Bringing Rayce Exum home!

A message from Tara, Cole, and Madi.

Our sweet Rayce was born on April 1, 2022 at St Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. Labor was the easiest part lasting only 4 hours from start to finish! When Rayce was born, we all noticed how small he was but didn’t think much of it. While doing skin to skin, I noticed that Rayce just wasn’t breathing or swallowing like he was supposed to and we were very concerned. Our worst nightmare came to life shortly after.. After an X-ray and further examination from the Nurse Practitioner and Pediatrician, it was discovered that Rayce was born with two birth defects; Esophageal Atresia and Tracheoesophageal Fistula. He was transported to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta a few hours after birth.

On April 2nd, Rayce underwent a successful operation to connect the esophagus to his stomach. He gave us quite a scare fighting the anesthesia but recovered quickly. Rayce had a chest tube put in place to drain any fluids from his lungs. A PICC line and a feeding tube was placed for Rayce’s nutrients while he healed from the operation. On April 8th, the chest tube was removed and we were finally able to hold our baby! The breathing tube was removed on the 9th and Rayce has been breathing on his own since! His first bottle feed was on April 10th and we’ve been working on them ever since. He was taking up to 15ml’s through the bottle but after his swallow study, he is being reduced back to 5ml’s. Milk is getting into his airway causing him to lose oxygen. Another swallow study will be done as an out patient procedure in about 6-8 weeks. Rayce will be coming home sometime before then with his feeding tube.

While Rayce is recovering extremely well, he has lots of scans, test and therapy sessions that have to be done before he can be discharged. We have been in Atlanta since the beginning of Rayce’s NICU journey and we will be back and forth for appointments and follow ups once he’s discharged. Without the help of family and friends who have sent donations to us personally, we would not have been able to stay here as long as we have. We are so very thankful for the support we have received! This has all been completely unexpected as I had a healthy pregnancy and nothing abnormal showed up in any blood work or ultrasounds.

Cole has been out of work since March 31st and will be out of work until we return home to Columbus, at this point we have no clue when that will be. We have started a routine so that we are both able to spend time with Rayce in which Cole visits during the morning hours and watches Madi while I visit every afternoon as she is not able to be in the NICU. Our month long stay in our Airbnb ends on April 30th so we will be looking at either hotels or another short term stay in an Airbnb, whichever is most affordable. We looked into the short term stay option in the hospital as well as the Ronald McDonald house and neither would’ve worked out for us.

Again, we appreciate everyone’s thoughts, prayers and donations during this time. We are so ready to bring our boy home and finally introduce him to his big sister!

Thank you, and God Bless.

Tara

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10