He's a growing boy!

almost sucking his thumb

David's doing well. He is still gaining weight and growing even while being sick. Susan says, "I'm just amazed at the little guy."

He grew .75 of an inch last week. He is now 17.75 inches long and weighs 5 lbs. 4 oz.

The only new orders for the day are that they're going to increase his feeds by 2 ml, so by tonight he should be back up to 32 ml every 3 hours, which is where he was before he got sick.

His oxygen is at 50% on the ventilator, so he's getting closer to being weaned off it, but he's not quite ready for the C-PAP yet.

That's all the news for tonight. Susan sounded especially happy on her voice mail, which is wonderfully encouraging!

Awesome News!

The Happy Langager Family

Good News:

David's feedings have increased again--he's now taking 22 ml every 3 hours.

They're getting David ready for the C-PAP, but he's not quite ready to go off the ventilator yet. They're still working on that.

Really great news:

David's blood culture came back negative for staph, so the antibiotics are working, and he's no longer under Contact Isolation. Woo Hoo! (When John and Susan go in and scrub at the sink and put on their sterilized cotton gowns to enter the NICU, they were also having to put on additional disposable long-sleeved gowns and plastic gloves before they could touch David. They no longer have to do that.) Thank you, Jesus!

And now some EXCITING news directly from Susan:

"Praise God! Praise God! He is answering our prayers! Yet another direct answer to prayer: David had another head ultrasound today, and the official results are THE HEMORRHAGE NO LONGER EXISTS! There's no sign of the hemorrhage, and his brain ultrasound looks normal. The nurse was so surprised when she saw that; so that, to me, speaks even more of God's faithfulness and his miraculous healing. That is wonderful news. The other wonderful news is that I got to hold my son tonight in the rocker for an hour and fifteen minutes, and it was heaven."

I wish I could put a recording of Susan sharing this message. It's priceless.

NEW PICTURES!

I've added a new slideshow of recent pictures to this blog in the upper right-hand corner. If you click on it, a new window will pop up so you can see larger versions of the photos, download them to your computer, or order prints. Enjoy!

David's doing better!

More good news to report on this chilly Saturday afternoon:

Susan says, "David's doing well. The level of staph in his blood is going down, so the antibiotics are working. If everyone could keep praying, that would be great."

David is taking up to 16 ml every 3 hrs on his feeds and is tolerating it well. (The fact that he's getting his mama's milk again is a great sign--remember that the doctor told Susan that babies who let him feed them do exponentially better overall).

He's weighing in at just under 5 lbs. He's now at 4 lbs. 15.8 oz., but he has some edema--some swelling going on--so he may lose a bit when they put him back on the lasix (sp?).

They're talking about trying to take him off the ventilator and back on the C-PAP this week. Susan says, "That would be wonderful."

A HUGE thank-you to all who are praying. We love getting all these good reports!

Good News!

Good News to Report!

David's final results for the MRSA (the drug-resistant staph) are negative. Praise God for this direct answer to prayer!

He's still battling a staph infection in his blood, and "we need to be praying big time against that one," says Susan.

They changed one of his antibiotics yesterday to see if that would kick it. They also did a full body X-ray to see if they were missing anything--checking for anywhere else the infection might be.

Another good report:

Yesterday David underwent a spinal tap to test for meningitis. The first round of tests came back, and the head of the neo-natology group told Susan that he can say with 99.9% certainty that David does not have meningitis. Thank you, Jesus! The doctor also said, "Clinically, he's better."

Susan says, "He's still got IVs, still has lines going all over the place, still needs major prayer for the staph infection to go away . . . Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers. We wouldn't be here without you."

immediate request

Wednesday 5:15pm

David needs our fervent prayers right now as he undergoes a spinal tap. The doctors are checking to see if the staph infection is in his spinal fluid, which would mean he has meningitis. They'll have partial results tonight, and are still waiting on the blood culture results from earlier this week.

Pray, pray, pray, and spread the word if you're able! Lord Jesus, eradicate the staph infection from his body right now!

Prayer Push Needed

John was able to be with Susan tonight when she went back to see David at 8:00 p.m., after the nurses' shift change, which is good because the Langagers still need major prayer.

