From a Friend...

Brennan Manning wrote in a book about an Epsicopal priest named Tom Minifie who had a Down Syndrome daughter. While conversing with another couple who's child had Down, and they were obviously upset by his behavior in church, Tom said, "We have four other children, so we know the blessing that kids can be. Yet the most precious gift we've ever received in our entire lives has been Sylvia. In her unihibited expression of affection, she revealed to us the face of God as no other human being ever has. Did you know that several Native American tribes attribute divinity to Down's children because in their utter simplicity they're a transparent window into the Great Spirit? Treasure this child, for he will lead you into the heart of God."

Little Miss Mama

New Haircut, New Outfit

Happy Friday.

d

Just Thinking...

Life is perfect with the boys home and Anna home. It is crazy, but perfect.

Millions of thoughts and "to dos" are rushing through our heads. First, just trying to schedule the days and make sure all three are fed. :) Second, trying to think about the next steps regarding Silas and his maturing.

What I have found is that it is difficult to put into words all the emotions that were felt the first few days (and even now in silent moments) after learning that Silas has Down Syndrome. Friends have been so encouraging and we have learned we are not alone in our new journey. We received emails about friends of friends who have children with Down Syndrome. While at the hospital, a friend's sister delivered a son and like us, found out he has DS. A week later, friends called and they had friends in town visiting friends who had delivered a son at Baptist and were told he has DS. Isn't God gracious?! He has put us on this journey and introduced us to parents who have just started the same journey. He provides in all circumstances.

We met with one of the couples this past Monday. They are precious people and we look forward to living life with them as a result of Silas and their sweet son. They sent us this link of a couple in Memphis who have a son with DS. Andy is a pastor in Memphis. Their story is a little different than ours in that they knew of the DS before the birth and their son experienced complications that fortunately Silas has not. However, their words and emotions are ours...exactly! I haven't been available to speak to many of you, our dear friends. If you get a chance to watch this video, you will get a glimpse into what Jeff and I have been feeling and thinking. (it is about 10 minutes in length) Cooper's Story

We are costly to our God; we have nothing to offer Him; And He loves us completely and gave everything for us. (Andy's words)

so blessed
d

Brothers

Finally Together!

Stewart

Silas

Stewart and Silas are doing great! We changed their schedule last light from 3-6-9-12 to 2-5-8-11 as those eating times work better for our way of life. Big Sister is amazing and adjusting to having two new little ones in the house. God is good.
so blessed,

d

Welcome Home, Stewart!

July 27! Just one day after Silas came home, Stewart was discharged. Finally, our family is together.

Our three blessings!

so blessed,

d

Welcome Home, Silas!

One down, one to go!

Silas came home today!

Anna is not so sure about him. She doesn't realize there is yet another one to come. :)

so blessed,

d

S&S Update

Quick update. I'll try and post a few pics from last night later today.

They were three weeks old yesterday. CRAZY!

Silas is doing great. He will probably come home this weekend. He is now 4lbs 3oz! He is catching up to Stewart b/c they are still adding calories to his milk. UPDATE: Silas may come home on Sunday!

Stewart is doing ok. He is taking the bottle more often but still has been tube fed at least once in a 24 hour period. Last night he had a choking incident while taking the bottle which caused him to get a "fair" grade on the feeding. He must get all "well" grades on eating in order to come home. Please pray for sweet Stewart. He is trying so hard. While he was the bigger one, he was not ready to enter this big world. He was sitting pretty and thinking he had several weeks before making his grand entrance.

UPDATE: We met with the dr. this morning and feel much better about Stewart. The "choking" incident was really a "feeding incident" that happened last night when we were feeding him. The dr. thinks he was tired from taking mostly bottles. Anyway...he has to first be 100% bottles and then they want him to feed with no "incidents" for several days. He may be home by Wednesday of next week.

We are little frustrated and confessing our selfishness in wanting them both home. The trips to the NICU at 7:30 p.m. is really pushing both Jeff and I to our limits. We are tired. We are praying for strength and for clarity and peace. God has blessed us with two healthy boys and we want to be thankful every day.

Anna Rose is doing great. She is very busy and into EVERYTHING. Pray for mommy and daddy and their patience in correcting her.

blessings for TODAY.
d

The Boys

Quick update...

Silas moved to a crib last night! We think he will be coming home in a couple of days.

Stewart is taking more bottles. We hope he will be home by the weekend or over the weekend.

