| Dispatches from Steve/Becca/baby Joey |
August 26, 2007 Wow... what a long strange month this has been. I apologize for the dearth of updates, but things have been busy busy busy. We have had 2 hospitalizations this month. Joey is doing just fine after his surgery. He is passing items through his digestion system and he is doing very well on solid foods. Becca is in the hospital right now, with complications from ulcerative colitis. At one point, she had lost 14 pounds in 1 week while on steroids. She's in St. Francis hospital here in Midlothian. Joey has been enjoying his stay with his aunt Jenn and Uncle Chris. Come this week, we will be the bachelors while Becca is in the hospital. ore info to come as soon as we know more on how long Becca will be here at the hospital. August 5, 2007 Another day, and another dispatch from the hospital. We are currently writing you from room 799-3 here in the Chippenham Hospital PICU. Joey is on the step-down side of the house. We are now waiting for the "first poop." Once that happens, Joey can eat, and can have the NG tube removed from his stomach. Once that happens... then we can move through the steps to get ourselves out of here. Then we begin with the next surgery. August 4, 2007 Well, August finds us back in the hospital again for Joey. He had his colostomy closure done on August 2. Everything went fine for the surgery. Joey is in the PICU waiting for the first stool to come out of his brand new bottom. Once that happens, we will be well on the road to recovery. He is in at the best hospital for him. The nurses, and the staff here have been absolutely wonderful and this is the hospital we definitely like to have Joey in. July 26, 2007 Well... what can I say. I might be the world's worst blogger. World's worst by means of lack of updating. It's been an intersting 5 weeks. Joey is set for his next surgery on August 2. We found out that he will have to have another surgery. He is experiencing a tethered spinal cord. So, hopefully, God willing, this will be the last one. Joey also suffers from plagiocephaly. A fancy word for flattening of the head. He will have to wear a helmet... a picture of which can be seen here. As far as about me... the job is great. I love it immensely... It is great to actually have a job where I feel guilty for leaving at 5:00pm, rather than a job where I was out the door as 5:00 approached. Becca has been kept quite busy between the twin pressures of Joey and working for her cousin. As you can see, everything tends to keep us busy! June 21, 2007 Again. I apologize for another 3 week hiatus,. Things have been crazy around here lately. I did find a new job and after taking a week off I am working at it now. It is with Scott&Stringfellow, a subsidiary of BB&T bank. It's a network engineering position, that so far seems to be working out quite well. While I was off, we also managed to get Joey baptized. Thank you to the 25 members of the family who came. It was a great success. Joey wore his great-grandfather Mast's gown which was worn by him in 1914, and has been worn by every child since. It was truly a magical moment and since we did it on Father's day, it was doubly special for me. June 1, 2007 Wow. I apologize for how long it has taken me to get back to writing here in the blog. Things have been going as fast paced and strange as ever. First of all... Joey is doing just fine; Rebecca is feeling better, and I am doing ok. Secondly, does any one know of any good IT jobs in the Richmond Metro area? My job will disappear as of June 8, 2007, and I am looking for another one that will hopefully last for a lot longer. Joey had a blast flying down to meet the Florida contingent of family. We brought him down for the Memorial day weekend, and he did absolutely fabulously. I will post links to those pics as soon as I can put them up. As one of the passengers sitting near us said, "Wow, I didn't know that there was a baby seated right behind me." Many thanks to many folks for making it such a great weekend. It was great to have the Fort Myers contingent come up for a visit, and to have the Tallahassee and the Miami crew around as well. I will post pictures as soon as I have them. They will be put up in a special directory in their original file sizes so that you can download them as you wish. May 10, 2007 YAY!!!!!! Joey is home, and we have only 1 more surgery to go. This last surgery will be to reconnect verything together so that we can experience diapers that are filled 2 ways. He is doing fabulously, and is under no restrictions. May 9, 2007 10:25 pm Joey is doing just admirably. He is recovering just wonderfully from his