Perhaps tomorrow

we will be released to come home... It all depends on the weather. Ok, maybe it doesn't all depend on the weather alone, but that is a big factor since we have such a long way to travel. Damon is doing well today. He hasn't eaten very much by bottle, but two of his feeds have been bolus (sp) feeds which means that we pour it down the syringe and let gravity do the work instead of the feeding pump. With the feeding pump it can take up to an hour, doing it the other way takes like 10 minutes. So far he has tolerated it very well.

Damon has a new room mate today. She is a little girl who had another kind of CHD and had an open heart surgery three days before him. I think she is doing pretty well. However she has two older sisters and when I say older I mean only like 1 1/2 and 3 years older. The 17 month old is very jealous and is screaming and crying a lot. It is very nerve racking and she also has a cough when she gets upset and it sounds very croupy. Pray for us all in that room, it's very frustrating.

We are hoping and praying that the snow will be minimal so that if they release us tomorrow we can actually leave. Talk to you all soon. Sarah

Whoops

I forgot to mention that Damon's room # is 46B and the phone # in there is 314-454-2989. We were in there pretty much all day today, and plan to be tomorrow as well so give us a call if you want.

Busy Day

Damon had a busy day. He had a hearing test (passed), an ekg (passed), an echo (passed), a chest x-ray (passed), and some kind of blood pressure test (passed). He is doing great. He does not like it when he is messed with though, like changing his diaper, or any time the nurses have to unbundle him to do something. He settles down pretty quickly though.

He also had a lot of visitors today too. The hospital has this thing called "Love Lights" and its a ceremony where they light all the Christmas lights they have put up. They had visitors for all the kids today, Daffy Duck, Ronald McDonald, Santa and Mrs Clause and an Elf, some hockey player from the St Louis Blues, and one of the Rams' players. We'll try to get some pictures of that for you tomorrow. This is such a great hospital, we are blessed to be getting Damon's care here.

Dr Gandhi came in twice today and said that we need to work on his eating from a bottle. He told us it's very common for these kids to not be able to do that very well. But we believe that God can help him with that. Dr Gandhi also said that we might be able to go home as early as this weekend as long as he is doing well with eating and we are comfortable with the things we will have to do for him when we get home. I have to be honest, I am really scared of coming home. We are so far away from here and I just worry that I won't be smart enough or strong enough, or attentive enough to take care of him. I am trying so hard not to let my fear overcome me. For in my weakness, He is strong. It's hard though. God has brought us and our little guy so far and I know He won't leave us now. But please pray for me anyway.

Continue to pray for Damon to eat from the bottle and for his recovery to keep going so well. Also pray for the little baby that's his room mate. Jeremy posted that his name is Damen as well. He is so sweet. His parents didn't come see him at all today and he is lonely I think. He lays there and cries and the nurses can't come in every second. My mother's heart can't stand it and I want to go over and pick him up or comfort him, but I don't because I don't know where the boundries lie.

Talk to you all soon. Sarah

On the Floor

Damon got moved to the floor, which means he is out of the PICU, which is really good news. It is amazing to see how much he has improved so much in just a short amount of time. Sarah got to hold him a couple of times yesterday, while dad was stuck at the Haven House all day with the flu. Damon seems to improve everyday and so far he has had no major setbacks. His roomate in his new room is Damen. Please continue to pray for us. It is so difficult for us to be up here and so far away from home. This is the first week that we haven't had anyone up here with us, we know that we are not alone, but sometimes it feels that way. Keep continuing to pray for Damon's recovery and that he will take to a bottle. We will update with any new news. Thanks again for all of the love, prayers, and support for our family.

Pics

See the post below as well.

Fingerprints of God

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman titled "Fingerprints of God." The chorus goes like this: I can see the finger prints of God, when I look at you. Yeah I can see the fingerprints of God, and I know it's true. You're a masterpiece that all creation quietly applauds, cause you're covered with the fingerprints of God.

