Help baby Zekiah's family

Hey, my name is Melissa Orebaugh. I had a baby boy during our home birth in Anthony, KS on 01/12/2023. Immediately after birth baby Zekiah was turning purple. Daddy (Micah Orebaugh) had to do mouth to mouth for 15 minutes before the ambulance arrived (our midwife was still on the way and giving Daddy instructions over the phone). The police and paramedics took over neonatal resuscitation upon arrival to our house. The teams and volunteers on site were EXTREMELY well trained, helpful, clear thinking, fast and clearly had thier whole hearts into helping our baby boy. They were able to quickly get him on oxygen, cut the umbilical cord, and get him to the hospital. Before long the amazing team at the Patterson Hospital in Harper County was able to get him stabilized. Before long, the medical team from Wichita arrived and diagnosed him with a Diaphragmatic Hernia. Which means his intestines had passed through a hole in his diaphragm and were putting a lot of pressure on his lungs and heart in his chest cavity. A few short hours later a helicopter arrived to life flight Zekiah to OU Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City. The staff at OU have been a blessing! After our arrival to OU, Zekiah has had 2 surgeries, 2 blood transfusions, he's been on oxygen, a and catheter. He had 2 artery line accesses for drawing blood and giving vitamins but they took those out today and switched it to a picc line. He has xrays on a daily basis and sometimes multiple in a day. Along with brain scans, I'm sure ive left out some things but its been a lot going on. He has a tube down his mouth that drawing out bile to release pressure in his gut. He also has a chest tube that is sucking out air pressure and fluids out of his chest cavity thats beside his lungs and heart. The current plan is for the chest tube to be taken out tomorrow. The chest tube and artery lines have been preventing me from being able to hold him. I'm excited I may get to hold him for the first time tomorrow. God has been very present in this whole situation and we're thankful that Zekiah has continued to show good progress since our arrival to the NICU. The name Zekiah means (God is my strength). His middle name Ezra means (God helps/ protects).

The doctors have said many kids with his condition they see stay in the NICU for 9 months. But for Zekiah they said we could wind up being here for 2 months or more. So the fundraiser is to help financially support us for the next 2 months and would be used for paying bills while we are away from home. That way daddy doesn't need to feel financially stressed and the need to work. This would help us to be able to stay by our baby's side rather than having to worry about a job. We have been blessed to be able to stay in the Ronald Mcdonald housing while the baby is in the NICU. Someone was able to pull some strings to allow us to have all 3 of our other kids stay with us. The kids are not allowed into the NICU. So that leaves daddy to watch them while I'm in the NICU for at least 6 hours a day. So any small amount of support would help so that we can focus on our baby and not have to have financial stress on top of this whole situation. Thankyou for your prayers and all your support through this tough time. God Bless You!