Jeshua Alan Frantz

We are so very pleased to announce that we have a new member of our family: Jeshua Alan Frantz! He is a beautiful baby boy born Friday January 7th at about 2:15 pm, weighing 7lbs 3ozs and 20.5 inches long. We left for Kootenai Medical Center at 4:30 in the morning and were settled in with a pitocin drip by 6:00. We had gone back and forth on whether or not it was a boy or girl, and were happy to be surprised. Labor and delivery went as expected and we were happily settled in with "Baby Boy" Frantz by Friday evening in a postpartum room, wondering what we'd name our new little squirt. "Baby Boy" was sleeping just fine, and in fact didn't do much else! We received welcomed visitors and were pleased to show him off. Aaron met him Friday evening and was so sweet as he held and kissed his new brother. We had to peel the baby away from him, and listen as Aaron repeatedly told us "Thanks for my new baby". He also had some great recommendations on what to name the baby: "Sockey" (cat's name), "Paper towel", "Picture", and "Baby Jesus". All good names, all VERY close calls ("Paper Towel" almost had it!). By Sunday night, we finally decided on a name which Aaron had known all along (kinda): Jeshua Alan Frantz. Jeshua is Aramaic for the name we know as Jesus. That's right Aaron, we named him baby Jesus :) Alan is a family name from both sides of the family. We've americanized his first name and will say it phonetically, and call him "Jesh" for short except when he's in big trouble.

After 24 hours at KMC, the nurses and pediatrician were concerned that he still had no interest in nursing and had no BMs to speak of. Thinking his stomach might still have uterin fluids, they pumped his stomach and found materials that raised small concern. After some x-rays and other procedures, they were able to identify some kind of blockage in his colon. By Sunday afternoon, the pediatrician decided there was nothing to be done at KMC and he would need specialized neonatal care in Spokane, so Medstar came early Sunday evening and took our little gift to Deaconess Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for additional diagnosis, testing, and care.

After running by home to gather a few things, we arrived at the Deaconess NICU to what was one of the scariest scenes for parents to see. The nurses and floor doctor were wonderful, kind, and understanding, but the picture of such a sweet innocent and fragile life hooked up to what looked like a torture rack drew tears from a well we did not know had anything left in it (we think they had to mop the floors at KMC by the time we left - or at least restock every paper towel / kleenex bin in that wing). We had been "prepped" for what we would see, but nothing short of seeing it could truly prepare us. The great blessing through it all was Baby Jesh himself; he had been content from the beginning. His little digestive tract was bloating and backed up, but he expressed no pain or discontent and was sleeping peacefully when we arrived. After meeting with the doctors today and spending much of the past 24 hours with our baby in the NICU, it is a much happier feeling as we enter his nursery and are able to touch and sometimes hold him. The NICU isn't the scary place it was a long day ago, and we have found the staff there to be fantastic and supportive.

Baby Jesh's condition: The neonatologist and lead neonatal surgeon for Deaconess believe baby Jesh has Hirschsprung's Disease. HD is a condition that comes about during development of the baby and has unknown origin (lots of studies link it to chromosomal mutation as with most prenatal genetic conditions) but is thought to be hereditary to some extent. HD is basically the absence of nerves in part of the colon. In most cases, it's 3 to 6 inches, and in some it's the entire colon. As the nerves grow from the top down, it's always the last part of the colon that lacks the nerves. The end of the colon is in a constant constricted state until waste is present, at which point it relaxes to allow bowel movements, however HD causes the colon to remain constricted because it can not sense the presence of waste, blocking off all bowel movements, and ultimately was fatal in the "old days" before it was recognized and researched.

The diagnosis comes through a small biopsy of the rectum to examine the tissue for nerves. No nerves in the tissue means HD, nerves means no HD. While the doctor is not 100% sure until the biopsy is performed, most other signs are consistent with HD and he expects the biopsy to confirm that, which is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 8:45 am. The biopsy is a simple procedure and is probably less risky than the act of completely sedating a 4 day old baby, but they do this "all the time" at this NICU and we have been assured that Baby Jesh will be fine.

