Trey's story so far . . .

Kelly is recovering from an unexpected c-section so I (Blue) wanted to give an update on how things are going and what took place. I'll leave some details for Kelly to write about, especially the info on the umbilical cord.

We were admitted to Good Sam after a concerning MCA doppler test. This test showed probable anemia. Anemia is a scary word around our house since it was the first problem that we were told Claire had. The doctor wanted to do a PUBS procedure, which is essentially a blood transfusion for the baby in utero. As the hours went by another concerning thing appeared and that was the baby's heart rate decelerations with every contraction. The doctor on call still wanted to schedule the PUBS for the next morning. We felt ok about it since he is considered one of the best at this procedure. Another doctor, Dr. Cook, who has been our favorite since our first meeting with the high risk docs, startled us by saying he was leaning towards delivery soon. He didn't like the heart rate decels. This was scary because Trey would be 7 weeks premature and have a whole other list of possible complications with his suspected anemia. I, honestly, didn't like the idea of delivery. Kelly and I prayed for guidance. Immediately after Kelly started contracting more and the baby had more decels. Dr Cook told us that he wanted to go to delivery now. They delivered him at 9:19pm and to everyone's astonishment Trey's cord was wrapped tightly 5 times around his neck and twice around his body. Two of the doctor's present later said they had never seen a cord wrapped that many times and so tightly and that his cord was the longest they've ever seen in their practice. Trey immediately cried, to my huge relief, and started breathing on his own and turning pink. They rushed me and Trey to the newborn ICU (Phoenix Children's Hospital wing) while Kelly recovered. They hooked him up to monitors. His heart rate? Perfect. His breathing rate? Perfect. His oxygen saturation? Perfect, 100% with no oxygen. In fact, he hasn't needed even a puff of oxygen to this minute. He is skinny and small, but very active. I was able to hold him for a couple hours until Kelly arrived. She, like I, was anticipating tubes, drains, oxygen, and discouraging news. Imagine her surprise when she was wheeled in to the NICU to see me holding him, no tubes, and baby Trey sucking on a pacifier. He has since maintained this extraordinary condition and hasn't even hinted at anything concerning. He has even ate at all 4 feedings, something they definitely didn't think he would be able to do at such a premature age. By the way, he is not anemic at all!
I am thrilled with what has happened thus far. I feel profoundly grateful! I have felt everyone's prayers in our behalf. Thank you everyone for what you have done!

I wish we could be sure that everything will continue to progress like this, but Trey has a very long road ahead of him. They like most preemies to stay in the hospital until around their due date so he has some big milestones to achieve before Kelly and I will feel relief. As they say here, anything can change at any moment and take a turn for the worse. He has to gain weight, learn how to coordinate eating and breathing simultaneously, regulate his body temp, show signs of good digestion, and many, many more things. I'm most worried about infection. His immune system is so immature that any sort of virus that affects his lungs would be very worrisome.

That's the gist of things for now. There is a lot more to the story. Personally, I feel that God has a purpose on earth for Trey and that he influenced and oversaw the events and actions over the past few days.  Please continue to pray for him!

- Blue