We have a new website for our little family. Here you can read the whole story about Cade's little life as beautifully told by my wife. It is a detailed description of Cade's time in the hospital.

http://web.mac.com/ianandjulie

Praise God...always.

We have good news!!! Our sweet little Cade boy is finally HOME! :)
After 8 weeks (56 days) in the NICU, our precious boy is home! Cade
did marvelous this weekend with all his feedings and for the past week
has been doing especially great! So, this afternoon, we said our
goodbyes at the hospital (which was hard!) and packed the little guy
into his carseat for the first time!! He is up to 6 lbs 12.1 ounces
and is 19 1/4" long! He passed his developmental, hearing, and eye
tests with flying colors!! He is just the sweetest thing, he just
wanted to meet us 9 1/2 weeks early!

You can continue to pray for us as we adjust to life with a baby at
home! Having the nurses and doctors always available to answer to our
every question was nice, so it will be an adjustment being home! We
will just have to continue to trust the Lord with Cade's life! It has
been a blessing because Julie has had 8 weeks to fully recover from
the surgery and rest up (even though she was still up every three
hours! Now, it will be waking up to a baby, not an alarm clock!)

We are so thankful for our little boy and even though this road has
been tough, we praise the Lord for what he has done in our lives and
the things he has taught us throughout this experience... Thank you so
much for all the love and support that you have shown to our family...
Thank you for the prayers! We greatly appreciate it!!

As for visitors, just give us a call. We are going to have to be very
conservative with people holding and touching him, so you can come and
look at him if you'd like!! :) Just call Ian and arrange a time! Thanks!

With Love,
Ian, Julie, and Cade Martin

Cade is 34 weeks! (well, 26 days old, technically! :)

Who knew the month of July would be so eventful!!! Everyday Ian and I just stand in amazement of what God is doing in our lives... Our precious son has made us so thankful for the gift of life and the blessing of children. Though he is not at home in our arms, we praise the Lord that He has given Cade the gift of life and is being cared for by an amazing group of doctors and nurses for now.

Cade is 34 weeks gestational age (Full Term babies are born around 40 weeks, so he "should" have 6 more weeks to cook inside of me!)... They attempted to bottle feed our sweetie yesterday for the first time. We knew this would be a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs and we just prayed for Cade in this area... Well, the Lord answered our prayers and Cade did amazingly well! The Occupational Therapist that works with the preemie babies was shocked at how well he did! He took in half his feeding (15 mL) in 20 minutes and burped a ton! This may seem like something so trivial, but we PRAISE THE LORD for allowing Cade to do so well and we KNOW it is a gift and blessing from Him! Today, on his second day He did just as well!!! He took in 21 mL and burped a ton!!

God is so awesome, babies don't develop the suck/swallow/breathe reflex until about 34 weeks and Cade picked it up marvelously, just around the time a baby still in the womb would start. God truly knits us in our mothers wombs and sustains us outside the womb!!

As for stats, he is 17 1/4" long and 4 lbs. 5 oz!!! It is amazing, he looks like a totally different baby from when he was born! He is absolutely adorable! He is getting chunk on his little legs and even has a little double chin!

Thank you all for praying for us and please continue to do so! We know Cade's life, and our lives are in the Lord's hands and we are so thankful for where He has put us right now. We have met many people that we can minister to that we never would have met if we did not have Cade in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)... The Lord knows best!!

-Ian, Julie & Baby Cade

Well, it has been quite the roller coaster ride for the Martin family, but the Lord has sustained us through it all! Thank you all for praying for us during this time and we would ask that you continue to pray!

For a little update, Cade is doing well! He has been in the NICU for 18 days and our little man is growing!! When he was born, He was 3 lbs. 0.7 oz, 15 1/2" long... As of Thursday night, he was 3 lbs. 10.7 oz. 17 1/4" long!! The growth might seem small, but for the little guy, it's a big deal! We praise the Lord that he is growing and know that Cade is completely in the Lord's hands! The apnea (pauses in breathing that is very common in premature babies) that he was having is greatly decreasing and his IV should be coming out tomorrow!
The doctors are increasing his feedings to 1 oz every three hours and they will start to bottle feed him next week. Please pray for Cade with the bottle feeding as they say that is one of the hardest things for the little ones to get the hang of.

As for the question everyone is asking, "When will Cade be home?!" We don't know!! Pray!!! :) But, they say in order to be released, a baby needs to be gaining weight, maintaining their own body temperature, feeding completely through bottle/nursing...
So, Cade is gaining weight, he is able to maintain his body temperature on his own, he just needs to get the bottle feeding down (which will start next week, Lord willing!)...

As for Julie, she is still recovering, but the Lord has really given her the strength to be at the hospital with Cade during the day. Thankfully, she has had very little pain from the surgery! Praise the Lord! It will be nice when she can drive herself to and from the hospital, but praise the Lord for gracious parents (chauffeurs)!!

So, thank you all for praying for us and serving us in various ways! We praise the Lord for the body of Christ!! Please continue to pray for strength for us as this is just a very emotional experience that does have its ups and downs! But, we know Cade is completely in the Lord's hands and we have to trust God's perfect will for our lives and for Cade's!