surgery. He has not had any pain medicine since early Tuesday morning. He may even be allowed to come home tomorrow. Other than that, Rebecca is dealing with her ulcerative colitis, and I am hanging in there as well. May 7, 2007 5:35pm As I write this, Joey is recuperting in the recovery room. He's had a rough couple of days at St. Mary's hospital in Richmond. They had to try 10 times to get an IV to take. But he now has an anal opening, and a connection. They took away the mucous fistula and we are beginning to go down the road to seeing our first "poopy" diaper. He came through the surgery with flying colors, and has done just absolutely admirably. He will be spending at least tonight in the Pediatric ICU. More to follow... as I learn more. May 2, 2007 Well... here we go again. The next surgery is now going to be May 7. As soon as I have more updates I will post them here. This surgery will be to create the opening at the anus. April 18, 2007 And now back to our Joey updates. We have a tentative date for the next surgery. May 7, 2007 is when they will go in laproscopically and connect the tissues and cut the hole for stool to flow out of Joey's bottom. He will have the colcostomy still for 2 more months, and then they will reconnect everything at some point in July. He weighs in at over 12 1/2 pounds, almost to 13, so he has doubled his weight in the first 3 months of his life. He has started sleeping through ther night and is now taking 6 ounces of food at each feeding. April 17, 2007 What a dark day for Virginia and the nation. After a gunman killed 33 people on campus, our hearts, minds, and prayers go out to those who lost friends and family members in this senseless tragedy. April 13, 2007 Well, another week has gone by, and Joey continues to get stronger. Becca and I have brought him down to the Outer Banks to celebrate Becca's birthday. So he's had a chance to go on the longest road trip so far of his short life. He seems to do really well in the car which is such a nice thing. He's currently wide awake and playing with Becca. Hopefully tomorrow we'll post some pictures of Joey's first time playing in the sand! April 8, 2007 Happy Easter everybody!!!! Enjoy the new pictures of Joey on his page!!!!!!!!!!!!! April 4, 2007 Wow... It's been a week and it appears that Joey is well on the way to healing nicely. He is doing quite well and is up to almost 12 pounds at this point. The great news also is that he is beginning to start sleeping through the night (11pm - 8 am). It is so nice to have that start to happen at 11 weeks old. He is doing quite well as well. March 26, 2007 6:45pm Well at this point, Joey has been without morphine for 24 hours, and is finally officially able to go home. At this point we are just waiting for the nurse to take the IV's and then we will be ready to go. As his doctor said, "6 days is far more likely to let him go on the surgery." March 26, 2007 After a minor setback, things are finally going better. Joey was discharged from UVA on Saturday morning. We had to bring him to a local hospital Saturday evening because he was in so much pain that the Tylenol could not touch it. He;s been under the care of his local cardiologist, who is just absolutely fabulous. Joey's had a couple of doses of morphine, and has been able to be ok on just Tylenol. It looks like he will come home again this afternoon. March 23, 2007 7:05am Well, things are going absolutely fabulously. Joseph has been moved out of the PICU, because he has been healing so quickly. His chest tube has come out. He has been moved into a regular pediatric room, and they are talking about discharging him this weekend. Aside from one oops where they gave him just slightly too much oxycontin, he looks absolutely fabulous, and is even starting to eat on his own. Many thanks for all the prayers as they have seemed to help heal him faster. He is one special baby! March 21, 2007 2:20pm Joseph is doing much better today! As of 1:00, he had been removed from the respirator and is now breathing on his own . He is still on Fentanyl and Versed for pain management. His blood pressures have stabilized and there is no drainage from the chest tube. He has been moving all limbs and has woken up slightly today, so that we can see those pretty grey eyes. I will continue to update as we know more, but as of this moment we are still looking at 3-5 days more in the ICU; and 5-7 days total in the hospital. March 20, 2007 10:45pm Well, we have just returned from seeing Joseph. He's in the pediatric ICU here at UVa Hospital. This hospital is absolutely amazing. I have nothing bad that I can say about this facility, the