The NICU Machine

By: Angelina Castleberry
angelina
Twitter : plus6love
Facebook: our son Matthew’s page is called Matthew’s Miracles www.facebook.com/matthewsmiraclespage
Facebook: Our non-profit organization to help NICU familes is called Made For A Miracle  www.facebook.com/madeforamiracle
Website: www.madeforamiracle.org  email: info@madeforamiracle.org
Instagram: matthews_miracles
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my personal Instagram: plus6_
My blog: All The Days The Lord Has Made  https://allthedaysthelordhasmade4me.wordpress.com/

I was notified late last night that my son is going to be placed on an automatic dialysis machine. He just made it to 100mL of solution… the original goal was 150mL… the doctors are so anxious on getting Matthew home, they want to make sure it works. They want us to get trained on it.. and the sooner we do that, the sooner he comes home. I’m so relieved to kno that his nurse Janice is there with him today. She has been on dialysis and has had a transplant. So she knows exactly what he’s going through. She will for sure speak up if she needs to…. *sigh* there will definitely be a part two to todays post… I just really needed to write this. …

This is it… the day we have been waiting for… the machine… wow!

Part 2

Sooooo… my last post was on Thursday and I was talking about The Machine. The famous dialysis machine that my 4month old son will be using for when he comes home. It is the machine we have been waiting to get on since they day he was born. It is the machine that when doctors talked about anything pertaining to the machine…it always echoed Matthew’s homecoming. And here were are…two days after Matthew was put on the machine, and he is doing GREAT!!! I am soooo happy! Doctors and nurses are all just so happy and so excited for him. They are all still so shocked at how well he is doing.

Exactly four weeks ago we almost lost Matthew. Matthew was doing really bad. He had to have two surgeries in one week. Three surgeries in two weeks. His last surgery was just incredibly hard for Matthew to recover from. The entire month of October was just awful for us.

October 8th was Matthews 100th day in the NICU. Up til that day, he has had eight surgeries. October 8th he was FULL of fluid and weighed 14lbs. His eyes were swollen shut, his skin was stretched it was almost like rubber, he was intubated on the ventilator, he was on a “no fluid diet”, and his lungs were full of fluid. This was a week after his hardest and last surgery. He was 14 weeks old. Just five days before we almost lost him.

Fast Forward three weeks and here we are… he now weighs 9lbs.11oz. He is eating well from his bottle, and his dialysis is working amazingly well…even on the machine. Matthew is doing great!

This NICU roller coaster is coming to an end soon. We hope November is the last month he will have to be here. Its crazy to me how from one day to the next, everything can change. I mean, I always knew that’s how life is. Things can change in the blink of an eye… but I never truly LIVED life that way. Our life has been based on God’s Promises and God’s Plans… BUT we have learned that it is also ALL in God’s Timing. We have learned to celebrate EVERY DAY.Every day that passes is a celebration. At home and with Matthew… every day, we celebrate. My depression puts a damper on things every once in a while, but most days we still manage to celebrate. lol…

November First… the first of the month… and the road to Matthew’s Homecoming. Below is the picture of Matthew’s transformation. Just a little bit of God’s Power. The miracle of God’s Power!! Its amazing!!

God Bless You All