Written May 25th

Gabriel Timothy is beautiful. For those we have not talked to, he was born May 24th at 12:01, weighing in at 8lbs/11oz and 21 inches long. He is tough and is putting up quite a battle. We ask that you keep him and all of us in your prayers.

The past 24 hours have been a roller coaster. Shortly after he was born, his stats looked good. That changed as the afternoon went on. xrays showed that the hernia was significantly larger than they had thought and the liver was up nearly to the heart - this meant there was very little lung development on either side and the prognosis was very poor. There was a good chance he would not make it through the night. Today, his blood work and blood pressure were still not good, meaning he was not responding to the current treatments well. B/c of the low lung volume, we were told he was not a candidate for ECMO (a life-saving treatment they try on many babies with diaphrag. hernia). We were preparing ourselves to take him off of the machines and let him go.

By some miracle, a repeat xray showed that his lung volume had improved last night. This meant that he was NOW a candidate for ECMO, although still at very high risk. We agreed, despite the risks, and the procedure was done. Essentially ECMO is a bypass system allowing a machine to oxygenate the blood, so his heart and lungs can rest. The ventilator he was on was turned up as high as it would go, which is very hard on the lungs if continued for too long. We have been in to see him since put on the bypass and he looks so much more peaceful than when he was on just the ventilaor. His blood work and blood pressure are significantly improved. He is stable for now, but we have been warned that we are in for a long haul and Gabriel has a lot of work to do. Still no guarantees, but we have hope.