MMMMM....milk

Malachi had a pretty good day today and we are thankful!!! He didn't have any seizures today. He's still pretty sleepy almost all of the time. BUT, he is awake enough to NURSE AGAIN! YEAH! The first feeding, he got to take a bottle with breastmilk which he chugged too quickly and gagged himself. He did finish it though . Then, he was able to nurse twice today. It took him a little while to figure it out again but he did latch on and did eat enough to pacify our big boy. Speaking of big, he's still gaining. He's up to 10 lbs. 6 oz. Next to the preemie in the bed beside his, he looks like a giant.
We also got to talk to the supervising physician today and learned a little more about his MRI results. The part of his brain that was damaged is deep and near the brain stem. The injury is consistent with an infant that's had to be resuscitated but to a lesser degree. He's optimistic that Malachi be pretty much okay.
If all goes well, we may be able to go home by the weekend.
We also had some visitors today. Thanks to Carole, Matt W., Chas, and Annie!
Thanks for the prayers. Please keep them coming!

MRI results

For now, this blog will be written from my (Amy's) perspective instead of Malachi's. WE'll go back to that once all the medical jargon is lessened.
The MRI results are in. They basically said that Malachi's brain is all there and put together the right way. There has been some damage in a couple of areas although they don't know if it was caused before birth sometime or during delivery. There's no way to tell that. The damage may or may not cause some developmental problems. The current plan is to start weaning Malachi off the phenobarbitol to see how he'll respond. If he starts to seize again, he'll go back on. If he doesn't seize, it's a matter of watching carefully to see whether his development is okay. This includes all normal infant behavior like rooting (which we know he is still doing), crying, eating, sucking, breathing okay.....and excluding all abnormal behavior like lip smacking, tics, and not responding to stimuli appropriately. He'll stay on his antibiotics to finish out a full week. The lab results are not back yet but should be by Wed. His bilirubin levels are still going down without the bili lights so he's probably off the bili lights for good although that can still change. Today, after the MRI, he's also been bumped up to a little less than an ounce of breastmilk every 4 hours which is double what it was so that's a big praise. He's gaining weight despite the small amounts of food. Yesterday, he weighed in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. CRAZINESS!
Olivia got to come see him today and did pretty well. She was a little nervous at first but came around pretty quickly and then wanted to go see all the other babies. It's been hard on us to not have her around all the time but she's in good hands with her grandparents.
Also, thanks for all the visitors today, Aunt Carole and Uncle Jim, Jordan, Grammy and Grandad, LIvi, of course, Kristen Seitz, Gabe (thanks for the comic relief, as always), and Grandma and Sherri (sorry we missed you guys...it was Livi's nap time).
PLEASE PLEASE continue to pray for Malachi. It's easy to get complacent but Satan doesn't get complacent. Pray that his brain recovers completely and no developmental problems are there and they'll never be there. Pray for him to not seize anymore. Pray that he responds well to coming off the meds.
We've learned a lot about spiritual warfare this week and are confident that God wants to heal Malachi completely. I cannot even begin to name all the amazing things that God has done through Malachi already.
Malachi means "messenger of God"....he's certainly taught us a thing or two already.
Pray also for Livi. It's hard to be away from mom and dad for a long time. Pray for us...it's hard to be away from Livi. We're also tired and emotionally drained.

We love you guys! Thanks for praying for our little guy!
Amy

MRI

Please pray for my MRI Monday morning...specifically that the bleeds are small ones that will heal themselves.
Also, my big sister, Olivia gets to come see me tomorrow so pray for her. Hospitals can be sort of scary when you see someone with weird tubes and stuff.
Now, the happy praises. No seizures today which is what was expected with my meds. Also, my bili lights were turned off today because I pooped and my jaundice got a lot better which MEANS...mommy and daddy both got to hold me for a while today on a couple of diffent occasions. AND...I get some of mommy's milk now. Not lots like I'd really like to eat but at least I'm getting something in my tummy. It makes me wake up a little more than I've been able to do for a while and it's pretty exciting. I do maybe get a little too excited about it and start waving my arms around which sometimes makes the machines beep too much.
Today, my Baba (that's my grandma), John M, Papa (that's grandpa), mommy's bud Monica, and the May family all came to see me. Tomorrow, Grandad, Grammy, Olivia, and Uncle Jordan are coming to see me too.
Thanks, again, for all your prayers. Keep them coming, please.
One more thing, Mommy and Daddy have been talking about how hopeless they'd feel if they didn't have Jesus right now and how hopeless some of the families here must feel. Pray for them to be the hands of feet of Jesus to the families around us and at the Ronald McDonald House. They really want to be able to love and serve like they've been loved and served by all of you. Pray, specifically, for God to keep their eyes and hearts open for those families. We're thankful to serve a God who knows every detail about us and knows exactly how to fix me because HE CREATED ME!!! Mommy's taken a lot of comfort in that.
Thanks, everybody! We love you lots!
Chi

