Dan Gould

Tag: Parenting

  • Prayer for Jackson and Us – Update

    Thanks for your prayers!

    Jackson was a trouper last night.  The ladies that work there said they got one of the best reads they ever have on an child his age.  I guess that is good news.  The bad news is we won’t know the results for 72 hours.  That means one of us has to be awake to monitor his sleeping.  Our pediatrician thinks it could be a form of acid reflux, something I don’t think our ENT doctor mentioned.  However, he mentioned it could be something neurological, which if you know our story, Jackson has a neurologist and is already on meds for Myoclonic Seizures to which he is supposes to grow out of by age four or five.

    It has been a stressful month with 3 hospital visits with Jackson including 2, 2 night stays and 1 ER visit for about 4 hours.  I can’t express how much your prayers mean to us.  We are humbled by your kind words and so appreciative of you interceding to the Father on our behalf!  With that we will always be grateful!

    Here is how you can pray specifically:

    – Pray for HEALING

    – Pray that God would be in Control

    – Pray that the doctors have wisdom in what is going on and how to treat it

    – Pray that Josiah still gets attention and isn’t affected negatively by whats going on with Jackson

    – Pray that God would be our provider spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially

    – Pray that God would multiply our sleep, comfort our fears, and give us supernatural peace and rest

  • Our Early Time

    This morning as we were getting ready Josiah said something that really caught me off guard but encouraged me also.  As he was in the shower he said, “Dad, we haven’t had our early time yet.”  I had to ask him what our early time was and this is what he said.  You know that time you get up early to talk with God.  WOW!

    A couple of weeks ago Josiah got up a little after I had and came out in the living room to ask what I was doing.  I told him that I get up early to read my Bible and talk with God.  I had no idea that it totally registered with him, but after today I understand that it has.

    Here is the lesson for me . . . He is watching everything that I do!  I know I have a lot of bad traits and habits that unfortunately Josiah and Jackson will probably pick up.  However, what I model for them is impacting them in real ways.  Nothing humbles me and yet excites me more than what Josiah shared with me today.  It almost like I was being held accountable by a 4 year old.  But he is watching, and as he grows, he will remember that his dad would get up early to spend time with God, and hopefully he will do the same thing because I modeled that for him.

    This song captures what I am feeling right now!

  • Back from Cali and the crazies begin

    Stephanie and I had a great time in California attending The Gathering at Saddleback Church.  It was a much needed break!  However, when we returned it didn’t take Jackson long to give us another scare.

    When Jackson sleeps he sleeps hard, but he sounds like he is snoring but we are learning that it is probably more of a wheeze.  On Sunday Night, he decided to stop breathing while he was sleeping.  Stephanie and I are already on edge at night because of his history, so we called the doctor, and the nurse asked how long he would go without breathing, I told her that I put my hand on him and he started breathing again.  The nurse said that it could be a form of sleep apnea and we should take him to the hospital.  So, we wake up Jackson, load up Josiah and start driving to the Children’s Hospital that we got to visit just 2 weeks ago.  Of coarse at this time Jackson is awake and seems to be his normal energetic self.  The ER Doctors were great, and said that by what they are seeing there is no reason for them to keep him; but if we would feel better they could monitor him through the night.  So we asked to stay since we have already met our deductible and just paid the $100.00 co-pay to address a problem that is unseen when he was a wake.

    So, Sunday Night Stephanie and Jackson stayed the night in the Hospital and Joe and I came home.  Jackson didn’t sleep much Sunday night so they were not able to observe him like we had hoped for.  He did fall asleep for a little nap in the morning and the nurses were able to hear him sleep.  At least they were able to hear what we hear and understand why we were there.  Later that afternoon Jackson fell asleep for a longer period of time and again stopped breathing a couple of times and the nurses were able to witness it this time first hand.  The monitors that were hooked up to him showed that he stopped breathing for about 7 seconds a time.  That’s good news but still not normal.  After they saw this, they did a throat and nose x-ray to see if there was any blockage and called an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.  We have an appointment tomorrow with the same doctor that clipped Jackson’s tongue when he was newborn.  The doctor says that it could be his tonsils or adenoids.  His tonsils are to much bigger than they are supposed to be but she couldn’t see his adenoids.  So needless to say we are home.  We know a little bit more than we did on Sunday, but we still have a son that stops breathing when he is sleeping.  Please continue to pray for him and our Family.

  • The New Setup

    Well, since we have been home we have been busy taking care of Jackson.  We are watching his temporture closely.  Josiah and I were busy moving his crib down to our room.  We decided to make the switch to a more permanent set up until we get a better control on his health.  Jackson has been sleeping in a pack-n-play in our room since April when we took him to the hospital via ambulance.

    We joked about selling our house and just getting a one room apartment.  In all honesty, that may not be a bad idea given the situation with Jackson.  Maybe we could find one down by the new Children’s Medical Center Legacy in Plano.

    Josiah has been a big help!  Today he helped me put together the crib.  He is such a good big brother!