David is still not doing well. He has a staph infection in his blood. Susan and John are praying that it's the kind that's not drug resistant. They don't know yet which kind it is. They're doing blood cultures to try to find out. We'll get the results for the one they did yesterday on Thursday since it takes 72 hours to grow the culture. They're taking another one at 4:00 a.m. and those results will be in on Saturday. Please pray that the staph infection is not drug-resistant and that it clears completely, quickly, and miraculously.

A full course of antibiotics runs approximately two weeks. Susan thinks he may be on the ventilator that long. Right now he's scheduled to be on antibiotics for a full two weeks.

With all that's going through his IV: different antibiotics, his TPNs and lipids (nutrients and fats), etc., his veins aren't holding up very long and they keep having to switch the IV around. He even has an IV that goes through his head.

David is now on contact isolation which means even the nurses have to wear scrubs and extra gloves when they're near him. According to Susan, "It's kind of a scary time." She was feeling a little low tonight and appreciates everyone's prayers.

If you had been feeling as though you didn't need to pray as much or as often because David was doing so well, this should be a good wake-up call. David is riding on our prayers. He desperately needs us to pray fervently and daily and without rest. Pray without ceasing.

Urgent Prayer Request

8:17 a.m.
We have an urgent prayer request. Last night, David took a turn for the worst. He was struggling more and more to breathe, and they had to put him back on the ventilator. They don't know what caused the struggle. It could be chronic lung disease and he just got tired on the C-PAP and needed a break, or it could be an infection. They're really not sure. So they're going to stop his feedings for now and they intubated him this morning. They'll put him on antibiotics for 2-3 days while they run blood cultures and a host of other tests to try to determine why he was having such a hard time. They don't know at this point how long he'll be on ventilator. They need to get more information.

Susan said it was bit of a shock last night because when she and John were there with David, they got to give him a bath. There was a regular crib there, and the plan was to wean him out of the intubator and into the crib overnight. Instead of going forward they went backward.

Please pray.

We know the God of the universe. We know He cares for David. And we know our prayers are powerful and effective.

David's Progress and New Pictures

Langager Family Portrait (Daddy's favorite picture)Baby David on the C-PAP

10:00 p.m. on Friday

David now weighs 4 lbs. 8.9 oz. and is doing great. He has officially doubled his birth weight! John got to hold him tonight for a while and finally heard him cry for the first time. He said it was heartbreaking to see him cry but not be able to hear him.

David tried to find his thumb tonight. Susan said he got his thumb right up to his mouth and started making faces as though he were sucking his thumb, but he hadn't quite found it yet. She took several pictures. So cute!

His oxygen ranges anywhere from 68 to 84% depending on what he needs and when or how he's laying. The C-PAP, which is similar to what an adult with sleep apnea would use at night, is still working well for him.

He has some blood work in the morning, and is doing great over all.

AWESOME TESTIMONY:

Dr. Palmer returned from some time off and said to Susan, "I like going away because every time I come back he's doing great." He looked at David's chart and said, "He's doing everything we could ask of him."

Susan mentioned that David had doubled his birth weight, and Dr. Palmer replied, "Now we just need him to triple his lung size."

Please pray specifically that David's lung size will triple over the next couple weeks. Your specific prayers prayed in faith are bearing amazing fruit. Thank you for praying!

Amazing David

Stretching out on New Year's Eve
David's second tub bath, but Mommy's first!
Look at that little baby belly!

10:00 p.m.

Little David hasn't been weighed tonight, but when he was weighed last night he was holding steady at 3 lbs 15 oz. Susan says he's really filling out.

He had a head ultrasound today and, praise God, it showed improvement again. This is the 3rd ultrasound and 4th week in a row that they've seen improvement.

His O2 is at 79% right now.

His eye exam yesterday went fine. No problems. He has a follow-up check up in two weeks. (They will be giving him an eye exam every two weeks until he's off of oxygen and stable.)

The big news is that he's on air temperature instead of having his bed heated, which means he can now wear clothes. He's in his first little T-shirt today. So cute!

He doesn't have any new orders except for an increase in his iron supplement.

When Susan called, she was pumping and about to go downstairs to hold him again.

On Saturday when she and John held him (this was the first day he was on the C-PAT), he had his first little sneezes. She says, "It was so normal to be holding a little baby and have him sneeze. It was so sweet and so wonderful."

