Christina and Family

Monday, September 15, 2008

The BIG Day

Here is a picture of Seth taken on Sunday.

So cute!

Today before his surgery. (Had to dope him up so he wouldn't be so mad because he was hungry! Where's my momma?)

Mom and Seth before surgery. Like the disco ball?

After surgery. Poor little guy! But all better now!

Seth had surgery today! And everything went well! They put his intestines back together and everything looked healthy and well. They also fixed two hernias, one at the site of his stoma and the other in the groin. They also took out his apendix. It was an eventful day. We were planning on the surgery being at 7:30 this morning, but they called us right before we left this morning and told us it was rescheduled for 1:45 in the afternoon. Good thing they caught us before we left! The surgery took about two and a half hours. In a couple of days we'll start feedings again. I'm just exhausted and ready to relax. I'm going to read scriptures with the kiddos and put them to bed and maybe take a bath!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The best birthday present

So on Thursday I turned 31. It's crazy to think that I'm that old, not that it's old, but that I'm getting older. I don't see myself as that old. So anyways, the kids and Todd woke me up to a donut with candles in it. It was fun. All the children made cards for me and Todd bought me some new clothes. He usually does a good job picking out clothes and even got the sizes right. Later that day I went to the hospital to receive the best gift yet. I was allowed to nurse Seth for the first time, and even more exciting was that he actually latched on and nursed for about five minutes. It was a great day. I got to nurse him again on Saturday and that didn't go so great because I couldn't get Seth to wake up. Today went even better, he nursed for 15 minutes! He's getting better every day. I can't wait to bring him home. His surgery has been moved up to the 15th. Perhaps we will be home before the beginning of October. The kids are very excited to have him come home. They are going to throw him a welcome home party the day we bring him home. It will be a fun day as well.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

To go along with the previous post

Seth is 18 inches long. You give him another few weeks and he'll be just as big as all the other newborns!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Look how big I am!

Seth is in an open crib! Hurray! This was taken on Tuesday. He is just improving by leaps and bounds! He is also on a regular nose cannula. And we have started the long process of teaching him how to feed from a bottle and then eventually to nursing. His current weight is 4 lbs 6 oz. Today he had laser surgery on his eyes. I mentioned ROP earlier, Retinopathy of Prematurity. This is why he had the laser surgery done. He isn't too bad off with the abnormal blood vessels in his eyes, but they didn't want it to get any worse because it could lead to detachment of the retina. It is my understanding that they went in and zapped the abnormal blood vessels so they wouldn't continue growing abnormally. And I like to use the word abnormal a little too abnormally. :) Anyways, that surgery was done around 1:30 this afternoon. He is still on a ventilator and they are just waiting for him to wake up so they can get him off. Hopefully he'll be fine and it won't be days like the last surgery. Seth is such a miracle!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Sunday August 24th

Sunday, August 24, 2008

3 lbs 15 oz and counting!

Well, as the title says, Seth is nearly 4 lbs! Todd and I were reflecting on how big he's gotten. When he was first born, the width of Todd's finger was bigger than his leg. Now Seth's leg is bigger. He's putting on some fat. But life hasn't been without it's ups and downs these past several days. Last Tuesday Seth went back into surgery to have his stoma (the opening of his intestines there on his tummy, sometimes I refer to it as his ostomy) opened up a little more. It was too restrictive and wasn't letting very much pass out. The doctors are wondering if this is what is causing all the ups and downs we are having with him. Just when he seems to be doing better he would start to act sick again and his tummy would get all bloated. But all his blood work keeps showing up negative for infections. After surgery it took almost five days to get him off the ventilator again. So as of yesterday he is off the breathing tube and is doing pretty well. Today we were told that they would start feedings again. I know that will make him very happy to have his tummy filled again. He would always get mad when they stopped feedings because he would get hungry!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Seth is doing really well this week. He has had no episodes of apnea. He has started his feedings again. Right now he is getting 6 cc's every three hours. Every 12 hours they increase it 2 cc's. So tonight at 11 p.m. he will go up to 8 cc's. He's tolerating the feedings very well. He's such a stinker! On Sunday he pulled his feeding tube out four times. So the nurse put little socks on his hands to try to prevent him from grabbing and pulling. Not to be outsmarted, he decides that all he needs to do is use his tongue and he can push it out. Now there's a smart kid! Maybe here in a week or two he'll be able to try nippling his feedings a little!

So another thing if you want to read up about is ROP, Retinopathy of Prematurity. Seth's eyes are looked at each week to keep an eye on this condition. Right now he has stage 2. http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/rop/

We love the little guy so much!

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.