If HD is confirmed, then there will be a small series of surgeries which typically cure the matter completely. First is a series of biopsies and a colostomy which is already scheduled for this Friday morning on the hunch that tomorrow's biopsy will be confirm HD (results come in Thursday, so they'll start the surgeries the day after confirming). They will biopsy up the colon until they find nerves, so they know how much of the colon to cut out. They'll then install (probably not the right word) a colostomy on the remaining colon, which is to say they'll take the end of the "good" colon and bring it through a hole in the stomach and into a bag which will collect baby Jesh's BMs. This will give the end of the remaining colon and the beginning of the severed rectum to heal in preparation for part 2, called the "Pull-through". After 3 weeks or so, they'll sew together those two ends inside of his abdomen making him good as new, but with a shorter colon than the average Jesh. In most cases, no lasting effects beyond 6 to 18 months during which he might not be able to control his BMs. We were concerned about Jesh not being able to control his bowels for possibly 18 months - what a mess that might make! ..... obviously, we'll never know if he fills his diapers indescriminately because of HD, or because he's, ya-know, A BABY!!

In terms of timing, the colostomy and removal would be Friday this week, 2 to 3 weeks later would be the pull-through surgery, and 2 to 3 weeks of NICU recovery. There is a chance we can bring him home between the two surgeries and care for the colostomy at home; the Doctor says its likely, but the nurse says don't count on it. Doc makes more money, but Nurse has worked Deaconess NICU for 30 years. We'll see who wins. If not, it'll likely be late February before baby Jesh gets to come home for the first time, so we are really praying we can bring him home before that.

Through this all, there is a slim chance that Jesh just needed his bowels "jump started". Apparently, there is a VERY small occurrence in babies of mother's who have diabetes (gestational or lifelong) where the baby has a merconium plug that, once removed, allows the bowels to function normally. With lots of bowel stimulation, they got baby Jesh to clear out his bowels almost completely and we're still hoping the biopsy comes back negative and baby Jesh will fill a diaper on his own this week, which would get us home by next week. Here's hoping.

This evening, we were able to spend several hours with our two other kids Aaron and Leah here at a hotel in Spokane which we got with a pool just for them. They recognize their baby brother's absence, and know he's in the hospital, and can't wait to see him again. Aaron keeps calling him his "new best friend", and they have added baby Jesh to their prayers. It absolutely breaks our hearts to think they might not see him again for over a month as kids aren't ever allowed in the NICU. We really really hope to bring him home in between procedures for at least a week to give them that bonding time, but we just don't know if it'll happen. Thanks to loving and supportive family, Aaron and Leah were rushed to KMC when we found out Medstar was on its way to pick up our baby, and they were able to see him loaded in the transport incubator, and give him a kiss right as he left KMC. We just hope to reward their loving patience with a new brother soon.

We have been encouraged and uplifted by the great show of support from our family and ward and we love you all for it. Even though we've not needed much help as of yet (except from awesome grandparents who have kept our 2 kids), it boosts us up to know we have so many true friends.

Today was a good day; the first good day since Friday. It feels like it's been months or more that we've been dealing with this when it's only been a few days. And I think we've felt months or more worth of heartache and tears, but today was a good day. We were able to hold baby Jesh for a couple of hours this afternoon and late evening. Most of that time he was actually awake (not characteristic of him) and he just looked at us with his sweet complection, as his eyes searched our faces. It was a very healing time for both of us.

We have been blessed with many tender mercies, and ask only for your prayers. We don't know yet what our schedule will be like for the next several weeks and are taking it day by day this week. We will also be posting some updates here as we move through this.

Thank you again for your support and prayers.

Love,

Tyson and Melissa