Wyatt James Roberts

Growing up I was taught to begin my prayers by giving thanks to God for the things that He has done, is doing, and will do. While this isn't a prayer, I have no better way to start this, so I will start by giving thanks. I am thankful that people from all over the country, all over the world rather, have been praying for my family. I am thankful that I have seen first hand the support you get when being a part of a Christian community. I am thankful that for a short time I had a beautiful niece and a warrior of a nephew. I am thankful for the doctors and nurses that fought for our sweet Adelaide and Wyatt. I am thankful for my family, who have shown the greatest faith and love I have ever known.

As bittersweet as this is, I would not be able to tell you the things that I am thankful for if the opposite did not exist. Tonight we mourn the loss of our Wyatt. There are many details to be explained at a later date, but for now please take comfort in knowing that Wyatt did not suffer. Wyatt had many things going against him that the doctors simply could not fix. Rachel, with Justin by her side, was able to hold Wyatt as he took his last breath.

For now I will conclude with a request and thanks. As for the request, I ask that you continue to pray for my family, mostly Justin and Rachel, as the rebuild their lives from their losses. Now for the thanks, I thank you, we all do. Thank you for your love, support and prayers. We love you right back.

-Megan (Justin's sister)

Bad Lungs

At the hospital today. Wyatt is currently downstairs getting a ct scan of his lungs and brain. He is having trouble getting rid of co2 because his lungs are still very sick. His right lung is completely collapsed again and his left lung has a very large pnuematocele (air filled cyst) that keeps getting bigger. The pnuematocele is so large that it is compressing his right lung and his heart. The ct scan will help the doctor get a better picture of what is going on inside his lungs so that she can determine a corse of action. Her plan is to take the ct scan images to her practice meeting today in order to get ideas from her colleagues. I am so thankful that there happens to be a practice meeting on a day like today because Wyatt needs a think tank. He continues to baffle the doctors and nurses with his lungs and I pray that they will be able to come up with a solution that will help Wyatt's lungs get better. Please pray for guidance for the doctors today.

First Time

Kangaroo Care

Great News: Wyatt has gone over 24 hours without a chest tube which means I get to hold him for the first time today! I called Justin and he is going to be able to leave work to come to the hospital and participate in this milestone! Starting today Wyatt is also going to get fortified breastmilk to help him grow and gain weight.
Things to pray for: Wyatt has a cyst (pneumatocele) that is half the size of his left lung. If this were to rupture it could be very traumatic for Wyatt and would most likely take two chest tubes to resolve. Please pray that this pnuematocele will heal on it's own. The doctor is worried that Wyatt's fragile body might not recover from a pneomo this large.
Also continue to pray for Wyatt's brain bleeds. At this point they have not gotten worse and the doctor feels that Wyatt is stable enough to have a ct scan this week. The ct scan will give the neurologist a better idea of what is going on inside Wyatt's ventricles and help them determine if he needs to be transported downtown for closer monitoring.
Thank you so much for your support and prayers.

Blessings of Boredom

Boredom. That's what I really hoped for my life.  Many people want adventure and drama and unprecedented excitement around every turn, but not me, I like the calm uneventful bliss of predictability. I've always said that I love my family, I've loved that my parents are still together and my grandparents are still together and my aunt and uncle are still together.  We've been fortunate as a family, we've had challenges; my mom has an autoimmune disorder that makes her life very uncomfortable and even miserable sometimes and my Dad has had to bury two brothers and a father but in my life, in my little bubble, it's been pretty calm.   These are the events that I'm talking about, I didn't want to be too interesting, to be honest I wish I didn't have this blog, because in order to be this interesting, in order to need this much support something significant had to happen.  Sure, sometimes people win the lottery or invent something grand, but often the drama is a result of something sad or cruel or some other descriptor of the utterly miserable.
I would love just to be married to my beautiful wife and be raising a soccer team full of crazy, healthy kids in my nice middle class neighborhood with my uneventful middle management job, with my great, loving family.  My concerns would be limited to what I'm gonna wear to church, how I'm gonna pay for all the kids extracurriculars and how in the heck I'm gonna squeeze in some time for me to get fit.  Unfortunately, this isn't the path for my life, but fortunately yesterday and today have been absolutely mundane.  Wyatt is stable, his bleed hasn't progressed and his chest x-rays have actually been better than at any other time in his short little life.  We still don't know what tomorrow will bring or even what 15 minutes from now could hold, but we're thankful for these moments of boredom.  We thank God and we thank all of you for your prayers.  Wyatt has a long way to go, and as you know, it is likely he's going to have some kind of delays, we can just hope that they're insignificant.   Remember to thank God for answered and unanswered prayers, you never know what it would mean to have an "exciting" life.
We love you all, and pray for you daily.