March 17, 2008
Much to the Rakes' surprise, Beckett Micah Rakes was born this morning around 7 am. He is doing well and is breathing with some assistance from a ventilator. He was 17 3/4 inches long, and Matt said he had "chubby little cheeks." Beckett weighed 4 lbs 13 oz, which the doctors say is very good for his age and for being delivered early. Likely, they'll perform an operation on Beckett in the next few days to address the hernia condition, but for now he's stable.
Courtney went into labor Monday morning around 1 am and they headed to the hospital. Doctors performed a C-section around 7 am and put Beckett on a ventilator to provide some assistance with breathing. Matt said Beckett is doing most of his breathing on his own, which is a miracle from the Lord. They have not been able to see him much yet, but will get to spend more time with him later this morning.
Matt was really optimistic about how well his son was doing. This is certainly great news and they're very excited. We can continue to pray for lung development and for Courtney to recover quickly. They don't know about visitors yet, but he'll send another note once they have more details.
Just an update on how things are going...
Beckett did well during his first day. Given his progress, the doctor believes that there is no reason to delay the hernia surgery so they will be operating later this morning. Matt asked that we pray the surgery goes well and that Beckett recovers quickly. The first 48 hours after the surgery are important so if he can progress through that time frame, the doctors consider that a big step in his recovery.
Courtney is doing fine as well. She did get to visit Beckett once yesterday. She's recuperating and is eager to recover quickly so she can spend more time with her son. She's in transit from the recovery room to a private room at Parkland so they aren't quite settled yet.
Matt and Courtney wanted to say thanks for all your prayers and support. They'd love to have visitors, but it might be easier once they're settled in a private room. I'll send another update after Beckett gets out of surgery.
March 23, 2008
Courtney and I have finally had a minute to get back from the hospital and send out an update on how things are going...and send some pictures :-) Thanks to Scott for sending out emails earlier.
It's certainly been an eventful week. As you know, Courtney's water broke Sunday night and Beckett was born on Monday. He had his surgery on Tuesday, which was a lot sooner than any of us could have hoped for. They told us then that the next 48 hours were critical to his recovery. Beckett made it through those 48 hours with only a minor set back that he has now recovered from.
Since that time, Beckett has been exceeding all expectations. He is now breathing completely on his own and is pretty much just being treated as a premature baby. He's receiving small amounts of breast milk that are increasing every 12 hours and he's tolerating that very well. They're hoping to remove some lines that are giving him fluids through his belly button tomorrow. Once those lines are removed, he should be moving to a less critical room where they can provide him care, but don't have to watch him as closely.
Honestly, I don't think there is any doubt that this is a miracle sent from above. In November, we were told that he had a 1 in 5 shot of survival, and now today we're being told that we need to start putting a nursery together. What an amazing turn of events. Pretty much every nurse and doctor that we've come across has been almost in disbelief as to how well this has gone. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the staff:
"I've worked in the NICU for 14 years and seen a lot of babies with this condition. I have to say that this is really impressive."
From the surgeon, "He literally could not be doing any better post surgery. This is truly the work of the Lord."
Others have used the words "unbelievable", "amazing", and probably more that I can't think of. I tell you this to illustrate that God has really answered all of our prayers...and then some! From the time we found out about this condition none of this has gone according to our plan. What this really has shown us so far is that His plan is perfect.
We again thank you for all of your prayers and ask for continued prayer for Beckett's recovery as he does still have some ways to go before he'll be released from the NICU.
April 10, 2008
We just wanted to give everyone an update on Beckett. He pretty much flew through each step of the process to leave the NICU and after an amazing three weeks, we were able to bring home Beckett on Tuesday. What a great feeling to bring him home at all, let alone after only 3 weeks.
The nurse that discharged him told us that she had worked in the NICU for 35 years and that babies that survive this illness are in hospital for at least 8-12 weeks and many times have a lot of problems throughout their life. As I said in a previous email, we heard stories like this all throughout our stay at the hospital.
The last couple of nights have been pretty crazy with little sleep, a crying baby, and even a 3:30am piling in to the closet after hearing tornado sirens. We thank God that we are able to start this adventure.
We know many of you are eager to meet Beckett and we can't wait for him to meet all of you too. However, please be patient with us as the doctors and nurses restricted us from bringing him out to public places and coming in contact with other children for awhile. Even though he's been given a virtual clean bill of health, he is still premature and thus much more susceptible to illnesses.
I know that we've said this before, but we thank all of you who were so faithful to pray for us over the last several months. God has answered our prayers and then some. We give Him all the glory and know that we serve a God who is more powerful than the grim odds we were given.
March 23, 2008
Courtney and I have finally had a minute to get back from the hospital and send out an update on how things are going...and send some pictures :-) Thanks to Scott for sending out emails earlier.
It's certainly been an eventful week. As you know, Courtney's water broke Sunday night and Beckett was born on Monday. He had his surgery on Tuesday, which was a lot sooner than any of us could have hoped for. They told us then that the next 48 hours were critical to his recovery. Beckett made it through those 48 hours with only a minor set back that he has now recovered from.
Since that time, Beckett has been exceeding all expectations. He is now breathing completely on his own and is pretty much just being treated as a premature baby. He's receiving small amounts of breast milk that are increasing every 12 hours and he's tolerating that very well. They're hoping to remove some lines that are giving him fluids through his belly button tomorrow. Once those lines are removed, he should be moving to a less critical room where they can provide him care, but don't have to watch him as closely.
Honestly, I don't think there is any doubt that this is a miracle sent from above. In November, we were told that he had a 1 in 5 shot of survival, and now today we're being told that we need to start putting a nursery together. What an amazing turn of events. Pretty much every nurse and doctor that we've come across has been almost in disbelief as to how well this has gone. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the staff:
"I've worked in the NICU for 14 years and seen a lot of babies with this condition. I have to say that this is really impressive."
From the surgeon, "He literally could not be doing any better post surgery. This is truly the work of the Lord."
Others have used the words "unbelievable", "amazing", and probably more that I can't think of. I tell you this to illustrate that God has really answered all of our prayers...and then some! From the time we found out about this condition none of this has gone according to our plan. What this really has shown us so far is that His plan is perfect.
We again thank you for all of your prayers and ask for continued prayer for Beckett's recovery as he does still have some ways to go before he'll be released from the NICU.
April 10, 2008
We just wanted to give everyone an update on Beckett. He pretty much flew through each step of the process to leave the NICU and after an amazing three weeks, we were able to bring home Beckett on Tuesday. What a great feeling to bring him home at all, let alone after only 3 weeks.
The nurse that discharged him told us that she had worked in the NICU for 35 years and that babies that survive this illness are in hospital for at least 8-12 weeks and many times have a lot of problems throughout their life. As I said in a previous email, we heard stories like this all throughout our stay at the hospital.
The last couple of nights have been pretty crazy with little sleep, a crying baby, and even a 3:30am piling in to the closet after hearing tornado sirens. We thank God that we are able to start this adventure.
We know many of you are eager to meet Beckett and we can't wait for him to meet all of you too. However, please be patient with us as the doctors and nurses restricted us from bringing him out to public places and coming in contact with other children for awhile. Even though he's been given a virtual clean bill of health, he is still premature and thus much more susceptible to illnesses.
I know that we've said this before, but we thank all of you who were so faithful to pray for us over the last several months. God has answered our prayers and then some. We give Him all the glory and know that we serve a God who is more powerful than the grim odds we were given.
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