She kangaroo cared him again last night and "got to kiss his sweet face,

which was so exciting!"

They've been changing diapers, cuddling, and tonight she gave him a little pacifier.

Susan says, "Praise God! Everybody be encouraged. Thank you for the prayers. All the prayers are working. Please continue to pray."

I had the same thought today as I was praying for David. I was so happy that he hasn't had any more rough periods since we started the extra prayer coverage from 4:30-7:00 p.m.. I also thought about my friend Sally who said that her daughter would have near-death experiences during the night when everyone was sleeping until an all-night prayer vigil was started. Our little David has been covered 24-7 since the day he was born, and we're seeing some amazing fruit from all the prayers going up on his behalf. Let's see him through his release from the hospital and not grow weary in doing good! Blessings to all of you!

Sunday Night Update

A few pictures and tonight's update . . .

David's (already) overprotective parents:
The Langagers' first Christmas as "Mommy and Daddy"
Daddy keeping watch over precious David and beautiful Mommy

Sunday, January 13, 2008, at 9:30 p.m.

David is doing really well. He now weighs 3 lbs 15 oz--just an ounce away from a full 4 pounds. Pretty soon he will have doubled his birth weight! He is up to 16.5 inches long, and his head circumference is good--it's just showing normal growth. All wonderful news!

David has some blood tests scheduled for the morning, a follow-up eye exam tomorrow, and another head ultrasound sometime this week.

They have increased his feedings to 32 ml every 3 hours.

So far, the higher dosage of HMF (human milk fortifier) hasn't irritated his tummy or caused blood in his stools. Praise God!

He's currently on his tummy, so his O2 is down at 69% (just a few hours ago it was in the 80s but had been in the 60s earlier today). When he's on his back, they usually have to increase his O2 from the 60s to the 80s or 90s. His oxygen is in the 90th percentile (93-94), which is the percentage of oxygen he's getting, which is good.

His stats are holding steady and remaining in the 90s, which is a direct answer to prayer. Remember that if they drop to the 80s and stay there, he'll have to go back on the breathing tube. Right now he's still on the step-up from the breathing tube, the C-PAP (it's called a C-PAP for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, not a C-PAC, by the way) and continuing to breathe on his own.

Susan says, "He's just beautiful."

BIG HUGE NEWS!

Saturday 1/12 at 4:00 p.m.

David has been taken off the antibiotics today. Woo Hoo!

Last night John came over and held him. While he was holding him, David's breathing tube came out, which was pretty scary. His stats and heart rate dropped. Today between 10:00 and 10:30 when John and Susan weren't there, the same thing happened. Since he's so slobbery, his breathing tube came out again.

They decided to put him on C-PAP, which is the next thing up. It stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure and it's strapped onto his nose. He's getting pressure and oxygen, but it's not breathing for him. He's actually breathing on his own with it. Right now his O2 is at 92-99% (which needs to come down). His heart rate is good and his stats are in the 90s. If they stay in the 90s, he'll stay on the C-PAP, but if they drop to the 80s and stay there, they'll put him back on the ventilator. The wonderful news is HE'S BREATHING ON HIS OWN!

Being taken off the ventilator and the antibiotics are both HUGE victories! Yay, God! And thank you, prayer team! :0)

Susan got to hold David today for an hour, and you know she was beaming the entire time. I wish you could have heard her voice when she left her message on my voice mail with her "HUGE HUGE NEWS!"

Keep praying. We're seeing some awesome fruit!

David's doing great!

Thursday morning's update as of 11:15 a.m.:

Right after David's weight went up to 3 lbs 12 oz, it went down to 3 lbs 10 oz. However, for the past two days, he has weighed 3 lbs 13 oz. He's inching up toward 4 lbs!

On Wednesday they increased his HMF (human milk fortifier) to one part per 25/ml, which is back to same rate where it was bothering his tummy and causing blood in his stools, but it hasn't bothered him so far. Please pray that his stomach lining will continue to tolerate the HMF.

His head circumference looks good. They haven't even done an ultrasound this week. They'll probably do one next week. Please continue to pray that the swelling completely disappears on its own.

He has some blood work scheduled for Friday.

