October 27 - We have let the blog lapse for our longest period so far.  With the busyness of ministry this fall, Grady resuming his work on his Ph.D., and spending lots of time playing with Grady Jeremiah, we let more than two months pass with no updates.  However, Grady Jeremiah is doing really well.  We'll let you see for yourself how far he has come...



So here is a quick update:

• Weight:  15 pounds, 10 ounces
  
  
• Personality:  Fun-loving, easy going (except when he really wants something!), and curious about his world
  
  
• Verbal development:  Imitating sounds, making lots of babbling noises and looking at us expecting us to understand what he is saying :-)
  
  
• Motor skill development:  Sitting up, able to turn around while sitting, grabbing objects, touching and holding onto whatever he can get his hands around, and trying to learn how to crawl and walk
  
  
• Eating:  Doing great with his bottles (still on breast milk) and beginning to learn about baby foods, though it is only a small taste each day!
  

The specialists from early intervention say he is meeting all of his development goals and is doing great!  There are no signs of developmental delays from the missing septum pellucidum.  His doctors continue to tell us that he does not look like he was a premature baby!


His Favorite Activity...

Grady Jeremiah's favorite activity continues to be us reading to him.  Beginning this week we can place several books in front of him and ask him which one he wants us to read.  He will look at them, then lean forward and either put his hand on one or grab one.  It is so much fun to watch!  He is a creature of habit as he normally chooses "The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village," "Bear Hunt,"  and "Go Dog Go" (and usually in that order!).  Here are two recent pictures of Grady reading to Grady Jeremiah...



Quarantine update:

Many of you have asked about his quarantine.  It continues through May 2012.  We were able to relax it some during the summer months.  However, with cold/flu/RSV season upon us, we are back to the restrictive quarantine that we had last winter after returning from the hospital.  That means that Grady Jeremiah can't go with us to church, restaurants, or anywhere else indoors where airborne sickness can spread.  That also means that visitors to our house will need to carefully review the health requirements for visiting page before coming.  Thank you for your understanding during this time.  We can hardly wait for next May to be here!

While it was still warm without much sickness going around, we did get brave and take Grady Jeremiah for a walk on Auburn's campus before one of the early football games.  We kept him a safe distance from the crowds but let him experience his first Tiger Walk with the band, gameday crowds, and rolling Toomer's corner!




Closing Thought:

Grady Jeremiah's one year birthday is approaching in less than two weeks!  We hope to post a blog around that time reflecting back over the journey of this past year.  Check back in a few weeks for it.  Also, during the next seven weeks we will have several visits to the pediatrician as he begins his monthly Synagis shots (a shot of antibodies to protect against RSV for 30 days) and has his one year check-up and shots, as well as visits in Birmingham to pediatric neurology, pediatric endocrinology, and newborn follow up clinic for follow up visits.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Grady Jeremiah and for us!

August 25, 2011 - Is the summer already over?  It seems as though the past several months have flown by.  Grady Jeremiah continues to grow and develop well!   He now weighs 14 pounds 10 ounces!  Last week we went back to UAB for two visits.  One was a research study follow up.  There a child psychologist evaluated Grady Jeremiah.  Developmentally our little guy is between the 6-10 month mark for each area!  Remember that he is 9 months actual age and 6 months corrected age, which is what they use for his developmental assessments. So we are very pleased with his progress.  The next day we returned to the newborn follow up clinic.  The many doctors and specialists we saw were also pleased with his progress.  They said that Grady Jeremiah does not look like he was a 26 week premature baby!  Thank you for your continued prayers for him!

We want to take a minute to show you some of Grady Jeremiah's "favorite things."  No, they are not rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens like the old song goes, but they are...

(1) READING Grady Jeremiah loves his books!  One of his favorite activities is us laying on the floor next to him reading him one of his books.  He will stare at the pictures, touch the pages, and makes lots of sweet sounds.  He is even trying to learn how to turn the pages for himself, though it usually results in him closing the book!
(2)  TOYS Grady Jeremiah loves to play.  He is very fun-loving and a happy baby.  One of his favorite toys is actually one of Grady's old toys...  colored rings!  He loves to hold them, throw them, and try to take them off of the holder.  In this picture, he had dropped the green ring on his head and was looking confused as to where it was :-)
(3)  THUNDERSTORMS Grady Jeremiah loves to watch the rain!  We take him on the front porch where he can watch the storms come in and watch the rain fall.  He is so happy!  So maybe raindrops on the sidewalk are part of his favorite things.
(4) EXPLORING NATURE Grady Jeremiah loves being outside!  Julia takes him out for walks almost every day and he loves it.  He loves watching Grady cut the grass.  He especially loves touching leaves on the trees in our yard.
(5) MAKING A MESS... BUT NOT EATING Up until last week, Grady Jeremiah was only eating breast milk with a daily vitamin.  It amazes us how well he has grown on just milk!  We are now beginning to introduce him to single grain cereal and baby food.  He still likes his bottle better, but does enjoy making a mess with whatever food we are trying to introduce to him.  Speaking of his bottle, he now likes to grab his bottle and shake it, sending milk drops flying!  It is cute, though a bit messy :-)