doctors, and the staff. Joseph is still pretty sedated, due to the fact that they need to keep his blood pressure low, otherwise he could rip out his stitches. He is moving all limbs (thank goodness, no paralysis!), and is slowly beginning to breath on his own (though he still has the help of a respirator.) More on his condition to follow. March 19, 2007 Now unfortunately the surgery becomes much more real. At 2 months old, Joey is going to be undergoing surgery tomorrow where they take out a narrowed section of aorta. I know that I shouldn't worry, that this is a relatively common surgery. It has a 97-98% success rate which is as medically close to a sure thing as you can get. Still, I wish he did not have to go through this. But at least his birth defects are easy to fix. So, many prayers for young Joseph tomorrow as he goes under the knife. He'll be away from us, but I will send emails, post here, and call if need be tomorrow once the surgery is complete. March 13, 2007 Well, here we are on another weekly update. Joey is doing just fine. He will have the surgery on March 20 at Charlottesville. His coarctation is getting worse, however, it is not to a gotta act now point. So we'll continue. He weighs in now at over 10 pounds. so he is growing like a weed. Check out some more of the pictures that I am posting. I will post updates here as time and space permit. March 5, 2007 What a strange couple of weeks. We have a date now for the heart surgery. That will be done in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia on March 20. He also is growing fast enough where they will do stage 2 on his bottom at some point in April. As long as he keeps growing and thriving, everything will continue at a faster pace. On a sad note. We lost a beloved pet this weekend. Shoes (a.k.a. Little Bit) passed away on Sunday, from multiple organ problems. He was 13 years old. February 21, 2007 Well, hello again... Everything appears to be continuing normally. Joey will have to have surgey for the coartation, but with the success rates that we are being told (97-98%), he'll do just fine. But in the mean time Joey is growing very well. He's up to 22" long, and now weighs in at 8 pounds 13+ ounces. So as far as plans go, we will be planning on doing the surgery in March, and hopefully doing the baptism in April (April 29). February 15, 2007 Well... time for another update. This one's a little sadder than most... Joey has an issue with his heart. It's called a coartation. That means that he has a narrowing of the aorta, so that his heart has to pump harder to get more blood to go through the aorta. He will likely have to have surgery for this, but we are not sure when. We will meet with the doctors on Tuesday the 20th to determine what needs to be done. February 9, 2007 Wow.... a short time but some god news. Joey is growing and thriving at home. He is up now over 7 pounds and is in the process of adding another inch or so to his length. He's doing pretty gosh darn well. He's also going through growth spurts now (even less sleep for us!) He's eating about once every 2 to 3 hours and doing well at taking the whole thing. Rebecca has reallyhit her stride a s a parent, and I am beginning to find mine. February 5, 2007 Well, it has been a week, and some great things have happened. First, Joey has come home from the hospital. He is now having fun with both of our sleep schedules as he tries to find his own. He is doing absolutely superbly. He has "christened" his home health nurse as well as Becca several times. I have yet to be caught, maybe it's just reflexes. But he is a blissfully happy baby boy (except for the diaper changes.) Joey had his first checkup with the doctor today after the surgery. He passed that with flying colors, and the doctor has said that he may only need the colostomy bag for 6 months rather than 1 year. But either way, we shall do our best to keep him happy and healthy. January 27, 2007 Here we are on the cusp of Joey +10 days. He is doing well. He just needs to be convinced to suck at a bottle.He is still off the respirator. He still has the NG tube, but is eating relatively easily. He eats about 35-45 ml of formula at the time. The doctor would love to get him to 2 ounces (59 ml) before they let him go home. Before they will let him come home, however, they will have us do a room in with him (24 hours in a room to make sure that we can take care of him.) January 26, 2007 Time for another one of the Joey updates... As of yesterday he was off the respirator (he took himself off) and off the NG tube (again another one he does not like). He also has started to be bottle fed, and is having