They've had to change his antiobiotic for the staff infection. The poor little guy had to have IVs in different arms and legs. Pray the infection clears up and little David can come off the antibiotic IVs.

Today they're increasing his feedings to 30 ml every 3 hours, so he's up to a full ounce now!

His breaths per minute are at 26.

John got to "kangaroo care" David on Monday night, which means he got to hold his son for the first time since the day he was born. A day of rejoicing for sure! Susan got some great pictures.

John changed David's diaper again Wednesday night and is quickly becoming a pro. He took his temperature, too.

The Langagers are now registered at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids.

Send an e-mail today to Susan or John to encourage them and let them know you're praying. They need to hear from us!

shk@thetechs.com

roaminjohnl@hotmail.com

Celebrating Victories and Continuing to Pray

1:00 p.m.

David is doing really well overall. They lowered his breaths per minute again yesterday to 30 and today they're down to 28 (so he's getting 28 breaths per minute from the machine). His blood gasses looked great. His O2 is at 55%.

The only negative is that he's lost weight for the third day in a row. Today he was down to 3 lbs 4 oz. Yesterday he weighed 3 lbs 5.1 oz, and the day before he had dropped to 3 lbs 6 oz, when he had been up to 3 lbs 7 oz. As a result, they're adding the HMF (human milk fortifier) back to his breastmilk at half the rate they were (to introduce it). Please pray that his tummy lining doesn't get irritated. If it does, they'll probably supplement with high calorie formula.

10:00 p.m.

Susan and John just talked with the doctor who said, "The good news is that every morning when I listen to his lungs, they just sound so good." How encouraging!

So far, he's doing OK on the HMF. He's actually gained weight tonight. Susan doesn't know if the HMF can work that fast or not, but we're rejoicing in his weight gain!

Here's the big need for prayer tonight:
David's on antibiotics. They do a culture inside the breathing tube and test it every week. This week's came back positive for a staff infection. It's not a drug-resistant staff, and he's not showing any signs or symptoms that it's affecting him, but it is present. So they've started him on the antibiotics. Please pray that the infection will go away. A lot of times it doesn't until they get the breathing tube out. The nurse said that they may try him this coming week off the ventilator. (Wow!)

Praise Report
The doctor said they'll do another echocardiogram at some point, but they're not hearing any heart murmur or seeing any other signs that his PDA hasn't closed (the artery that needed to be closed), which is a direct answer to prayer.

Overall, we're having some victories. The main prayer needs are:

• pray against infection--especially in the breathing tube
• pray the swelling on his brain continues to go down
• pray his lungs continue to develop so that he'll be able to breathe on his own

And now for a little P.S.

Susan and John went to Babies R Us this afternoon and registered for the upcoming baby shower. We don't have any shower details yet, but we'll definitely keep you posted!

Praise and Prayer

2:13 p.m.

On the right-hand side of the blog site, we've posted a list of specific prayer needs. Susan just asked that we add "swelling on brain" to the others, which are "risk of infection," "lung development," and "feeding progress." The swelling in David's brain is called a Grade 3 hemorrhage with clots and bleeding in the ventricles (but not into his brain). We have seen slight improvement on his head ultrasounds for two consecutive weeks, Praise Jesus. We are believing for complete healing.

The last two doctors, Dr. Palmer and Dr. Hassell, who saw David over the weekend and on Monday have both been very pleased with his chest x-rays because while his lungs are still hazy, there are no gray or black spots showing up which would indicate cysts in his lungs. Dr. Palmer said that many of his other babies have lung cysts. He's surprised that David does not. Praise God for this direct answer to prayer!

Praise God for perfect lungs and perfect eyes and a perfect head. YOUR kingdom come, Lord; YOUR will be done--in David's body--as it is in heaven. YOU are perfection. Your intricate design of David's body is perfect. Just as Jesus came and made the unclean clean, we walk in our God-given authority and command that hemorrhage to disintegrate in Jesus' name.

Remember, FAITH is what pleases God. Faith is simply believing the impossible can happen and WILL happen! Thank you, Lord, for all of these awesome answers to prayer. YOU ARE GOOD!

Big Prayer Requests and Big News

Finally! It's catch-up time.

David is now at 3 lbs 6 oz (he lost an ounce or 20 grams, which can be a diaper change). I think that means he gained half a pound over the past week. Go, David!

