Christina and Family

Monday, July 28, 2008

~Seth~

Seth is looking so good today!

He's got an arterial line in this arm, hence the bat he swings around.

Peeking out at us!

Where do I begin? We've had our ups and downs this past week. On the 19th of July, Seth was switched from Fentanyl (sedative) to morphine. Because the dose was a little more than he needed, he decided he didn't need to breathe. In when the breathing tube again. Two days later it was apparent that he had an infection. So we start antibiotics. Then his bowels went from yellow to green. Now we stop the feedings to see what's going on there. They did several x-rays and at one point it was even thought that he had a bowel obstruction. So they put some kind of enema into his ostomy and that went up to his stomach. X-rays showed that it was all clear. Thank goodness. Most likely his green bowels are due to him being sick. So today, Monday, he is on the mend and looking very nice. He is doing so well that they took out the Anderson tube (a tube that suctions his tummy) and are going to put his feeding tube back in and start some feedings. Yeah! And tomorrow they are going to attempt to take out the breathing tube again! He is on such a low rate of oxygen right now and that is good. So, now Seth is six weeks old. I can't believe how much he's changed. He hasn't grown much, but his facial features have changed over the weeks. Having him in the NICU is a different experience. When we bring him home, he won't be a newborn. I guess I keep thinking that when he comes home, it will be like having a newborn. But it won't, in some ways. We won't have those tar like diapers to change. We won't have to worry about the umbilical cord and keeping that dry and clean until it falls off. It's weird in a way how time is flying by so fast and I feel like I'm missing something. I suppose that's because I need to live in the moment. Sometimes it's easy to look ahead and anticipate the future, and not really live in the moment. Keep up the good work Seth!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

We've been extubated again!

Yesterday Seth was extubated again, had his breathing tube removed. It's been 24 hours and he is doing great! I hope he continues to do well without the ventilator! He is on CPAP right now. I will have to get a picture of that as it is the smallest CPAP mask I've ever seen! He is on antibiotics right now because a blood culture was positive. So he'll be on antibiotics for about a week. He weighs 2 lbs 1 oz right now. A little down, probably water weight. His feedings are up to 14 cc's every three hours now and the nurse fortifies it so it will have a few more calories. His Fentanyl (sedative) is given every three hours instead of every two. They are trying to wean him off of this. He is doing well taking it every three hours instead of two. Hopefully in the next two weeks he'll be weaned off completely. He has surgery scheduled at the end of September to reassemble his digestive line. HAHAHA Ok, I thought it sounded funny. Anyways, other than that he is looking good.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Here's the latest

On Wednesday, Seth had his breathing tube removed! He was doing ok at first. They tried a high flow nasal canula on him first and then decided to put him on a c-pap. Later that night they decided to reintubate him again. It seemed like he was having withdrawal from the sedative he was previously on. This was making him very aggitated and causing heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels to go crazy. So, in went the tube again and back to the sedative medication. Today they have weaned him down off the sedative. He will get it as he needs it instead of a constant IV drip. If he tolerates this well, tomorrow they will try to extubate him (take the breathing tube out again). It was so neat to see him breathing on his own on Wednesday. And once he's free of the sedatives, he can be a baby! He'll wake, cry, etc.
His PDA is open a tiny bit again, but it is posing no problems, so they aren't going to do anything about it. He is up to 7 cc's every three hours for feedings now. He's doing really well!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Hip Hip Hooray! We're having a great day!

Today has been very exciting. The duct above Seth's heart has closed! And they have started him on feedings! Now all this pumping I have been doing feels like it's worth something. I am so excited! I was kind of speechless when the nurse told us all this because I was preparing myself for the fact that he may have to have another surgery. Whew! He's three weeks old and weighs 2lbs. 3 oz. Way to go Seth!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Seth ~ Saturday July 5th

Seth is doing great! He was given a round of medication to close his PDA. They then did an echocardiogram this moring to see if it had closed. They said it looks a lot smaller. So, they are going to start him on another round of this medication. I am so glad he is doing so well. After we get this PDA closed, he will be able to start feedings again. He is also on a conventional ventilator now and not the Jet ventilator. Now, I'm not sure how the Jet ventilator worked, but I do know that the conventional ventilatory will not override his attempts at breathing, it will just help him out if he's not taking deep enough breathes. I think the Jet would override. So, anyways, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We are so grateful!

