It has been quite an adventure since having little Walter. It has been hard on all the kids, but they have been awesome. A sum up-Walter was life flighted the night of his birth to a higher level NICU due to breathing struggles. He turned out to have fluid in his lungs as well which turned to pnemonia-which possibly came from Strep B. That night he was put on several different ventilation items. In the process somewhere his stomach got filled with air with a misplaced ventilator This caused his belly to be quite large and distended. I was quite concerned that it was still distended when he left the NICU 2 weeks later. They said it would resolve itself via gas and poop. After 2 weeks of it not resolving and him seeming constipated and then every 2-3 days having explosive, and I mean explosive, poops, and 3 visits to his pediatrician about it, the pediatrician ordered x-rays and a kidney ultrasound. That was on a Monday. Tuesday the pediatrician said there was major blockage and it was putting pressure on the kidneys as well. To rule out Hirschprungs disease, which is in Jon's family and we were worried that it might be what was going on, he ordered an enema procedure where they veiw the colon under an xray. The technician was pretty positive that Walter had it. We got a call about 2 hours after the procedure from our pediatrician letting us know that Walter needed to head up to Primary Children's Hospital to have a biopsy and then likely surgery. They wanted us to head up that evening and get him admitted and on an IV, ready for the biopsy in the morning. The biopsy results take 24-48 hours to confirm. The results came back Friday afternoon-the results were positive-he has Hirschsprungs Disease. They scheduled the surgery for the following Tuesday and were going to send us home, but because of the regular vitals taken while at the hospital, they discovered that Walter had high blood pressure. That could be due to the pressure of the abdomen on the kidneys and pain. But they wanted to run some tests and make sure that there wasn't something else going on. We ended up staying until Sunday afternoon. They didn't find anything else that was really concerning. We got to go home for 2 nights before coming back. So many family members fasted for him and so many family and friends were praying for him. He did really well the day of the surgery-I was amazed that he stayed calm the whole day. His surgery wasn't until that afternoon and he couldn't nurse after 8. He did get some pedialyte at 11, but that was it. I expected him to be super fussy and wanting to eat for the rest of the day. Instead he was totally calm. I realized that he was really being helped through the prayers and fasting for him. They were delayed in surgery so he wasn't taken back until 4:30. At 9pm the Dr came out and let us know that the surgery went really well and that we would be able to go back and see him soon. I was so anxious to see my sweet baby. When we went back he was crying such a sad weak, full of misery cry. It was so heartbreaking to see him in such pain. I just held him and hurt for him. He looked up at me and it was so hard to not be able to do anything to make him feel better but hold him. My poor baby. We are still at the hospital recovering. He is doing well overall and we hope to be going home soon.
My other kids have been awesome through all this. They have had to do a lot on their own and take charge of a lot of things. I have been away from them quite a bit. They have visited here once when we were here last week and then once this week. If we end up spending tonight, they will come again this evening. My poor little Isabelle went from being my baby to not only being replaced as the baby, but being away from her mom a lot. It has been very hard on her. Jon brought her over a couple of days ago and she was so cute and sweet. I love her little hands and I love to hold them and hold and hug her.
The older kids were looking so forward to having their little brother and helped prepare for him, pick out cute outfits and get his room ready. Little did we know that he wouldn't be home much to enjoy those things for the first couple months of his life. He won't fit into some of the cute outfits the kids picked out before he was born. He will be 7 weeks old tomorrow and he spent the first 2 weeks in the NICU and we have been at Primary Childrens Hospital for 10 days so far. I hope we get to go home soon (possibly today).
Jon comes to visit each day. Walter loves his dad so much. He loves his voice-it is very calming to him. I think part of the reason it is so calming is because Jon was with Walter at the NICU and talked to him and read to him quite a bit. I didn't get to hold and nurse him until he was 6 days old. So all he got before that was us talking to him, singing to him, reading to him, and holding his tiny hand and rubbing his head.
While Jon was here the other day, the kids decided to surprise him and cleaned the whole house, including shining the bathrooms. They are such thoughtful kids. They are great helpers and are very responsible. They are
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Monday, May 8, 2017
The Day Our Sweet Isabelle Arrived
So I just found this-unpublished. Finishing things is not my strong point. Oh well, I will post it, 3 years later. I am now 7ish weeks away from having another baby, so maybe I'll post about him this year or maybe I'll wait 3 years again, ha ha. I will have to say that this pregnancy has also been quite miserable, though it is really neat to feel him move and I'm getting very excited to meet him-and Jonathan is ecstatic to be having a brother! So on to my post from 3 years ago about our dear, sweet Isabelle.
We were so excited to find out we were expecting this past summer (2013)-though also very nervous. I will admit that it was a hard pregnancy-maybe because I'm older, maybe because I was used to feeling pretty good most of the time, or maybe it really was just making me super miserable, but I felt absolutely awful for the first 25 weeks. It was a long pregnancy, that's all I can say. It wasn't so bad for about 8 weeks, and then the end was rough with stomach acid and lack of sleep, but that's for sure normal. The night before I couldn't sleep. I went into the baby's room and decided to work on some burp clothes I had wanted to make. Aubrey came in. She couldn't sleep either. We talked about the new baby and made the burp clothes together. It was really sweet. I took the kids to school the next morning. The c-section was scheduled for 5pm, getting to the hospital at 3. My kids were going home on the bus with friends. I didn't realize the bus driver would not let them get off on another stop than normal-I got a phone call from the school while I was being admitted saying I needed to pick up my kids because the bus driver wouldn't let them on the bus because they were getting off one stop earlier than normal-same bus, just getting off one stop earlier. I explained that I was in the hospital having my baby and that I had arranged for my kids to get off with their friends one stop earlier than their regular stop. Apparently the bus driver was being a real stickler and saying she wasn't going to allow it. I apologized and explained that I hadn't thought it would be a problem because friends had gone on the bus with my kids before. The bus driver insisted that the district bus supervisor give permission-the school had no authority over her. Anyway, the school secretary said she would work it out, though I was nervous about my kids getting to the homes we had planned out. I had 2 kids going to one home and I had dropped Amelia off at another home where Mariah had a friend she was coming home on the bus with. I was good friends with both the mom's. I called them both to let them know the situation and they said they would let me know as soon as they had my kids. So that was a nice way to start out my delivery-ha ha.
I do not enjoy being prepped for a c-section, but I always do appreciate my anesthesiologist. Mostly you just feel a lot of pressure and i all Jon how it's going. I heard little Isabelles cry right as they ppulled her out. Out was so precious and I couldn't wait to see and hold her. I think it is so dear to be able to hold your baby as soon as she comes out. My Dr. knew this and was so good to me and laid her on my chest and I got to talk to her and touch her for a minute before they checked vitals and whatnot. Then they brought her to me as soon as I was out of surgery. That's the hard part about a c-section, probably the hardest. Finishing up and getting out of surgery to a room where you can really hold your baby. I loved holding her close and starting to nurse. It was so precious. I think after having a miscarriage I was more attached to her. (I was the same way with Amelia-didn't let her out of my site and hardly put off my hands). I kept her not only in my room my entire stay, but tucked into my shirt on the hospital bed and we just cuddled and rested together. The whole time. It was really really sweet.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Hand Quilting
I've wanted to teach my kids how to hand quilt for a long time. One of the main reasons we started homeschooling was to be able to do projects and activities as a family. I have had this piece of fabric for a long time and figured this would be a great item to learn on, as the kids have also been learning their states &
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