Welcome to our site about our son Brodie Dick who will join our family on August 8, 2011 at 8:00. At 22 weeks we went in to find out if we were having a boy or a girl and we found out that we were having a boy but that he may have a birth defect. After an agonizing week we found out that our son had CDH (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia). CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing the abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth. CDH occurs in 1 of every 2500 births and a baby with CDH is born every 10 minutes. 50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. The cause is not known. This will be a journal of our journey and will allow our family and friends to keep up to date on what is happening with us and our son Brodie. Thanks for your prayers and support!


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

What a Day! (Sigh)

Today was one of the most physically and emotionally draining days we have had up to this point.  It probably wasn't but right now it really feels like it.  Last night he did great and he was down to 68% oxygen but by the time we got in he was on 100% oxygen.  That is pretty much how the entire day went.  The doctors had to bag him 3 or 4 times today.  They have probably done this to him about 15 times but I know that will never get easy to watch.  His oxygen saturation went lower than it has ever gone before and I was scared they were never going to get it back up.  While they were bagging him respiratory did a deep suction about 6 or 7 times and got a ton of mucous out of his mouth and tube.  This really seemed to help  him.  Today he looked pretty good but there were a couple of things today that are hard for a parent to see.  The hardest is that he has a slight leak in his tube so now it makes a noise when he breathes and when he has fluid in his mouth it is worse.  This is just something that we will have to get used to.  The other thing is that towards the end of the night his eyes were open but they were not moving and he was just not with us.  They have him paralyzed and heavily sedated so he is not consciously with us right now.  Just another day in the new life of our family.  We just called and he is doing better tonight so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.  Thanks for your support and hope everyone has a wonderful night!!!!
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Todd, Good Morning from Pittsburgh!

I agree, watching your child get bagged is a bad thing to see. I just remind myself, they know what they are doing. One day, my daughter's saturation went down into the 30's. I thought for sure, that was it. They bagged her and the day went on. The suctioning is a God sent! Clearing out the airways is always a bonus. Tori got suctioned every 3 hours,(diaper and feeding time) if not more. She also got the priveledge of having a little hand held vibrating tool to shake some of the mucous loose. I have full faith Brodie is moving in the right direction. NICU life is hard. However, God would not put it in our laps if he thought we couldn't handle it.

Love and Light to you and LaVona,
Liz

September 21, 2011 at 8:19 AM
Lindsey said...

I am so sorry to hear of these difficulties Brodie is experiencing. Please know that you all are in my prayers every day. I was thinking that it is great that you started this blog. Not only does it give you a chance to document Brodie's journey for family and friends but it gives you all an outlet to talk about things that would otherwise stay contained until you felt like bursting. I am thinking of you all and pray Brodie will stay strong. God is with you all.

September 21, 2011 at 10:08 AM

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