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!!!

April 5th - Day 21

Hello all! My apologies for the delay in posting. I went back to work last week, and working 12-15 hours per day plus being at the hospital. Thats defiantly a recipe for sleep! Anyway, nothing has really changed with Omari. Well... there were some good changes. He is still virsus and infection free. He has gained some more weight. He now weighs 2.7lbs. Also they increased his feedings quit a bit since my last few postings. He is now receiving 22ml every 3 hours. I was able to hold him for the first time yesterday. It was SOOO SCARY!! He cried in like.... I dont know..... 2 MINUTES! Shows what parenting skills I have lol. My wife held him today for about 20 minutes. He is holding his body tempature on his own very well so far.

OH YEA... It was unamimously voted amongst the nursing staff to upgrade his diaper size to new born. When we called to check on him, we were told that he had BIG POOPS. I have 3 words for ya.... THATS MY BOY!

Checkout this video of him from today posted below!

March 24th - Day 9

Over the last few days Omari has had a few issues.  They were concern with his blood cell counts. Therefore had to due another blood transfusion today, they say he will require more in the future. Everything is stable now, although his sodium level is a bit high. Terri was allowed to hold him yesterday for about 15 minutes. Simply stated, my wife fell in love with another man. Its okay though, because I fell in love as well. From the video and pics above, you can tell that he has gain a little weight. He has offically gained back the weight he lost after birth plus a little more. He is now 2.2 lbs as of 11pm tonite. They said some of the weight came from his blood transfusion. Praise God either way!

The doctors said that he is doing exceptionally well. He is surpassing there expectations. So lets be in prayer that God will continue to do so.

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