This song comes to my mind every time I look at Damon. God has had His hands on him this whole time. There is no way He couldn't have. Damon is doing so well. His vent tube came out yesterday, his central line and his chest tube came out today and if all goes well he will be moved to the floor tomorrow. He is such a strong little guy. He has the most precious cry I've ever heard. He is a little hoarse from having the vent tube in for so many days, but it's great to hear his voice. It's great to see his face.

Please continue to pray for his heart rate to stay steady. It drops down every once in a while then it comes right back up on its own, but it sure does scare me to death. Also pray that he will eat from a bottle tomorrow.

Myles made some friends while he was with us, one lady in particular. Today she came in Damon's room with two blankets she had made for our boys. Her son has epilepsy and his seisures are pretty bad. We were blessed by her.

Another lady that he befriended lost her grandson today. My heart breaks for them. I don't know their names, but God does so please say a prayer of comfort for them. Praise Him that this little boy is now in the arms of Jesus.

Sarah

With Eyes Wide Open

Damon had a great day Saturday and so far a good morning Sunday. He got his vent tube out on Saturday and was able to open his eyes some, although he still seemed kinda out of it. His heartrate was doing some wacky things yesterday which concerned Sarah and I, but the nurses and the doctors weren't too concerned about it, although they said that they would keep an eye on it. Sarah seems to think that Damon looks like me. I really can't tell. Yesterday was the first time we could actually see what his face looks like without the breathing tube in. When I called this morning to get a report from his nurse she said that he had a great night and that they were going to take out his catheter today. Slowly he will lose all of his wires. We will have more pictures to post later on today. There are a lot of pictures of him with his eyes wide open looking at us.
Myles is going back home today. He is excited to sleep in his own bed and see his puppies. I know it is not easy for him to be in some many different places and not get to see us for very long. Sarah and I miss him very much, but we know that when we aren't there for him that the Lord is. I would ask that you pray for understanding for Myles in this situation. He is a very proud 'big brother' and just wants very much for all of us to just come home.
The things that you never thought that you would miss, you do. Such as, just staying at home or just a home cooked meal. Those are the things that we miss while being up here, not to mention missing church. To all of our church family, we miss you all so much and look forward to when we can come home. We appreciate all of the prayers, love and support for our family. We will post again tonight and look for those cute pics of Damon.

So Grateful

Here are some more pics of our lil fighter. The first two are the night before surgery, the third is two days after. He is still pretty drugged up in that one. He looks like he thinking "I didn't sign up for this, I think I'll go back in, thank you very much!"

We have so many things to be grateful for. We're grateful for drs who work 12-15 hour days to watch over our son. We're grateful we have a place to stay that is comfortable. We're grateful for some family members who call everyday, more than once to check on us. We're grateful for all the prayer warriors who have been lifting up this precious baby and our family since July 28, 2006. We're grateful for the Thanksgiving dinner that was provided by a past PICU family. We are grateful for getting to spend some time w/ Myles & that he missed us as much as we missed him.

Each time I talk to another family in the waiting room I find myself thanking God that my child isn't in that situation. Please don't think that my child's situation is an easy road. It isn't. But there is a sad story in every room we walk past in that PICU hallway. We are grateful that we all have hope because our God in Heaven is a healer, an answerer of prayer, and a faithful God who will see us through.

Keep praying for Damon. He is getting his vent tube out in the morning and the chest tube. He should only have one i.v. in after that and he can be bundled up like a little baby likes. We love you all.

Give Thanks

Damon had a great night last night, which meant this morning he got his chest closed. After the procedure, his blood pressure and oxygen saturations were a cause for concern, but within an hour they we back it normal and stayed that way the rest of the day. In the next couple of days they will try to wean him off of his oxygen and get rid of his breathing tube. He has changed a bunch in just a week and we are so thankful for him. Damon and Myles are such a joy in our lives. Having gone through what we have so far has made us even more thankful to have two wonderful boys. We hope you all had a great thanksgiving. Ours was not too much fun, but we got to spend the day with our kids and that made it all worth it.

