Baby Brennan Eckert

This blog is devoted to Brennan Charles Eckert, born November 16, 2007, to parents Kim and Jeff and big brother Tommy. On January 25, 2008, 10 week-old Brennan was admitted to T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital. He was severely dehydrated and eventually diagnosed with Slick Gut Syndrome. Brennan's doctors tell us he will be here about a month with a lengthy recovery at home as well. This blog is meant to update all those who are loving and supporting us and our sweet Brennan.

UPDATE: Brennan spent 21 days at TC Thompson and was discharged from the hospital on February 14, 2008. He began receiving food by mouth on February 18. His oral feeds were gradually increased as his tube feedings were decreased until he was shifted to 100% oral feeds on February 29. His feeding tube was removed on March 3, and his central line was removed on March 6. According to his doctor, Brennan is now a "normal baby with a recovering gut." He is home with us and doing great! 

Although we never could have prepared for this experience, we are more grateful than we ever could have been for the gift of our son. We have been so blessed by a community of folks who walked with us on this journey. Some were people we hardly knew, and others were lifelong loved ones, but we were given to abundantly at a time when our needs were great. And we are so thankful for how God met us in our need through the hands and feet and love of so many of his people.



"Let the Great Rabbi hold you silently against His heart. In learning who He is, you will find out who you are: Abba's child in Christ our Lord."
-Brennan Manning


Sunday, February 24, 2008

slowly but surely

Thanks so much for your prayers. They are not without effect! On Tommy's birthday, February 21, Brennan latched onto the bottle for the first time. He didn't take much, but he has been increasing the amount every day. On Friday Brennan's doctor ordered him to be off his feeding tube nutrition for 8 hours each day, so he would be hungrier and more likely to eat by mouth. And we have seen a definite change. Today has been his best day so far - he has eaten three times by mouth, and the last time he took 2 1/2 ounces, which is great. We see the doctor tomorrow, and we are eager to find out about the ongoing plan of action. It is frightening to have the continuous feeds reduced because he's still not eating enough by mouth, but it is obviously necessary so that he will be motivated to take the bottle.

We are also currently trying to get his formula but encountering some problems. Our insurance case manager tells us that it will be covered, which would be a HUGE answer to prayer, but thus far we are getting rejections when the pharmacy submits the rx. This doesn't really make sense since it's a blue cross person telling us it's covered, so hopefully we will get this worked out before we run out of formula! And we just really really really hope it's covered, because the cost of this formula is so prohibitive. We're really not sure what we'll do if it's not!

thanks so much for your prayers and thoughts. We are all doing much better. Tommy is cracking us up again and doing much better. Jeff and I are both feeling better - physically and emotionally. We are pretty tired because Brennan wakes up a LOT in the night with these terrible pain screams and needs to be rocked or walked. But he is pretty easily soothed back to sleep, so that is a relief. It's just several times each night, so we are pretty exhausted. But we are thankful to be home together, and I am thrilled to be able to snuggle both of my boys again! My parents babysat for us on Saturday so Jeff and I were able to go see Michael Card and go out for dinner - it was wonderful! they babysat for brennan again this morning (we know there's a theme here...) and we were able to go to church for the first time since all this started.

we are so thankful for the meals you are sending! we continue to be so encouraged and overwhelmed by the generosity and love of so many - friends new and old.

blessings,
kim & jeff

3 comments:

stephanie said...

such a relief to know he has learned to latch on and eat!

we continue to pray that he will just eat more and more and then have less night pains and sleep more and more so that you can too!

Petra said...

Hey Kim!!
great to hear, that everyone is doing better at your house... sounds like you are slowly but steady getting back into the swing of things... GREAT!!
Hope you will be able to continue this pattern!!
Like you say: this, too shall pass!!!
Sorry you had to go through all of this.
Best wishes from all of us to you and your family,
Petra with Dirk, Pia and Kimberly

Anonymous said...

I came a cross your son's blogger as I read through my newphew's recently created page, http://babymicahclass.blogspot.com/ Reading your story has helped me to see that God makes all things possible, we must believe and pray together. Best of luck to you, your family and baby Brennan.