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Charles Robert Chick was born on July 3, 2008 at 7:48 pm EST in Parma, Ohio to Stephanie and Joshua Chick weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19 inches long.

At birth Charles appeared to be a healthy baby but soon developed complications.  Three hospitals later they determined he needs a arterial switch procedure on his heart. 

By clicking the "Read More" link you can see the blog of his progress.  It will be updated as we get information from Steph and Josh.  The newest information will be at the top.

Please Pray for Charles, his family and those caring for him.

For more photos of Charles

August 28 (Thursday) - Charles is doing great.  He weighs 10 pounds 2.5 ounces now.  He has been released from his kidney doctor now.  His blood pressure was down without medication yesterday at his appointment.  His incision has completely healed now and he can have real baths instead of just sponge baths.  He is now allowed to go out and be around people so he was able to go to church for the first time on Sunday.  We praise God everyday for taking such good care of him. 

August 6 (Wednesday) - At Charles check up with the kidney doctor, he weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces.  The doctor said he was doing great.  His blood pressure is doing good.  The doctors have said that he will eventally out grow his blood pressure medication dosage and then as long as his blood pressure remains good, he will be able to be taken off of it.  The doctor today guessed that by the time he was five months old he would be off of the medications.  Ron and I have a few days left in Ohio before we start heading back to Texas.  It will be hard to leave but it is good to see Charles doing so well and Steph and Josh are good parents and will take good care of him.  Charles will miss having all the extra people to hold and cuddle him but he is starting to enjoy laying on the floor and playing with his toys.  The cat has started trying to play with his feet when he kicks them out from under the blanket.  She'll be surprised when he gets big enough to start chasing her.

July 30 (Wednesday) - Ron and I have come to Ohio to visit Charles, Steph and Josh.  Charles is doing very well.  He had a small problem with his incision coming open in a couple spots and getting infected but after being put on antibiotics and packing the spots it is healing nicely.  He went to the pediatrician today and weighed 7 pound, 9 ounces.  The doctor said he was a healthy little boy.  The nurse who had read the reports from the surgeon was calling him their little miracle baby.  He goes back to see the surgeon tomorrow.  We are anxious to see if the scales at the surgeon's office show the same weight gain.  Charles is sleeping a good part of the night but then you have to wake him up again at 5am to give him medication.  If his medication schedule didn't get in the way, Steph and Josh would get a lot more rest.  We will try to get some new pictures and get them posted so everyone can see how well he is doing.

July 23 (Wednesday) - Charles had a good night.  Josh on the other hand did not sleep much.  Being a new dad, he wasn't used to all of Charles' new noises and because of all of the things they have been through, he was sensitive to all the sounds that Charles made.  Stephanie having spent a few nights up at the hospital had the opportunity to get used to some of his noises before he came home so didn't have as many problems.  After working late tonight, hopefully Josh will sleep better tonight. 

July 22 (Tuesday) - Steph is a little frustrated this morning because they doctors are wanting to supplement some formula to help Charles start gaining some weight.  He is going through the normal phase a newborn goes through when they start learning to eat but they want him to be gaining weight right now.  Because of the strong family history of allergies she doesn't want to give him anything that she is allergic to for fear of that causing more set backs but the doctors are telling her it shouldn't hurt him.  She is afraid if she doesn't agree to supplement, they might not let him go home as soon but at the same time, she is afraid it could also set him back if he has trouble with it.  Please keep her in your prayers that she can make the best decision for Charles. 

Charles has been release from the hospital and is on his way home.  Steph and Josh are very excited to finally be taking their son home. 

July 21 (Monday) - The only thing preventing Charles from going home at the moment is his blood pressure.  They are having trouble getting it regulated with the medication.  When they give him the medication, it is going to low, but when they don't it is going higher than they want it too.  Steph and Josh understand that it is best to get it regulated before he goes home but they are ready to have him at home.  Please keep Charles in your prayers and those caring for him that they may find the right level of the medication to regulate his blood pressure so that he can go home.