We have lots more cute pictures besides these! 
Click here for the rest of Grady Jeremiah's Summer Pictures.

July 17, 2011

It has been too many weeks since we gave you an update on Grady Jeremiah's progress.  The summer months have been a blessing with time together as a family, as well as with good reports from the doctors.  We have seen a lot of doctors since the last update.  Here is a summary of their findings...

• Neonatologist   - We were able to meet again with Dr. Carlo, the lead neonatologist at UAB who oversaw Grady Jeremiah's care during our hospital stay.  He was very pleased with Grady Jeremiah's progress and said that his lungs sounded great!  This report is so encouraging as it comes from one who watched Grady Jeremiah closely for so long and from the one who is the lung specialistic for children at UAB and Children's Hospital.
  
  
• 
  Cardiologist - If you remember, before being discharged in January the doctors discovered a faint heart murmur caused by a small hole in the heart (a patent ductus arteriosus).  For our recent follow up visit, the cardiologist did a ten-lead EKG and an echocardiogram.  The result is that they found the hole has closed and there is no murmur!  The doctor said his heart function looks normal and they do not need to see him again. 
  
  
• Ophthalmologist - Also before being discharged in January, an MRI scan revealed a slightly under-developed right optic nerve.  We returned to see the pediatric ophthalmologist who evaluated Grady Jeremiah while he was in the hospital.  We had another good report here.  Grady Jeremiah's vision appears to be normal and the eyes have developed as would be expected.  The doctor said that what he could see of the optic nerves in the back of the eyes looked healthy and normal!  He also was pleased with how well Grady Jeremiah could follow objects with his eyes.  We already knew that as we have watched him follow the trash truck and UPS truck with his eyes as they drive down the street :-) 
  
  

• Endocrinologist - At the newborn follow up clinic in May, they asked us to see a pediatric endocrinologist to check Grady Jeremiah's pituitary function.  Since Grady Jeremiah is missing the septum in his brain, they wanted to take a closer look at the pituitary gland since it could be a related issue that could impact his growth as it regulates growth hormone and many other essential hormones in the body.  The doctor's first evaluation of Grady Jeremiah led her to believe that he did not have any pituitary issues.  However, she wanted to do a number of blood tests to verify as well as to give us a baseline for future tests.  The results indicated that his pituitary is functioning normally!  Because Grady Jeremiah is still considered "at risk" for growth related delays, they will see us again in six months to check the hormone levels again as a precaution.
  
  
• Pediatrician - We continue to regularly see Grady Jeremiah's pediatrician here in the Auburn area.  She remains very pleased and encouraged by his progress.  His last weight was 13 pounds, 10 ounces!  He continues to just eat breast milk (with a vitamin) and is growing really well.  Based on our pediatrician's recommendations, we will probably begin spoon feeding him in August.  It is hard to believe how much he has grown just on breast milk all of these months!
  
  
• 
  Early Intervention Developmental Specialist - Due to Grady Jeremiah's extreme prematurity, the developmental specialist at UAB recommended that we enroll him in Alabama's "early intervention" program for children at risk for developmental delays.  It is a wonderful program where a developmental specialist comes to our home once a month to assess Grady Jeremiah's progress, look for any delays, and give us specific goals we can be working toward to help him develop.  The specialist has been to visit us three times now and is amazed at his progress.  There is no indication of any type of developmental delay!  During our visit this past week, Grady Jeremiah decided to be a show-off for the specialist...  She told us she wanted to see if he could pass objects between his hands.  She put the rattle in his left hand.  He immediately grabbed it, brought it to the middle, passed it to his right hand, shook it, threw it, and looked up at her with the "did you see that" look :-)  We continue to be amazed at the way he tries to talk (with his cute baby sounds) and with his great alertness and curiosity about things.
  

