Welcome Wesley John

We have ourselves a boy! 

(And a pretty amazing one at that.)

Wesley John Eicholtz was born on February 8th @ 12:21pm, 

weighing in at 8 lbs and 1 oz, 21 inches of cute, and a fighter from day one.

My water broke at 6am on my birthday, or the day formerly known as my birthday. From here on out, it will always be 'our,' and now that everyone is home, healthy, and accounted for, I'm totally fine with that.

We were admitted to the hospital around 8am and my contractions continued. A welcome epidural just in time, a half an hour of pushing, and Wesley had arrived in what appeared to be a fabulously uneventful birth. Three hours later, things changed pretty drastically. As we were working on nursing, and he had just gotten the hang of it, the nurses came into the room to give him a routine checkup. The timing was, we feel certain, helped out by Someone watching over us. As the nurses were preparing for his checkup, they noticed his color changing as he stopped breathing. They took him, jiggled him a little, looked relieved, made a joke that he was trying to stress out his mom, and then he did it again and there was no more joking. Wes was admitted to their Loudoun NICU where his seizures and apnea were monitored and it was determined that he had suffered from a perinatal stroke. They still do not know exactly when this occurred or why the blood clot that caused the stroke occurred. One shared educated guess was that it could have been caused by a blood clot in the placenta. The doctors informed us of what was going on, and we watched as our newborn was hooked up to multiple machines and monitors to help keep him stable as they prepped to transport him to a more specialized NICU in the next county over. They gave us the choice of whether or not to have the transport team roll him by our room where the grandparents were waiting with Allie so she could see him before he left. The doctors warned, and we understood why they did, that it may be scary for her to see him in his incubator with so many tubes and monitors attached. But Allie's not your average kid when it comes to grasping 'big' ideas, and we knew from talking to the grandparents that the only time she started crying was because she worried that he would be all alone when they moved him. We knew that Allie would not get to see him once he was in the new NICU and we didn't want to take any chance that she might not have gotten to say goodbye if we ended up facing the worst. So we had them roll him by on their way to the ambulance. Chris held her up to say goodbye, and the transport team was very positive and upbeat. making sure Allie saw how many people were taking such good care of her brother. We knew we had made the right decision. She still mentions happily all of the doctors that rode with Wes in the decorated ambulance.

As much as I tried to convince the doctors that I was ready to be discharged that evening to go stay in the NICU with Wes, I had to wait until the next morning to be released. Chris and Steve stayed in the NICU with our son for his first night while my mom stayed with me at the hospital and my dad and Barb stayed at home with Allie. If I'm being honest, it was the worst birthday I've had. It's a horrible and numbing feeling to be without your newborn, especially when they are in such an important fight for their health.

From that night on, Chris and I alternated nights at the NICU with Wes. The only time one of us was not with him was when we both came home to go out to dinner with the grandparents to celebrate Allie's birthday before Chris headed back to the NICU for the night. We talked about how fortunate we were to be able to travel back and forth and to know that Allie was always with grandparents as we were en route or at home trying to catch up on sleep. There were families from further away having to try to figure out the same logistics, and babies who, for various reasons, were there by themselves for long stretches. If any timing is a blessing for this to take place, it was our timing (God's timing, really). The NICU at Fairfax Inova had just finished a complete renovation the week before. Their new unit included bigger semi-private rooms where parents could stay with their baby overnight in a reclining hospital chair. Prior to the renovation, the unit had one communal room where the babies stayed together and there was limited space for parents to stay. This was the set up at the NICU where he was born and it's hard to describe how much better the room-situation at Fairfax is for parents and babies. When Wes was setting off alarms in his first NICU as he was getting prepped for transport, they had to close it off to all parents except Chris and me. I remember hearing the phone ring and a nurse answered the concerned parent on the other end in a quiet voice, "No, it's not your baby." It was bad, on many levels.

Another timing blessing was that we missed a blizzard that shut down roadways by one week. Had Wes been born in this blizzard, it would have added a whole layer of delay and hardship in his treatment. Even ambulances were having trouble getting to where they needed to go.

But, he came right when he was supposed to, and speaking from the other side of the event, I'm honored to share a birthday with this kid.

In the NICU, Wes underwent an MRI which is where we learned the exact location and anticipated impact of his blood clot and stroke. Located in the right MCA, the blood clot in his little brain was 'substantial,' as described by the neurologists. The areas of functioning that this part of the brain controls are the left arm/hand, the left leg, the left side of the face, and seizure activity. As for the level of the impact and the details of his prognosis, we were going to have to wait and see. We held our breaths as they shared the news of the MRI and they began with the good news that, 'The legs don't appear to be affected, so he should be able to walk.' We were numb, but also grateful and felt that if the impact of this event was limited to his left arm and face, and manageable seizures, we would count ourselves lucky. For the first few days, Wes was on a constant drip of anti-seizure medication until his seizures subsided, which greatly sedated him. You don't think you would wish for a screaming baby, but seeing our son attached to monitors and tubes, sleeping through the entire day without movement, we were longing for the time when he would let out a spirited wail.

