thought he might be in pain; they gave him more pain meds which is probably a big factor in why he is having the above issues. Samuel has had a fever for the last few days and they have him on antibiotics again; they believe he has an infection from the surgery.

Please pray for the above issues,
Yancy

14th Update

At 12:30 today, Samuel had both surgeries and was back in his room by 2:15. Everything went really well. His blood pressure was high afterwards, but that is normal. It is 7:00 pm and the blood pressure has started coming down as suspected. The last thing we are waiting on is for Samuel to start urinating again. If he doesn’t go soon, then they will give him extra fluids to stimulate this response. He has been retaining some excess fluids over the last few days.

Samuel seems to really like the trach option better than the vent tube down his throat, because within 2 hours of coming out of surgery they were able to turn his vent settings to lower than what they were before he went. By 6:00 pm, he was doing good enough for the doctor to say we would try taking him off the vent tomorrow and see how he does. If Samuel makes it 48 hours without the vent, then there’s a great chance we won’t need it when we go home.

Samuel’s face is completely free of any tape or tubes for the first time since he was born, except the one time we did family pictures. His face will have to heal from all the tape stuck to him for seven weeks, but we are glad it is off.

We ask for the following prayers: as always, continued healing of the brain; no reflux issues; that he would breathe consistently without the vent; that he would dump the excess fluids; quick healing from the surgery with no infections and a stable body temperature.

Thank you for your last minute prayers today,
Yancy

13th Update

Sorry this is a last minute update, it has been a crazy week. Samuel is scheduled for surgery around 12:00 tomorrow, Thursday, July 16, 2009. He will undergo three procedures; tracheostomy, G-tube and fundoplication. The trach and G-tube have been discussed for a while now and we are as comfortable as we can be with these procedures. They began discussing a fundoplication as a result of Samuel’s “supposed” reflux. A fundoplication will hopefully prevent him from being able to reflux (no guarantees), thus protecting his airway from future aspirations and pneumonia as a result of reflux. This operation involves taking a small portion of the upper stomach and wrapping it around the esophagus and attaching it with three sutures. This procedure is done laparoscopically (thru five small holes, one of which has a camera). Neither of us have peace about doing this surgery or not doing it, with the exception of knowing that God is in control. Depending on who we talk to, the pros and cons are somewhat the same no matter which way we choose. The biggest difference – if all three are done at the same time, then there is only one time under anesthesia and on the operating table.

In the middle of typing of this update we are still greatly struggling with this decision. After much discussion among ourselves and the doctors, we have changed from what I wrote above and now have decided not to do the fundoplication. It would take me numerous pages to lay out all the discussion over the last few days, but the bottom line is that at this point, we (Mom and Dad) are not convinced that Samuel has a reflux problem. The tracheostomy and G-tube are reversible procedures; however, the fundoplication is not. We are not willing to allow something that will permanently alter his body and has many possible side effects, when we are not sure he needs. At this point he does need the trach and G-tube so there is no problem deciding to allow this. There may come a point that we have to do the fundo, but at that time we will KNOW for sure it needs to be done. What are the risks in not doing the fundo? He has a higher chance of aspirating and getting pneumonia again, but there is no guarantee the same thing won’t happen even with the fundo.

This past weekend, the tape that holds his vent tube in place came loose and the tube came out. I just happened to walk into his room and there were eight hospital staff surrounding his bed. Needless to say that I was a little more than curious as to what was going on. Samuel actually did really well – better than he did when we purposely removed the vent during the trial run and to take pictures. Speaking of pictures, we posted a few of him and the family on his website http://prayforsamuelian.blogspot.com/

On several positive notes - Samuel had his first; absolute, 100%, beyond a shadow of a doubt, “gag reflex” this week. He has had several time when they thought he might have and most of the time he squirms a lot because he doesn’t like it, but this was for sure. I think the doctors have stopped trying to gag him every day. This happened while we were suctioning his mouth. It hasn’t happened since then, but it’s a start. On Monday night he was also moving his tongue around in his mouth, not a lot, but it’s a start. We hope and pray this is the beginning of a permanent gag and swallowing. The last honorable mention – Samuel had his right eye half open and was looking forward. Mom and Dad were at his bedside and he seemed to be looking towards Mom. A few minutes later, Mom walked away from the bed and I noticed that his eye shifted towards me. I thought this might be a coincidence since he has trouble controlling his eyes, so I moved to the other side of the bed and his eye shifted towards me again. I did this four times and each time he moved his eye in my direction. When Mom came back in the room, she saw it one more time before he stopped.