As you can see, the summer has been full of lots of doctors appointments.  However, we feel so blessed to have such great medical care available, and are incredibly thankful for the great insurance policy that is provided to us through Grady's job at Lakeview.  We also are very grateful to the Lord for the way He has watched over us and blessed us.  Thank you for rejoicing with us and giving thanks to God for these good reports for Grady Jeremiah!

Grady, Julia, and Grady Jeremiah


PS - Be Sure to see the previous post of lots of summer pictures!

July 17, 2011 - Wow.  It has been way too long since posting an update.  Grady Jeremiah has grown so much since the May 26 update.  We will be posting an update on his growth and medical/developmental progress soon, but until then we want you to see some sites from the last several weeks...

May 26, 2011 - It has been a few weeks since last posting, primarily due to our May travels.  Grady Jeremiah had two trips this month!

Gulf Shores...

Grady Jeremiah and Julia were able to join Grady for Lakeview's staff retreat at Gulf Shores, and then stay for a short vacation afterwards.  We had not expected for us all to be able to go to staff retreat together due to his quarantine restrictions.  However, this year's setup of several houses at the beach made it possible to keep Grady Jeremiah on quarantine and all of us to be together!  One of the blessings was that all of the equipping staff of Lakeview were finally able to meet Grady Jeremiah as we sat outside on the deck of the beach house during the meals.

In addition, we were able to stay two extra days after staff retreat for our first family vacation with all three of us!  We had time to rest, take a walk on the beach, and even take Grady Jeremiah to his first fort experience at Fort Morgan!  Enjoy a few pictures of us exploring the fort together.  Remember, you can click on any of the pictures in these blog posts to see bigger versions of them.

Julia explaining the Fort's history and map to Grady Jeremiah	Quick...  Grady Jeremiah!  Do you see any Union ships approaching the harbor?	Posing for a photo on an old ship anchor.

           We have a lot more pictures from this trip.  For more family beach pictures, click here!

Montevallo...

After returning from staff retreat, Grady left for Russia to lead a team of English as a Second Language teachers to work with a language center there.  While Grady was in Russia, Julia and Grady Jeremiah went to Montevallo to spend time with family and friends there.  Grady Jeremiah was not only able to play with his fun uncles, but he was able to meet his great-grandparents!  Enjoy a few pictures of his trip with Julia's side of the family...

Fun with uncles....
Meeting the           Great-Grandparents...

The Weeks Ahead...

In two weeks we will be taking Grady Jeremiah back to Birmingham for follow up appointments at UAB.  He will be seeing a pediatric ophthalmologist, cardiologist, and endocrinologist.  Please pray for the doctors to have wisdom as they evaluate Grady Jeremiah in each of those areas and for us to have good reports from them. 

That is just a quick glimpse into life with Grady Jeremiah the last few weeks.  We have lots of new pictures in our online photo album if you want to see more of these things.

Thank you for your continued prayers for him and for us.  Please continue to pray for his continued health and growth, for wisdom for us as parents, and ultimately that he will put his faith and trust in Christ as his Lord and Savior at an early age and be used mightily by God for His Kingdom purposes.

 

April 2, 2011 -  On April 1, we made our way back to UAB for their "newborn follow up clinic."  It is a clinic where they bring back their low birth weight and high risk babies for an evaluation.  For UAB, it helps them improve their ability to care for premature and high-risk babies.  When this clinic began in 1976, only 20% of babies born under 1000 grams survived (remember, Grady Jeremiah was only 880 grams at birth!).  Today, that survival rate is at 75% percent.  However, the same percent of premature babies still have developmental delays, so they continue the clinic to continue to look for ways to improve care.  For us, it gave us an opportunity to have a number of specialists look at Grady Jeremiah and provide resource to help us.  It was a great visit and we had great reports...

 * Our first visit was with a dietician.  She was so pleased with Grady Jeremiah's eating and weight gain.  In fact, she said he had "a good little fat pad," which for babies is a good thing... for us, well, that would be a different story :-)  Growth wise, his weight is good and his length is ahead of most premature babies at this stage!  She also was amazed that Grady Jeremiah is still eating exclusively breast milk.  She told us that only 2% of the moms they see are still able to supply milk for their babies by this point.  It was another reminder for us of God's grace and kindness to us during this journey.  Most of our visit with her was learning about his feeding plan for the year ahead, how to know when to begin to add other foods into his breast milk diet, and how to do so.  It was a tremendous wealth of resources for us.

 * Our second visit was with a physical therapist who did a developmental exam on Grady Jeremiah.  If you use his corrected age (i.e. 7 weeks old from his due date), he is in the 90th percentile in his development!  The physical therapist had no concerns and was pleased with his progress.  She provided us great tips on "tummy time" and how to use it to help him continue to develop muscle strength and to learn how to crawl. 

