How did we get here?

It's Stefanie...
A good friend of mine who went on this very same journey (time 2), has encouraged me to blog as a way to keep everyone up on what's happening.  She also said it gave here great journal of everything, and since I am sleep deprived, I am pretty sure I will not recall a good bit of this. Thus far I have been using facebook to keep everyone informed, but not everyone uses facebook, so here we go. If you haven't been getting the Facebook updates, here they are to catch you up. We are so grateful for all the support we have been blessed with. The prayers have sustained us and we are in awe of our great God and the way he provides everything we need. Please continue to prayer for our lil fighter and for Grant as he takes on the big task as Big Brither.

Love the Reeder Four,
Sean, Stefanie, Grant and Griffin

How'd we get here? Well in August, we shared a little news, some of you may remember...

Facebook, August 22, 2011
We are so happy to share such amazing news. Grant is going to be a big brother. We expect our lil miracle in early March. Some of you may know, we had worked with a fertility specialist and were unsuccessful in concieving a second child. We prayed and prayed, and it seemed God was clearly answering "no", so even though our hearts were broken, we trusted that He knew what was best. So, I grieved, and came to peace with our new reality. I gave away and sold every baby item we had, turned the nursery into Grant's homeschool room, and well, in July we got a very big surprise! Sometime God says no, sometimes he says yes, and sometimes he says wait. We are still early, a lil over 10 weeks, and still in a bit of happy shock that this happened with no medical intervention. After trying everything the doctors could give me, and still nothing, for this to happen like this, is well, so shocking to me. And yet, I know for God nothing is impossible. Feeling so in the palm of my Father's hand and praising Him for this amazing blessing. Grant is over the moon excited. When we told him he said, "God heard my prayer." We obviously had shielded him from all that we had went through with the RE dr, so it was so sweet to hear that sweet boy had been praying for a baby brother or sister, (but mostly a brother. ;) He also has now told two relative strangers in Kroger today, thus our somewhat early Facebook announcement. We are praying over this lil miracle and praising our creator!  Love, Stefanie, Sean and Grant

And so we began to plan and prepare for Griffin's arrival in March. God had other plans...

Facebook, January 13, 2012

It's Sean.........Stef went into labor last night ab 6:30 & nothing was working in trying to slow things down. So @10:13pm Griffin Samuel Reeder was born via csec. He weighs 4lbs & came off the breathing vent this morning. Stef is recovering great & GS is progressing nicely. Grant will get to meet his baby brother today sometime. Please pray for this little guy & Stef.

Update #1

Facebook, January 16, 2012

Thank you all so much who have stopped to pray for our sweet Griffin. We are in awe of how well he is doing. God is holding him in the palm of his hand. We are so grateful. He is continuing to make great strides for a 30 weeker. His bloodwork is looking clear, he is breathing completely on his own, not even on oxygen, which is huge and he is doing great with his feeding tube. I got to hold him yesterday for the first time and even change the most beautiful poopy diaper I have ever seen. He is very clear about his likes and dislikes and yesterday, every time we got to visit him, he would open his lil eyes and look right at us. He is strong. Our God is faithful. Grant has been so sweet and we are blessed that he has been with his Grandparents since Griffin's arrival. He has got to visit Griffin and informed us it was the best day of his life. We are so thankful that G2 is receiving such great care and we know he has been covered in prayer by all of you. We have been so blessed by everyone who has visited, called, texted and prayed. It means more to us than you will ever know. The Doctor told us that is could be as long as 10 weeks or as short as 6 weeks before Griffin can join us at home. This is scary and logistically overwhelming for me to process right now. Please continue to prayer for Griffin to progress well, for wisdom and skill for the physicians and nurses caring for him and that he is comfortable and continues to grow stronger. Our next big task will be to get him to learn to feed. It is hard for preemies to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time. As of now, he is receiving my milk through a feeding tube. The physicians are stressing how important the antibodies are he is receiving from that are and I am grateful that it is working out. He is also being given extra vitamens and calories to help him get stronger. We are praying he continues to progress well and that they can begin this process of introducing a bottle in the next couple of weeks. As he grows, he will also need to be able to maintain his body temp, so with more weight gain, he can work on that. And that is all we know as of now. Griffin has been a surprise blessing to us since day one and his early arrival has been no different. We are madly in love with this lil fighter and trying to draw strength and peace at the feet of our Father as we walk through this new trial. Please continue to pray for our family. Our God is big. Love to all ~ Stef

Update #2

Facebook, January 17, 2012

A little update... last night I was discharged. I had to leave my sweet boy and that was difficult. Yet I had peace- overwhelming peace. Peace that can only come through a Father who promises to carry us. So Griffin and I are taking this one step, one day at a time. He is in God's palm and I am at His feet. That's my mantra.Sean has been amazing through every moment of this. I am in awe of his strength and ability to anticipate my every need. He will be playing a great deal of baseball this summer. Grant fell asleep next to me in bed last night- a rare treat and it was good for my soul. I am so blessed.
We were back at the hospital at 7:30 am and Griffin had a great night. I got to speak to the nurse practitioner on rounds this am and she had nothing but positive news. He is doing so well and is so strong. We are so thankful for where we are. They've uped his tube feedings and will up them again tonight if he tolerates them today. He's moving in the right direction and we are so grateful. I haven't got to hold him yet today because his temp has been a lil low and his warm bed is best right now. I am continent to just sit and look at him. He had his brain ultrasound today and hope to have results tomorrow. Grant got to spend some time this morning with Griffin, touching and talking to his little brother he prayed so hard for. While talking to him, Grant started to wipe tears away from his eyes and I reminded him Griff was ok and he said no Mommy, they are happy tears. Sean got it on video and it is a treasure.
Everyone's love, support and prayers are carrying us through. If I haven't got a chance to text or call back, please know it is not because it doesn't mean the world to me, it's just that things are a lil crazy right now. If I am not trying to pump for G2 (tmi?), then I am trying to ease back into caring for G1. I'm a Mommy of two sweet boys. Still can't believe it! We love you all and are so grateful for everything. You are His hands and feet to us and my how he provides! Please continue to pray for Griffin, that he remains strong, healthy and continues to move forward and that his brain scan comes back clear, also for the nurses and drs caring for him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Love Stefanie, Sean, Grant and Griffin