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!!!
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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.

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