On Friday, June 26, our 3rd child and 2nd son Colson decided he couldn’t wait until his due date (July 20) to meet the world!
We weren’t exactly “ready” for his arrival – but we were overjoyed when we saw Colson for the first time at 1:33 PM that day. Our excitement was only slightly diminished when doctors announced to us that Colson was having a difficult time breathing normally and would need to be placed in the neo-natal intensive care unit.
24 hours later, Deneen still had not seen her newborn son (largely because she was recovering from her 3rd c-section). To make matters worse, we were told that Colson was being evaluated and tested because doctors had detected “some characteristics consistent with Down’s Syndrome and/or other genetic disorders”. Those are words no parent ever wants to hear.
So much has happened in Colson’s very first week! To say the least, we experienced a roller coast of emotions. We have done our best to keep our friends, family and co-workers up to date on Colson’s condition and really appreciate the many phone calls, meals, hospital visits, emails, babysitting, Facebook messages and more. So we hope that many of you will check this web page so that you can get the latest information and developments on Colson’s health and status (as well as his parents and grandparents!).
Latest news and prayer requests
Video
Enjoy this slideshow video of Colson, in celebration of his 3rd birthday!
A video of Colson (posted on July 11, 2009).
His bottle feedings require a lot of patience!
The end of the video was an incredible moment for us. This was Colson’s fifth
day, and we still had not seen him open his eyes. In fact, we were both getting really
concerned that he might never emerge from what seemed like a coma. Frankly,
most of his doctors and nurses didn’t give us a lot of hope either. After all, they
were used to seeing preemies much younger than Colson wake up at least from
time to time.
The night before this, we prayed that we would be able to see him at least once
with his eyes open.
The next morning, we had our video camera with us and we captured that video
within the first few minutes of seeing him awake for the very first time. I (Derek) don’t
think I was supposed to reach my hand in Colson’s isolette and hold the camera over
his head like that, but we really didn’t care about the rules at that moment!
This video is from a Good Morning America interview with an adult woman who
has Prader-Willi syndrome. It describes how there is a critical part of the brain that
is impacted by this syndrome. Also interviewed are members of her family, who
describe the unique difficulties faced by loved ones.
Photos
Colson on October 29, hours after his surgery
Colson on his birthday
June 2010 – pictures with Elijah, Joelle and Carys
June 2010 – Colson in his “bumpo” chair
May 2010 – Joelle and Colson
May 2010 — Dad with Colson
April 2010 — Joelle with Colson
March 2010
Colson, happy to return home from his 2 day stay in the hospital on January 7
December pictures
Colson turned 5 months on Thanksgiving Day - here is a great picture that Derek’s cousin Robyn took of him
Colson at 4 months
Colson, at close to 3 months old
Joelle is very happy to have her little brother home now – she loves being a big sister.
This is what Colson’s feeding apparatus looks like – it is more or less like being
hooked up to an IV. He is connected to this at night while he gets a continuous feed,
and we also connect him to this when he doesn't finish his every-3-hour bottle
feedings
throughout the day.
Angela (Derek’s sister) spends a few moments with Colson before leaving for Cambodia,
where she, her husband and son will be serving for the next year.
August 13. After six weeks and six days, Colson left Rush Presbyterian Hospital! Dr. Meier,
Colson’s primary physician, took a picture with us just before we left the hospital.
Colson shortly before leaving the hospital. Some people have asked how the abdominal
feeding tube works (aka “g-tube”) – here’s a good view of it. It has to be covered with
bandages that get changed regularly because the opening to his stomach is somewhat
exposed and even leaks from time to time.
Aunts Dawn and Debbie (top) and Dawn (bottom) - Deneen’s sisters - visiting
Colson the weekend of August 1.
Every day, we are supposed to work with Colson on a series of exercises - this should
help develop more alertness and better muscle tone (Colson is pretty far behind the
curve in these areas). Sometimes it takes the little guy a while to wake up, so he has
some of his own stretches that he likes to do before getting started!
Colson with Deneen on July 23. This is a great picture because it shows how Colson
has begun to interact with us little bit now. Doctors had been expressing concern that
he wasn’t as engaged with nurses or with us as he should be at 40 weeks old.
Colson (July 10)
This was our main view of Colson’s first week of life.
No matter how encouraging and caring doctors and nurses are, no parent wants
his son or daughter to be here any longer than absolutely necessary.
This was the first time Deneen was able to hold Colson after his
breathing mask was removed - getting your breathing tube installed doesn’t
sound like an improvement, but it is!
Elijah and Joelle made cards for Colson. Dad helped Elijah draw a
dinosaur (of course!) and Joelle drew a dog (though it looks like a cat).
These awesome cards are hanging up in Colson’s isolette.
Donna (Deneen’s mom), Derek Banker (Deneen’s brother) and Colson (July 9)
Grandpa Taylor and Colson