July 20 (Sunday) - Charles is doing better.  He should get his chest tube removed today.  The surgeon had told them that after removing the chest tube, if the x-ray showed the lung was doing okay, he would get to go home today.  They were excited about this.  Then the pediatrician came in and said that his blood pressure is still higher than the want it to be so they are going to be adjusting his medication so he won't be able to go home today.  They are dispappointed but know that it is best that he be regulated before he go home.  The pediatrician said that the blood pressue might come down on its own after the chest tube comes out and that they are going to have to monitor it to make sure the medication is at the right level.

Charles has had the chest tube removed.

July 18 (Friday) - Charles is continuing to improve.  They have removed his pace maker wires and the central IV line.  They have put an IV into the foot that doesn't have the blisters on it.  He still has the chest tube but the lung is healing.  They have removed his stitches.  He still has the monitoring wires but is looking much better.  He is eating well and is much happier now that he can be held, fed and cuddled.  Steph and Josh are looking forward to getting him home.

July 17 (Thursday) - Charles has finally been allowed to eat something.  They fed him 30ml of mom's milk with a bottle.  He is doing well with it so far.  If he has no problems, he'll get to have more at noon.  They are able to hold him now and Josh is holding him and feeding him his afternoon feeding.  Charles is much happier with a full tummy and getting his hugs and cuddles again.  He is calmer and sleeping well now.  There is talk that he may move the to step-down unit soon.

Charles has been moved to the step-down unit.  He is happy now that he is being fed and cuddled.  The doctor said that they may be able to remove the chest tube on Saturday if the lung has healed enough.  If the lung heals quickly and he continues to eat well, there is a chance he could go home as early as Sunday or Monday.  Everyone is excited about the possiblity.  We thank God for healing Charles and watching over and guiding everyone who is caring for him.  Charles has been through a lot in the past two weeks and is happy to sleep in his mother's arms with a full tummy.

July 16 (Wednesday) - They have had to start giving Charles some steroids because his throat is swelling.  They have had to sedate Charles because he gets so upset when they suction his breathing tube.  They had given his a small amount of the sedation medication last evening but then he got so upset when the suctioned the tube that they had to completely sedate him again and turn up the ventilator when he slept.  They are hoping that today he might not need as much sedation.  He doesn't understand that if he calms down he can get it out faster.   

Charles finally got the umbilical IV out this morning.  They have been able to swaddle him in a blanket and he is happier and sleeping without sedation and breathing on his own.  The nurses have posted a do not disturb sign above his bed so that no one will wake him unnecessarily and make him mad and force them to sedate him again.  They are hoping that they may be able to remove the chest tube tomorrow.  If they don't have to sedate him he should be off the ventilator soon.  Just got a call from Steph, they are taking the breathing tube out now - 3:20pm EST

July 15 (Tuesday) - Charles is continuing to improve.  All his blood work is showing the improvement and looks good.  The swelling is about down on his left side but his right side still has swelling especially the foot where the IV slipped.  They have taken him off of the sedation medication but do have pain medication they can give him if he appears to be in pain.  They have not been able to take the breathing tube yet because he has not been breathing on his own when he sleeps.  They are hoping that with the removal of the sedation medication that they will see an improvement with that.  They are stopping the blood pressure medication and as long as his blood pressure stays down, he will be able to stay off of that.  They have started feeding him again through the IV and they have started hearing bowel sounds so he should be ready for little bits of milk once they can feed him after the breathing tube has been removed.  Charles recognizes Steph and Josh's voices and tries to look at them when he hears them. 

This afternoon they have removed Charles' dialysis tube.  He is supposed to be having the IV removed from the umbilical artery but the doctor has to do that and has been called away everytime he has come in to do that so far.  Charles has cried a lot today because he is hungry and wants to be picked up and cuddled so they have had to give him some more of the medication to sedate him some because it is not good for him to cry a lot with the breathing tube in.  It has been nice to see the things coming off of Charles but hard to hear him crying and not be able to cuddle and comfort him.  Please pray that he will grow strong enough to breathe on his own while he is sleeping so he can have the breathing tube removed soon.

July 14 (Monday) - They had to put a chest tube in Charles because he has a hole in his lung.  This is so he can breathe on his own.  They will be weening him off of the ventilator over the next 24 hours so that his lung can heal.  Leaving him on the ventilator longer can cause the hole to get worse.  They are giving him a diuretic to help the swelling go down a little faster since they are wanting to take the breathing tube out.  He was awake and alert for quite a while this morning.  The swelling in his eyelids has gone done enough that he is able to open his eyes again.  The doctors don't seem overly concerned about the hole in the lung so it must not be an uncommon side affect, just another thing that Charles has to heal from during his recovery. 