Our prayer requests: that God will continue to heal his brain way beyond what the doctors believe is capable, permanent gag reflex and swallowing, for successful surgeries with no complications and no negative results or progress setbacks (breathing, gag, etc.) from the anesthesia.

Thank you all for your gifts, support and prayers,
Yancy

Pictures

12th Update

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. Samuel’s pneumonia is improving; his x-rays definitely show he has pneumonia, but the doctor said Samuel doesn’t know it, because he hasn’t shown any negative symptoms (I thank you for your prayers). He finished his 10 days of antibiotics as of yesterday. Samuel has been having some reflux since we took out the vent tube and reinserted. They did an upper GI yesterday and the results show there are no problems. Last week we had an issue with his feeding tube. The tube is inserted through his nose and ends up in his stomach. They tape the tube to his face to keep it from coming out. Well, last Friday we noticed that Samuel’s bed where he lay was soaked. It took a little while to figure out that somehow his feeding tube had worked its way up into his mouth and his entire feeding poured out the side of his mouth. Thank God that it went out his mouth and not into his lungs. The nurses fixed the tube, changed his bed and clothes. During this time Samuel became very chilled and for several days he has been having problems regulating his temperature. He has been doing better the last two days. This week we should be talking with the surgeon about his tracheotomy and G-tube. After Samuel heals from these surgeries, we will again try to remove him from the ventilator. He has been doing well breathing over the vent and our hope is that when the vent tube is removed, his secretions will no longer cause problems and we can take him home without a ventilator. Right now, our time at the hospital will probably be another 8-10 weeks.

On my last update I said Samuel was opening one of his eyes. Since then, he has been opening both eyes. The most he has opened either of them is half-way. When his eyes are open, there are times when you can see his blue eyes and other times you cannot. Evette noticed there are times when his eyes are closed we can see REM (rapid eye movement) which would indicate sleeping patterns. I believe he can hear because he will be laying perfectly still and I will talk to him close to his ear and he will begin moving. We play music for him and he moves a lot more with the music than without. I have a voice recorder that I can download to my computer and we have started recording our voices for Samuel to hear. We are recording Dad, Mom and Siblings reading from the Bible, prayers, short stories or just talking to him. We will then copy this to a CD and play it for him just like the music. If anyone would like to send a voice recording for Samuel to hear, send it as an attachment to my email (yemery2009@hotmail.com) and I will add it to the CD’s. I don’t think you need a voice recorder, I have been told that most computers have this capability with a microphone.

We continue to ask for your prayers. Pray for healing of the brain; they did another ultrasound of his head and there is still major damage. The doctor said that as his body grows, his head will not grow as fast because the damaged areas will not grow and push out on the skull. God created the heavens and the earth and is perfectly capable of healing Samuel’s brain; we will continue to pray to that end. Pray that both eyes would open fully and he would have sight and his ears will hear. Pray we can have both surgeries scheduled at the same time, so that Samuel only has to go under anesthesia once, not twice. For God to guide the surgeon’s hands and Samuel’s protection under the anesthesia. We are still praying for his gag reflex to develop.

I believe that God has great plans for Samuel’s life and I thank Him for you and your prayers,

Yancy

11th Update

I’m sure most are waiting to hear how Samuel’s day went on Friday. At about 10:30 his little room was filled with people; doctors, nurses, respiratory, photographer, family and others. Mom dressed Samuel for his pictures and when everyone was ready they removed the feeding and vent tubes. Things went well for the first 10 minutes; we got some pictures with Mom, Dad and Samuel, then his secretions started clogging his airway. They put him back in bed to clear and suction and to get his oxygen saturation level back to normal. After that, they returned him to Mom and we were able to get pictures with the whole family before his secretions clogged his airway again. They put him back in bed and we decided to re-insert the ventilator tube.

