Monday, May 10, 2010
Andrew to Our Children's House
We got word that a bed opened up this afternoon. Andrew will be transported to Our Children's House from 10-11. Please pray for a smooth ride.
Monday, May 10
We hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. We spent ours at the NICU visiting Andrew, taking a quick nap when we got home, and taking the girls to Kevin's parent's house for dinner. Thanks to Kevin's brother, sister-in-law, and niece for watching the girls while we went to Dallas.
We found out on Friday that Andrew is waiting for a bed to open at Our Children's House. The coordinator is visiting with him today, and we hope something opens in the next few days. Andrew's carbon dioxide levels have come up a little, but they're still in an acceptable range. He continues to need oxygen in the 20's, which is awesome. The nurses snapped some great pictures of him on Friday and made Mother's Day cards for Tara. He's really photogenic. We also had a nice surprise on Saturday. One of Andrew's nurses from Grapevine called and asked to baby sit the girls for us. It was a great surprise and gave our moms the weekend off. We were able to go see Andrew and have an early Mother's Day date night.
The girls are doing ok, but still suffer from acid reflux. They're going back to arching their backs, crying, and sputtering their milk when we feed them. The increase of Prevacid worked for a couple of days, but now we'll be calling the Pedi again. They continue to gain weight and strength. Mattie has a re-check appointment on Tuesday. Her calcium levels were high last time, so they decreased one of her meds. We're also taking the girls to Our Children's House - Grapevine on Friday for an evaluation for therapies.
Praise
For great moms.
For first time moms.
Andrew still doing good with no setbacks.
Prayer
A bed would open up for Andrew.
The girls' acid reflux would decrease, and they would be comfortable.
We found out on Friday that Andrew is waiting for a bed to open at Our Children's House. The coordinator is visiting with him today, and we hope something opens in the next few days. Andrew's carbon dioxide levels have come up a little, but they're still in an acceptable range. He continues to need oxygen in the 20's, which is awesome. The nurses snapped some great pictures of him on Friday and made Mother's Day cards for Tara. He's really photogenic. We also had a nice surprise on Saturday. One of Andrew's nurses from Grapevine called and asked to baby sit the girls for us. It was a great surprise and gave our moms the weekend off. We were able to go see Andrew and have an early Mother's Day date night.
The girls are doing ok, but still suffer from acid reflux. They're going back to arching their backs, crying, and sputtering their milk when we feed them. The increase of Prevacid worked for a couple of days, but now we'll be calling the Pedi again. They continue to gain weight and strength. Mattie has a re-check appointment on Tuesday. Her calcium levels were high last time, so they decreased one of her meds. We're also taking the girls to Our Children's House - Grapevine on Friday for an evaluation for therapies.
Praise
For great moms.
For first time moms.
Andrew still doing good with no setbacks.
Prayer
A bed would open up for Andrew.
The girls' acid reflux would decrease, and they would be comfortable.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Thursday, May 6
We got a call from the neonatologist this morning, and he had spoken to the pulmonologist, who is following Andrew's case. He will also be seeing him at Our Children's House. He was very pleased with Andrew's progress and how he responded to being put on the home vent. His x-rays looked pretty good and his carbon dioxide level was 50. They want to wean him a little off the ventilator and re-check his carbon dioxide tomorrow, but they are planning to move him to Our Children's House on Monday. We are overcome with joy and actually danced when we heard the news. It will still be several more weeks of being at Our Children's House, but Andrew is one step closer to coming home.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Wednesday, May 5
We've had a really good week since Andrew's surgery. He is improving daily, and we've seen some numbers that we've never seen. Andrew's carbon dioxide levels were 42 on Monday and 48 today. This is unbelievable. His oxygen needs have dropped to the 30's and last night he was actually at 21% for some time last night. He looks awesome too. His color is great, and he has seemed very comfortable. He is off the morphine and is getting his staples taken out today. He got moved to the. home vent today as well, and when we arrived his oxygen was 23 percent. We hope the move to the home vent is his final step to discharge from the hospital and over to Our Children's House. He had an x-ray last week, and we could actually see his heart. Instead of cloudy white, his lungs were dark and relatively clear.
The girls are doing good. They had some issues this weekend with feeding. They were both crying and arching their backs when we fed them. We thought it was frozen milk until they did it with fresh milk too. Our pediatrician increased their Prevacid, and they are doing much better. Mattie took a bottle for Kevin in 13 minutes today. They are both becoming more alert during the day, which is a lot of fun. Tara and her mom took the girls to the backyard yesterday and put them in their pack-n-play under a tree. The girls loved it.
Tara had a really rough Monday with the girls when they were still having acid reflux issues. After she fed Adelaide, she was holding her when Adelaide threw up all over Tara. Kevin was at home, but about to leave for work. He helped grab burp clothes and a clean shirt, but it threw the whole day off. Tara had puke in her hair the rest of the day. Mattie decide to pile on to her mom's pain by also throwing up on her at the end of the day. We thought everyone would enjoy a throw up story since we've shared so many poop stories.
