Garrett has arrived!!

This is Heath and I'm a new Dad, but I'll try to give you an update. We will try to use this blog to provide updates, because I think this will be easiest for us.

Well, Garrett has arrived. He was born on Friday, January 23rd at approximately 5:00pm. He was 1 pound & 5 ounces and 12-1/4" long. He was 25-1/2 weeks along, but Carla and he were starting to make the doctors believe they were developing Precampsia (not sure if that is spelled correctly).

Carla's blood pressure was running a little high Tuesday. We had come in for our appointment on Tuesday afternoon and told the doctor that her blood pressures were high (180s - 190s over 90s - 100s). He had us go down to triage to monitor her blood pressures for a few hours. They were running pretty high. They tried to get them to lower but with all the stress and worry they would not go down. So we moved into an observation room in the Labor & Delivery area for more close watch. Then around 3:00 am we moved into a larger room. I think it was a Labor and Delivery Recovery room. The blood pressures were becoming more stable and I(Heath) got a cot and slept from 3:30 - 6:00. The next day things seemed stable with Carla's blood pressures so we were moved into a "high risk" normal room. This area I believe was for high risk moms who were on hospital bed rest. We spent Wednesday through Friday in this high risk pregnancy hospital bed rest room. On Friday the OB doctor came in while I(Heath) was down at work. The OB doctor said that Carla's liver function had increased a little each day. This made them believe that she may be developing Preclampsia. This is a pregnancy disease which is risky for the mom and baby. So the doctors decided it would be best to take the baby. So a little after noon on Friday the decision was made to take the baby. So we were scheduled for a c-section for Friday afternoon/evening.

Family and friends filled the waiting room. I think the security officer had to ask people to try to squeeze in the waiting room and clear the hallway on multiple occations. We appreciated everyone that came and it means a lot that we have so many people praying for us. So around 4:00pm on Friday afternoon, they started preparing Carla to go for the c-section. So around 5:00pm Mr. Garrett was introduced to the world. Carla and I both got to hear him cry after he came out. They placed him in the incubater immediately and wheeled him past Carla and I so could see our beauitful little boy.

I got to follow him up to the NICU and watch as they measured his weight, length, and additional stats. He is very small but still looks so great. He has really long arms, legs, toes, and fingers. While they were trying to measure him and prep him, he did what all good little baby boys do....He peed on everything in sight!

He will probably be in the NICU until May. They told us to expect him to stay in there through the due date, which was May 3rd. His blood pressure was down a little when they first brought him in, but they have been working with that and seem to have it under control for the time being. He has had to have a unit of insulin because his blood sugar was a little high.

They have told us that Garrett has a long road ahead of him, but we also have a enormous amount of prayers being lifted up to our Savior and Creator. He knows more than all the nurses, doctors, and experts combined. We know that Garrett is is God's hands and He has a plan for Garrett. We have also had a wonderful outpouring of people who have had experience with premi's that have offered to talk/visit with us. We will taken the opportunities to visit with as many as we can. We know that God has put people in our lives and in our paths for His purpose. We are so thankful!

At this time, we are in a private room at Presby (Texas Health) Dallas. We are in Room 435 in the South Perot elevators. We are not sure the exact timing of when Carla will be able to be discharged. Our normal OB will be on call Sunday, so I would expect to get a clearer picture tomorrow when we get a visit from her. We will update on this blog as much as possible. We have a constant rotation of family here at the hospital and people at our house. I know so many people have volunteered to do whatever we need. We will let you know once we get home and figure things out. We are very lucky to have both sets of parents living just over an hour away. All who have said they will stay with us as long as we need. I am so thankful for all of our family!