Our little boy

Our little boy
Our Little Miracle

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Drained

Sorry for the sporadic posting everybody.

Mason Stone is doing great. He had a doctors apointment on Monday and our pediatrician told us he is doing well.

He is up to 7 pounds 9 ounces now so his growth has been doing great. The best part of the day was when he listened to his heartbeat.

He said he could not hear that "murmur" at all! What an answer to prayer that is.

We will keep you all posted if anything changes on that front. For tonight though, it is time for bed. We are beat!

Have a great day everyone!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

First Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to everyone, first and foremost.

Since our gift came 3 months early, we were lucky enough to share Christmas day with the little man. He made out like a bandit. He got some new clothes, a rubber ducky, a really cool CD for sleeping time later in his life, and an awesome snail toy with a mirror that I might borrow and play with.

I have a couple videos of the special day for you all here;

Since this is our first child, we really have no "family traditions" though I am pushing for a Star Wars Saga tradition for future Christmas days. I am sure that will not be met with the best of acceptance, but its worth trying, right? ha ha.

The first gift is something we have both waited for. Since it only happens once, we figured we better catch it on video. He was totally enthralled as you can see. He slept thorough pretty much every single gift so I guess that means that I get to play with them all first, just to see if they are working properly *wink*.
After a rough morning of sleeping the little man really needed a nap. He crashed out and started his "snore/cooing" that he does so we captured it for him to hear later.

Prior to the 25th, we did some photos with Julie's family so here they are. The little man LOVED all the attention, though he, again, slept through it all.

Wishing you all the merriest of Christmases. I have no idea if I have spelled that properly, but it sure looks cool so its staying.

Have a wonderful day with your friends and families!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Naughty Bits?

Did I really say naughty bits last post? I think I did.

Moving on...................little man had his circumcision today. The doctor was very nice and gave us the "its really only cosmetic so we want you to know that" speech prior to wheeling him away.

We finally heard him cry for the first time. This was a true on WAIL!

The funny thing is that getting the snipping was not what caused him such consternation, it was being strapped to the board to even have the procedure done. Good thing he won't remember this as it is probably not something anyone wants to recall at will.

So, just when we thought all was well, he began bleeding a bunch more than expected.

Circumcisions are about a 20 minute procedure and ours took just under 3 hours.

After the procedure was completed, they wheeled him into our room and told us to wait and they would see how things were looking before they sent us home. The nurse came in, pulled back the diaper and pretty much gave the same diagnosis that Julie got day 1 of this whole ordeal.

"This amount of bleeding is not uncommon, but I want the doctor to take a look at it before I discharge you."

I am officially sick and over that political response.

What was actually said was "I have never seen something like this and have no idea what to really say, but I can't say anything that might get you angry or scared because I don't want you yelling at me so I will pass this off as normal until the doctor looks at is while you are nowhere near us. That way, we can wonder to ourselves what happened and not send you into a panic."

We took it like champs, and sat there patiently as the doctor stitched his package back together to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

When they came back they insisted on showing us what they had done and prefaced EVERY sentence by saying "This will not look like this forever."

I am not sure which was worse, the eye exam or the reveal of this procedure...............probably the eye exam, but this was sure gross looking as well.

From there we headed home and got him some much needed rest and relaxation. He carries on as if nothing has happened even if his Dad keeps grabbing at his crotch as if there is pain occurring for him.

We will check back come Christmas day and should have some great photos. His first Christmas experience should be a great one.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Up All Night...............

But unlike Slaughter, we do not sleep all day.

I figured that I would drop a quick note to say that everything is doing well. Mason is feeding well and sleeping well and everything seems to be all systems go.

He is going in for his circumcision today so things could take a change DRAMATICALLY after they snip away at his naughty bits. Poor little man!

I will probably not include photos of that as I am sure that it might affect me like the eye exam did.........my kingdom for a "mind wipe" of that moment, still.

For those that are tracking, he has taken favorably to Fletch so that sets my mind at ease. Perhaps great taste is inhereted?

I will keep you posted on that one ha ha.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Just as we expected

Let me tell you, we are beat. Julie is doing double duty being a wonderful mom and a fantastic wife. I am working and burning the midnight oil.

So far, we have made a great team in taking care of Mason.

We have found that he reacts favorably to "white noise" due to the NICU never being quiet. We both read that this was likely, so we are experimenting with different shows or movies to make things seem "normal" to what he knows.

