Changing of the Guard

Yesterday Mawmaw Cindy left to go back to Louisiana, but Auntie won't be back until later today. Well, last night when little Ethan was having trouble going to sleep I just retreated into the guest bedroom instead of having to go downstairs. At around 2 am he did finally go back to sleep and I put him in his crib. Instead of laying back down with Philip I just took the monitor in with me and I slept on the futon in the guest room. At around 6 am Ethan began to stir and cry just a little. Well, here comes Emma dog (who is now at eye level because of the sleeping arrangement) with her nose in my face licking me and licking me. "Leave it" I tell her, which usually results in an immediate halting of the licking. Not this time! I told her to leave it three seperate times and she would not stop until I got up to go see about the baby. Then she waited for me at the top of the stairs until I got to the nursery. After I picked Ethan up, I turned around and where was Emma? Back on her bed in our bedroom. Part of me wants to think she was trying to protect him by getting my attention, but another little part of me thinks she couldn't sleep with all that racket and she was thinking, "Can't you get up and silence that little noise maker?"

She's a sweet puppy and I'll try to think the best of her!!

My Friend Blaise

Blaise wonders what Ethan is so upset about!

Laura and Blaise Neff came over yesterday and we got to go out to Olive Garden for lunch. They sat us off in a private little dining room and it was so funny because Blaise and Ethan were sleeping. We set them both up in their car seats on the end of the dining table (it could seat like 16) and there they sat until we were done eating....and then they were both hungry:) Blaise was not very impressed with Ethan. He would just stare at him when he cried. I'm sure in 6 months things will be a lot different.

Ethan took a bath this morning and was much more calm. He made it through the whole thing without crying!! Yeah Ethan!

Mawmaw Cindy

"Little peanut"

Well, as you can see Mawmaw Cindy is enjoying the time she is getting to spend with Ethan. I still can't believe how hours turn in to days, days in to weeks, and I know here pretty soon weeks will be months. He is growing and changing everyday which continues to amaze me. Sunday we went to the church barbeque where he slept most of the time and last night we went to the last Ladies Night Out with Glyna Nunez because she is moving to Arkansas :(
We wish the Nunez family all of our luck and our prayers will be with you as you start this new chapter of your lives. Ethan will miss you!!

3 weeks!!

Bathtime is stressful! It takes three people and three hands to get me calm!

It's hard to believe we've made it to the three week mark. Ethan has been home and healthy for 14 days! He has a belly button now which is exciting and was the reason for the actual bath time shown above. Mawmaw Cindy will be making an appearance this afternoon so we'll have more pictures soon!

Good news....and Good news

Ladies?

Ethan went to the hematologist today and his platelets are still normal!! This pretty much means he has a good bill of health as far as his platelets are concerned. He will still get blood drawn when he goes to the pediatrician next month just to make sure, but after that he will no longer have to get tested.

As far as Philip and I's future children are concerned they will ALL have this problem. Probably worse with each pregnancy. Any future pregnancies will be considered high risk. I will need to see a perinatologist who will monitor my pregnancy closely. I will probably have a higher number of ultrasounds done to check for cranial bleeding during the pregnancy. Basically, we can still have children which is good, but there are risks involved. We also will have many treatment options but we can cross that bridge when we come to it!

Thank you all again for your prayers. We can't wait to share with Ethan what a testimony that this has been to God's ultimate sovereignty. I hope I never again question why things happen in my life because ultimately God has it all in his hands.

On a lighter note I have accepted the Science Instructional Coach position with Knox County for next school year. I am looking forward to staying involved in the education system.

Two Weeks!!

Sleeping on Mommy

I can't believe it has already been two weeks since Ethan came into this world. It has been an interesting two weeks for sure. I don't have much to say other than that the early morning feedings and lack of sleep have made me question how ANYONE can have more than one baby and not lose their minds! Just finding time to write this has been challenging... Ethan goes back to the hematologist tomorrow. Hopefully it will be the last time someone pricks him for a while. Also Philip and I will find out our blood work results and the possibilities (risks) of us having another child.

Thats all for now, I'll let you know how it all goes!

Home....

Ethan loves watching King of Queens with his Daddy at night.

Well, I know it's been awhile since I last posted. Ethan is doing great. We went to the pediatrician on Wednesday and after 3 hours we learned that his platelets are in the normal range!! He has now had two baths and lots of fun with the dogs!! During the end of the week and the weekend Ethan has been busy entertaining his grandparents. We posted more pictures on Flikr so check there for more cuteness:)

Thank you!!!