Once he was back on the ventilator and they were able to suction his lungs; the suctioning pulled up secretions, blood and milk. The blood was probably just irritation and broken blood vessels from pulling and re-inserting the tube, because within a couple of hours it had stopped. The milk was a sign that he aspirated. It is routine for them to x-ray after inserting the tube to check for positioning; the x-ray did show that he definitely did aspirate. The doctor started Samuel on antibiotics right away in hopes to prevent any symptoms from pneumonia. Saturday afternoon they did another x-ray and he does have what they call aspiration pneumonia, but he is not having any problems so far.

Samuel has bounced back from Friday’s excitement and he is again breathing over the vent with low settings. The doctor said that Samuel didn’t appear to be having any problems breathing without the vent, but the lack of the gag reflex is what prevented him from doing well. We now know for sure that at this point we will have to do the tracheotomy and G-tube until the time his gag reflex is established.

We did get a surprise on Saturday morning. Samuel partially opened his left eyelid. We could see his eye moving as if he was looking around. A little while later, his eye rolled back and the eyelid finally closed. We assumed he went to sleep. Later that day his left eye opened again and this time it was half-way opened.

We ask for prayer to protect him from any adverse effects from the pneumonia and that the antibiotics would clear it up. For continued healing of the brain so that both eyes would open and he would have sight. Pray that we can have both surgeries scheduled at the same time, so that Samuel only has to go under anesthesia once, not twice. We also need prayer for my family’s health. I think I am coming down with a cold or something, so I haven’t been to the hospital. No one else has any symptoms and we hope it stays that way…

I thank everyone for their emails of encouragement. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to answer them all. I thank God for all of you who lift Samuel up in your prayers and for all the other blessings that are being poured on our family. May God bless you and your families.

Yancy

10th Update

As usual, it has been several days since my last update. There is still no definite gag reflex. He doesn’t like it when they try to gag him, but it’s just not there yet. Samuel has been doing well and has had no problems with his breathing since my last update. His ventilator settings are set as low as they can without removing the vent. Tomorrow (June 26) at 10:00 am we are going to remove the ventilator tube to see if he will continue to breathe on his own. We have coordinated the photographer from Footprints to take pictures right after we remove the vent tube; that way we can get photos without the vent or feeding tubes. As soon as I have the photos, I will post some on the website.

I ask that you continue to pray for the following: gag reflex, healing to the damaged areas of the brain, protection from pneumonia and that Samuel’s breathing would remain strong and constant after we remove the vent tube. If Samuel does not tolerate breathing without the vent, then we will have to replace it and they will schedule the tracheotomy; if he does not develop a gag reflex then the G-tube surgery will have to be done before he goes home. Pneumonia is a possible concern because without the gag reflex he can aspirate (his saliva goes into his lungs instead of his stomach). Without the gag reflex, which also causes swallowing, Samuel’s mouth will have to be suctioned frequently to reduce the possibility of aspiration.

After many repairs and attempts, the RV is finally ready to come up to the hospital; however, we just found out that an apartment is opening up at the Ronald McDonald House. We are not sure if our family is next on the waiting list or not, so the boys and I will continue to sleep at my office on the floor until we find out. The apartment has an occupancy of six and would be the ideal situation. I will be out of vacation and sick days, so I return to work next week. The Ronald McDonald House is only 5 minutes from my office. If the apartment doesn’t work out, we have the RV as a backup plan.

On a side note, someone asked me if I was aggravated with the doctors or hospital about the issue of “pulling the plug.” My answer is absolutely NOT. The doctors, nurses and staff have been wonderful and we appreciate everything they are doing for Samuel and our family. God has gifted them with exceptional knowledge and ability. I respect their opinion and asked them not to sugar coat anything. I just don’t agree with some of them on this subject. That doesn’t mean I am specifically angry at anyone – they don’t agree with my worldview and I don’t agree with theirs, it’s that simple…

As always, thank you for your continued prayers…
Yancy

Samuel's Candle

Andrew and Lisa of AandLCandles.com have graciously offered to sell candles for Samuel to help with the Emery's medical expenses. Here's what you do. You buy a Samuel Candle for $15 and $10 goes to the Emerys for Samuel's medical expenses. To find out more watch the video below and to purchase a Samuel candle visit www.aandlcandles.com/Donations.aspx