a few minor issues taking to that... However, I do not think we will have to worry too much about that with him. He is also producing great quantities out of the ostomy that he had. He may be getting ready to come home (God willing!) by the beginning of next week. His mother is definitedly ready for him to come home and then she can begin to care for him here, instead of going to the hospital every day. SECOND UPDATE: Joey is off of the IV fluids and off of the lights for the jaundice. He is taking almost 2 ounces by mouth from the bottle, and is starting to be more and more active. Looks like it might be sooner rather than later that he can come home. We are just waiting for word on how to care for his ostomy. January 22, 2007 Well. Joey is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning (1/23/07) at 10:30am. He will have a colostomy bag installed at that point and the doctors will check to see if they can perform the final connection. More to follow. January 21, 2007. Wow, what a long strange few days it has been. I was hoping to blog a little bit sooner, but we had a small issue with our brand new baby. He has an imperforate anus. Hopefully the doctors will be able to fix things. But here are some pictures and I will keep everybody posted. January 17,2007 Well, here we go again. The date is January 18, 2007. Joey will be born tomorrow. He has slipped into position, as well as turned to face the right way. Rebecca has dilated to 1 centimeter, so there will be 9 more to go. Rebecca will have Cervadil applied to loosen the cervix tonight and then have Pitosin beginning between 5 and 6 am tomorrow morning. No one is exactly sure as to what time he will be born. I will send out updates as often as I can tomorrow, and make calls to people as soon as possible. January 11, 2007 Well, we are looking at an official date again. Again, this all changes if Rebecca's condition worsens, but I think that is highly unlikely.Joseph Merritt Seibert will be induced on January 18, 2007. January 10, 2007 Well, so much for the theory that I would blog every day. However, there just was not much to say. Baby Joey will be making his appearance no later than January 18. He is positioned correctly, so that the doctor has said she will try for a natural birth. Wow... 8 more days before this child makes his appearance. This has become so much more real. I simply hope that I can be as good at this as my folks, grandparents, aunts and uncles were to me. The other great thing is that it has been 50 weeks today without smoking. I look forward to seeing the 1 year mark. January 8, 2007 And now the updates come a lot quicker.... Rebecca is still in the hospital, however mother and baby are doing just fine. Joey had his 2nd to last ultrasound today and weighed in at approximately 6 pounds, 2 ounces. He is head down and ready to move, but has not dropped yet. Pending no other situations changing he is scheduled to be induced January 18, 2007. So we await and see what will happen. January 6, 2007 Well... Joseph will be born a little earlier than what we had thought. Rebecca is in the hospital for pre-eclampsia. She and the baby are doing just fine, and will continue to stay until they induce her. He is at 35 1/2 weeks now, and they should induce her arouynd week 37 (for those who don't know the calendar somewhere about January 17 is when they will induce.) But for now, Rebecca is in Johnston-Willis hospital room 335. I will try to post updates daily as I get them. January 2, 2007 Well... Happy New Year to everyone out there! May the best that you have seen in previous years be the worst that you see this year. Let's see... where to start... we made it through the holidays albeit with only minor snits and stress (that's normal, right?) Nope, all is progressing quite well. We have only 5 weeks to go for Joseph's big appearance. Mom and baby are doing just fine. Joey is kicking and pushing trying to get himself some more room, but he just keeps growing and growing. The last ultrasound pictures did not turn out well at all, so we'll keep those to ourselves. Christmas was wonderful and the new year is looking great as well. Both Rebecca and I have resolved to lose weight and to continue our not smoking. January 24 will make 1 year for me, since the stroke and quitting smoking. Life definitely looks excellent... December 18, 2006 It may only seem like it's been 14 years since my last post, but once every 5 days is good enough for me. Joey had his latest ultrasound yesterday. He weighs in at approximately 4 pounds and 4 ounces. and is currently in the process of making the turn to be born. Becca's blood pressure has