OR...we would love for them to come home together. We are praying for that! Thanks for praying with us.

d

Much Progress

Sorry we have not updated in a few days.

The boys are doing great.

Silas is now 3 lbs 14 oz! He will be moved out of the isolette to a crib when he reaches 4 lbs which we hope will be this week.

Stewart is in a crib. He is still not taking bottles at every feeding. We are hoping that happens sometime this week too!

We are hoping they both reach their milestones at the same time so that we can bring them home together...maybe over the weekend!

Thank you for continuing to pray for our family.

d

Anna 17 months

Just precious!

On My Mind Today

Our God is so Good. Our strength is from Him.

The boys were doing great last night. Stewart moved to the crib. He is 4lbs 3oz (birth weight). His only milestone is to be 100% bottle feed and the car seat test and he can come home.

Silas is 3lbs 7oz (over birth weight). His only milestone is to reach 4lbs. He is 100% bottles and they said I can try and nurse him if I want. He loves his milk!

One more day closer to having our sweet boys home with us! Anna comes home this weekend. We can not wait!

I love this song and am claiming it today...


None But Jesus - Hillsong

In the quiet
In the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored
When You call i won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos in confusion
I know You're sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will
When You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days

All my delight is in You Lord
All of my hope
All of my strength
All my delight is in You Lord
Forever more

~d

Miss Anna

Anna was with my sister in East TN when the boys were born. They came to visit for a few days last week. She is back in East TN for this week. We miss her like crazy!

Best Buddies...Hannah and Anna

'Cheese'

"I can feed myself!"

Sorry for the long delay in between updates. The boys are doing great.

Silas is now 3lbs 5oz and Stewart is 3lbs 15 oz. Silas is taking a bottle at every feeding. He just needs to get to 4 lbs and then he will go to a regular bed/crib. Once there, he has to hold his body temp for several days and then he can come home. Yikes!

Stewart is still alternating with bottles and feeding tube but he is closer to 4 lbs. Same rules apply for him.

Silas

Friends,

Debra and I have had conversations with many of you about Silas, but we wanted to go ahead and make sure everyone keeping up with us is aware that he has Down Syndrome. The neonatologist told us on Wednesday night (after the birth) that they suspected he might, based on some physical characteristics. We waited 48 hours for a confirmation and indeed he does have Down Syndrome.

You may remember that Silas was the one that was breathing on his own from the beginning. We were therefore able to hold him and connect with him from the beginning. Those first 48 hours with him were huge for us! He absolutely stole our hearts.

While we have much to learn, we have been told that heart complications are common for babies with Down Syndrome. So, a top priority for this week was to have a cardiologist examine Silas’ heart. Those test results came back today and revealed no problems at all! As for the future, we plan to just take it one day at a time, do our research, and pray that God would give us the grace to provide what he needs.

We continue to be amazed at his progress and are incredibly thankful for how well Silas is doing. Thanks so much to those of you who have prayed for our family. We really could not ask to be doing better.

Faces!

As we mentioned below, we got to hold Stewart for the first time last night. We think he may have enjoyed it as much as we did because he made some great faces! They were so over-the-top we thought we just had to put together some samples (above).

Day 6

July 6th ~ making progress.

We got to hold Stewart for the first time!

Silas hanging out with mommy.

Stewart taking his 1st bottle. They will continue to use the feeding tube as well but try and use the bottle at least once a day.

Silas took his first bottle at the 9 a.m. feeding.

Silas...we call this his Star Wars look. :)

July 6 - A good day for the Myrick Twins and mommy and daddy.

Day 5

Below is an update Debra put together last night...

Jeff and I are about to crash but wanted to send an update on our sweet baby boys.

We went back to the hospital tonight to say goodnight and the news just seems to get better every time we visit.

Stewart

Earlier today, Stewart turned the corner on the breathing and they have reduced the oxygen levels again, meaning he is doing better breathing on his own! Tonight, he continues to do well. They started feeding him yesterday 5ccs of formula but have switched him to breastmilk as he was not digesting the formula very well. He is now taking 8 ccs! And...we got to give him a mini bath (picture above), change his diaper and take his temp (all part of his night time routine that we have not been able to help with b/c of his breathing). It was such an encouragement. He is also gaining weight! And we got to see his beautiful eyes and face without the shades and feeding tube attached. We think he kinda looks like Anna would have at 3 lbs 13 oz. It was a special night with our little one.