Wednesday Update

The surgeon told Sarah and Jeremy today that he is going to close up Damons chest at 7:30 tomorrow morning; pending on if he has a good night and there is no swelling. If he does not have a good night than he will try to close him up later on tomorrow.
That is all they know for now. Pray that Damon has a good night and that there is no swelling or any other complications.

Thanks!!
Lacey for the Cochrans'

Praise Him from whom all "blessings" flow

Today the "blessings" flowing just happen to be pee! I never thought I would be excited about pee, but today I am. Damon has started peeing a lot more today, thank you all for praying for that. He is doing great. His heart rate is good, his oxygen levels are good, he has been taken off the muscle relaxer so he is moving around a little bit and opening his eyes a little bit, and he has started getting to eat. When we got here this morning we could visibly see a difference in the amount of swelling he has.

We are so grateful to God for keeping his healing hands on our son. We are so grateful to all of you for lifting him and us up in prayer. We are so grateful to all of the nurses and doctors who have been taking care of him. They are very dedicated people. These doctors are amazing. Dr Gandhi, the surgeon who did Damon's surgery has been checking in on him several times each day, usually until late into the evening. He even checked on him from home last night and called in with some instructions for the nurse. He is a very nice man.

This morning Jeremy and I were in his room and I was behind the privacy screen using the breast pump and Dr Gandhi was in there checking on Damon and he could hear the pump and he says "What is that noise, it sounds like there is a leak in the vent machine." The nurse told him that it was me using the pump and Jeremy said he got embarrassed. He said "Sorry, I didn't see you back there mom." And I almost replied with "That's why the screen is there Dr Gandhi."

Talk to you all soon. Sarah

New STL Address

Since we will be in STL for awhile, we thought that we could pass on our new address where we will be staying. There have been family and friends that wanted it to send cards or letters while we were away. Feel free to do so because we have a lot of free time while at the hospital and would love to write back to all of you. Again thank you for all of the prayers and support. We will have an update on Damon's kidney ultrasound in the morning.

Jeremy & Sarah Cochran
c/o Haven House
12685 Olive Blvd.
St. Louis, MO. 63141

Here are some pics of Damon before surgery. Pretty cute huh? We have some of him after surgery that we will be putting on soon. He had an ultrasound of his kidneys not too long ago and the tech said she didnt' see that they were dilated anymore, but he isn't peeing very much yet and that's very important. So pray for his kidneys to wake up and start working well. Thank you for all the comments and prayers, they mean so much! We love you all and continue to pray for a strong, quick recovery for our little gift.

Sarah

Gandhi's Visit

This morning the surgeon, Dr. Gandhi, came in to visit Damon while I was in the room. He was still very optomistic about Damon's surgery and current condition. He was concerned about his kidneys though. He said that Damon is peeing, but not as much as they would like him to. They will be doing another ultrasound this morning to make sure that there is nothing stucturally wrong with them. Dr. Gandhi said that it could be due to the trauma of the surgery, but that there is no danger of his kidneys shutting down or him needing dialasis. So for all of you prayer warriors please keep praying for Damon's quick recovery and for his kidneys to wake up.
Yesterday was the longest day of our lives. It was very stressful for both Sarah and I, but we are just so glad that we didn't have to face it alone. Thanks for all of our family, friends, and thanks be to the Lord above all. To all of you who have been there to support and pray for us. It has meant the world to us and there are no words to express how much it meant to my family and I that you were there for us in our time of need.

Surgeon's Update

1:20 p.m.- The surgeon came and talked to Sarah and Jeremy and said that everything went really well and that he had no negative news to report. He did say that Damon's aorta was teeny tiny and took a little longer than normal to repair. He is in his room in the PICU now and will be recovering for about an hour and a half. Sarah said after his recovery time today that they would get to see him. The surgeon said that the next 2-3 days were very critical as they watch for any bleeding, but that he does not expect any complications. Sarah wanted me to tell you to please continue to pray, and they are very thankful to God for what he has brought Damon through today. They are also very thankful for all of you who have been prayer warriors for Damon!