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a8bd0f00-a82e-46e9-92d3-a6bb5463f610&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Samuel Candle">Video: Samuel Candle</a>

9th Update

Samuel has had some ups and downs since my last update. Today he is doing well in all areas, except still no gag reflex. In my last update I spoke about trying to remove the ventilator and see how he tolerates it and replace if needed. They were slowly weaning his breathing and had lowered it to a rate of 14 breaths per minute. Samuel decided he was really comfortable with that rate, got lazy and decided he was just going to let the vent breathe for him. The last few days he has been very inconsistent with his breathing. They did another EEG to see if Samuel was getting into a sleep cycle which caused him not to breathe over the vent. The results didn’t show definite sleep cycles, so we again started the discussions with the doctor about the tracheotomy and G-tube surgery. Last night he decided he didn’t like those discussions, so he did well breathing thru the night. This morning he was still doing well, so the doctor decided to lower the support rate to 10 breathes per min and he is doing well with it. We are back to talking about removing the vent in the next couple of days…

Main prayer requests: Gag reflex and swallowing, consistent breathing – especially when we remove the vent, and healing of the brain areas.

Today we spoke with an organization called Footprints. One of their many services includes professional photos of the baby and family. We are going to try to coordinate these photos at the same time we remove the vent and if Samuel decides to cooperate with our plans, I will have Anita post them on the blog.

As always I thank you for your prayers and support. If anyone on this list is in need of our prayers, we will gladly lift them up with ours.

Yancy

8th Update

Samuel’s condition has improved since my last update. He is maintaining his blood pressure, body temp and breathing. They are weaning his breathing support at a very slow rate to allow him to equalize each time before moving the settings down again. Today when the doctor checked his eyes for pupil response, as they do every day with a flashlight, Samuel had an immediate response in his left eye and a sluggish response in his right eye. They have only seen a sluggish response in one of his eyes on the day they did his EEG testing and nothing before or since then. This is a very good sign because it shows increased brain activity.

Samuel’s gag reflex still has not developed. We started to see positive signs last week until his rough day last Saturday. Today when the doctor checked for this, he did not have a gag, but he did squirm more than he ever has before (he definitely didn’t like it).

He is now off of all IV’s, catheters and medications. The only tubes are his feeding tube and the ventilator tube. Samuel is up to full feedings of 70cc (approx 2 ½ oz) every three hours. He is digesting 100% after most of his feedings and now weighs 9 lbs 8 oz. If Samuel continues to be stable and consistent with is breathing and gas levels, then we will try to remove the ventilator tube, the middle of next week and see how he tolerates it. We will be checking his oxygen saturation level and heart rate, plus they will add a nasal cannula (oxygen tube at his nose) to help him become accustom to not having the ventilator tube. We will also have to determine how much his mouth will have to be suctioned, since he still doesn’t have his gag reflex and swallowing capabilities.

Please specifically pray for his gag reflex and swallowing to develop before we try removing the ventilator. Samuel cannot remain on the ventilator with the tube down his throat for a long period. If he doesn’t tolerate without the vent, he will need the surgery for the tracheotomy and G-tube. Also pray for protection from secondary issues, such as pneumonia. This is always a concern for babies in Samuel’s condition.

We thank you for all of your prayers! God is definitely answering them…

I said I was going to send pictures to Anita, who has created a website for Samuel and is keeping it updated, but I haven’t yet; however, my oldest daughter has created a short picture video and Anita said she was able to upload it to the website today.

Once again, we cannot thank you all enough for your care and support,

Yancy

7th Update

Samuel has had a rough couple of days (June 6th and 7th). His blood pressure was high and they gave him one dose of blood pressure meds, which brought it down too far and it has been difficult for him to maintain since then. He has also had problems maintaining a consistent body temp and he has been back on the ventilator. Last night he started doing better in all these areas. This morning he has started to breathe over the ventilator again and they have started the process of weaning the support down.

