An update from my brother:

Thank you for all the calls, texts, and messages that you've sent Becky and I over the past 24 hours.  We are forever indebted to the kindness of all of our dear friends and family.

For those of you interested in a detailed account of what has happened over the past few days, read on...

Jarrett Jacob Plank was born at 12:42pm Thursday.  He came quick - we had only been at the hospital, Baptist East, about 40 minutes!  It all happened so quick Becky wasn't able to take any pain-killing drugs. In other words, she did it the old-fashioned way. It was pretty incredible! She did an amazing job.

A couple of hours after he was born, Jarrett and Becky were moved to the newborn floor, where we could receive visitors.  Aunt Esther, Ally, Grandma Plank, and even Tracey, my boss at WMC, stopped by to meet our new little man.  It was an awesome evening.

Amidst those visits, however, we started noticing a few things that didn't seem quite right.  First, Jarrett wasn't eating. He refused to breast feed, and when a nurse finally offered him a bottle, he gagged and spit it up.  He also had a noticeable bulge in his abdomen.  But most striking to me was how quiet and sleepy he was.  Jarrett just didn't seem to care or respond to almost any stimulus.

Around 6am, after working with him on and off all night, a nurse took him to the nursery, where she said he might be fed with a tube. Around 2 hours later, a pediatrician visited to tell us Jarrett was heading to the NICU (Neo-natal intensive care unit). Thus began a very long day.

Though it was mentioned by the pediatrician in our early morning meeting, a noon-time visit by a geneticist confirmed what doctors believe is wrong: Jarrett has Down Syndrome. Though it has not been officially confirmed with a blood test (results are pending), he is exhibiting several physical signs of DS.

Of more immediate concern, a different doctor told us late Friday afternoon, is that Jarrett is also suffering from Hirschsprung's disease, which means the nerve cells that control the function of his colon are not present.  Baptist was not equipped to handle this type of disorder, so they transferred him to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis.

As it turns out, the reason Jarrett was not eating is he was not pooping.  Because of Hirschsprung's disease, he can't feel that it is time to poop, so he doesn't.  That's why his abdomen was bulging.  The cure for this will be a medical procedure that you can read more about by Googling.  If all goes well, Jarrett will undergo surgery late this week or early next.  We're not sure how long he will be in the hospital for this - personally, I would love to have the little guy home for Christmas.

The longer term consequences of Hirschprung's and the Down Syndrome are something we can't know.  We do know that we are very sad and confused.  At the same time, we feel so blessed to have a beautiful baby boy, and that he is staying at one of the best children's hospitals in the nation.

I don't really know what else to say, except that, again, we appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.  As we know more, we will let you all know.