Jack was born on January 14, 2010 at 24 weeks and 1 day gestation. He was 1 lb. 7oz when he was born and was amazingly able to breathe on his own for the first week. My water broke with Jack on January 8th and I spent the next 6 days in the hospital trying to keep him in and also prepare his lungs for the outside world. The doctors are not entirely sure what caused his premature birth, but think that it may have related to an infection that I had. Despite Jack's truly terrifying entrance into the world (his umbilical cord came out causing them to rush me to the operating room for an emergency c-section) he was born perfectly oxygenated!
Jack was definately a fighter and truly defied the odds for a baby that early. He was able to breathe on his own for the first week, but has was eventually placed on a ventilator to allow his lungs to rest and grow. He steadily gained weight despite a nasty E.coli infection that he had that spread to his blood and spinal fluid. Unfortuantely the meningitis caused a bleed in his brain which had started to heal itself. He had a few blood transfusions as his body was not able to make the red blood cells that are necessary to carry oxygen through his body. Other than these typical preemie issues, Jack was doing incredibly well.
On Friday March 19th, Jack started acting sick. His heartrate speed up and he was very pale. Although initial bloodwork leaned toward viral they began him on antibiotics anyway. As the day progressed he continued to get sicker. Overnight, under the care of his favorite nurse, Jack rallied and seemed to get better. Saturday brought Mackenzie's birthday party and a devastating phone call from Jack's doctor. Jack had taken a turn for the worse and was in very critical condition. Additional bloodwork showed he did have a severe infection that had most likely spread to his brain. DJ and I rushed to the hospital to be with him. Shortly before we arrived at the hospital Jack went into cardiac arrest. They were able to revive him and stablize his heartbeat for awhile. Just after 6:30 Jack went into cardiac arrest again while the NICU was closed to parents. They were again able to bring him back. When they reopened the NICU, the doctors broke the news to us that despite their best efforts, they would not be able to bring Jack through this. Words cannot describe how we felt.
Jack passed away shortly after 11:30pm Saturday March 20th in the arms of his daddy. We will eternally be grateful for the time that we were able to spend with Jack and for the impact that he had in this world. Our hope for Jack's memory is not for the shortness of his life, but for the incredible miracle that Jack's life was. He was an amazing gift from God.
Thank you for taking the time to read his blog and hopefully taking a moment to pray for our little miracle.
~Jeny
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