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


Saturday, March 22, 2008

ON VACATION! and enjoying normal life together...







We are currently in Florida at my parents' house here. This was a vacation we planned long ago, but we never imagined we would be able to do it a month ago. Brennan is doing so well. He is a miracle baby and an answer to prayer. He looks amazing with chunky legs and fat little cheeks. He eats like a horse and is so sweet and fun. He is doing all the normal baby things for his age, and he is a strong little guy. We are especially aware of this when he is mad at us for not feeding him as soon as he wants to eat, and he screams and strains in our arms. :) He is still anemic because of all of his blood loss, and he is still spitting up weird stuff, but otherwise he is doing great.

Tommy is doing fantastic. He is so happy and sweet, and he's staying dry even at naptime (which is super exciting after 3 years of diapers)! He loves spending the week with grammy, grampdad, daddy, mommy, brennan, chester and henry (the dogs). He loves to sing - his favorite songs are "hop hop hippity hop" (thanks Jennette!) and "that funny song." He still likes to talk about riding a helicopter up into the sky to see Jesus with Brennan when he gets big, but now he also tells us, "I want to ride up and thank Jesus for our gifts." Earlier today he was consoling Jeff, telling him, "Your team didn't win and you were SO sad!" (If you know Jeff, you know Tommy is referring to the IU basketball loss yesterday). His sweet and tender spirit touches us every day.

We feel so blessed to have both of these boys in our lives. And I continue to be honored that anyone is interested in reading about our little lives. Thank you so much for your love and prayers for us! And wow - I am SO thrilled that I don't have any big concerns or requests. This is a pretty boring blog entry, which is absolutely wonderful.

5 comments:

stephanie said...

perspective is an amazing thing! so nice to see things are just normal and boring!! (as if....)

The Hopkins Family said...

Brennan is getting to be a big boy! We can't wait to get together soon.
Love,
Jennifer, Lindsay, & Gracie

Vanessa said...

So happy for all of you and grateful to God for Brennan's recovery - what a joyful Easter weekend!

LeeAnne said...

It's about time you had a little boredom in your life! Enjoy it as long as possible!

Alicia said...

Brennan looks just perfect! I'm so glad things are back to "normal" and to read that things are going great! I hope to see you and the boys around at playgroup as the weather warms up.