On the morning of the 6th he started to show some possible signs of developing his gag reflex. He did not “gag” but he did squirm a little. He did not do this on the 7th, but did squirm again this morning. We hope this continues to develop because they are talking about doing a tracheotomy in a few days if it doesn’t.

In one of my previous updates, I mentioned that we had a room in the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) across from the hospital. I did not mention that due to fire codes they only allow 4 people to stay overnight. We now have seven in our family, so we have not been able to all be together during this time. This has not set well with me since I think it is very important for us all to be together. Yesterday I spoke with my friend, Bruce (he was also my former pastor), and he said we could use his RV and park it outside of the Ronald McDonald House. I ask the hospital security if there was any issues in doing this and they said it was not a problem. This was an answer to prayer. In a few days we will all be together. The guys will sleep in the RV and the girls in the RMH. The hospital is only a few minutes from my work, so when I am done using my sick and vacation days, I will only be a short distance away.

We ask specific prayers for Samuel’s gag reflex, breathing, blood pressure and body temp. We thank you for your prayer support and ask that you not grow weary as this may be a long road.

Yancy

6th Update

I know that many have been waiting for another update and I’m sorry that it has taken 4 days to send this one. We received a call from the Ronald McDonald House that they had a room for us. So Tuesday I moved into the house that was about 3 miles from the hospital. Wednesday I received a call that the house across the street from Cardinal Glennon had a vacancy, so I moved out of the one and into the other. During that process, my brakes went out on the van and I had to get them fixed – Just some of the excuses for not sending an update sooner…

Evette is healing well, but still tires easily…

I want to sincerely thank everyone for their prayers, God is graciously answering. Much has happened since my last update. Everyone knows that Samuel stopped breathing on his second day of life, but I have not updated you on the results of his MRI. The MRI was completed on day 3 and we reviewed that evening. The doctor painted a very bleak picture. They stated that all major areas of the brain was affected including the brain stem. The results of the MRI, the no breathing issues and the fact that the initial EEG (brain wave test) was basically flat with the exception of when he breathed; I believe this is what prompted them to discuss the subject of “pulling the plug.” Their assessment included: Samuel blood flow to the brain would not be sufficient, causing further problems, he probably would not be aware of his surroundings (wouldn’t feel anything), he would probably not be able to see, hear or speak. Without saying it, they were telling us that he would be a vegetable. We told them we understood their reasoning and respected their knowledge of the situation; however, we did not agree with their opinion and that “pulling the plug” was not an option.

Today is Samuel’s 10th day of life and we are praising God for the miracles He is working each day. I believe that has a lot to do with our prayers. We thank you for them and ask that you continue and continue to ask others also. We know that God already has Samuel’s days numbered, whether that is 10 days or 100 years and we thank Him for each one of those days. We truly believe that children are a blessing, no matter how God gives them to us.

Samuel is breathing well on his own (something they said he would not do) and they have the ventilator settings as low as they can without removing the tube. He had an ultrasound of his head to check the blood flow to the brain. Surprising to the doctors, Samuel has normal blood flow to his brain (something they said would not be sufficient). He had another EEG (brain wave test); the initial one had flat waves, but the second one surprisingly showed Samuel’s brain wave activity is now that of a 24 week (5 ½ month) premature baby and he can feel touch and pain (they said he probably would not be aware of his surroundings). My last update I specifically ask for prayer for Samuel to develop his “Gag Reflex” (another function they didn’t think would happen). Well on the doctor’s exam this morning, he still didn’t have a gag reflex, but started moving his body when she would put her finger down his throat; something he has not done before… ARE WE STARTING TO SEE A PATTERN HERE???

We are thankful for his new doctor. She is another blessing and supportive of our decisions.

Samuel’s blood pressure has been elevated and last night they put him on meds to lower it to an acceptable level. He has a small hole in his heart, which is normal and will probably heal on its own. He had 8 tests yesterday and all revealed normal results or nothing major. They removed his urinary catheter again and we hope they don’t have to put it back in. He is being fed Mom’s milk (though a tube) every three hours and is up to 1 ½ ounces each feeding. He is digesting it well. He is no longer being warmed because he is maintaining his own body temp. He is getting daily physical therapy to keep his body from becoming stiff. All systems seem to be operating in the normal range with the exception of the following:

Please pray that his breathing would continue to remain strong. We would like to see him taking deeper breaths. Pray that God would continue the normal blood flow to the brain and for increased brain activity. That God would heal the damaged areas of the brain. His gag reflex is still the next big miracle we need, without that, they cannot remove the ventilator (unless we do a tracheotomy and G-tube). We need his blood pressure to come down and his bladder to consistently empty on its own.