I've changed the picture of Seth. I forgot I had this one with his eyes openend so I thought I'd share.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Update on Seth for Tuedsday, July 1st

Just an update on the baby to keep everyone informed. I'll try to do this more often, it just seems like there is less time in the days now. Anyways, Seth is doing good. We didn't get to go and see him yesterday. But we are going this afternoon. He was weaned off two blood pressure medications yesterday and is currently bein weaned off Nitric Oxide. Doing these things will hopefuly allow his Ductus Arteriosis to close. We call it a PDA when it is open. (Patent [meanng open] Ductus Artriosis)To see an animated few of the fetal heart, click on the following link: http://www.indiana.edu/~anat550/cvanim/fetcirc/fetcirc.html
I found this website helped me to understand better what the ductus arteriosis was.His blood pressure is stable as of now, which is good. When he's weaned from of medicine, the next few hours are always a little stressful as we wait and see if he tolerates well or not. So far so good.He has a little ostomy bag connected to his tummy for now. In the near future they will take him back into surgery to reconnect his bowels. The reason for the surgery was Necrotizing Enterocolitis. If you want to know more about this visit this website: http://children.webmd.com/tc/necrotizing-enterocolitis-topic-overview
I will work on keeping everyone updated. Talk to you later!

Friday, June 20, 2008

I can't figure this blog out

Well, I haven't been able to upload any video to my blog. It always causes an error. So, I've added video to my facebook. Please go there. It I haven't added you as a friend, then send me a request and I'll add you.

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Funny Mishaps

November 2011

During Primary, the song leader is trying to teach a song about the Nativity. She asks, who is Jesus's mother? Someone answers, "Mary". Then she asks, who is Jesus's father? Karsten (6) replies, "Joseph Smith".

September 2011

Karsten (6) asks me "how can you tell if a baby is a boy or a girl when they are born.?" I reply, "How do you think you can tell the difference between a boy and a girl." Karsten replies, "their hair." I then tell him that pretty much all babies either don't have hair or it's really short and to think of another way. Karsten then replies, "by their eyelashes." I tell Karsten everyone has eyelashes! Trying to get him to think harder, I ask him what's different around their bottom areas. Karsten says, "oh, their diapers!" (Just for the record, he finally knows how you can tell the difference between a boy baby and a girl baby!)

August 2011

Karsten (6) comes into the house yelling for a bandaid. I ask him what for. His response: "Blood leakin'."

April 2010

Karsten (5) informs me that when it's his turn on the computer he is going to go on YouTube and look up cheat codes. Where do they learn these things? :)

March 2010

As we are driving down the road, Dane (7) sees a sign that says "Beer and Wine". He then asks, "Why does that sign say Beer and Wine?" He goes on to answer himself by saying, "It must be because after they drink beer they w(h)ine."

March 2010

Karsten (4) tells me, "Mom, if you type in the password for the computer, I'll let you play with me." The next day he comes up with this one: "Mom, I'll give you this if you let me play the computer." I ask him, "What do you got?" Karsten replies, "An M&M." Apparently, my son has been trying to bribe me to let him to play the computer lately.

August 2009
Dane (7): Mom, I'm bored.
Me: Why don't you take a nap?
Dane: I'm too tired to take a nap.

May 2009
At Walmart I tell Alex (11) he can get some crystal light. So off he goes to find some and brings back every flavor they sell! Needless to say we did talk him into choosing just two. And later on that same trip I tell the boys they can have a Hot Wheel. Alex took down almost all the cars off the racks looking for a police car. Never let Alex shop alone!