July 13 (Sunday) - When they got to the hospital to see Charles today they were pleased to see that they had uncovered his incision and the drainage tubes in his chest have been removed.  The incision is looking very good.  The swelling is continuing to go down but hasn't gone down enough for the breathing tube to be removed yet.  It may be another couple days before that happens.  Since he was on the hear-lung machine during the surgery longer than they had anticipated the swelling is lasting longer than they were told it might in the pre-op explanations.  The doctors are pleasd with the progress that he is making.

This evening they started weaning Charles off the ventalator.  They will be doing it slowly so it may be another day or so before they actually remove the breathing tube but they are starting to let him breathe more on his own.  God has been anwering prayers and Charles is getting better every day.

July 12 (Saturday) - Charles continues to improve.  Shortly after Steph and Josh arrived today, he woke up and they were able to see him move his arms and legs.  He started setting off alarms when he started trying to breathe on his own so they had to sedate him again because they are not ready to remove the breathing tube.  His blood pressure has been going higher than they like and they have been using medication to regulate it.  The swelling is going down.  Maybe not as fast as mom and dad would like to see it but everything is headed the right direction.

July 11 (Friday) Steph called this morning.  Charles kept his night nurse very busy with his 12 different medications to juggle.  They had to start dialysis this morning because his kidneys are too swollen along with the rest of his body to function effiiciently right now.  This was something that was a possibility.  Steph said he is looking better in spite of the swelling and all of the things still attached to him.  They look forward to him healing so they can take him home.

This afternoon Steph reports that his kidney function is improving but they still are doing dialysis.  Charles is starting to over breathe the ventalator which indicates he should be able to get off the breathing tube easily when the swelling goes down.  They won't remove it before then.  The blisters on his foot are looking better. 

Charles' kidneys are doing well enough they are going to take him off of the dialysis for a few hours and see if they can keep up. 

Evening updated - Charles' kidneys have continued to funtion well.  They have started to match his fluid intake with his output.  He was being given insulin because his blood sugar was too high but it is under control now so they have been able to stop giving him the insulin.  He woke up this afternoon and his heart rate started going up higher than they wanted so they have given him more pain medication and he is relaxing again. 

July 10 (Thursday - surgery) 7:30am EST - Steph, Josh and the family were able to spend some time giving Charles lots of hugs, kisses and cuddles before time for the prep for surgery.  They have taken Charles back to begin all the prep work before the surgery.   

10:10am EST - The first incision was made at 9:45am EST.  The doctors said he was doing well.

12:21pm EST - Charles is on the heart-lung machine now and the surgeon is performing the arterial switch now.   This is the most difficult part of the surgery.

1:20pm EST - They have completed the arterial switch and everything is looking good.  Now they are closing the holes and the vein that they have kept open while they waited to do the surgery.  Charles is doing well.  We continue to pray for all of them.

2:00pm EST - They misunderstood the last update and they were closing the holes before doing the switch.   The holes and the vein have been closed and they are 1/4 of the way through doing the switch.  Charles is still doing well.

3:15pm EST - They are putting the last sutures in the heart.  They will be putting some leads on the heart so they can hook up a pace maker if needed to regulate the heartbeat sometime during his recovery.  This is a precautionary measure.  They will being doing an EKG and when they are happy with how the heart is beating, they will close him up.  Charles continues to do well.

4:10pm EST - Charles is off of the heart-lung machine.  They are waiting for some bleeding to go down and then they will be closing him up.

5:50pm EST - They should have Charles closed up by 6pm EST and then Steph and Josh should be able to go and see him about 6:30pm.  He is doing well.  We praise God for the skilled doctors and nurses who have taken care of him and will be taking care of him as he recovers.  Thank you for all of the prayers and we ask that you continue to pray for Charles and his family as they start down his road to recovery.

6:44pm EST - They have talked to the surgeon.  The surgeon was very pleased with how the surgery went.  He said that everything looked healthy and the pressure was good.  Josh said something about them having to rebuild some lung arteries as well but they were looking good also.  The only problem they had during the surgery was the IV in his foot came loose and leaked into his foot and caused some blistering and they have been told that it looks like he has poison ivy on his foot.  They have now been told they should be able to see him in about a half hour.  

