Aaron was born on March 14, 2009. He weighed in at 1lb 14oz and was 14.75in long. He had a rough start to life, as he decided to make his enterance at 24w5d gestation. Clayton and I were on our way to the hospital to get checked out but little Aaron couldn't wait any longer to meet us.
No one was really sure of God's plan during those first few days. Aaron was taking us all on a rollercoaster ride with each meeting with the doctors. He underwent phototherapy for almost 2 weeks to get his bilirubin down. His ventillator settings were as high as they could be. But, Aaron kept on fighting and amazing everyone around him.He quickly got down to 710 grams (1lb 9oz). It was amazing how just a few ounces make such a big difference when you're so small. He looked so skinny and small, it just broke our hearts. He would go up and down in his weight very quickly and it wasn't until recently that he got the hang of it and continuously went up and up. He eventually got up to his birth weight Easter weekend and hit the 2lb mark just one day later! That was such a big milestone and we were so proud of him.
Once he was more stable, the doctors decided it was time to close his PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). At first, they tried to do it pharmacologically with a medicine called indomethecin. He took a 3 day course of it but a heart echo after the last course showed no change.
So, it was off to another hospital for surgical ligation. When he was first at the new hospital, they had him in an open incubator. It was so nice to see him like that and be able to kiss him all over, which we defintely did! The procedure took all of 45 minutes from them wheeling him away from the NICU to bringing him back. He had to be put under general anesthesia so it took some time for it to wear off his tiny little body. He also received one suture on his back...his first official scar!
Aaron recovered pretty quickly and was back at our regular hospital only 2 days after the surgery. Since then we've seen quite a bit of improvements in his saturations and they've been able to bring his oxygen concentrations way down. Also, now that his blood is circulating properly, and the intestines are one of it's first stops, Aaron has been tolerating his feedings much better. We are praying that this helps him gain weight quickly so we can start to think of taking him home!We know he still has a very long journey ahead and we want to thank you all for your constant thoughts and prayers. There are so many people out there just waiting to meet this little guy, and we can't wait to be able introduce him to all of you.
Here are some of our favorite pictures from the past 6 weeks...
03/28/09 The first time we got to hold him (and our first family picture):
04/09/09 Clayton's wedding band on Aaron's foot:
04/14/09 Showing off his muscles:
04/16/09 Aaron vs. Clayton's hand:
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