April 24th - Day 40

Hello all!

It has been a crazy roller coaster ride with Omari the last few weeks. Last week my wife and I noticed that Omari was not acting like himself. So we brought it to the attention of the Doctors and nurses, and they said it was nothing. Then last week I recieved a phone call from work saying that Omari stopped breathing several times. The nurse taking care of him noticed his faced was pail, and according to the monitors his breathing was really shallow. Well, I lefted work and my wife and I immediately went up there. The morning nurse argued and said that he was fine and that he always looked and acted like that. We argured continously with the doctor. The doctor then agreed to take some blood, urine, and spinal tap samples. Meanwhile give him a broad mixture of antibiotics. The bad thing was that the entire time they was getting samples, he was stuck with a needle about 15-20 times unsuccessfully. He simply was not crying, moving, or showed any life what so ever.

But later the next day or so, we began to notice some progress. BUT, the doctors said that Omari had Ecoli, then they changed it and said it was worse.... A staph infection. So he is currently being treated as we speak, and they will know if its gone in the next few days. They found the infection in his blood, and urine. They spinal tap came back negitive, they said the infection could be there as well, but just hasnt flourished enough. But as of now, he seems to be 100% better, and is more vibrant than ever. He is offically 32 weeks old, and is a WHOPPING 3.8lbs!

April 16th - ONE MONTH OLD!!!

OMARI IS 1 MONTH OLD TODAY!!!

It has been 1 month already. Time has gone slow day by day, but once we reflect on those slow days they seem to have gone so fast. Omari is now 3lbs! We are really excited about it. The strange thing is that no matter how much people told us that things would be alright, there was always some thought that may have lead us to believe otherwise. Our absolute thanks goes out to everyone for there prayers and gifts. They were not over looked.

He still tends to forget to breath every so often. Maybe close to 12-16 times per day. Over the last day that has decreased drastically and they hope the trend will continue. His physical therapy still continues to do well and he is more feisty than ever. They increased his feedings to 25mls. They will take him out of the incubator within a few weeks. He will remain out as long as he can keep his own body temperature. The doctors say that he already does, but doing so causes him to burn energy that should be used to help him grow. So the longer they can manually keep him warm, he can put more energy towards growing.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW, he smiles at the end... TOO CUTE!

April 8th - Day 24

Hello World!

God is absolutely wonderful. Sometimes it takes the smallest things in life to remind us of that fact. Well... Yesterday Pastor Johnathan and my family drop in for a visit to see Omari. All was well..... we talked.... we laughed. Soon after Pastor Johnathan left, that's when God saw fit to give me his ultimate test........ CHANGE A DIRTY DIAPER. And my friend, when I say dirty, I absolutely mean D I R T Y!!! I didn't think it would be that bad, but boy was I completely wrong. Everything started out perfectly fine. Took the diaper off, started wiping him down. Then it happened! What every diaper changer fears the most! I know what your thinking....PEE. But no! Even I wouldn't be that lucky. This young man shot out POOP that only a grown man should produce! It only took a matter of ONE second before he had created a mess that would take me and the nurse ONE hour to clean up. The messed up part about it is that I had a steam of poo on my index finger that reminded me of mustard on a bratsworth! I will NEVER VIEW A HOT DOG THE SAME... EVER....EVER AGAIN!

Besides that, here is the good news. He began physical therapy a few days ago. This will ensure he has his full range of motion before being sent home. Also his has graduated from NAKEDNESS to a beautiful white sleeper, that I'm more than sure he will ruin..lol. He is still 2.7lbs and hopefully this will change by tomorrow. Checkout his new pic of today and a video of my wife successfully changing his diaper. Oh yea.. they raised his feeding to 22mls every 3 hours! YAY!

WATCH THIS VIDEO ALL THE WAY TO THE END. WHEN THE VIDEO STOPS YOU WILL SEE OMARI LIFT HIS HANDS TO PRAISE THE LORD!!!