July 9 (Wednesday)- Today was spent giving Charles lots of hugs and cuddles.  He likes being swaddled in a blanket and held.  They will get to spend a little time with him in the morning before surgery. They won't be able to hold him again until the breathing tube is removed which they have been told may be one to three days after the surgery.  We are all praying for Charles and the doctors and nurses who will be taking care of him tomorrow.  We are also praying for Steph, Josh, Wendy, Fred and Benjamin as they wait.

July 8 (Tuesday)- No major changes today.  Just waiting for the surgery.  The surgery is still scheduled for Thursday.  On Thursday they will start prepping him 7 - 7:30 am and the first incision will be done 9 - 9:30 am.  The surgery itself could take 1.5 - 3.5 hours.  They have been told they should expect to go back to see him sometime between 3pm and 5pm.  They will be given periodic updates.  We will post any of the updates that we receive.

July 7 (Monday)- Last night they had to put Charles back on the medication that keeps the hole between the chambers of the heart and a blood vessel open because his oxygen level started to drop.  He will remain on the medication until he has his surgery.   Wendy just called to tell me that the surgery has been postponed until Thursday.  The postponement is not due to a problem with Charles but a delay in getting the blood they need for him for the surgery due to the holiday.  They got the word from the nuerologist that everything was looking good and there were no signs of seizures.  Wendy was able to get Charles to take a pacifier today.  He is still only getting "food" through the IV.  They won't actually feed him until after the surgery.  

July 6 (Sunday)- Charles has been taken off of the breathing tube and is breathing on his own.  His surgery has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.  They have a few more tests to run before everything will be finalized.  He will be in the hospital for a week or two after the surgery while they wait for the swelling throughout his body to go down.   They have been told the success rate for the surgery is very high 97% so the big concern now is a family history problem with anesthesia but they have the right set of grandparents there to explain those concerns and make sure they are watched out for.  He has had the wires and electrodes removed from the EEG and they were allowed to hold him today.  Steph was allowed to hold him first and because he did so well with her hold him, Josh, Wendy and Fred each got to take a turn holding him.  The doctors have stopped giving him the medicine to make the hole between the chambers of his heart open so that it doesn't get too big.   

July 5 (Saturday)- Today Charles was tested for possible seizures.  The EEG showed no signs of seizures but did show signs of lower than normal brain activity for a newborn.  This could be caused by a number of things from the medications he is being given to not as much stimulation.  He was being monitored for 24 hours to see how things looked. The good news was at the end of the day when Fred and Wendy went back up for the last visit of the day, Charles had been given a little IV "food" and in response was awake and alert and they could see that the activity level on the EEG was greatly improved and looking good.  Apparently because he hadn't been fed during all the trauma his body had gone into a conservation mode and that is what they were seeing in the original scans.  They were also told that if he keeps improving, the breathing tube might be removed tomorrow.

July 4 (Friday)- In the early hours of the morning, Charles went into distress not getting enough oxygen.  After putting him in an oxygen tent did not improve the situation, he was transferred to another hospital with a level III neonatal ICU for further evaluation.  They determined that the problem was not with his lungs like they had originally thought but with his heart.  The arteries going into his heart go into the opposite side from what they are supposed to.  They gave him medication to reopen the hole between the chambers of the heart so the blood could mix there and give his body the oxygen that it needed and sent him on to another hospital.  The third hospital specializes in heart surgeries and is supposed to be one of the best in the country so God has put him where he needs to be.  They thought they were going to have to do a heart catheterization to make the opening between the chambers large enough but tests showed that it had opened enough so that procedure was not needed.  When Charles is stable enough, he will have surgery for an arterial switch.  We were very thankful that Josh's parents Wendy and Fred were there to help them.

July 3 (Thursday)- Charles Robert Chick was born at 7:48 pm EST in Parma, Ohio.  He weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 19 inches long.  Josh's parents got on a flight to Ohio from Austin, TX and landed about an hour and a half after his birth.  This is their first grandchild.  I plan to go up after they leave to help so they have help over a longer time.