Mommy got to hold me again

Not a whole lot to update, really. The doctors will be running an MRI on Monday to check my little bleeds. I had a seizure early this morning at about 1 am and it was a little longer but pretty mild. Since then, they put me on phenylbarbitol (or something like that) to keep me from seizing anymore and I haven't since then. I'm also on Bili lights to help with my jaundice.
The really happy news from today is that our nurse let mommy hold me again for a little bit. That was a big deal for me and mommy and daddy. I missed them even though they get to see me a lot. I liked to hear mommy and started making my little grunty noises again and respond a little better than I have. Mostly, I've just been zonked out from all my meds. Also, today, I started intravenous nutrition. It's no mommy's milk but at least it's something. Mommy's been pumping for the day that I get to eat real food again.
Here are some new pictures from today:

Praises to my God....He's always good.

Sometimes we forget to praise God for all the good and amazing stuff that He's given when there's a crisis at hand so we want to take a minute to say thank you, Jesus. You gave me life and a family who loves me like crazy already.
You gave us amazing friends and family who support and go out of their way to help out with anything we need. Mommy and Daddy were just talking about how incredible it is that we're able to fight Satan with prayers from literally all over the world and the magnitude (that's a big word for a 3 day old) of prayer that we're receiving. Also, friends from all over are taking care of a ton of things that we can't right now. Please keep praying. We will not allow Satan a foothold in this!!!
We're really thankful also, for the staff of doctors, nurses, and even housekeepers at Willow Creek. We cannot say enough good things about them. Dr. Davis (the pediatrician who set up and referred the children's hospital) was really incredible and patient and explained everything so perfectly and mostly, he was very calm! We needed that. We're definitely hoping to keep him as our primary pediatrician for both me and Olivia. Also, we had some of the most incredible nurses on the planet. Kendra, if you read this, tell Kim how much we appreciate the extra time and support. Kim wasn't the only one though, our nurse the very first night reminded mommy a lot of aunt annie and that was kind of fun. She even wore pretty pink glitter in her super black hair :)
Mommy and Daddy are staying at the Ronald McDonald House and are super thankful for such a nice place to be with staff who are helpful and supportive. They have great facilities and lots of snacks as well as meals and just a place for some down time.
Children's Mercy has also been a pretty amazing blessing for us. The nurses, flight team, and doctors have been wonderful about letting us know where we are and then next steps. And also, it's just a happy place to be a kid...even a sick one.
Also, we're thankful for the hundreds of e-mails and facebook messages from our friends and family everywhere. It really helps us to know that you're praying for us and encouraging us so keep them coming. If you're in KC area and want to visit, call or text and mom and dad would love to see you but know that it's possible you might not get to see me. Also, the cell phones have to be turned off when they come see me so be patient if you're getting the voice mail all the time.
Please keep praying for the small bleeds to fix themselves and if that's not what's causing the seizures, then for what is to be found. Pray for my nurses and doctors and my family. Also, pray that the seizures stop. I had one last night that a little longer although not as severe as some of the others have been.
We love you guys! Chi

Prayers, please!

I've had a bad day. We need your prayers. I had a seizure at around 3:00 am last night. The nurses took me to the nursery to monitor me and I had a few more so the pediatrician ordered some tests and called the Children's Hospital to see if there were further orders. The doctors said it would best to have me seen at the Children's Hospital so mommy and daddy requested KC Children's Mercy instead of LIttle Rock so we'd be closer to everyone. That worked out and I took an airplane while Mommy and Daddy took the van and Baba took Olivia and Jack.
We're here in KC now and they're running tests and monitoring me. So far, all the bloodwork has come back okay. They did a scan of my head and I have 2 little spots of brain bleeding. They said it may be because I came down so fast (also why my face is bruised). They're watching those spots and running more tests. I'm on anti-seizure medication and it makes me sleep almost all of the time. We should be here at least 5 days.
Please pray specifically for the doctors to have wisdom and much knowledge, the seizures to stop and to find out what's causing them. Also, mommy and daddy are pretty exhausted in every possible way. Pray for them to get some sleep and be able to hold it all together (that's gonna require a lot of God). It's very hard on mommy and daddy to only get to touch me and not hold me and it's kind of hard on me too but too much stimulation triggers the seizures.
We REALLY need God to intervene and we really need God to help up trust Him with all of this.