Lacey Baker for the Cochran's

Update

Sarah called at 12:30. The doctors were able to take Damon off the heart and lung machine. His body warmed up so they are pumping the blood back into him and this could take 1-5 hours. The nurse said that everything went the way it was supposed to and that he is doing well. Praise God! Continue to life him up in your prayers today.
Lacey

Surgery Update

11:30 a.m.- The surgery is finished and now they are waiting for Damon's body to warm back up. The nurse said this could take 30-45 minutes. After his body is warmed up they will start pumping the blood back through his body and make sure there are no leaks in the sutures. Sarah will call me when she knows more.
Lacey

Surgery Update

Sarah called at 9:40 a.m. Damon is doing well in surgery. He is stable and they are working on repairing the aorta at this time.

Lacey

Lacey for the Cochran's-Update

I just talked to Sarah and she said they had taken Damon back for surgery at about 7:45 a.m. The doctor said it will probably be an hour before the surgery starts. She is going to call me with periodic updates so that I can let you all know what is going on. Please continue to send up your prayers!!
Thank you
Lacey Baker

Surgery

It has been scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning, Monday Nov 20th. Dr Gandhi spoke with us last night and said everthing w/ his heart looked the same as when I was pregnant so there aren't any unexpected things right now. He did mention that they did an ultrasound of Damon's belly and his kidneys are dilated and they will be watching them closely. He said sometimes these babies have to be on meds for their kidneys.

They sedated him last night so he wouldn't be so jumpy. Please pray pray pray pray. Talk to you all soon. Sarah

He's Here

We found some internet access, praise be to God! We are currently staying at the Haven House in STL, at least for the weekend. We don't have a phone in our rooms so continue to use our cell phones to get ahold of us if you need to. Thank you Lacey for making posts for us!

Damon was born at 5:37pm on 11.16.06. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and is 18 1/2 in long. I never thought there could be a baby as precious or beautiful as Myles, but there is. He looks a little like Myles, but different too. His hair is a lot lighter, and he doesn't have a dimple in his chin like Myles does. He is just beautiful, I wish I could get a picture on here right now, but hopefully we will be able too soon.

He is in the NICU right now at STL Children's Hospital. He is pretty much stable right now, his sats keep dipping down and no one really knows why. (Sats is the amount of oxygen in his blood.) They have him on some medicine though that can regulate that so they told us not to worry about it. When they did the echo on him, his heart looked the same as it had when he was still inside me, which is good, there is nothing that we know of that will cause any extra problems for his surgery. We are hoping to talk to the surgeon tonight when we go back up there to see him. Surgery should be on Monday from what we have heard from the nurses and other doctors. We don't know what time yet, but will update as soon as we can.

Pray for all of us. It is very hard to see him like that, with all the tubes and monitors around him when he looks so normal. Seriously, we looks perfect. He is on a ventalator so he can't cry outloud, but he gets upset sometimes and you can tell that he is crying. That just breaks our hearts because we want to comfort him and we really can't. I got to hold him right after he was born and so did Jeremy, then I got to hold him Friday morning, and Jeremy got to hold him last night, but that's when his sats started acting up so we can't hold him anymore. He is very jumpy, and gets upset when there is loud noise or if you touch him very much so we can't even really touch him right now. We are hoping that he will be moving up to the PICU soon so he would be in his own room without so much noise.

God is with us right now we know. Just please continue to hold us up in prayer, but especially pray for Damon. Pray that he can get some peaceful rest and not be disturbed. Pray for his nurses, and doctors.

I can not believe that he is actually here. It's a hard time in our lives but we already love him so much. Myles saw him and said he was very cute and he has worn his "I'm a Big Brother" shirt for three days straight! We love you all and will talk to you soon.

Update on Damon

He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz., 18.5 inches long. A little bit of hair but not as dark as Myles.
Pray for Sarah to heal fast, Damon still doing well in NICU. Will update as soon as more information is available.

Damon's here

Damon was born at 5:40 pm, he is doing well in the NICU. Sarah doesn't know how much he weighed or how long he is at this time. She said he did however have no hair. Keep Praying for the whole family.
Thank you, Lacey Baker for the Cochran's

Lacey for the Cochrans

Sarah is still in labor. She is dialated 4 cm. Keep praying!!

