All is well... *yawn*

Well, I hope everyone is assuming that since we haven't updated the blog that things are going fine. That is the case, and with a newborn in the house, there's not been much time to update the blog. I also wanted to wait until I had some better pictures, but that hasn't happened yet.

Things are going pretty well with all of us. Owen is doing just fine. He eats about every 3 hours and is a pretty sleepy little boy. We are still going to the doctor periodically for weight checks just to make sure he's gaining properly. He has had two weight checks showing he was borderline in the weight-gain department. Otherwise, he's very content and easy to take care of. He's growing more alert each day and I can't wait for that first smile in a few more weeks!

Kate is doing about as well as I expected. She loves her baby brother, but she had some issues with James and me (James especially) at first. She was acting out and doing crazy things for attention - especially negative attention. But, she's a great helper (too helpful, most of the time) and seems to be getting used to sharing us with Owen. James and I are adjusting to sleepless nights, though I feel like I was a little ahead of the game getting several nights of decent sleep toward my recovery while Owen was in the hospital. I also feel like there's less stress this time, since I have a better clue of what I'm doing, so the stress doesn't compound the sleeplessness like it did with Kate.

Thank you so much to all of our friends and family who were and are keeping us in your prayers and checking up on us. The offers for help and meals were many, and I want you to all know how much we appreciate you. It is so nice to have such a great support system.

Like I said, I don't really have many good pictures, but here are a few of Owen at home. I promise I'll try to get some of him awake!

Safely Home

Just wanted to report that we got Owen home yesterday. It was good to finally have my whole family under one roof. After a two hour wait for a special "prescription tube of diaper rash cream" he was finally released from the Children's NICU at 4:30 yesterday. Kate was very excited, more excited than I have seen her in a long time, to see and finally touch "baby brother". We will see how she adjusts to he new brother being at home today. We will hopefully get some more pictures posted soon. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.
James

Another Busy Couple Days

It looks like Owen will get to come home today. He was stable all day yesterday without any kind of assistance (IV, hood, etc.). He was doing so well that I got to go in to work for the day (oh' joy) and Angela was able to spend much of the day with him. He is feeding well from the bottle and even better from Angela. They ran his blood gas levels in the morning and they were normal, they did a chest x-ray yesterday which showed his lung was better, and he has not had any more episodes of any kind. He was doing so well yesterday that they did his circ. and a car seat test to make sure he will do fine on the ride home today. I hope to have him home by this afternoon. We will keep you posted on his progress and will post more pictures after we get him home. Thank you for all of your prayer and support. God has been good to us to get us through this and to give us great friends and family.

A good day

Owen started out his day by removing his IV (for the second time in two days). So, while he was "disconnected", they decided to just send him on down for his esophogram. The esophogram checked out fine and didn't find anything wrong. In addition, another x-ray showed the "something" in his upper right lung to be clearing up. Based on these two findings, they decided to stop antiobiotic treatments, keep the IV out, and to try to feed him. He did well with his first feeding and we showed up in time for his second feeding. I don't know if he was really hungry, or just has too many Coley genes (some of you will get that), but he was gulping down the bottle so they had to pace him by stopping and letting him catch his breath so he wouldn't choke it down. They had also removed his oxygen hood, so he was doing everything on his own today. We're still taking things one day at a time, but he appears to be working things out on his own so far. He looked great and it was so nice to feed him and hold him! God is good! Thank you for your continued prayers and we'll post another update tomorrow.

An update on Owen

Well, we haven't had time to really inform everyone of the events that have taken place since Owen's birth. When the pediatrician made rounds the morning after his birth, he found fluid in his lungs and noted that Owen was having to breath too hard to get enough oxygen. Since our hospital is very limited in neonatal provisions, he needed to be transferred to the neonatal ICU at East Tennessee Children's Hospital to be treated as necessary. Upon arrival at the hospital, he appeared to be breathing fine on his own and things looked great. However, after he was fed, he had fluid in his lungs again which had to be removed and he needed an oxygen hood to stabilize him. This continued until they decided to put him on an IV and stopped feeding him bottles. He's doing fine now on the IV with an oxygen hood and his breathing is fine. The doctor thinks he may have a fistula (a small opening) between his esophagus and trachea or somewhere in this area. They will perform a radiological trace on Monday to look for this. He also has "something" in one of his lungs that appears to be either an under developed portion of his lung or an infection, so he is on antibiotics just in case. Please keep him in your prayers as the doctors try to determine what is wrong and then what needs to be done to make him better.

It has been difficult on everyone having a newborn in the NICU. I am now home and will be able to spend more time with him. It was strange being in the hospital without my baby, though they were great to give me a pass each day I was in the hospital so I could visit Owen. Kate finally got to see him for the first time today through the window at the NICU, but she doesn't understand what's going on. James will be glad to have one less place to drive to as he was making rounds between Farragut, West Knoxville, and downtown to check on each of us.

I will try to keep this blog updated with the latest news as I have time. In the meantime, here are a few more photos.

Please Welcome Owen Benjamin Hemrick

Another guest blog by James while Angela recovers.
We are happy to announce the birth of Owen Benjamin Hemrick on 11/30/07 at 1:09am. He was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21" long. Below are a few pictures. More to come later.