 * Our third and four visits were with two doctors.  The head doctor of this clinic, who has been overseeing the newborn clinic for 34 years, spent a good bit of time with us.  From their physical examination of him, both doctors think that Grady Jeremiah is doing well!  They provided us with great insight on his quarantine timeline.  They also referred us to see a pediatric endocrinologist in the months ahead.  Since Grady Jeremiah is missing the septum in his brain, they want to take a closer look at issues related to the pituitary gland since it can be a related issue and could impact growth.  They also encouraged us to go ahead with our plan for an eye exam follow up and cardiology follow up this summer.  We appreciate their counsel as they have years of experience working with babies like Grady Jeremiah. 

 * Our fifth visit was actually not part of the newborn follow up clinic but was with the head neonatologist at UAB.  He was such a blessing to us and so instrumental in Grady Jeremiah's care while we were in the hospital.  He was pleased with how well Grady Jeremiah is progressing!  While at the UAB Women and Infant center, we were able to see several of the nurses who cared for Grady Jeremiah during our 82 days there.  We wish you could have seen their faces when they saw how big he had become!  In the picture to the left you see Becky, one of his regular night nurses in the Continuing Care Nursery, holding her "sweet angel boy" as she liked to call him :-)   Seeing some of the staff again was like a reunion for us.


We are so thankful for the good reports from the many specialists and doctors.  We appreciate the insights and resources provided to us.  So, it was a great trip and a great day for us!  Grady Jeremiah even got to enjoy his first nap while visiting the home of his Nana and Papa (i.e. Grady's parents) while we were in Birmingham :-)

So what's next?  First, it looks like we will have a four week reprieve from visiting any doctors :-)  
Then in late April through August our anticipated medical visits include:

• Developmental research study follow up at UAB with developmental specialists
• Six month check-up and immunizations at local pediatrician
  
• Eye exam follow up at Children's Hospital 
• Cardiologist follow up at UAB to make sure his heart murmur is gone
• Endocrinologist assessment at UAB to make sure there are no growth delays
• Another research study follow up at UAB
• Then back for another newborn follow up clinic in mid-August!
  

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!  We continue to be amazed at how well Grady Jeremiah is doing and appreciate your involvement in this journey with us!

Grady, Julia, & Grady Jeremiah

March 24, 2011 - Being new parents with a baby at home, time just seems to disappear.  We can't believe that we have not given you an update in more than three weeks! 

Grady Jeremiah has grown more than two pounds since our last update!  That's right...  He is now 10 pounds, 13 ounces as of today.  We took him to the pediatrician today for the last of his four month immunizations. She is so pleased with his growth chart.  It looks like an exponential graph and he is quickly catching up to the typical growth chart weights for a full-term baby.  In fact, he is filling out so much that one of Julia's brothers described his cute, pudgy cheeks as being "built in pillows" to help him stay comfortable :-)  We'll let you look at the picture to the left here and decide if you agree with that assessment!

We are also really pleased with his alertness and eye contact.  He continues to look around at things and study his surroundings.  It's so much fun for us to have him sit in our laps and look intently at our faces as we talk with him!  His eyes follow us as we move, follow toys that we hold before him, and look to us when we talk to him from a distance. 

Speaking of his eyesight, of great humor to us is his fascination with the ceiling fan in our living room (when it's not moving...  he cries when we turn it on!).  He stares at it for prolonged periods of time during the day.  So for now we don't need expensive toys, we just need to let him look at the ceiling of the room :-)   Tonight I (Grady) was walking around the house holding him.  As we walked into the living room area he immediately wiggled in my arms and pushed his head back to look at the ceiling.  As I moved around the room he kept turning his head to look at his favorite object... Mr. Ceiling Fan :-)  We wanted to try to appreciate his perspective, so we took a picture from behind him as he was sitting in his "boppy pillow" on the couch this week.  You can see his new friend in the picture to the right!  As funny as it is to us each day, it makes us very thankful for what it indicates about his alertness, vision, and muscle strength. 


There's a quick overdue update for you!  Over the next two weeks we will be returning to UAB for the newborn follow-up clinic where we see lots of specialists to evaluate his progress.   We also should be having a home visit from an "early intervention" developmental specialist during these weeks as well.  We will keep you updated here on what we learn.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us!

Grady, Julia, and Grady :-)

Again, thank you for praying and for your many words of encouragement since we have been home. 

Grady, Julia, and Grady Jeremiah