In the NICU there was never a time that it was dark, so light is somewhat helpful at this point as well. We have discovered that he likes movies. He really loves A River Runs Through It and has done alright with Spies Like Us. He does not like The Office very much so we are trying different films to make sure we dont tire of some of the movies we like.

I will probably introduce him to Fletch and GPB (Grosse Pointe Blank) on DVD very soon. Matt will get that one.

In all, things are going great and we are learning an awful lot about him and about ourselves at the same time. We really are happy to have him here and we love him very much.

Prayers go out to Crystal who is at T-minus as well with her miracle baby. Go get em Crystal!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Little Man, the center of attention!


Little man decked out in his new Christmas outift, hangs out with his Uncle Jonathan. He learned all he needed to know about the beer brewing process and got a verbal commitment to sponsoring him in his quest for his 8 straight Masters titles.

Grandma time is an extra special time. Little Man learned the Ohio State fight song and why Buckeye is far superior to a Wolverine. He listened intently, then apparently threw up at any mention of Michigan.

Grandpa was exhaused from a long trip out here, but found a few hours to extol the Little Man on the bennefits of electrical power. He also filled him in on what he has to look forward to at Cedar Point. Grandpa has already scoped out his first trip and has found a way to get him on every major ride in one day. Get ready Little Man, fun will be had.

What a wonderful day!

Uncle time!

Little man's uncle Jonathan just arrived. He is asleep in his arms and we have photo proof. We will put them up tomorrow when his Grandma and Grandpa arrive.

Little man is doing great and he and I shared a bit of talk time while Julie was down picking up her brother. He cooed at me for about 40 minutes after we had some food.

He is adorable!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Mind is racing

In the fever of it all, we forgot a few things.

Namely thank yous!

First of all, thank you Lord for all you have done for this baby. Thank you for holding him in your hands and looking upon him so favorably. Thank you for protecting him when he needed it, cuddling him when he needed it, calming him when he needed it, feeding him when he needed it, and carrying him through this period.

Thank you for protecting us. While we have felt the most stress we have ever felt in our lives, thank you for keeping us together and keeping us grounded in your love. Thank you for a consistent reminder of our lack of control and of our need to let you take the reins and steer us towards the clear.

Thank you to the doctors and the NICU nursing staff. I would name you all here, but I would leave one out and would feel awful so I will just say thank you to the teams that were there for all this. Thank you for the way you cared for our baby boy and the way you cared for us too. Your jobs are centered around making sure the children are taken care of, but you do so much more. Your positivity and the way you all have calmed our stress is a testament to you as people. Your professions do not require that attribute, and you all have it. Very special people, all of you.

Thank you to our families. The Wurms and the Flynns. This has been the most brutal time we could have ever imagined. Thank you for your support, phone calls, well wishes, prayers, encouragement, visits, etc. He is blessed to have Grandparents to begin with, to have these is truly above and beyond that. Words can really never describe.............yeah.

To brothers and sisters and families attached, thank you for being friends. Being siblings is something we did not choose, but to have you choose to be friends with us is something we cherish. Thanks for the calls, the cards, the emails, and to my sister, thank you for being here that day. I keep saying that God wanted to make sure you got to see him, and I still stand by that thought.

Thanks to our friends. To Matt and Jen, Tony and Collette, Brandon and Eva, Justin and Jo, Ben, Starr and JJ, Nicole and Derek, Danielle and Rob, Staysi and Dave, Tiffany, Jesse and Sara, Kareem and Mandy, Nick Z, Steve and Heather, Kyle and Jenny, Crystal and Annette, were still praying for Crystal's miracle, The Costco family, The City of Fife family, Chad and Jen, The Yahoo fantasy football posse, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, friends of friends, people we don't know, people we haven't met, all the way down the line. We could not have made it through this the way we have without your support. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

The parking garage team at the hospital. Thank you for being so patient with us. Seeing the same faces for 90+ days has to be strange for you, too. We thank you for being so kind and helpful. I am sure you can get bored of the same old thing, but your smiles sent us away with good feelings and that was something we needed now and then.

The Overlake team. Thank you for starting us off on the right foot. Thank you Dr. Mann for following us around.