First of all I would just like to say thank you to all everyone out there who supported us with prayer through this "storm". Our first day home was a good one. Ethan even made a trip out to Babies R Us and Target. I'll post more pictures tonight but until then I do have one more prayer request tonight. I want Ethan to be breastfed but with him being fed bottles at the hospital this is proving to be a bigger challenge than I thought. I would just ask that God would show us what he would want us to do and give me success where needed. Tomorrow Ethan goes to the doctor for the first time. He will get another blood test done to check his platelets so prayer is also needed for that.

Again, thank you to everyone who has supported us thus far. I know it has made a difference in our lives.

Home Sweet Home

Well, he's made it!! We are finally home. If you'd like to see more pics make sure you check out the link to the right. That is where EVERY picture taken of him so far is found! I'm off to take a nap:)

The car ride home (with puppy Martin of course)

And then the tour began.....

The Living Room

The Kitchen
Sunroom with Doggy inspection!!
The nursery

Mom and Dads bedroom (which apparently is boring)

Tick, tock

It's the Aunt again! This morning Ethan's platelets were at 136,000 and he went a whole night without being sick! Bridgette and Philip are just waiting at the hospital right now for him to be discharged. The nurse gave Ethan a bill of good health and now they're waiting on the pediatrician who is busy with another birth. They will be home sometime this evening and we'll be updating tonight with Ethan's first "from home" pictures.

Thanks again for all your prayer and support. It would have been much harder without all of you.

Aunt Danielle

Ethan is still doing very well. Bridgette and Philip will be staying the night at the hospital. They are putting them and Ethan in their own room so that Bridgette can breastfeed tonight. The doctors say that if he can keep down his food tonight then he should be able to go home in the morning. We'll update tomorrow to let everyone know when he's coming home.

Woo hoo!

Aunt Danielle

Short Update

His platelets are up to 81,000!!! We are so excited!! We are off to see him now

Great News!!

I'm so sorry that we did not get to post this morning. We got a late start and did not call the NICU before heading in. But, I do have a FANTASTIC praise to report. His platelets were up to 59 this morning!!!!!! The pediatrician said that this is great because the 60-70 thousand range is when he is out of danger of spontaneous bleeding. He also said as long as he stays above 60-70 he will be able to go home on Tuesday or Wednesday! Praise God!

We are so excited. Please continue to pray for Philip and I. We are spending an average of 12 hours a day at the hospital and it can be exhausting. Philip is letting me take a nap every afternoon, but he feels he can't get any rest at the hospital. (He is in bed now though, so that is good). Thank you for all your prayers, again they are felt mightily!! Because of church tomorrow we will probably not post again until tomorrow evening, but we are planning on being home at 6:30, so it will be an earlier post.

We love you all!

First Bath

Ethan sleeping with puppy "Martin"

Today was a great day!! You got to hear the "morning report" from Auntie and now my small update. Ethan is beautiful. Today I got to see him more than any other day of his little life! His billirubin is down and platelets are up. We praise God for everything he is doing in little Ethan's life. He is also now eating bottles with mostly breast milk and is keeping it all down. This makes the pediatricians happy and now the only thing standing between him and home are his little platelets.

The nurse I spoke to tonight made me hug her because she said last night he woke up, and he didn't cry but he just laid there and looked around. She said she couldn't help but pick him up, unplug him from the monitors, and walk him all around the unit with her on her nightly errands. I told her by all means, pick him up and hold him because as soon as he gets home that is what I will be doing!!

Philip and I got to give him his first bath tonight and that was fun too!!


Thank you ALL for your support and encouragement. I know that your prayers have been heard by an almighty God who has big plans for this family. Philip and I have had a peace about us that is unexplainable except but through Him.

-Bridgette

Yeah, Ethan!

I just talked to Bridgette and she was very happy/excited. Ethan's platelets are back up to 22,000 as of this morning! They'll test the blood again tonight and if they haven't continued to rise, he'll get another treatment tonight. The red spots on his nose are gone and his color is so good that they don't consider him a jaundice baby anymore.

Bridgette and Philip had a super-good morning with little Ethan. They got to spend lots of time with him awake and eating. Bridgette got to feed Ethan a whole bottle of breast milk, which he ate vigorously. This is exciting news because the doctor says Ethan will get to have the GI tube taken away and will eat on his own from now on.

Thank so much for your prayers and comments of encouragement! Praise God for the wonderful news this morning!


Aunt Danielle

Family Resemblence??

I've said from day one that Ethan looks like Philip. The nurse asked me today who I thought he looked like, and I said, "He could be his dad's brother they look so much alike." Philip just smiled, but as proof to the world I submit this:

On the left, Ethan 3 days old
On the right, Philip 1 days old

You make the call!!

Uplifted!!