Lacey for the Cochrans-Update

Sarah wanted me to make a new post to let you all know what is going on. The amnio results showed that Damon's lungs are mature enough for them to induce Sarah. They are starting the medicine this evening and she should have Damon tomorrow morning or early afternoon. If you would like to call the hospital the information is below.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital
314-362-5767
Room 5470

Haven House

We just found out from Children's Miracle Network that we will be able to stay at the Haven House tomorrow night. It is a place kinda like the Ronald McDonald House. We don't know that much about it, but we pulled up the website and it looks really nice. We are leaving in the morning around 10am, we'll be stopping in Lebanon to eat lunch with Nanny and Papa Cochran, so that will put us in STL around 4pm or so. That's pretty much it for now.

Talk to you all later!

Amnio & Info

We found out from the doctor on Friday that Sarah's second amnio is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on this Wednesday morning. The second amnio is done to make sure that Damon's lung are mature enough to be born. Which means we have to be at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. that morning so they can get her checked in and start an i.v. The results take about two hours, so we should know if they are going to start induction some where around noon Wedenesday. If by chance Damon's lungs are not quite ready we will most likely just stay in STL until I am induced.
A great number of people have wanted to know where they can keep in contact with us during labor and then his surgeries. Probably the best way to keep in contact is through the comments secton of this website. You may also use our personal e-mail addresses and our cell phone numbers. We will continue to keep in touch about any and all details as it pertains to Damon and his surgeries and if you have questions please feel free to ask.
We want to say thank you to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive and helpful and encouraging to us so far. Thank you to all of my friends at work. Thank you to some of our distant family who has provided us with a place to stay while in STL. A special thank you to our church family. Without you we would feel very alone and weak. You all are warriors for our God and we believe that you will be rewarded for your faith and service to Him.
Once we get to STL, it is uncertain when we will be coming back. We have chosen the 3 stage surgery treatment for Damon. Once he is born he will have some tests done on him to confirm the diagnosis, and make sure he is a good canidate for the surgery. The first surgery is usually around a week after the baby is born. The surgeon said if everthing goes perfectly he should get to go home around 3 weeks. So that would put us in the hospital for about 4 weeks total. We also aren't sure what the situation is going to be like when we come home. We might not be able to go anywhere with Damon right away and we might not be able to have any visitors for a while. We are praying for the best case senario, but wanted you to be aware of that possibility.
Keep praying for us, for Damon, for Myles, for our parents and grandparents. Pray for Damon's doctors, nurses, surgeons, and everyone involved in his care. Pray that he will surrounded by Godly people who will speak life and hope to him and us. Pray that these people will recognize that only God is the true healer and everything is in His hands. Talk to you all soon.

We're Back

Yesterday was another long day. We did not hit rush hour traffic, for which we are so grateful! My mom and Myles came with us and they got to come in to 3 of our 4 appointments so I was glad about that.

The first appointment was the ultrasound. They told us he weighs about 6 lbs 9 oz right now which is just great. We got a good picture of his lips and nose, and those lips are big like mama's. As Munkin said "He is precious!"

The second appointment was the fetal echo. It took forever again, almost 50 minutes. It was very uncomfortable because she had to push very hard on my belly sometimes. But his heart looks the same which is good. She said there didn't seem to be any leak in the tricuspid valve and that from what I've heard is good.

Right after the fetal echo we talked with the surgeon Dr Gandhi and he answered all of the questions we had. We were glad to know that they suggest that people go with the 3 surgery option more than the transplant because the surgery usually works and sometimes it takes a long time to get a donor heart. Jeremy and I didn't want to go that route anyway, so that was a relief to us. He will still have to have some tests done to make sure he is a good canidate for the surgery, but as of now everything looks good for that. He also told us that while he is in the PICU before surgery, we should be able to hold him. That is great news too.