March 20th - Day 5

Today Omari gained about 20grams. Were very hopful, its wonderful that he gained something. He is still breathing on his own, the machine only breathes for him 10 times per minute now. His heart rate dropped a few times today, this may be nothing to worry about from what we were told. He also had one of his IV lines took out. One issue that kinda worries us is that he hasnt eaten much in the last day or so. Although one of the nurses named Michelle said that he by far has the BIGGEST POOPS she'd ever seen for an infant his size. A cardiologist did a sonagram and ultrasound on Omari's heart, intestines, and stomach to check for damage. When we asked her to share with us her findings, she said she wasnt allowed to say anything. Were still praying on that one. GREAT NEWS! We were told that we will be able to start holding Omari sometime within the next 2 or 3 weeks. They only allow the parents to hold him for the first while, then others can. Sorry MeMe and Ma... lol.

On a different note, I went to my job to take care of my FMLA paperwork. I was sad to find out that I was only allowed to take 2 weeks off work. I originally was told that I was able to take much longer, but was misinformed. Regardless, I will keep my head up and take it like a man. My main concern is that Omari is taken care of. My wife is fortunate that she does not work, and we have great friends and family who will help us out.

Please be in prayer that God will allow Omari to gain weight. The doctors said the first 7-10 days are crucial. Were on day 5 going on day 6, and the outcome is looking better and better. We would just hate to see him get below a pound. My boss explained to me that there are idaho potatoes in our produce section that weight a pound. Thats TINY!

March 19th - Day 4

Today was a good day. My wife was released from prison early on good behavior! Just kidding, she worked really hard to prove to the docs that she was ready to leave so they gave her a discharge. Meanwhile, Omari is offically the biggest, toughest, littliest guy I know. He still fights the good fight to survive. The nurses weighed him again today, he only lost a few grams. But I was assured that it was completely normal. He is still breathing on his own, but he is still hooked to a breathing machine through his nose. The machine is there just for a backup in case he has to stop to take a rest. The machine offically breathes for him 10-15 times per minute. Pretty good if you ask me. Today I was watching over him as the nurse talked my head off. Then all of a sudden he quits breathing. I immediately went into complete shock. You can see him breathing in great detail due to his muscles showing, but there was no movement. So when I seen him stop it freaked me out. The nurse then told me to just wait, and assured me that he was resting. She was right, within 6 seconds or so he began right back. The machine kicks in after so many seconds, not sure how many.

After taking a second to really look at him, my wife and I were just astonhised on how marvelous God is. For God to even bless us enough to see him is more that what we deserve. Having him puts life into perspective in so many ways. Gods goodness ALONE should lead men to repentence!

Lets pray that God changes all of our hearts to be more sensitive to his word through any circumstance. I dont want this to just be a "pray for Omari thing". I really want us to all treasure each other. That means, you pray for me, I pray for you. Look foward to seeing some of you at Cardinal Glennon. Contact me if you want to come up and visit.

Renaldo:

Phone: 618-207-9097

Email: MilitiaMuzic@aim.com

Terri:

Phone: 618-772-2216

Email: brownsuga_naldogirl@yahoo.com

Say HELLO To OMARI DESHAUN WADE!

Omari DeShaun Wade

Born: March 16th, 2009

Weight: 2.1 lbs

26 Weeks Old

Omari was born at St. Mary Hospital in Clayton, Mo at 10:05 a.m. Immediately after his birth, he was transported to Cardinal Glennon Children Hospital for better care. He was born at 26 weeks, and will remain in the hospital until his due date is near. Terri will remain in the hospital for the next few days to heal from an emergency C-Section. I will be going back and fourth between the two loves of my life.

March 17th: Omari lost weight he first day, going down to 1.15 lbs from 2.1 at birth. He also has trouble breathing on his own. The only other thing is that his blood pressure is extremely low. Omari had to undergo a blood transfusion due to certain complications.

March 18th: The blood transfusion fixed his blood pressure problem. He is now off blood pressure medication. Earlier today, doctors took Omari off of ventalation in hopes that he can successfully breathe on his own. It has now been 12hours and he is breathing on his own, but may need help if his lungs get tired. Today, Terri was successful at her breast pumping. She produced enough for a feeding. So we went to give it to Omari, the nurse feed him through his feeding tube. Omari offically loves BREAST MILK! They will check his weight around midnight tonight to see if he has gain back his weight.