A special request for Luke!

Luke has been off ECMO oxygen now for almost six hours and is doing very well. His oxygen levels on his vent have been turned down to 50% and so far, the doctors are pleased with his blood gases. Keep praying that Luke does well and that his lungs are able to continue working on their own.

Please pray for Benson and I as well. I know he mentioned on the previous post...but the past two days have been really tough on us. He is the most perfect little baby. I keep picturing what he would look like with all of those tubes and wires off of him and what it would be like to be at home with him right now. I think of his nursery and bassinet sitting beside our bed and sitting at home on the couch with him in my arms. I think of how things should be - and it breaks my heart. He is everything I ever dreamed of and I would give anything in this world for him to be a perfect, healthy little boy. I know that we are going through this for a reason and that God is in control but when you sit where we sit every minute of the day watching nurses do everything they can to save your baby's life - it really begins to wear you down. I wish that I could be the mom that I always dreamed of being to Luke right now. I wish I could change his diapers and sit up all night and rock him to sleep. I wish I could just hold him and tell him its all going to be okay. I know God chose us for this and I have a real peace inside, so does Benson, but that doesn't mean that our hearts don't hurt. The only thing that gets us through every second of the day are your prayers and comments. We read them constantly over and over again and it gives us strength in knowing that people are being touched by everything we are feeling. So....

Benson and I have a special request for ALL of you. We would like to be able to share with Luke how his life is touching the world. We know the strength that it gives us and we can only hope that by reading your words to him will give him strength as well. We will keep all of them and put them in a book so we can read them to Luke every day and show them to him when he gets older so he will be able to know what a miracle he is.

So if you have been touched by Luke, please - take the time to send us a "cheer card". These are printed out and delivered to us every day and are the easiest way for us to have something to hold on to while we are here at Kosairs. You can send them by going to: http://www.nortonhealthcare.com/body.cfm?id=26. Here is the information below:

Luke Sexton
Kosair Children's Hospital
Room 408

You can write up to 500 words. If you would like to write something longer, feel free to email them to us at bensonsexton@hotmail.com. Also, if you would like to send cards or packages you can mail them to:

Kosair Children's Hospital
Luke Sexton
PICU
231 E. Chestnut Street
Louisville, KY 40202

Please be as open as you feel led to be. We want Luke to know exactly how the Lord is using him in lives of people he has never even met. We look forward to getting them and reading them to our son. Please pass the word along so that everyone who wants can have the opportunity to encourage our little guy. We thank you in advance for your outpouring of love and support. It really means the world to us.

Here are some more pictures of our little man. He is looking more and more like himself these days!

Sleeping like a baby.

Holding Mommy's hand.

Luke's little buddy that helps him hold up his ventilator.

His crawdad toes! They stay open like this all of the time.

Looking at Mommy on my birthday. See how handsome I am! :)

Happy Birthday Luke! You made it through your first week in this big scary world. No one thought you would be with us this long...but you are a fighter and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you! Keep it up sweet boy. We love you more than you'll ever know.

-- Kristin