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, October 4, 2011

Chaos in the NICU

This morning has been a little crazy and emotional. Yesterday Brodie had a good day and he was alot more active. We got some really good pictures of him with his eyes wide open. He was also waiving his arms around and kicking his feet a little. It is so nice to see him like this and LaVona even got to hold him up while they changed his bed. His oxygen was in the 50's all day and he looks much better now that he has lost a little fluid. We are so happy with all the progress but there is one issue that has us concerned. Right now he is on a five day steroid and they think that his progress may be due to the steroids. He can't stay on them for long because they are not good for you so hopefully he will not take a huge step backwards when they stop them. When we got here this morning Brodie looked like he had put some fluid back on so that had us a little down and then during rounds the very tiny baby across from Brodie's room started to have alot of problems and I don't think that she is going to make it. This is hard for us to see because you feel for the family and it just makes all of this way too real. LaVona struggled whether to go comfort the woman because she was all alone but then I look up and she is headed her way. She just hugged her and prayed with her and it made me so proud to call her my wife. Even with all we are going through she still sets everything aside to comfort another mom. Some days are more difficult than others and our hope is that today will get a little better all around. As I type this the monitor is beeping but this time it is a good beep. His oxygen saturation is at 100% so it sets the alarm off. Those are the beeps that we like to hear. I will post an update later tonight to let everyone know how the day goes. Please pray for the family and their baby across from Brodie. No family should ever have to go through this and our hearts go out to them. Hope everyone has a great day and I will try to post the pictures of his eyes open later today.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy to hear that Brodie is still doing well.....I am sending prayers that his progress does not rest soley on the steroids....that it is more a factor of Gods will.....I am also praying for the baby and the family across the room....
(((HUGS)))

Diane said...

Praying that the steriods have helped him over a hump and he can continue the progress without them. So glad LaVona could be God's messenger to the other Mom. Certainly God has you in this place for such a time as this. Continued prayers for strength and healing for precious Brodie and your family.

Lindsey said...

I'm praying that everything with Brodie goes well. LaVona is an amazing woman. You should be very proud!