Until His Glorious Return.....
Ian, Julie & Cade

WOW! What a couple days this has been! Well, for those of you who haven't heard....we have a baby BOY!! Yesterday morning, July 2nd, 2007 at 744am, the Lord brought us Cade James Martin. The official stats on Cade are 3 pounds 0.7 ounces, 15 1/2 inches long. He is doing excellent and is breathing on this own. Julie was just able to get up today and go down and see the little guy. A little overwhelming but she did great.

Julie started having pain with the contractions again at 5am yesterday morning and by 730, I was standing outside the C-Section room in scrubs wondering what in the world was going on. What an amazing experience. God has been so good and He's allowed us to get rest and have a ton of visitors so far and also get some good sleep. We are going to be at the hospital for at least 2 more days, maybe 3. Cade on the other hand, will be here a little longer. He will be in the NICU for about 7 or 8 weeks and then we will be able to take him home. That is good for us because that will give us time to get ready at home because nothing is ready to go right now.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. You are all welcome to come by and see us at Glendale Adventist. Please call before you come. Praise the Lord!!!
--
Until His Glorious Return.....
Ian Paul Martin & Julie Elizabeth Martin & Cade James Martin
http://Abort73.com
We Dare You to Know!

Well, we made it to the month of July! We are still about 9 weeks out from Julie's actual due date so we still have a ways to go. The past 2 days have been a bit tougher than the first 2 days. Julie is doing really well hanging in there but the baby seems to have other plans. The contractions she was feeling have picked up again and now instead of being 1 or 2 contractions an hour, she is feeling them about 4 or 5 times an hour. The drugs they are giving her to help the muscles relax and the contractions to slow down are not working as well as they did at first.

We had a great conversation with the doctor today about different things we can expect. He said that we are going to try and keep this baby in as long as possible but we know that the Lord is in control and has a time set for that baby to be born. It was neat to talk about the Lord with the doctor since he is a believer.

We've talked with a nurse from the NICU where our baby will be if born prematurely. I got a chance to go up and see all the premature babies that they have here right now. I got to speak to the parents of a baby who was born at 25 weeks and is now 10 weeks out of the womb and doing very well. We have also had a couple ultrasounds just to check on the baby which was neat. Julie is starting to crack though and wants to find out what we are having.

Continue to pray for Julie just that she can be as comfortable as possible and just have a peace that only God can give. Pray for our little one that it comes to know the Lord at an early age and that it is healthy. Pray for me that I would be a servant to my wife. Again, all the phone calls, emails, text messages, gifts, flowers, food, Jamba Juice, and especially love are very much appreciated. Thank you SO much! You can see all the blogs at ianpaulmartin.blogspot.com.

--
Until His Glorious Return.....
Ian Paul Martin & Julie Elizabeth Martin & Baby
http://Abort73.com
We Dare You to Know!

Hello all,

Sometimes I wonder if I'm in the right room are not. Some of the rumors we hear back about what is going on with Julie are pretty funny. I just want to expose the rumor that Julie is NOT 9 cm dialated and about to give birth to triplets. Here is what is really going on:

Since the email from yesterday, things are going really well. The contractions that were at one point pretty painful and coming every 3 minutes, thanks to the drugs, have now calmed down considerably and she is having 1 or 2 contractions per hour and they are usually not very painful. The doctor is still having Julie on complete bed rest so going home doesn't look favorable. The only way we would be able to go home is if the contractions completely stop and stay stopped for a long period of time. Other than that happening, we are still hanging out at Glendale Adventist.

Visitors are still welcome really at any time but please call me before just so I can make sure its a good time. Your phone calls and text messages (as long as you have Verizon) are more than welcome to me and they are not a burden to me. They are actually a really huge encouragement. So thank you for all your phone calls and emails and text messages. We thank you for your prayers and we look forward to what the Lord has in store for us. We are just taking this one day at a time and we know the Lord has a plan so we are trusting in that. Be encouraged that the Lord is our God and we are trusting Him!

Well, this blog is going to be the email updates I am sending around about my wife who is currently 31 weeks pregnant and is in the hospital due to early contractions. I will keep this updated as the emails go out.

We figured with all the baby noise being made this week at Calvary, we
thought we would add to the fun!

Yesterday morning Julie was having some tightness in her belly which
we thought may have been contractions. She went to the doc to get
checked up and everything was fine so they told her to go home, drink
plenty of fluids and get some rest.

Last night about 1030, the contractions came back stronger and this
time, were very painful for Julie and they were as close as 2 minutes
apart. She tried to go to sleep but to no avail, so at 4 this morning,
we made our way back to the hospital and this time, the doctor decided
it would be a good idea to admit her.

The doctor said she needed to stay on bed rest and to try and get the
contractions more spread out. He also said that if the contractions
don't slow down, the baby could be born as early as today but as far
in the future as 6 weeks. After a serious of IV's, shots, and my
personal fav...steroids, they are now pretty spread apart at about one
every 20 minutes, and Julie is not in really any pain at all. Julie is
at 31 weeks tomorrow so the longer the little one stays in the womb,
the better.

We will be at Glendale Adventist until the doc says otherwise. We
would appreciate your prayers greatly. Julie is doing very well right
now and the baby is doing fantastic as well. We know that we serve a
great and gracious God who does exactly what He pleases on His own
timing. :) We are planning our ways, and the Lord is directing our
steps. Visitors are welcome, but it would probably be a good idea to
call first. You can call me on my cel phone or on Julie's
phone.

We are looking forward to adding to the group! I'll keep y'all updated
as much as I can. God bless.