Praise
Andrew's unbelievable progress.
Tara's mom staying with us overnight and giving us rest.
Both of our moms helping daily while we go to Dallas.
Adelaide and Mattie feeling better with the increase of Prevacid.
Andrew's last eye exam went great. The doctor doesn't want to see him for a year.
The meals keep coming. Thank you all.
Prayers
Andrew would have a good x-ray and blood gas now that he's on the home vent.
Kevin and Tara can work on their schedules.
Continued weight gain and growth.
The girls are doing good. They had some issues this weekend with feeding. They were both crying and arching their backs when we fed them. We thought it was frozen milk until they did it with fresh milk too. Our pediatrician increased their Prevacid, and they are doing much better. Mattie took a bottle for Kevin in 13 minutes today. They are both becoming more alert during the day, which is a lot of fun. Tara and her mom took the girls to the backyard yesterday and put them in their pack-n-play under a tree. The girls loved it.
Tara had a really rough Monday with the girls when they were still having acid reflux issues. After she fed Adelaide, she was holding her when Adelaide threw up all over Tara. Kevin was at home, but about to leave for work. He helped grab burp clothes and a clean shirt, but it threw the whole day off. Tara had puke in her hair the rest of the day. Mattie decide to pile on to her mom's pain by also throwing up on her at the end of the day. We thought everyone would enjoy a throw up story since we've shared so many poop stories.
Praise
Andrew's unbelievable progress.
Tara's mom staying with us overnight and giving us rest.
Both of our moms helping daily while we go to Dallas.
Adelaide and Mattie feeling better with the increase of Prevacid.
Andrew's last eye exam went great. The doctor doesn't want to see him for a year.
The meals keep coming. Thank you all.
Prayers
Andrew would have a good x-ray and blood gas now that he's on the home vent.
Kevin and Tara can work on their schedules.
Continued weight gain and growth.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 28
We are simple amazed at how the surgery went today. The surgeon called it a "God thing".
They opened Andrew up to perform the nissen, and as the surgeon was lifting his liver, his liver slipped out of his hand. The surgeon put his hand under the liver and felt something hard. He discovered that the sphincter between the stomach and the small intestine was hard and the opening had contracted. In fact, he also discovered that the g-tube that was supposed to be in his stomach was far into his small intestine. There's a big medical term for the hardening of the sphincter, but we can't say it or spell it. Apparently, Andrew developed this condition since his last surgery. Since the sphincter was contracted, the food in Andrew's stomach had no where to go but up, which is probably the cause of the reflux. The doctor placed the g-tube in the correct spot and corrected the opening to the small intestine. He is hoping that this will correct Andrew's problem, but a nissen may be needed later. We are so thankful for the answer to our prayers. Andrew is resting comfortably.
Mattie's heart rate increased to over 200 last night. There could be a couple of reasons, but we're hoping it was effects of her immunizations. The pediatrician suggested a cold compress and that helped her. We'll keep an eye on her and will be taking her to Cook Children's if it happens again.
Praise
Andrew didn't have to have the nissen.
Our skilled surgeon.
The prayers and support for Andrew.
Prayer
Andrew's recovery and healing.
Mattie's heart rate would stay down.
Adelaide's fever would go down. Side effects from the immunizations.
They opened Andrew up to perform the nissen, and as the surgeon was lifting his liver, his liver slipped out of his hand. The surgeon put his hand under the liver and felt something hard. He discovered that the sphincter between the stomach and the small intestine was hard and the opening had contracted. In fact, he also discovered that the g-tube that was supposed to be in his stomach was far into his small intestine. There's a big medical term for the hardening of the sphincter, but we can't say it or spell it. Apparently, Andrew developed this condition since his last surgery. Since the sphincter was contracted, the food in Andrew's stomach had no where to go but up, which is probably the cause of the reflux. The doctor placed the g-tube in the correct spot and corrected the opening to the small intestine. He is hoping that this will correct Andrew's problem, but a nissen may be needed later. We are so thankful for the answer to our prayers. Andrew is resting comfortably.
Mattie's heart rate increased to over 200 last night. There could be a couple of reasons, but we're hoping it was effects of her immunizations. The pediatrician suggested a cold compress and that helped her. We'll keep an eye on her and will be taking her to Cook Children's if it happens again.
Praise
Andrew didn't have to have the nissen.
Our skilled surgeon.
The prayers and support for Andrew.
Prayer
Andrew's recovery and healing.
Mattie's heart rate would stay down.
