February Update on Baby Micah

Micah is now 5 ½ months old. He is as beautiful as ever and continues to slowly gain weight. As of about 1 ½ weeks ago, Micah was still under 12 lbs but he has grown out of his newborn/preemie clothes and is now wearing 3 month sizes. Micah is not eating by mouth anymore. He is being fed completely by feeding tube. He is taking 3 ounces of milk now. Stephanie is still pumping so Micah is still getting breast milk which is supplemented by a little formula to increase the calories he is getting. He is still not using his legs but they are a little more flexible than they were.

Micah’s seizures are a big concern right now. He has been having many a day since right before we went to Pennsylvania in early December. He has been diagnosed with Infantile Spasms which are seizures. Since his last hospitalization, he had been taking Phenobarbital to help control the seizures. Recently, the doctors also put him on Topomax as well. They wanted to have Micah on the Topomax for 2 weeks and then wean him off of the Phenobarbital. The idea was that Topomax is a better long term maintenance drug for a baby to take. Their plan was to get the seizures under control and then begin weaning him off of the Topomax as well. Well, it appears that the Topomax is not helping with the seizures so they are now going to do a treatment plan that includes Stephanie giving Micah injections of steroids twice daily. Doctor’s try to exhaust every kind of treatment plan before they resort to this type of treatment. As most of you know, there can be serious side affects, both short term and long term, for frequent and/or prolonged steroid use. We have to pray that Micah is protected from any ill effects of this treatment and that it will be a success early on. I think what Chris said was that they will try to do this treatment for about 2 weeks to see how Micah does.

Micah occasionally makes little talking sounds to Stephanie and he gives half smiles when he sleeps. He loves getting his hair blow-dried! Stephanie has been working with Micah on the visual and audio therapies she learned at the Institutes. Micah’s hearing is good but Stephanie wants to improve it. She said her goal is for Micah to be “seeing” by the time he is a year old. There is an organization that works with the blind (I don’t know who it is) that comes to see Micah at home (I think it is once a week). Stephanie said that after they did a few tests of their own and examined Micah, they said that they believe that Micah may be tracking light but that he is just delayed in his responses. That is wonderful news!

Micah continues to get lots of love and affection and is definitely not lacking in the “attention department”! He is such a precious baby and a gift to all who know him.

Please continue to pray for Micah, Stephanie and Chris. Stephanie and Chris are going to need additional strength and encouragement for the treatments that lie ahead for Micah. Micah may become very irritable and sleepless during this time. That will take its toll on his parents for sure. And then the stress of having to learn to inject Micah themselves will be a tough thing for them.

Please pray for the following:

PRAY THAT GOD WILL HEAL MICAH’S SEIZURES IMMEDIATELY.

PRAY FOR PROTECTION OVER MICAH FOR ALL THE TREATMENTS HE IS RECEIVING & THAT HE WILL NOT EXPERIENCE ANY SIDE AFFECTS.

PRAY THAT HIS ABILITY & DESIRE TO SUCK WILL INCREASE AND STRENGTHEN & THAT HE WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE FEEDINGS BY BOTTLE AGAIN.

PRAY THAT HE WILL CONTINUE TO GAIN WEIGHT UNTIL HE IS AT A HEALTHY WEIGHT.

PRAY FOR PROTECTION OVER MICAH AGAINST ANY INFECTIONS OR ILLNESSES.

PRAY FOR A COMPLETE HEALING OF MICAH'S BLINDNESS.

PRAY FOR HEALING OF MICAH'S BODY AND MUSCLES. PRAY THAT GOD WOULD TAKE AWAY ALL SPASTICITY IN ANY & ALL OF HIS MUSCLES & THAT GOD WOULD GIVE MICAH FULL USE OF ALL OF HIS BODY PARTS.

PRAY FOR A COMPLETE HEALING & RESTORATION OF HIS BRAIN.

PRAY FOR STEPHANIE & CHRIS THAT THEY WOULD HAVE ALL THEY NEED PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY, SPIRITUALLY & FINANCIALLY.

Please continue to persist with us in prayer over the complete healing of our grandson. Your prayers and support have meant so much to our family and I know that God has been acting on behalf of all of your prayers. Thank you from the very depths of our hearts.

With much love and thanks,

Gary and Teri