stabilized with the help of medicine. She is doing fabulously on the modified bed rest. Joey will be approximately 7 pounds 3 ounces at birth according to my predictions, so we shall see what will happen. He will be induced about a week early, due to the high blood pressure, so we'll be looking at an arrival date of January 31, or February 1. December 13, 2006 Well... all sorts of interesting things have happened since my last post to the web site here. I have started a new job which is interesting, but I am a contractor which can be totally depressing. It means I do not get paid for holidays or any time that I take off. So, we shall see... But the work is wonderfully interesting and that makes things very exciting indeed. The baby is progressing normally, although Rebecca has gone into a modified bed rest. She has been having some problems with her blood pressure, that are signaling beginnings of pre-eclampsia. What this means is that she gets to take it easy for the next 6-8 weeks. But Joey so far has checked out just fine. He has not made the turn yet to go head down, (but I do not think he knows that he's supposed to.) But it means we get to have another ultrasound on December 27, so we'll post those pics and see if we have a size estimate for the little guy. More on this to come as soon as more is available. We are hosting christmas this year, so I apologize if the update schedule gets a little more random (but rest assured that I am thinking of everybody.) To all though Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and best wishes for a new year. November 27, 2006 Wow more dispatched from the bad blogger. I got caught up in a lot of hysterics and histrionics over the past month, so let's bring everyone up to speed. The baby is progressing normally. Aside from some small cares when he decides to be really asleep. He is still looking good and sounding good. It's beginning to look like once a month maybe the updating schedule around here. I am starting a new job come December 4. I will be a systems administrator with HP on the same contract. Baby countdown is now at 71 days left! October 22, 2006 Not much news has happened since the last update. Joey is still progressing normally. There are 108 days left until Joey is due to make his appearance. I however may be starting a new job search however. Still looking in on what is going on for that one. Everything so far is going ok, so we shall see. More to come later. September 29, 2006 Well, we just had the latest ultrasound and everything is looking good for Joseph Merritt. Here are some of the pictures from that ultrasound. We have a baby who is finally beginning to look like a baby. At this point, they estimate that he is about 11 inches long, and weighs in at about 14 ounces. So just 18 1/2 short weeks (if he's on time) and he will be here in the world. Now we just have to get started on all of the baby preparations (like getting his room ready!!) Becca is progressing like a champ through all of the difficulties of pregnancy. September 25, 2006 More from the land of Richmond. The pregnancy is progressing well. I am continuing to work for the Commonwealth of Virginia being an IT guru. Things are progressing well with little Joseph. His heart rate and growth appear to be normal. We will have another ultrasound this week (Thurs. 9/28 9:00am EDT), so we will get to see how far the little guy has progressed. We just have to dodge the genetic counselor that seems to come with the over 35 pregnancies these days. It's not that I am against the genetic counselor, it's that I am against the idea of a "designer" baby. I want whatever God sees fit to give me and I will love it just the same. 19 more weeks until Joseph is full-term. Congrats to both Becca and baby. I can't wait to meet him. September 15, 2006 Well, now time for me to come back to blogging with a new page and new thoughts. First off, I apologize for the unintended two month vacation, but baby stuff can get in the way. But let's see..... what's new... I have not been smoking now for 233 days. And I am actually now enjoying being smoke free. I am healthier... My weight is up, but I am wondering if that is just more couvade than anything else. Everything is going well right now with the baby. Joseph Merritt Seibert (yes, I finally put his name into print!) is growing as he should be right now and is about 20 1/2 weeks away from being welcomed into this world. I will post pictures as soon as I find some of his 17 week ultrasound. Would not be us, without losing stuff.... But everything is going well with both Mama and baby.
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