Sunday, October 24

The last couple of days at the hospital have been tough, watching little Walker’s body work very hard to recover from his surgery. It is so hard to sit by his side and feel like there is nothing I can do to take his pain away. I pray he feels the arms of Jesus holding him close.

Walker is still bleeding from his chest incision from the surgery and really shouldn’t be anymore so today they ran tests to check if his blood is not clotting properly. Depending on the results, they may give him more plasma and vitamin K to help him clot better. As a result of the bleeding, his hemoglobin was low today so they had to give him a blood transfusion. They are also keeping a close eye on his blood pressure, which has been low since his surgery.

Walker is still on fentanyl to sedate him and manage his pain from the surgery. Thankfully he hasn’t needed extra shots of the pain medication since yesterday evening, so I am hopeful he will be able to wake up a bit more soon. All day today Walker was on the phototherapy lights for his jaundice levels, which is hard because then we can’t see his sweet face.

At Sick Kids they run a special program for the kids called “Bravery Beads,” which has been the perfect way to get Jordynn and Easton involved a little bit in their baby brother’s life. I explained to them that the doctors and nurses at the hospital have to do lots of things to help baby Walker grow big and strong, and some of those things are little bit scary for him. Every time Walker is brave for one of these scary things, he earns a bead for his special necklace. Jordynn and Easton loved stringing all of Walker’s beads onto his necklace. In his five days of life, here are some of the things that have earned Walker his bravery beads:

1 ride with the transport team

41 bloodwork

1 PICC line insertion

1 IV nutrition

1 dressing change

1 respiratory support

2 intubations

3 IV starts

1 sutures

2 new diagnoses

1 surgery

10 tests and scans

3 tube insertions

1 blood transfusion

Here is a list of specific prayer requests for Walker right now:

Pray that the bleeding will stop from his chest incision

Pray that his blood levels and blood pressure will come back up

Pray that he will be comfortable and free from pain Pray that his jaundice levels will go down

Pray that he will heal enough from his surgery to get his feeding tube inserted next week Pray for strength in his tiny little body

Pray that he remains stable

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.