Welcome Baby Matthew!

After a very long and slow labor, Matthew arrived on May 9 at 3:12am.  He came out and gave a couple of big cries, which was music to our ears.  They immediately took him into the adjoining room and got him put on a ventilator and assessed him.  J.P. was able to go with Matthew and come back and tell me what was going on.  While it definitely wasn't my ideal birth scenario, it was exactly what was expected for Matthew and there were no major surprises.  All of the doctors and nurses were wonderful and made sure that he got here safe and sound.

After about 2 hours of getting him stable and all taken care of they brought his little bed over to mine and I finally got to meet Matthew!  It was both one of the happiest and one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life.  To see him and know that he is here and safe was so wonderful.  But to know that I couldn't hold him and could only stroke his little cheek was so hard.  He only got to stay with me for a couple of minutes, but I am so grateful that I got to see him before he was whisked away.

J.P. and I were both deliriously tired by that time, but were both able to get a little power nap in before the sun officially came up today.  It is amazing how a good hour of sleep can feel when you have been up for nearly 24 hours!  We were both so anxious to get over to the NICU and check on Matthew this morning.

J.P.'s parents, along with our four boys, all came to meet Matthew before heading back to Tulsa today.  We weren't sure if he would be stable enough for his brothers to meet him this trip, but Matthew did everything he needed to do so he could meet his brothers!  This moment, right here, is one of the major reasons we chose Children's Mercy.  These boys have made so many sacrifices for Matthew already, and to see them all together makes it all worth it.  A huge shoutout to the NICU staff for letting us break the rules, just this once, so they could all meet him together!  A.J. was not a big fan of the NICU, so he hung back with Gram and Pops, but he did get to meet Matthew and blow him some kisses.

Today has been a day full of pokes and prods and tests for Matthew.  He had an echocardiogram this morning to check on his heart.  While we have not heard from the cardiologist yet, all the other people around said everything looked very good from their point of view.  If we get the all-clear on heart issues, this would be a huge victory for Matthew's prognosis.  He then had a CT Scan to verify the diagnosis of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH).  Without going into too much detail, there was a possibility of it being an eventration of the diaphragm which would be a separate treatment plan.  However, the CT Scan shows that is is most likely a hernia, or hole in his diaphragm.  This means Matthew will have surgery very soon- hopefully later this week.

We had a wonderful meeting with the neonatologist, Dr. Petrikin.  He is from Tulsa, and J.P. has known his family for years through church and school.  What a small world!?  He went over everything with us from how he is doing right now to what we can expect in the weeks to come.  He is overly impressed with how well Matthew is doing, and has a very optimistic outlook on Matthew's prognosis.  Matthew is defying all the odds for CDH babies.  We were so afraid that having Down syndrome along with CDH might cause conflicts, but so far everything is going better than anyone could have expected.

We are so thankful for how well Matthew is doing at this point in time, but we know a long road lies ahead.  We could feel all of the love and prayers coming our way, so please keep them coming in the days ahead.