God Bless Kieran Patrick

"You are a Child of God... you are wonderfully made, dearly loved and precious in His sight.  Before God made you, He knew you... there is no one else like you."
Psalm 1:39



Sunday, November 12th - Days in the NICU: 11

Today Kieran Patrick was welcomed into the Catholic faith through the sacrament of baptism.  While Brian and I always anticipated a traditional baptism at our parish with our baby adorned in lovely white attire, we decided that it would be better to bestow this sacrament on him now in a time when we truly pray for God's love and blessings.  We felt so lucky that Fr. Jerome Overbeck was willing and able to meet us at the hospital early this morning on such short notice... as in 48 hours.  I've know Fr. Jerry for almost 18 years since my undergraduate years at Loyola University Chicago - Fr. J performed our marriage ceremony almost seven years ago and today he baptized our son.  While we would have loved to be surrounded by friends and family, it was a beautiful, intimate moment with just the four of us and I will never forget it. 

We were able to catch up for about a half an hour before Fr. J needed to head out to continue his busy Sunday and the attending neonatologist, Dr. Natalia Henner, was coming in for morning rounds.  Kieran had had another solid and uneventful evening.  Unfortunately, there has been no progress on the right lung, so the surgical team is going to proceed with the bronchoscopy tomorrow.  While there are no guarantees, we are hopeful that 1) the team will be able to get a better idea of what may be inhibiting the lung from opening and 2) they are able to clear out some of the junk.  We have no idea what time the procedure will take place, so tomorrow could be a very long day.

After a short break away from the NICU to watch a fairly lackluster Bears/Packers game, we returned to say goodnight to our little peanut.  Our amazing nurses, Victoria and Olivia, helped Brian hold Kieran for the first time and it was incredible.  I can honestly say that I've never seen Brian smile like he did tonight - it was so, so special. 

 This was a great way to end our day.  While we don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, we are cherishing these small, precious moments with Kieran.  We are grateful that he likes to be held.  Early on in our journey, before Kieran was born, we had been told that many NICU babies have trouble with any kind of stimulation - they can't tolerate the slightest touch without becoming agitated.  While Kieran definitely doesn't like his breathing tube (every time he gags on it, I cry) or being moved, his heart rate and respiratory rate have normalized once he is in our arms.  We are hopeful that daily story time, hand holding, head stroking and us just talking to him have helped us get to this place.  We long for skin-to skin contact and no more breathing tube, but we know it could be some time before we are close to these goals.  One day at a time. 

Tonight we pray for another uneventful night and a successful procedure tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy these treasured pictures of my two guys - my heart is so full.

"To be content doesn't mean you don't desire more, it means you are thankful for what you have and patient for what's to come"
Tony Gaskins