Jack Jensen's Blog: He Crawls!!!!!!!

Monday, August 4, 2008

He Crawls!!!!!!!

James called me at work today with the exciting news that Jack can crawl! I couldn't believe it but when I got home it was true. Granted it's not the most graceful of crawls yet, but it's definite forward motion. It's funny because he's in physical therapy for lack of arm/torso strength and he doesn't use his legs to crawl but drags himself. He was also able to reach for toys when James put them on the floor in front of him. This was something they've been working on to build strength. I guess it works because he did both for the first time today! What a day!!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

9 comments:

Aep said...: What a day!!! That is amazing! WTG Jack!! Here comes army crawling! I am sure he will soon put the two (arms and legs) together. Love the reaching while sitting. We work on the same thing with Marco.
Very happy for you guys. Seeing those milestones is so nice and rewarding!!
Hugs,
Ana and Marco; August 4, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Fer said...: WTG!!!!!!!!! Vicki, you are not going to beleive it, but Juan Pablo also crawled TODAY!!!! Our sons share this day and a big milestone day! Check it out on my blog :); August 4, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Jen said...: Awesome Jack, what a big day!! I can't stop myself from smiling and laughing out loud when he shakes and gets excited after reaching for his blocks. Too cute!!

Jen Miller; August 4, 2008 at 9:17 PM
Gina said...: I cried when I saw Jack crawl and grab his toys. What a huge milestone and a reason to celebrate after everything Jack has been through. He is a miracle!; August 4, 2008 at 9:21 PM
amy said...: I loved how he looked to the side first "hmm... maybe there are some toys over here I want even more..."; August 5, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Gillian Brown said...: Wow - Jacks doing so well crawling.I sat and smiled the whole way through the video..I wish my wee man would think about moving of some kind - one day maybe!Great to see jack looking so well.
Gil x; August 5, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Cindy said...: Way to go Jack! I laughed at him getting excited over the toys.; August 6, 2008 at 9:25 AM
*super dude and super dog* said...: YAY!!!! Go Jack Go! One day soon he'll be all over the house, into everything :); August 7, 2008 at 8:20 PM
Elizabeth said...: Watch out world - Jack is mobile!

Now you will find everything you missed when you baby-proofed!

With thoughts and prayers,
Elizabeth; August 7, 2008 at 11:14 PM

Jack's Diagnosis and Recovery

At our 19 week ultrasound Jack was diagnosed with CDH. One week later James and I went to Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for more extensive analysis. We had a fetal MRI and saw that his hernia was on the left side (the most common) and at that time his liver was 'up' or in his chest. His heart was pushed to the right in his chest and he had a normal sized right lung and a very small left lung (about 1/5 the normal size). Overall his CDH was classified as severe with a Lung to Head (LHR) ratio of 0.8. His echocardiogram showed that his heart was beating strong and there was no underlying congenital heart defect. His amnio was also normal. The prognosis was 20-50% chance of survival at birth. The struggle we faced with this diagnosis was that there is little correlation between prenatal diagnostic test results and outcome at birth. Some babies with mild defects do poorly and some with severe defects pull through and do very well. All we could do was try to be optimistic and hope and pray that Jack would be a strong baby and fight hard. On August 20, 2007 John Verner Jensen "Jack" was born by C-section at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. Within hours of birth he was placed on ECMO (heart-lung bypass). He had a 10 day run on ECMO and went to his hernia repair surgery on this machine. He was missing 90% of his left diaphragm, had his entire stomach, spleen, and parts of his small and large intestines and liver in his chest and he required a gortex patch. Jack came out of surgery off ECMO but with the cannulas still in place until later that night. He had a really hard night after surgery and we nearly lost him. We were later told his blood gases should have been unsurvivable and that it was pure will and not medicine that saved him. After 81 days in hospital we brought Jack home breathing room air and needing only an NG (naso-gastric) feeding tube. After 27 days home he reherniated and we had to go back for emergency surgery at Johns Hopkins. His awesome surgeons literally patched him back up and after another 16 days in hospital he returned home on Dec 21, 2007 - just in time for his first Christmas. Since then Jack has tackled his eating issues and is NG-tube free! He does not require any medication. We are extremely grateful for his incredible medical team and all his friends and family for their support, kind words, thoughts and prayers.

Jack's CarePage chronicles his day-to-day journey from diagnosis to approximately 6 months old (before we started blogging). See the link below.