New Program

We have been doing the new program with Ezra for a couple of weeks now. There is light therapy, which involves using a spotlight about 40 times a day, and using an airhorn to stimulate his hearing. We are making a homemade formula with chicken broth and liver. It smells as good as it sounds!! Ezra also gets a hot water bath every night to simulate being in the womb again. All of these things are supposed to help his brain grow and develop. Ezra does seem to be more aware of what is going on around us and lets us know when he has had enough. In fact, as I am writing this he is giving Micah a fit.

There is a praise to report!! Ezra had another EEG this week and it looks like he is outgrowing the infantile spasms! Our prayer now is that the infantile spasms will not turn into another kind of seizure.

Micah and I are still looking into fundraising ideas for the oxygen chamber. Please continue to pray for us while we make decisions about this.

Here are some pictures of Ezra sleeping...I noticed I have a ton of these, but I cannot help myself...he is so cute!!

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Part of the program that the Family Hope Center set for Ezra includes daily hyperbaric treatments. Now, we have some options for this. We could go to a hyperbaric clinic and pay several hundred dollars for each treatment, which could be upwards of 100, or we could purchase our own portable chamber for home use. Since we live in a small town in the Midwest, the most logical answer is to purchase our own chamber. Micah and I have spent numerous hours in prayer about this decision and we have decided to purchase. We have no idea where the money will come from, but we also know there is a Provider of our needs. Please pray for a clear direction for Micah and I to begin fundraising. You can read more about hyperbaric treatments online at google.com or ask.com.

Here is a picture of Ezra sleeping...

Ezra's Hospital Tours

We are now home from the two week "vacation" in Philly. The conference at the Family Hope Center was very informative and Ezra's evaluation went well. We learned about how the brain works and what we can do to help Ezra's grow. Now, while all this was going on, we were also in and out of the hospital with Ezra. Somehow, he picked up a virus which led to bronchiolitis. We ended up going to five hospitals and had two hospitalizations before it was all said and done. Ezra is feeling much better and we have begun the new program with him. Thank you for your prayers for us as our ordeal happened.

Our Day in Philly

Micah and I got quite a scare early Friday morning. I woke up because Ezra sounded congested. As I cleared out his throat, I noticed the secretions just kept coming back. That caused some alarm. I felt his forehead and realized he had a bad fever. The doctors in the NICU had warned us that aspiration pneumonia was a definite possibility for Ezra and now he had two of the warning signs. I began to go on high alert. I woke Micah up and told him we needed to go to the ER. The hospital we went to did not have a pediatric unit so they told us they would transfer us to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Ezra and I traveled in the ambulance while Micah followed behind in the car. They took chest x-rays to determine if Ezra had pneumonia. Meanwhile, they got his fever down with good ol' tylanol. We learned that Ezra did not have pneumonia, but bronchiolitis which is a virus. Because of Ezra's medical history, they decided to admit him in the hospital for at least 24 hours. Ezra handled being in the hospital very well. Mommy and Daddy took a little longer. The whole experience brought back to mind the time we spent in the NICU with Ezra. All the smells and sounds were the same. It was quite intense.

Ezra did really well overnight and we were allowed to go home Saturday morning. We are now resting in our hotel room for the rest of the weekend. Thank you to all who prayed for us during our stay in the hospital. I will write more later about the seminar and evaluation at the Family Hope Center.

Family Hope Center

Micah, Ezra, and I will be going to Philadelphia for a special-needs child seminar at the Family Hope Center. There is a three day seminar for Micah and myself and then a two day intensive evaluation on Ezra by the medical staff. We will leave Winona Lake on Monday afternoon, June 16th, and return home on June 27th. Please pray for us as we travel and attend these meetings.

The website for the center is www.familyhopecenter.org

Grandma's Visit

My mom came to visit us at the end of May. Here are some pictures from her visit.

out of towners

We recently had some family in from out of town. Micah's sister and her family were visiting from Seattle. They have identical twin daughters that are two weeks younger than Ezra. I have included some pictures of the visit.

The girls had just woken up from a nap and Ezra was just going down for one when this picture was taken. That's why the girls' legs are blurry!!!