On a similar subject, I ask that everyone pray for all the children who are hear in the neonatal ICU. There are approximately 40 babies here with us, who I’m not sure are being prayed for. Babies as small as one pound to babies who have been here over a year. Thru this email list I know of a boy who was born two days after Samuel and was air transported to Children’s Hospital. His name is Austin Timothy Groat and he is in serious condition with breathing problems and pneumonia.

Our friends, Anita and her daughter Erin have created a blog for Samuel. They will post all the updates and I will be sending them pictures to put on the site in the next couple of days. I continue to ask that you send to anyone who will sincerely and earnestly pray for him. They can send me an email and I will add them to the list – yemery2009@hotmail.com

We have seen many miracles and we expect to see many more. Thank you, we are exceedingly grateful to you all.

Yancy

5th Update

Today was a good day. As I stated in my last update – Defying the wisdom of the doctors, Samuel began breathing at 6:30 this morning and it has grown stronger and better throughout the day. It’s still not the consistent steady breathing we need, but we are going in the right direction. They have continued to decrease assistance from the machine. “…With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

The last two days Samuel was receiving his nutrients thru an IV; today he was given his first feeding of Mom’s milk thru a tube into his stomach and he digested 100%. They are feeding him every three hours and he is doing well.

He was assigned a new doctor today.

Yesterday they removed his catheter because his urine output was good; however, this afternoon they had to put it back in because he was not releasing it as he should.

I ask that everyone continue to pray specifically for his breathing. The next miracle we need is for God to establish Samuel’s “gag reflex.” Without the gag reflex, they will not be able to remove the ventilator tube because he would constantly choke on his saliva. The only option for removing the tube would be to perform a tracheotomy (cut a hole in his throat so he can breathe) and a G-tube (cutting a hole in his side to feed directly into his stomach). We would prefer not to go there – please pray so we don’t have to…

It is 11:30 pm on June 1st and Samuel’s blood pressure has started to rise. It is not at a level that they need to treat; however it is at a level of concern…

I am going to end for now. I still need to send an update about the results of the MRI, I will try to send tomorrow. Please continue to send to anybody who will sincerely and earnestly pray for Samuel. If anyone wants to be added to the update list, send an email to yemery2009@hotmail.com – you will be added to the list and I will send you all the update thus far…

Thank you,
Yancy

4th Update

It has been a couple of days since my last update. Mom arrived here at Cardinal Glennon on Saturday morning, so I have been busy tending to her needs. Everyone got to hold Samuel for the first time last night. I sent Mom home last night (Sun) for a couple of days to hopefully get better sleep and to spend time with the kids. She is recovering well.

On my last update I asked everyone to pray specifically for Samuel’s breathing. Two days ago, Samuel stopped breathing on his own. The doctors told me that they did not believe he would regain his own breathing. My last update I also said they did not believe in miracles or the power of prayer. At 6:30 this morning, I was holding his hand and talking to him, when his respiratory number on the monitor when up into the 70’s. This has happened a few times over the last two days, but it has just been water in the lines or bad sensor reading. They cleared the lines and the numbers went back up into the 70’s. They checked everything and it was Samuel breathing. The doctor then disconnected him from the machine and he was breathing at a rate in the 40’s. She then reconnected him.

Samuel Ian’s name was given to me for a reason “God hears our prayers and answers graciously.” This is an answer to our prayers and I ask that you continue with us in this. Samuel is far from breathing without the machine, but he is farther from where the doctors said he was; which shows that God is in control, not the doctors. Please pray for continued improvement in his breathing…

I have a consult with his new doctor today and will try to send another update later today.

Yancy

3rd Update

I want to send a quick update as a focused effort of prayer. A lot has happened since my last update which I will go into detail later tonight in my 4th update.