While the surgeon was explaining the surgery and what is done, he was drawing pictures of the hearts anatomy and showing us different things. Myles was watching so closely, then after a few minutes he gets my pen out of my purse and wants a piece of paper and he started drawing something that looked very similar to what the dr had drawn. There is one inparticular that is really good. And while he was drawing he kept looking up at me and he was talking really quietly and I could hear him saying "Damon's heart." It was so cute. Then after we left that appointment he had one of the pieces of paper and while we were walking back to the last appointment thru the tunnel, he would say "ok stop" then he would open the paper and look at it and say "we need to find Mr Doctor." He was so cute and he was a really good boy all day long.

The last appointment was with the OB and he said I am not dilated any more than I was last week. He said he thought we should come back next Wednesday and have another amnio to check Damon's lungs. If they are ok, he said they will go ahead and induce my labor that day. He is going to try to make sure that I have Damon during "business hours" so that the most staff will be available so if it looks like I would have him sometime in the middle of the night or something like that, they would slow my labor down. So it could possibly be Thursday before he is here. It all depends on when the amnio test results come back.

My last day at work before I start maternity leave will be tomorrow. Please pray for us and keep praying for us in the next few weeks. We covet your prayers now more than ever. Talk to you all soon.

Once again

Today we will be leaving to go back to St Louis for our appointments tomorrow. The first one is at 9:30 and the last one is at 2:00. My mom and Myles are coming with us this time to see the hospital. These will be the last appointments we have there before Damon is born, unless I end up staying up there, then the rest of my care will be done there.

Our pastor came over last night to pray with us and we really appreciated that. After that we were packing and getting things ready to leave. Myles kept asking if we were going to St Wouis. I would say, yes Myles tomorrow we are. Then he would say "But mommy are we going to St Wouis?"

It seems unreal that we are on our way back there. Time has gone by so fast, and yet so slowly at the same time. We can't wait to meet Damon, but are scared at the same time. In my mind, it just wasn't supposed to be like this at all. But this is path that God has chosen for our family so we will go down it with our heads up as much as we can, and when we feel like we can't go on, He will carry us.

We will post Wednesday night if possible, Thursday for sure. Talk to you soon.

More Pics

Ok for now

Yesterday I posted that I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. The STL drs don't think that's any big deal, and told me to just plan on coming up on the 8th for my appts. One of them did say that I needed to bring all my belongings with me in case the OB team or the cardiology team wanted me to stay close.

Sorry if I scared anyone, I didn't mean to. They did say that I needed to pay really close attention to any contractions that I have and if they get more frequent to call my OB. So I'll post again if anything changes, but I don't expect anything to. Pray for me though, I don't want to have to go up to STL and just sit around for 3 weeks!

Talk to you soon.

Update

My appointment was really quick today, which we were grateful for. I was only one minute late clocking back in from lunch!

The dr checked to see if I was dilated and she said I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I have emailed the dr in STL to let them know about this since the last time I emailed her, she said at any signs of early labor I would need to get up there. Please pray that she will not tell us we need to come now, we aren't ready and I need to keep working. I'll post again if I hear from her today.

Awww!

Here is a recent pic of me, Myles and Damon. I have some more that I will try to post later of our whole family, and one of us on Halloween. I have a dr's appointment today, just a regular one. I will give an update after that.

Talk to you later!

One week

One week from today, at this exact time we will be in STL at our first appointment for the day. It's going by so quickly now. There are so many questions that I have and they aren't the kind of questions that anyone but God himself can answer. That is so hard for me. Please pray for us this week and in the coming weeks as well. I especially am having a lot of worry about the everyday things being taken care of while we are gone to STL to have Damon. We will not be home to see them, but the bills will still be coming in. God has provided for us in so many ways and He supplies all our needs. Pray for me to rest in this promise and let go of this worry.

Myles is still so excited though. His latest thing that just cracks us up, is that he will be doing something and then all of a sudden he gets this grimmace on his face and holds his belly and says "Damon is kicking me" and he acts like it just hurts so bad. (He's imitating me of course, cause these days I do that a lot.)

We will talk to you soon. Please keep the comments coming, we love hearing from all of you.