The doctors monitored Wes to see if his symptoms began to worsen. If his little brain didn't start breaking down the clot, and it started to expand, we would be faced with two difficult options for treatment other than waiting and patience. We would have to consider risky blood thinners or neurosurgery, both of which carried the risk of increased bleeding to the brain. Over the next 9 days, we waited to learn more about how his brain had responded to the stroke, and hoped for his seizures to subside so he could be unhooked from the EEG and we could finally hold him. We had a scare when the neurologists called for a repeat MRI because one thought there had been growth, but when they took another look at the second set of results, they determined that it had not grown. Besides waiting to hear Wes' initial prognosis, this was toughest time we spent waiting for news. After these reassuring results, things started to turn around for our family. Soon after we were finally able to hold him, and he even figured out nursing after a week of being fed through a feeding tube. Wes was weaned from his constant anti-seizure meds, tubes came out, monitors were removed, and he started showing off during his check-ups with increased strength in his left side. The doctors were thrilled with his progress and we were starting to feel like the fog was lifting.

On February 17th, Wes just had one last piece to put in place before he could be released and it was refreshingly 'typical.' He had to wet his diaper after his circumcision. We waited four excruciatingly long hours for him to go to the bathroom like he did so often every other time, and finally, in his own sweet time, convinced that he was in cahoots with his older sister for a late bedtime, he decided to go...so we could go...home.

We are so very grateful for the care that he received from the compassionate and knowledgeable medical staff at both NICUs. We are fortunate to live in an area with such remarkable resources available and are painfully aware that if he had been born in other areas of the world, he would not have survived.

Since Wes broke out of the NICU, he has continued to thrive and his resilience has amazed us. He turned a healthy two-months old just a few days ago and our family of four is doing wonderfully, sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, and all...we'll take it, and are exceedingly grateful for it. We want to thank all of you for your prayers over these past months. It was a comfort to know that Wesley, our family, and the medical team caring for him were blanketed by them, and we feel strongly that it has helped to bring him to the strength and health he enjoys today. Wes has physical therapy each week to help strengthen his affected side, and we will meet whatever needs arise as he hits milestones along the way. But the most defining qualities of our Wesley John are his sweetness, cuddliness, and happy smiles. 

Wes, we are certain that God has big plans for you. May He continue to bless you and give you strength. Happy birthday, welcome home, and we love you, sweet boy.

Here is our journey (the beginning of it, anyways) in pictures...

Big sis on the way to the hospital. (She was a little excited :o).

Wesley John Eicholtz just after he made his entrance into the world.

Al wasted no time showering him with affection.

First family of four pic.

Big Sis got to hear his heartbeat from the outside this time.

Resting up for the fight ahead.

Our sweet boy, wrapped in prayer and loving medical care. 

At 8lbs, 1 oz, he was by far the biggest NICU baby most of the nurses had seen. 

We read him The Little Engine That Could over...and over...and over...

Eyes open and breathing without the vent.

The nurse wanted to help brighten up the picture for Allie, so she covered up his head leads with a blue wrap to make him look like he was just wearing a hat. Wes approved.

Finally getting to hold our boy.

#boysnight

Allie played doctor a lot while Wes was in the hospital. Here's a bright pink IV of her own creation.  I feel like it's not a bad idea to make all baby IVs bright pink.

When he graduated to his 'crib,' they told us we could put a picture of his big sis up in a baggie on the side. She was thrilled to see it in pictures.

Back at the ranch, Wes' big sister was turning 5.

Bitter sweet family celebration minus one.

Our loving nurse Amy 'helped' Wes make this card for Allie from his room at the NICU.

She loved it.

Super-Daddy voluntarily went to a Daddy-daughter dance with Allie and our friends down the street for Valentine's Day to keep her spirits up.

Just down to an IV! His room felt enormous after his vents and monitors were gone.

Who said hospital gowns weren't adorable?

On February 17th, we finally welcomed Wesley John home, and the first to hold him was his extremely excited Big Sis.

As it turns out...

She's a natural.

First family photo at home together.

:o).

And the hugs continued.

And continued...

And continued.

Our brave boy prepping for a doctor's appointment.

Don't let this light blue fool you, this little guy brought us a victory against UNC the night he came home.
(We'll ignore the rest of the season.)

First bath at home.

Love it.

So...snuggly...so... happy.

After Wes' first church service debut, he got to meet his cousins. I think it took 5 minutes from the time this picture was emailed to the time it made it into a frame in North Carolina.

First tub bath - whale purposefully placed by Big Sis.

Gotcha.

One month of cute!

Grandmom, don't leave...the laundry finally just got folded!

Being this tough is exhausting.

Better sleep it off.

Off to the aquarium with the girls. I don't know why they want to go-they should know that I'm the best catch there is.

I told her, I said, Grandmom, wear something to make my eyes POP.

That's right...The Sen (insert tilde here)oritas love me.

Seriously...you want me to lift this thing?

And a little something for the ladies out there...

BOOM! 

Watch out world...I'm here!