Last but not least in any way, the rest of the NICU families. I am not sure where to even begin with all of you, but thank you for sharing your lives with us. Thank you for sharing in our stress and for sharing the lowest points imaginable with us. Thank you for looking out for Mason when the monitors were going off. Thank you for a smile as you passed. Thank you for kind words and for lessons in diaper choices. Thank you to Mandy for reaching out and showing us that this is not a death sentence. Thank you to Anju and her family for showing us what being steadfast looks like. Thank you to Alex and Collin for being so darn calm and so cool. The diaper class was a very positive memory among a clouded reality. Thank you to Jodi for your fire and passion. Thank you to all of you for sharing in our joy and our fear.

Special thank you goes out to Kelia and Elanor. Thank you for showing us that fragility and fear is not something to run away from, but something to stare down. We pray for your little one and know that you will be well taken care of. We look forward to sharing your success story with you all the way. We will be keeping up with the progress the best we can.

If I have missed anyone, I am sorry. Trust me that you are thanked as well.

God bless and we will check back later. The first day has been great.

Naming the little man

The mystery is over. Some of you figured it out through video or through some of the photos we have posted but we felt it was time to introduce the little man to the world.

He made it through his first night fairly well and we even got a bit of sleep.

Okay................enough stalling................

His name is Mason Stone Flynn!

Welcome to your new home Mason Stone

Friday, December 17, 2010

Just figured we better recognize

The significance of the day.

Today is December 17th. 91 days after he is born and 3 months, to the day, after God decided he wanted this baby in the world.

Quite a journey looking back on it all.

We do not look at this as a completed task or a final chapter, this is just the close of the prologue of the book of this baby's life.

Chapter 1 begins tomorrow. Though updates might be fewer or contain less exciting news, were not going anywhere. He might not be "Truman" but this is his show and we feel blessed to be viewers.

Stay tuned..............

Mission...............changing now!


Because this site is a little skechy with some videos, our journey starts here:
Click on that link and please excuse the stupid baby talk at the start, Julie and I were playing a little game. From there, you can proceed to the following videos to experience our day together.







There are a couple videos between the last and this next one,  but after watching, some of them are a bit personal or really long. So we jumped down to the car here:




BLAST OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not just yet.....................he is still at the hospital. We are just finishing up getting ready to go down and break him out Shawshank style.

Soon we will be swimming in the same "smelling foulness that I can't imagine, or don't want to" that Andy Dufrane crawled through to his freedom.

But we can't wait.

At any rate, stay tuned tonight, there might be some tears on both ours and your keyboard.

I will leave you with this link.............I wish I would have found this feature sooner, but that might have been boring for you, the reader.

While this may be one of my least favorite artists, the words are just too fitting for this moment. Change all the "I" lyrics to "we" and you have about how we feel at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPUE8aEn20M

Just a few short moments away now buddy...............Mom and Dad are coming!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

1

I had a cute video of one of the nurses to commemorate today.

I forgot to bring the camera home because I am a moron. Sorry.

I will leave you with this though.........well worth the click ha ha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_IKcMl_a9A

Viva la 80's!

WE CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE YOU HOME LITTLE MAN.........

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

2.............

We have go for launch!

Friday still looks like the day. He is feeding well and things are going well. His dad is a bit stressed, but that seems to be par for the course according to what I have read.

Looking back on this experience gives me many emotions. I am sure I will be able to explain them soon. Stay tuned for that after he gets home.

The car seat test was postponed and so I will update as soon as it is completed.

Prayers for Crystal as it looks like she is ready to have her miracle very very soon!

Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

3

Fire boosters!

He has been doing great lately. He has had no issues in the breathing department and has been feeding very well.

The next "test" that he will undergo is the dreaded car seat test..........dun dun dun

The car seat test is exactly as it sounds. He has to sit in a car seat for an hour and a half with no issues breathing at all. The reason for this is that car seats position the baby at very different angles than he is used to.

He takes this test tonight at some stage and we will know the results tomorrow.

Please be praying that he gets through this as we are chomping at the bit to get him home ha ha.

Monday, December 13, 2010

4

Went and saw little man today and he is doing fantastic.

The countdown continues!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Resume countdown

7.............................

Shuttle please fire your engines and buckle your safety harness.......we are hoping for a smooth ride this time, but better safe than sorry.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A quick update

Little man is doing pretty solid. He is still having trouble with his feeding in that he is not taking all his food that the doctors want him to. This is a little hurdle that will need to be overcome before we can get back into launch state to go home.