May 2009
At Matt and Denise's house, I ask Karsten (4) if he wants a frozen burrito for lunch. He replies, "No, I want it cooked."

May 2009
As we are traveling down to New Mexico, I look in my rear view mirror and see Karsten (4) with his finger in his nose. I asked him if he was picking his nose and he said, "No, I'm just checking."

April 2009
I asked Karsten (4) to open up the washer and take the clothes out and put them in the dryer. (We have a front loader.) So he goes into the pantry, opens up the washer, grabs a few clothes, and asks, "Where do I put them?" I tell him, "In the dryer." He then asks, "This dryer?" As if there are two or three dryers in the pantry and he has to ask which one to use!

March 2009
Karsten (4) was spotlighted this past Sunday for his birthday and was sung to as well. His birthday is this upcoming Saturday (the 28th). Well, since they sung to him he insists that he is already four years old and no one is going to convince him otherwise.

March 2009
Karsten (3) is obsessed with light sabres. Everything is a light sabre. Only he calls them light savers. So, I tried teaching how to properly say light sabre. I was telling him to say sa-bre. And he was thinking I was telling him to SAY ber. So he would just say ber. Ok, if that really didn't confuse you, then you get the joke. It was quite funny.

February 2009
Emily (8) wakes up and tells me her stomach hurts and she doesn't want to go to school (like we've never tried this). I tell her that she needs to get up and get ready for school. She wines a little and complains about her stomach, but we moms know better. I tell her to get out of bed again and she then says, "Well, Kate got to stay home on Friday." (Kate faked sick the Friday previous.) I then tell Emily, "Yes, and she had to clean all day too." Emily jumps out of bed (miraculously healed somehow) and gets ready for school. Can't pass the "my stomach hurts" one on this old pro!

February 2009
We recently got a handicap parking pass for Alex so we can park in the handicap spots now. Every where we go Karsten (3) has to point out the handicap spots. The funny part about it is that each time he sees one it's like he's never seen one before. He sounds so amazed when he points them out.

February 2009
Karsten (3) has been sick with a cold and it has gone to his eyes. When he woke up this morning I told him that I was wondering if he had pink eye. He then goes into the bathroom, looks in the mirror, and says, "No, they're still blue."

December 2008
Karsten (3) is getting himself dressed and puts his shoes on without socks. I tell him to take his shoes off and put his socks on first. He looks up at me and says, "Mom, can we pretend that I am wearing socks?" Who can't keep from laughing with a response like that!

November 2008
Alex (10) is playing with the neighbor girl. She tells Alex that her dad caught a mouse and put it in a jar. They go over to her house and get the jar with the mouse in it. They bring it to our house. Alex wants to see if Moses could catch the mouse. So he gets Moses and then lets the mouse out of the jar. Moses chases the mouse into Alex's bedroom where it quickly disappears. Needless to say, the mouse was found later that night in Alex's dresser.

October 14, 2008
I am in the bathroom doing my hair. Seth (4 mos) is lying in his crib and Dane is happily watching him. All of a sudden Dane (5) runs into the bathroom and yells, "Mom! Seth said his first word!" I then ask him what Seth said. Dane replies, "Meow".

October 14, 2008
Todd and I are sitting on the couch when from behind I hear Karsten say, "Look, I have nipples!" I turn around to look and Karsten has placed an open hamburger bun on his chest. Now I've heard of a coconut bra, but a hamburger bun bra?

September 23, 2008
Todd and I are talking to Kate (9) and discussing human anatomy when we ask her if she knows where babies grew inside the mommy. At first she replies, "in the kidneys". Then she thinks about it for a minute and then says, "oh, the uterus, I thought that was the name of a planet."

September 2008
On the way to school, Kate (9) and Emily (7) are discussing what they are learning in school. Kate mentions that they are learning about the water cycle. Emily comments that she has already learned that. Kate has to flaunt her newly acquired knowledge by asking Emily if she knows what condensation, evaporation, and participation is? I couldn't help but laugh and asked her if she meant precipitation.