Children's Hospital

We know that everyone has been anxiously awaiting an update on our Jeremy. On Saturday (9-24-11) morning we started to notice a red spot on Jeremy's belly button. By 8:00 PM the red spot had grown to the size of a half dollar, so we called the doctor. By the grace of God we decided to drive to the Children's Hospital North Campus for treatment, we were naive and thought it would be a simple shot and we would be sent home. Once we arrived they confirmed the infection in the belly button and admitted us to the North Campus for IV treatment. We were overcome by emotion as we awaited the results from the ultrasound and blood work. Thank God the infection remained isolated to the belly button and it was not in his blood stream, we were also thankful that the belly button was not connected to the bladder so we did not have to have surgery. We were optimistic that we would be able to come home on Tuesday (9-27-11). Then the culture from the infection came back and revealed that it was a staph infection. Since they are only able to treat patients at the North campus for 72 hours, Jeremy got an ambulance ride to the main campus to continue his antibiotic treatment. When we arrived at the Main Children's Hospital we were placed in isolation because they also feared that there could have been an E. coli infection as well. The culture results on Thursday confirmed that there was no E. coli, but the doctor team said that they wanted to treat the infection with IV antibiotics for 10 days. They also gave us a diagnosis, Jeremy has Omphalitis or infection of the umbilical cord stump. They were able to take him off of the high powered antibiotic and confirmed that Jeremy will need a total of 10 days of IV antibiotic treatment. We will be able to go home on Tuesday (10-4-11). Jeremy is responding very well to the antibiotics and he should be completely healed when we go home.

I think the biggest challenge for us now is balancing our attention between our sick baby and our 5 year old. Jeremy is in good hands with the medical staff. And between mom, dad, grandma and grandpa he is being held 23 hours per day, so he is a little spoiled. We also just learned that he is being removed from isolation so we can take him outside today for a walk.

Thank you to everyone for all of your love, support and prayers. We are looking forward to coming home soon with a healthy, spoiled baby!

Support and Prayers

Thank you to all of our friends and family for your support and prayers. Jeremy is responding well to the antibiotics. We are hoping that we will be able to come home this weekend. We will provide a more detailed post once we return home. Until then we are leaning on Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Guess Who's One Week Old?

It is hard to believe that Jeremy Lee is already a week old. He is such a wonderful sweet baby boy, we are truly blessed to have him in our lives. James 1:17 says "Every good and perfect gift is from above.." words cannot express how blessed we are to have the gift of two wonderful boys! We thank God everyday for the blessings in our lives.

We had an eventful first week at home with the little one. We are beginning to get into our groove. Mommy gave Jeremy his first bath on Monday. We found that after baths Jeremy sleeps better at night. He might become the cleanest little boy on earth.

We made a few trips to town this week, mainly to the breastfeeding clinic at the hospital and to a doctor appointment. The doctor visit went well, Jeremy is healthy and we do not have to go back until he is a month old. He did have a little bit of jaundice but it is clearing up and he does not have to go under a lamp. The Pediatrician did tell us that adults who are in close contact with newborns need to have a Pertussis (Whooping Cough) vaccine. So daddy had to go into the doctor and get three shots this week. We also informed the grandparents and both grandma's got their shots scheduled before we were off the phone with them.

We have been enjoying the meals prepared by various church family members and friends. It is so helpful to have meals ready, daddy is going to have to pick up his exercise program though...

We also made our first trip to Mead to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Ryan took Jeremy to his first parade for Mead Days. Jeremy also got to meet Great Uncle Mark, Great Aunt Melissa and Mason. It is evident by the picture below that Mason and Jeremy connected well.

We enjoyed visits from Grandma and Grandpa this week, along with Great Pa Pa and the Heiny family.

We are looking forward to the week ahead. Daddy is off work for one more week. He has enjoyed his time at home but he is not cut out to be a stay at home dad, and he has a new found respect for all of the work mommy does at home.

Sleep? What sleep?

We survived our first night, barely! Jeremy decided that he only likes to be held and that he is using his mommy as a pacifier.

Grandma and Grandpa Dirtpile headed home today. But we were left in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa Policeman. Grandma and Grandpa took mommy and Jeremy to the breastfeeding clinic today. Jeremy and mommy are doing great. Jeremy weighs 6 lbs 12 oz today.

Ryan and daddy enjoyed some much needed one-on-one time today and caught up on their hide and seek, wrestling and enjoyed a bike ride to McDonald's for lunch and to the dollar store because Ryan needed some ear plugs to help him sleep while his brodda was crying. Needless to say when we got to the dollar store and we thought that Jeremy would enjoy a Lego firetruck toy more.

Great Pa Pa also came up to meet and hold Jeremy today.

Grandma and Grandpa Policeman are fixing us a great Labor Day meal. Then it is back to school tomorrow for Ryan. He did have to print out some pictures for show and tell...

Who does Jeremy Look Like

Anytime you have a child, the first thing everyone does is try to determine who the baby looks like. We have included a poll on the right and would like to hear your vote. Here are pictures of Ryan and Jeremy infants to help with the assessment.

First Day at Home

For our first evening at home, we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner with both grandmas and grandpas. Ryan was adamant that we put Jeremy in his swing while we had dinner. And Ryan read Jeremy his first bedtime story, "Walter the Farting Dog", with the help of grandma dirtpile.

Heading Home

On Sunday, 9/4/11 at 2:43 PM we left the hospital to come home. It feels great to be home!

At the Hospital

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Everything went great. Both mom and Jeremy are doing good.







We also enjoyed a meal at the hospital as a family. Ryan liked the chocolate cake the best.














Baby Jeremy passed his hearing test on the second attempt. With the help of dad's technology troubleshooting skills we identified that the left ear was not passing because the device was hooked to the wrong ear. Jeremy's hearing is fine. Especially when big brother Ryan makes siren noises while playing with his firetrucks.




We enjoyed our family visitors at the hospital. Grandma and Grandpa Dirtpile and Grandma and Grandpa Policeman were there. Uncle Adam and Aunt Laura came all the way from Hayden to visit.









Uncle Scott, Aunt Joanna and the three knucklehead cousins (Alan, Todd and Brett) also stopped by for a visit.













And yes, the grandmas did share baby Jeremy!

Our Family

Introducing Jeremy Lee Sharp

Jeremy Lee Sharp was born at 7:56 AM. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces. He was exactly 21 inches long.

Heading to the Hospital

We left our house at 5:30 AM to head for the hospital. We took one last picture in the nursery prior to heading out.