My name is Malachi Andrew Brown and I'm BIG

Hello, friends and family! I'm finally here and just like Mommy predicted, I'm a BIG boy. I tipped the scales at 9 lbs. 11 oz. and I was still almost a whole week early. I'm 21 1/2 inches long and I like to eat already. I have dark blonde hair but I have quite a bit of it. It just doesn't show up in the pictures very well. My poor little head is all bruised and purple because when I decided to make my move, I did it really fast. Mommy's tailbone and I had a fight and neither of us won. I definitely recognized mommy's voice right away and turned to see her and then Olivia came I wanted to meet her too. I'd know that voice anywhere. And, Daddy sort of makes me cry so he's in charge of waking me up enough to eat. So far, everything's gone pretty well. Mommy didn't have any hemorraghing with me like with Olivia so she's feeling much better than she did at this time with her and knows what's going on a little better.
I've had my first sponge, hearing test, blood tests (that includes a bunch of ouchie needles in my heels because I'm so big that they keep checking my blood sugars), feedings, stinky and wet diapers, and right now, mommy's writing this so that I hang out with my pediatrician for a while...and maybe have an even more unpleasant experience than I've had so far with a circumcision. I'll keep you posted on my life. Daddy is trying to keep new pics and stuff posted on facebook and e-mails so you can check out more there, if you want. We're welcoming visitors all day today so if you want to come see us, feel free to come on over. We're in room 28 at Willow Creek Women's Hospital. Mommy likes it here and the nurses have been excellent.

Mommy's tummy

I am making mommy's tummy really big. Here are some pictures of how huge I am inside here :) I know it doesn't look like it but mommy's really only gained 7 pounds from her first dr. visit to the one yesterday...let's see...minus the 20 lbs for me....that's :)

I really am a leviathan

Mommy had a dr. appt this morning and I'm getting very big "large for gestational age" is the proper term :) Mommy has said for a while that I'm huge. So, the doctor said I can come out on Wed. if I don't come out on my own before then. YEAH! Everyone's excited to meet me and I am excited to meet them too. I'm running out of room in here.

2 weeks to go

Mommy and Olivia got to go to a baby shower for me on Saturday and Mommy is very, very thankful for all of the great stuff and the fun time she had. Holly, Laura, and Lisa (and I think Britney helped out a lot too) were super awesome so thanks, girls! Also, mommy did a bad job of remembering to take pictures but here are a few of when she did remember:
Lisa made these cute cupcakes. Olivia ate (or at least licked) about 17 of them.
These are some of my friends who came to my party that I have yet to meet:

Very cute onesies, socks, and bibs were painted by all:
Here's a picture of the mountain of stuff that we got. YEAH, friends!
Also, we had another dr. appointment today and Dr. Mason says that mommy's still a 3 but he thinks it will be soon. Mommy says that it better be soon because she feels like I weigh 20 pounds and will fall out if I don't come out soon. Olivia's very excited (so is Daddy). Mommy has taken off her rings now too because she's too puffy to wear them now. AND, the itchiness is back (although it's been pretty chilly today and the last couple of days and that makes it much better) but please pray for me and mommy to be healthy and safe for the rest of the pregnancy and delivery.

Another dr. update

We're to 3 cm dilated now. Dr. said his best guess is somewhere between 7 and 10 days. Mommy's hoping for something a tad closer but 7 days is okay too. I am getting squished in here and daddy likes to make fun of mommy's tummy when I roll around and make giant bulges.

My New Room

My room is finished. Here it is before mommy and daddy made it boyish:


Here it is with just paint and none of my important baby stuff:




And here is the finished (mostly) product. Mommy still needs to cover the rocker and ottoman so they match the room and we don't have sheets or a crib skirt.

Dr. update

We had an appointment this morning with the dr. I am still growing right on schedule, my heart rate is still perfect, and I want out! Mommy's dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced. She's also having more and stronger contractions but nothing very regular yet. Mommy's gained a grand total of 6-10 pounds...2 of which were in the last 2 weeks. She says it has to be me gaining to pounds and cannot possibly have anything to do with the giant box of candy that Baba sent to Olivia. Mommy plans to have my room finished tomorrow and we'll try to put some pictures up then too. Oh, and Olivia now calls me Malachi or baby brother although I still don't have a middle name.