Thank you all for your prayers!! They were MIGHTILY felt!! Everything seems so much better when I am in the presence of my son:) He is beautiful and soft and he smells good. Ahhhhhhh.... Also thank you for the comments. It really helps to know that you guys are out there reading this!

Okay, but seriously he is keeping his formula down that they are giving him via the GI tube which is better than yesterday. Today he also received milk from me which hopefully will help his digestion. We got to speak to the hematologist again and he did not seem alarmed about his drop in platelets. He just reassured us that some babies take longer to react then others. Part of this is because we don't know how many of my antibodies originally got into his little system (that can be different for every baby). Also, the IVIG treatment that he received yesterday was smaller than it was suppose to be (miscommunication?), but that has been rectified and he got a normal treatment this morning. His platelets will be checked again tomorrow. If he does not react to the treatments as expected over the next few days, he will get a transfusion of my platelets (which we know my antibodies will not attack).

All the nurses just keep commenting on how good he looks and how cute he is. Today I started to read him "his" psalm. We only got to verse 9 (it is a really long psalm and he is a really little baby). The hardest part of the day is coming home without him. I feel as though I have left a body part at the hospital. But I KNOW that he is well taken care of, both by the almighty hands of God and by the staff at Children's.

Ethan Update

Ethan's platelets are down to 11,000 again this morning. He will be recieving the third treatment today. It still has not been 48 hours from the first treatment so this may just be a slow process. It is taking alot out of Philip and I, so please pray for our strength. I will be discharged from Baptist any minute now, so it is going to be a long day.

Thanks to you all for your love and support!
-BB

P.S. Comments of encouragement really do help, so please feel free to comment away:)

Momma Entry

So you've heard from Dad and Auntie and now it's my turn. We went to the hospital today after a much needed shower for me (and I got to put on some normal clothes:) He is adorable and we love him so much.





Here is Dad with Ethan. Notice the monitor behind him has is name across the top. The nurses there made him a sign the very first day he was there.








This is his "I'm a little man" outfit!!


This puppy dog was brought to him by "Aunt" Kathy Martin!!

He got his second treatment today for the anti-antibodies. Tonight's blood work showed his platelets at 19,000. We aren't really sure what the error is in these measurements, but the doctors are not concerned. He will receive anywhere from 3 to 5 of these treatments and the doctors refuse to estimate when he will be able to go home. Please continue to pray that Philip and I would have peace about everything that is going on. We KNOW that God is in control and that NOTHING can take him from his hands. We love you all and we appreciate everything everyone is doing. We will update you again as soon as possible.

Love, Ethan's Momma

Baby Pictures, take 1

From Baptist West 7/3/07:


Hiding his face so you can't see he's sleeping with his mouth wide open..








Good morning!








And from Children's for the Fourth:


Imagine the constant sucking motion which is super-cute.






















And mom says hi.










Thanks for all your love and support. We appreciate all of you and can't wait to have you all meet Ethan!

Aunt Danielle

Ethan is doing better! Praise God!

A hematologist checked Ethan out at Children's and said the most probable reason for his condition is that Bridgette and I had different platelet antigens and some of Bridgette's blood got mixed with Ethan's during the birth and her antibodies are killing the babies platelets (I don't really understand it enough to explain it well :) But if this is indeed the problem and right now the docs are treating it as the problem, then all Ethan needs is a few treatments of some medicine and he will be fine. Yesterday night Ethan's count was 15000 before the treatment and then 24000 this morning after the treatment! So things are going in the right direction. Yesterday Bridgette got a 12 hour pass to leave Baptist west to go see Ethan, we came back to Baptist west for the night and we will do the same thing today.

God has a plan for Ethan's life and so far I think the evidence shows that he wants the little guy to be healthy. It turns out that having a C-section was the best chance for Ethan to get through the low platelet count issue. If he would have come out the normal way a lot more of Bridgette's blood would have gotten in his and more platelets would have been destroyed. Also the chance of him having cranial bleeding would have been raised (he has no bleeding in the brain!) None of us knew this at the time of labor and delivery but God did and even though we went through a stressful time God had Ethan in his hands and was taking care of him. Praise God!

Philip

Please Pray for Baby Ethan

Dear Friends and Family,

Ethan was just taken to Children's Hospital to investigate a low blood platelet count. Philip has gone with him, but because of the C-section I am still at Baptist West. We don't know how long he will have to stay there or much about the cause of his low count.

Please keep Ethan in your prayers. Philip and I know that there is nothing that we can do to make him better, he is totally in God's hands.

We will update everyone as soon as possible.

-Bridgette

Ethan James Boudreaux

After 12 hours of labor I had to have an emergency C-section, but Ethan and I are doing just great. Praise God!! He is 7lbs 8oz and is 20 3/4 in long.