Pray for me...

Below is an e-mail my sister wrote at the beginning of Wyatt's journey...

Wyatt James Koger is strong, big, adorable and seemingly ready for the fight ahead of him. "A hole in my diaphragm?" the infant murmured to his mother, "Please, I can handle that." The infant even went as far as to send his mommy home from the hospital on Wedsnesday, just two days after his birth. Not before, however, giving her a bit of a scare.
An ECMO machine is similar to a heart and lung machine in that it provides cardiac and respiratory support. Blood is drained from the infant's body through tubes. The blood is then oxygenated and the carbon dioxide is removed. The blood is warmed and then returned to the body through more tubes. Essentially, the ECMO machine does the work for the heart and lungs, and gives the underdeveloped organs time to heal.

This machine is Wyatt's lifeline until surgery. Wyatt has Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, meaning that his diapragm was formed with a hole in it. His stomach and intestines are is in his chest cavity, not in his abdomen where they belong.Wyatt was on a breathing ventilator but his heart was not yet up to the challenge. He briefly went into cardiac arrest on Wedsnesday morning. Immediately, his heart was stabilized and he was put on the ECMO machine. The ECMO was operating at 100 percent, meaning Wyatt's organs had the day off and could completely relax. On Thursday, the doctor reduced it to 50 percent, and Friday to 40 percent.

Friday, he was slightly sedated, but the doctor pinched him and he opened his eyes. He even held our cousin, Christine's finger. It seems like everyone's thoughts and prayers are being answered.Gina and company are reading him stories, singing him songs, and giving him his fill of love. In three to ten days, it is hoped that the ECMO machine can be reduced and Wyatt can undergo surgery to put his organs back in place. After that, he is projected to stay in the NICU unit for about a month. He is blessed to have access to this machine (there are only three in Maryland), he is blessed to be born strong at 8lbs 2 oz, he is blessed to be beating the odds, and he is blessed to have such an optimistic mother that has been preparing him for the fight while he was inside of her. It's as though sometimes God rewards us by letting us see his work one small, slow-paced step at a time. It'll be a long road ahead, but Wyatt emailed me the other day telling me that he is confident that he will make it through. His P.S. was wondering if I could ask everyone I know to pray for him.