Right now, we need Samuel to regain breathing on his own. They have finally been able to get his gas levels (mainly carbon dioxide) back to a normal level, but he is still receiving almost all of his breathing from the machine. We have already been told several times that it would be OK if we decided to “pull the plug.” They do not believe he will regain his breathing, but if he does, it might change the doctor’s perspective of “pulling the plug (at least for now).

In my opinion, this is a crazy thought process. Samuel has only been here for about 3 days, he has a strong heartbeat, they’ve had him cooled to a low temp and are just now warming him up to a normal temp. It is way too early for them to even be expressing this thought. I told them that is not an option…

They must not believe in the power of prayer or miracles, which amazes me considering where they work. As I understand it, miracles happen a lot here.

Please pray specifically for Samuel to regain his breathing…

Thanks,
Yancy

2nd Update

I thank you for all your prayers and ask that you continue…

Samuel spent the day yesterday breathing on his own. They did keep the ventilator tube in and it was only providing 6 breaths per min, Samuel was doing the rest. That changed around 5:00 am this morning (May 29), they had to increase his ventilation rate to 30 breaths because his gas levels (carbon dioxide) have gone from the low 20’s (which is good), to higher levels in the 70’s (not good). They just took x-rays to make sure we don’t have any internal issues going on. Waiting on the results…

They’ve had him on a cooling protocol since he was born which means they are keeping his body temp at around 91 degrees in an attempt to keep brain swelling down and keep his other main organs suppressed. He will have an MRI and EEG (brain wave testing) done today to try and determine how his brain was affected. He will remain on the cooling protocol for the rest of today and then they will start slowly warming him to a normal body temp. At that time, his main organs will no longer be suppressed and only God know how he will respond…

Since his arrival, he has been non-responsive with only very mild reaction to some of the reflex testing. Yesterday around noon, I started to see more response when I touched his feet and hands. By the end of the day, his toes would move slightly when I would run my finger along the bottom of his foot. His hands went from totally limp and easily opened to having resistance in his fingers. This grew stronger throughout the day to the point of prying his fingers open and he could hold on to my finger. When they increased his ventilation this morning, his feet are no longer responsive and the resistance in his hands have diminished some.

I will keep everyone posted as I have new info. Please send this to anyone who will pray for him and if they want to be added to this distribution list, they need to send an email to yemery2009@hotmail.com. Samuel Ian’s name was chosen at about 5 months in the womb and his name literally means “God hears our prayers and answers graciously.”

Keep praying,Yancy

1st Update

Many of you already know of yesterday’s events, but for some, this will be the first word you receive. Samuel Ian Emery was born yesterday, May 27, 2009 around 3:00 pm. To make a very long story, short – things did not go as planned. Things were progressing nicely at home, when suddenly the umbilical cord prolapsed (which means that the cord comes passed the baby and cuts off the blood and oxygen flow). The Nurse did what she could to keep the baby’s head off the cord until the ambulance arrived. The paramedic took over with the same attempt until we arrive at the hospital. They did have a slight pulse upon arrival and it took them six minutes to get Samuel out by C-section. When he was removed, he was not breathing nor did he have a heartbeat. They work on him for what seemed to be forever, but I later found out was eight minutes before they were able to establish a heartbeat. They were not able to get him breathing on his own so he has been transferred to Cardinal Glennon’s Children’s Hospital.

Evette is recovering at Jefferson Memorial Hospital. She is doing well, but will be there for 2-3 days before they will release her. Samuel and I are here at the Children’s Hospital. It is 5:00 am Thursday morning and even though he is still in critical condition, he has made some progress overnight. His breathing is still assisted; however, they have slowly decreased the amount of assistance and he is now breathing more on his own than he is being assisted – this is a big step… I think the biggest concern is how his brain will respond. They have him hooked up to a brainwave monitor and late last night his only real waves were happening when he gasped for air (or agnail breathing), the rest of the time the line was flat. Since then, there has been some movement in the wave, not a lot, but it’s a start…

He needs your prayers! Please pass this to anyone who is willing to pray for him. If you would like to continue to receive updates on his progress, send me your email address to yemery2009@hotmail.com and I will add you to the distribution list

Thanks,
Yancy