Since he seems to have some minor trouble while he is feeding with his energy level, they have decided to try putting him on low oxygen while he is feeding. I will keep you all posted on how that works.

Other than that, not a whole lot to say. Things are keeping on keeping on.

Thanks for the patience and we will be updating more very soon!

Monday, December 6, 2010

PT

Today was another very interesting day. I have found a good portion of this situation very interesting and almost astonishing.

While the level of stress this has created is unbelievable, some very cool stuff has come from it. We have met some wonderful people who give and give and give from their hearts. We have met other parents of NICU children who are so willing to support and give freely of their time and emotions. We have been able to see marvels of modern medicine in action. We have seen the hand of the Lord at almost every turn.

We have talked about how different it is to actually see the last 3 months of a child's development that should be happening in the womb. It is amazing to see how a created being is supposed to develop. It is almost as if there is a window into the womb and we have a front row seat for the show.

While we would both rather have had a "normal" experience, there are some things that we feel blessed to have experienced.

With that, we had our first physical therapy appointment today. This was an appointment where the physical therapist came in and ran him through a series of tests to check muscle development, reflexes, and overall development of his body.

He did great.........his head is a tad misshapen from laying on one side for so long, but other than that, his legs pretty much checked out, his neck muscles checked out, his upper body and arms were all good, and his hands and fingers were fantastic.

In all, it was a good appointment.

Then he decided to "crap out" again and so we once again hit the "reset" button on the going home process.

I feel like I am playing Madden 96 on PS2 and threw a pick the first play of the game and figured that the reset button was a better idea than playing the game out.

So there it is...........the day was good and semi-good all in the same 2 hour span.

Julie and I then went home and we painted a dresser for the little man. We sure had a blast together and hope the little man likes the colors.

We hope all is well with all of your families and we can't wait till he gets home and we can start building this family. Julie is most looking forward to waking up in the middle of the night to feed or cuddle him..........though she knows she will grow out of that QUICKLY.

I am most looking forward to his first Masters title and getting to see a green jacket up close.

A Dad can dream, right?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

T-minus.......................

Slight delay in the countdown.

Remember a short while back when he decided to practically die in my arms? ( I say that because that is the term the nurses use when a baby's heart rate falls below a certain rate and his bloods oxygenation falls below a certain percentage) Well it happened again.

We were just chillin he and I when he took a big gasp of air and proceeded to stop breathing. This time I knew exactly what to do and so it was not as scary as the previous episode, but it was still a bit perplexing. I held him afterward and he fed afterward and so things are alright, but this sets us back a touch.

We all know what it takes to go home, but in terms of the breathing stuff, he has to have no single episodes for a period of 5 days. To this point, the longest he has gone is a couple days so we will see how this plays out for him.

I can report some wonderful news and a real answer to prayer, though!

His latest cranial ultrasound brought back "resolved" results. This means that both sides of his brain have stopped bleeding completely!

Great news!

So, while the launch is delayed, there are some good things happening.

We want to leave you with a few photos to close this post out. Hope all is well with everyone and we will talk to you soon!

Home for the last 2+ months.


I love the photos where he has his hand around his face as if he is just saying "Uggghhh. Can we stop this whole photo thing yet?"

Thursday, December 2, 2010

New photos

Some exciting new happenings in the little man's life. Things are going well and we have photos to prove it;

Lets see if anybody can see the difference in this photo versus other previous photos. Leave your guesses in the comment section.

For those that know the area we live in, there are train tracks that run very closely to our house. They were once used for logging and some mining but they are pretty much a tourist stop now. Every now and then a life size "Thomas" comes through but they now have old cars staged there for display.

"What is the significance" you might ask?

Well, it turns out that some tracks are now running through the NICU and they have put a special stop right at the little man's house. While this train's final destination might be the North Pole, we are hopeful that he can get a ticket and a one way ride up near us here some day soon!

If you haven't guessed the difference in the first photo yet, here is a hint;

So, this is obviously a photo of me feeding our boy. This is the first time I have fed him and it was a chore, let me tell you. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done, but he didn't seem too interested in taking his bottle with me. Only a matter of time............I might not smell like his Mom or be as beautiful, but he will soon learn that I can provide food as well......even if I cant produce it ha ha.

"I have nipples Greg can you milk me?"

Anyway, hope you figured out the difference in the photo and enjoyed some new photos. God bless us all and thank you all for the prayers and continued support.

Peace, we out!