Adelaide's fever would go down. Side effects from the immunizations.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 27
The pulmonologist visited Andrew yesterday, and Andrew was laboring and working very hard to breathe. They call it retracking when he's breathing so hard that his ribs are showing. The doctor decreased his pressures and rates on his ventilator. Andrew's carbon dioxide levels were elevated as well, and they're still high today. They were back in the 70s. We also received the results of a culture that was done on his trach. It showed that he has two bacteria growing that are from his acid reflux. So, his acid reflux is getting into his lungs and he's aspirating. We were hoping that they might be able to perform a procedure that would extend his g-tube to help relieve the reflux. The pediatric surgeon told us that he's too small for this procedure. Our last choice is to perform another surgery called a nissen. We've exhausted every option because we don't want our boy to go through another surgery, but we have to get the nissen done to help his lungs. The nissen is when they wrap the stomach around the esophagus, so the reflux can't go up. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 4:00.
The girls had their 4 month checkup, and they did great. Adelaide is almost 10lbs and is in the 90 percentile. Mattie is almost 8lbs and in the 19 percentile. They did really great with their shots too. They're tough kids.
Praise
The girls great checkup.
Andrew's great doctors and nurses.
Meals, meals, and meals. You continue to support us, and we are so thankful.
Our friends from church and our neighbors, who helped us with our yard.
Prayer
For a successful surgery.
That this would finally help Andrew's lungs.
A speedy recovery and a move to Our Children's House.
Skilled hands for the surgeon.
The girls had their 4 month checkup, and they did great. Adelaide is almost 10lbs and is in the 90 percentile. Mattie is almost 8lbs and in the 19 percentile. They did really great with their shots too. They're tough kids.
Praise
The girls great checkup.
Andrew's great doctors and nurses.
Meals, meals, and meals. You continue to support us, and we are so thankful.
Our friends from church and our neighbors, who helped us with our yard.
Prayer
For a successful surgery.
That this would finally help Andrew's lungs.
A speedy recovery and a move to Our Children's House.
Skilled hands for the surgeon.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Last time we posted, Andrew had been moved to the home vent. It was all good; however, as the week finished Andrew's co2 had risen and his lungs began to get murky again. They changed his pressure and rates and so far he seems to have responded well. The pulmonologist is strongly suggesting another surgery called a nissan. Our other option would be to extend the g-tube into the duodenum, so food could bypass the stomach and go straight into his intestine. This would help his acid reflux to stay out of his lungs. There are problems with both options, but the extension on the g-tube seems better to us because he won't suffer the long term effects a nissan would bring. Andrew's.co2 needs to continue to drop in order for him to be moved to Our Children's House. Tomorrow the doctors will be re-evaluating him to come up with the next step in this journey.
Andrew continues to charm the nurses and doctors. He is very aware of his surroundings and continues to "suck the green off" his pacifier. (This term was coined by a friend/RT at Grapevine). He weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz.
Mattie and Adelaide are doing really well. They become more alert everyday. They are also taking more notice of each other. They crack us up when we put them in the play pen. They kind of slide into each other and play touch-me-not games. Mattie also has an eye on Adelaide's giraffe wubbanub. I'm sure this will get a rise out of Adelaide when she is older.
We bought a digital scale a couple of days ago and we think Adelaide is 10 lbs. And Mattie weighs at least 8 lbs. We love to watch all three of them grow.
Praises
Watching the girls in their play pen in hopes of them holding hands.
Modern technology and medication, doctors and nurses who have helped and loved on our babies.
The future that Our Children's House brings - it means one step closer to getting Andrew home.
Prayers
Andrew's blood gas and lab work would look really good in the morning and would continue to look good.
God would give Kevin and Tara discernment as to Andrew' s next step for treatment.
The doctors would have good judgment concerning Andrew.
Kevin and Tara would have peace about the future.
Andrew continues to charm the nurses and doctors. He is very aware of his surroundings and continues to "suck the green off" his pacifier. (This term was coined by a friend/RT at Grapevine). He weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz.
Mattie and Adelaide are doing really well. They become more alert everyday. They are also taking more notice of each other. They crack us up when we put them in the play pen. They kind of slide into each other and play touch-me-not games. Mattie also has an eye on Adelaide's giraffe wubbanub. I'm sure this will get a rise out of Adelaide when she is older.
We bought a digital scale a couple of days ago and we think Adelaide is 10 lbs. And Mattie weighs at least 8 lbs. We love to watch all three of them grow.
Praises
Watching the girls in their play pen in hopes of them holding hands.
Modern technology and medication, doctors and nurses who have helped and loved on our babies.
The future that Our Children's House brings - it means one step closer to getting Andrew home.
Prayers
Andrew's blood gas and lab work would look really good in the morning and would continue to look good.
God would give Kevin and Tara discernment as to Andrew' s next step for treatment.
The doctors would have good judgment concerning Andrew.
Kevin and Tara would have peace about the future.
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