Silas

Silas continues to amaze us. We didn't get him out of his bed b/c the nurse had already weighed him. So we got to hold his formula as it traveled the feeding tube. He is a little pig. He is now taking 14 ccs and if he does well over night, they will increase that to 16 ccs tomorrow. I almost can't keep up with him. Once they see he is doing well at 16ccs, they will take his belly button IV out. He weighs 3lbs 3 1/4oz, almost back to birth weight of 3 lbs 3 3/4 oz! Amazing.

So...I think that is it for today/tonight. We will go up to visit once in the morning and then again tomorrow night.

Stewart Ames and Silas Jeffrey are here!!

Stewart Ames Myrick (the 2 above)
(Stewart is Debra’s father’s name; Ames is Jeffrey’s grandfather’s middle name)
Born 6:38 p.m.
4 lbs 3 oz ~ 16 inches






Silas Jeffrey Myrick (the 2 above)
(Silas is a Fultz family name)
Born 6:39 p.m.
3 lbs 4 oz ~ 15 ½ inches

Dear Friends,

We are blessed to announce that Stewart Ames Myrick and Silas Jeffrey Myrick arrived Wednesday, July 1, 2009!

Needless to say, we were not expecting them to arrive this early. Please forgive us for the delayed communication. It has been a crazy less-than-48 hours.

So…what’s the story?

Tuesday we had the 32-week ultrasound that revealed that Silas was quite a bit smaller than Stewart and could possibly have restricted blood flow from the placenta/cord (absent end-diastolic flow). A second opinion ultrasound was set up for Wednesday with a specialist. The second opinion supported the ultrasound from the day before. First, the doctor’s recommendation was to do steroid shots Wednesday and Thursday and then a follow up ultrasound on Friday. Then, seconds later, after scanning the blood flow to Silas, the Dr. changed her recommendation…admission to the hospital, monitoring, steroids and a follow-up ultrasound on Friday. What? We were not ready to check into the hospital!

We were admitted to Baptist Hospital. Monitors were put on each baby and on Debra. The babies looked great. Heartbeats were great. Surprise! Debra was having contractions. Nothing big, but she was unaware. After 30 minutes, the nurse noticed that the contractions were regular, every 2 minutes. The nurse went to call the OB to talk over medication to stop the contractions. Debra was working on a “to do” list for Jeff after getting the news that we would be in the hospital until delivery. Things were fine so the nurse agreed that it would be a good time for Jeff to go get dinner. Then Silas’ heart rate dropped.

Five nurses invaded the room. Chaos…flip to the left, flip to the right, the heart rate is not increasing.

Nurse: “Call Dr. Draughn…we are going to the OR to deliver the babies.”

Debra: “CALL JEFF!”

Controlled chaos continued in the O.R. prepping Debra for surgery. Finally, the heart rate was climbing (great news). Dr. Draughn had arrived. Jeff had arrived and was scrubbing in for the surgery. The ultrasound looked good so there was time to do a spinal on Debra instead of putting her to sleep and that meant Jeff could be present for the delivery as well. Next thing we knew, Stewart was born and one minute later Silas arrived. Our family was now a family of 5! Both babies cried immediately. Great! Silas even pee peed upon his entrance! Both babies were stabilized and off to the N.I.C.U. (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

Thankfully, Debra’s sister, Dena, was in town for the Tuesday ultrasound and took Anna Rose home with her on Wednesday morning for a week. We are so thankful for how God orchestrated every step of the day taking care of Anna Rose.

We are just now feeling as if we are above water. Wednesday, Debra’s phone went dead prior to the ultrasound appointment. Jeff’s phone was going dead after just calling family and trying to take poor quality cell phone pictures of our new babies. For some reason we failed to bring our camera to our ultrasound appointment. Go figure.

Fast forwarding to midday Friday (7/3), Stewart, Silas, and Debra are doing very well. Ironically, Silas (the smaller of the two and the reason for the rushed delivery) is breathing on his own (as he has from the beginning) and already being fed breastmilk/formula through a tube. Stewart is still being given oxygen through a tube and is receiving nutrition through an IV. They’ve explained that this is because Silas (Baby B) had to work extremely hard for his place in the womb and his lungs actually matured more quickly. Stewart on the other hand (Baby A) was sitting fat and happy in the driver’s seat so his body had no reason to work harder and mature faster like Silas.’

What’s next? We expect to go home on Sunday, without the boys. We’ll then be trying to establish a routine of daily visits to see them. The length of their stay will be TBD, but likely throughout July.

Thanks for loving us and praying with us.

Jeff, Debra, Anna, Stewart and Silas