The Reconciliation of All Things

Here's Bela, our cat, slipping on the chest by Noah! Check out the Video ! Here is another one of Noah and the kitty having fun! And last, but not least, we HAVE to get Noah's smile in here for you to see! Happy Viewing!!

Lately, as I have been reading different books, I've wondered for me, and for you: Have you ever stopped to think about what you really believe? I'm talking theology here: you and God. Do you believe in God? Really ? Why ? Why not ? Well, here in America, and around the world, religious cults are growing...you probably know a Jehovah's Witness at work, or maybe a Mormon. Well, they may not have told you specifically that's what they are, but one day you'll find out. So often, these ordinary people we live, work, and interact with, are so sincere in their beliefs. Often times, they have not had their questions answered in the Christian Church--it could be for a number of reasons...so where do they turn? They turn to the place where they can get an answer! Bible? No, most folks don't turn there today, unfortunately. That's where they SHOULD go (and all of us too), but they'll ask a friend, a co-worker, someone they play ball with. As with mormons, or JW...

Just today...guess what Noah did!?! He actually walked for more than 4 steps! Click on this link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Apf6Nscyo ) and you'll see him walking tonight! It was awesome! He just started walking like this tonight! Awesome!!! Whoohoooo!!! Gooo Noah!

Did we ever mention that the day we got out of the hospital was Noah's birthday? Well, yeppers, and he didn't know it either! Look at his face when we gave him a cupcake! He first didn't know what to do with the blue stuff...but then you can see below that he didn't mind it so much... :-) Happy Birthday Noah!

So, once we got home from the hospital, we still had Christmas presents to open! Here's Noah getting us started.

Noah's ready to go home! Here we go!!!

Here are pictures of me, Ben, as an 11 month old and Noah as an 11 month old, both in the hospital at the same age for the same reason: a seizure...and both of us clearly want to go home!

Here is Uncle Josh Smith! Becky's brother, who came down at a very much needed time to help us out with Noah in the hospital! Thanks to him, we got enough rest during this time, and Noah healed up quicker. :-) There is no way we'd be sane right now if it hadn't been for Josh's willingness to come down from NY on his break from PT school to help us and Noah out! Thanks Uncle Josh! (looks like Noah's pretty comfortable in his lap, huh?)

Once we were transferred to our own room on the pediatric floor, Noah was still having a hard time breathing. Finally, test results from the mucus he was coughing up came back positive for RSV, a respiratory virus. Here he is with mommy, but he's on oxygen in the picture. Notice the "beautiful" skyline of downtown Columbia through the window. :-)

This is after they took the tubes out of Noah, he was breathing on his own at this point. He would cry himself to sleep because he was so tired, exhausted and probably in pain too. This is when it hurt the most for us--after he was aware of what was going on and we couldn't do anything about it.

Here's Noah the day after we took him to the ER for his seizure. He was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for a couple of days. Notice Becky's hand holding Noah's in the right side of the picture.

We are home now with Noah! As of 11:30, we were allowed to come home with Noah! Praise God that he went the whole night without oxygen and his saturation levels of oxygen in his blood were fine--this means that even though he was having a hard time breathing, and it sounds loud, he was still getting enough oxygen in his lungs! He also went the night without any respiratory treatments! As soon as we saw the doctor in the morning, he said we could go home! So, praise God! Thank you for praying, ssooooo much! We still ask that you pray for Noah to continue healing and get stronger every day. He's on respiratory treatments twice a day here at home to reduce the inflammation of his airways, so that he can breath easier. Tomorrow morning, Friday, we go to the neurologist to see about his seizure a bit more. We're still not sure about it--we have no reasons so far, scientifically, for why he had it. We'll keep you posted. Now I'll post pictures about this whole process--as we ...

Hi everybody! Well, the last couple of days have been weird...the doctors and nurses are all confused about what to do for Noah, or should I say, "were" confused. Finally, there was one doctor who finally gave us some clear answers, which in fact are quite unclear in and of themselves! You see, RSV is a virus, which isn't curable with a magic pill, like an infection is with antibiotics. We have to simply wait on Noah's immune system to fight off the virus (=breathing difficulties), and treat the symptoms (=mucus in his nostrils & throat). This is the least favorite part of the day for Noah, and for us too, of course. He squirms and kicks his legs and moves his head all over the place! It takes three of us to hold him down in order to "suction" him out--we have to do this a few times a day. It's been so nice having Josh, Becky's brother, here for this time. Not just to hold Noah down for "suctioning time" but also to hold Noah when he...

Hi folks. Yesterday at about noon, Noah got moved to another room, out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He went off the respirator, but still was having trouble breathing, not getting enough oxygen into his lungs. So they've continued giving him breathing treatments once in a while, and the sedation had worn off, finally, but then he had so much energy that he's fight and cry so hard for so long that he'd finally fall asleep out of exhaustion. He seemed to be in such pain! The doctors couldn't figure out why he was having trouble breathing, besides the irritated airways from the intubation he had done Friday night. This morning, early, they got a sample of the stuff he was coughing up, and sure enough, he had contracted RSV, which is basically a really bad cold that and adult would have, but as a young child, it can kill if not taken care of quickly. Thankfully, they caught it in Noah early--there is nothing we can do for a "quick fix" for Noah, besides s...