His head circumference is at 29 cm. The ultrasound showed improvement for two consecutive weeks. Thank you for praying! We don't want David to need a spinal tap or a shunt, so continue to pray for the fluid to drain on its own.

His breaths per minute are still at 32 today (Thursday, 1/3/08), down from 40 last week.

They increased his feeds today up to 28 ml every 3 hrs (to give you a frame of reference, 30 ml is an ounce, so he's almost there).

His O2's up a little bit (60%?)

BIG PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray that David doesn't keep pulling out his breathing tube. The tube tends to develop bacteria, so frequently having a new one put in would have been a great way to avoid developing an infection or pneumonia except that it's really hard on his vocal chords to have a new tube put in so often. Pray that he doesn't develop an infection from the breathing tube and that he would stop pulling it out.

The HMF was definitely irritating his tummy and causing blood in his stool, so they took him off of it. They're going to see how well he does this week just on breastmilk. They're expecting to have to supplement the milk with high calorie formula or put him back on the HMF, so please pray that he continues to grow. Grow, David, Grow!

David had a chest x-ray on the 29th, which looked good. The doctor has been encouraging about the x-rays. While the last two x-rays were still hazy, there were no cysts developing, which a lot of preemies have. Continue to pray for David's lung development. He's on the right track!

BIG NEWS
David has pulled his breathing tube out on his own twice. On the 29th it was loose and it had bacteria growing in it, so they took it out and tried him just on the breathing mask for about 10 minutes. He was breathing on his own! He had to work really hard, but the doctor was encouraged because some preemies get the mask on and don't know what to do at first. David is such a little fighter!

(By the way, Susan said that she finally got to see what David really looks like since the breathing tube was out of the way. She says he looks just like his Daddy.)

Susan finally got to hold David again on Saturday the 29th. On the 30th she gave him his first bath in a tub. He loved it.

He had two blood transfusions on the 30th and he handled them and the IV for them well.

The eye doctor examined his eyes on Monday, the 31st. He has a follow-up appointment in two weeks because he's so premature. The optometrist didn't forsee any problems, and he doesn't see any problems now with David's eyes, which is a huge blessing! David certainly isn't your average preemie!

Susan has finally been told that as long as David's having good days, she can hold him three times a week for half an hour, just not for two consecutive days.

Now we're finally up-to-date. Lots of big news and specific prayer requests. Let's start the new year with renewed faith. May we not grow weary in doing good--our prayers are powerful and effective. And we're seeing the fruit! David is AMAZING!

Last Night's Report

Update as of last night at 7:45
(Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008):

Susan went to see her OB/GYN on New Year's Eve. She was experiencing pain in her breast and detected a lump. She had an ultrasound and a mammogram the same day. While the ultrasound showed a mass, the results of the mammogram came out negative, so we're going to assume it's a clogged milk duct. Susan's looking forward to the day when she's asked, "So what's going on?" and she gets to say, "Oh, nothing."

David is up to 3 lbs 7 oz. Wow!

Because of all his mouth secretions, they loosened his breathing tube, and he pulled it out again today. Remember the doctor's comment when he was born? David continues to be "a little fighter"!

This afternoon, they increased his lasix (sp?), but they turned down his breaths per minute to 32.

His ultrasound showed improvement for the second week in a row. Praise God!

Susan got to hold him for an hour tonight. She is now allowed to hold him three times a week, but they want him to have a break in between days, so the days can't be consecutive.

His feedings were turned up to 27 ml every 3 hrs.

Everyone is doing great. More of this week's news when the kids go down for naps . . .

The long-awaited update. . .is coming.

A disclaimer from the editor: :0) I got a message from Susan this morning that she left on my voicemail at 9:30 last night. I haven't been able to post it since my one-year-old baby girl had a fever most of the day and cried her little heart out if I even thought of putting her down. She napped on my chest until about 3 p.m. I'm now completely wiped out and ready to get the kids down for bed. If I have the energy, I'll post the update (it's a long one--we haven't given you an update since Thursday, so we will have a full week of news tomorrow).

Please remember to pray for our little David even when we don't post updates. He's still in the NICU and he's still in need of our prayers. Thank you to all of David's faithful prayer warriors. What a blessing to have such an extensive team of intercessors!