12-11-2010

Well, it's been a rough last 12 hours.

To start with, Cooper Payne Leo Jensen was born on 12-10-10 at 6:14 pm.  He weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long.  Just like the other 2, it only took 10 hours from the time we checked in until he arrived.  They immediately took him to be intubated, which we were expecting.  We got to see him for about a minute before they whisked him off to the NICU.  We were able to finally see him about 3 hours later.

At that time the doctors were all hopeful and said that he was doing very well.  Better than expected.  One of the doctors did say that it could just be the "honeymoon phase", and that he could get worse, but was still hopeful.  Well, it was just the honeymoon phase and over the last 12 hours Cooper has really taken a turn for the worse. 

The doctors have tried everything they can to keep his CO2 levels normal, but they keep climbing.  Cooper was trying to breathe on his own and kept fighting the vent so they gave him a medicine that paralyzed him so the vent could do the work instead of him.  That hasn't given the doctors the response they were hoping for.  His CO2 levels improved for just a bit before climbing back into the 70's.  Normal is 35-45.  So, the next option for optimal results, the doctors feel, is to place Cooper on ecmo.

Currently, he is undergoing this surgery to place him on ecmo.  The surgeon was hopeful, but of course there are risks.  So, we are anxiously waiting to hear from the surgeon on how the procedure went.  We continue to be hopeful, but the surgeon did say that Cooper's survival rate has gone down to 50% now that he was being placed on ecmo. 

He is the most handsome little boy around.  OK, maybe second to Jaxon, but he still is darn cute.  He is definitely the cutest little boy here in the hospital.  We will continue to be hopeful that he will turn out just fine.  This just puts our coming home date back a few days or so.

Please keep the prayers for Cooper coming.  He's strong, but needs some higher help right now.  Thank you all.