Yeah, yeah...I know those of you who know us well are probably thinking "but I thought you were buying a house?" Well, we all know plans change, and fall through, and all things happen for a reason. Adam and I feel that God has guided us in our journey of trying to move off base and this is what he wants for us. A good friend of ours, Aleasha, has an aunt who owns a home here in Arizona that she rents out. It just happens to be that she is requiring some renters in it. It is in the same area we were looking to buy in, it's only $800 a month, and has fake grass in the back yard!
Scott and Aleasha have fake grass in their back yard and I fell in love with it! It is green all the time, you don't have to cut it or water it, and it can still be played on. How perfect is that?
It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1300 sq foot home, which is 300 sq feet bigger than where we are now. This house also has a garage, which we are lacking with the house we live in here on base. Also, friends can come over and visit without having to get a pass to get on base...need I go on?
I am very excited about being able to move into a new, clean house that we will be settled into by the time Bree comes home. Another great bonus of moving: It's a great opportunity to go through your stuff and get rid of what you don't use, don't need, or don't want! (I love de-cluttering!)
I hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
October 11, 2008
Good afternoon!
Miss Bree got to try on her Halloween costume today...and it looked great! I do have to make a new hat for her though because the one I made is too small!! That is exciting to me. I made it based upon a hat from two weeks ago so it is exciting that she has grown! My aunt and uncle (Shrrene and Rick) met us at the hospital today to see Bree for the first time since she was born. They were able to see a size difference in her so she is definitely growing.
She started feeds of breastmilk again yesterday and she is doing so well they have already increased them. She started out on 1cc every 6 hours, and now it is 1cc every three hours. As long as she continues to digest what they give her, they will continue to bump up her feeds. When we were there today she was resting on her tummy and she looked so comfortable!
If we would have been there longer, I would have had the opportunity to hold her skin to skin, but we had Riley with us and it takes a while for the skin to skin holding. However, on Monday, our good friend (and AWESOME photographer!), Carrie Fay, is going with me to the hospital so we will get some great one month pictures of Bree. Hopefully, Bree is having a good day that day so we might be able to get some skin to skin pictures...
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Miss Bree got to try on her Halloween costume today...and it looked great! I do have to make a new hat for her though because the one I made is too small!! That is exciting to me. I made it based upon a hat from two weeks ago so it is exciting that she has grown! My aunt and uncle (Shrrene and Rick) met us at the hospital today to see Bree for the first time since she was born. They were able to see a size difference in her so she is definitely growing.
She started feeds of breastmilk again yesterday and she is doing so well they have already increased them. She started out on 1cc every 6 hours, and now it is 1cc every three hours. As long as she continues to digest what they give her, they will continue to bump up her feeds. When we were there today she was resting on her tummy and she looked so comfortable!
If we would have been there longer, I would have had the opportunity to hold her skin to skin, but we had Riley with us and it takes a while for the skin to skin holding. However, on Monday, our good friend (and AWESOME photographer!), Carrie Fay, is going with me to the hospital so we will get some great one month pictures of Bree. Hopefully, Bree is having a good day that day so we might be able to get some skin to skin pictures...
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Friday, October 10, 2008
October 10, 2008
Happy one month birthday to Bree!! Woo hoo! We'd give her some cake in celebration, but the nurses probably won't let us. Ha ha, so some love and caring words will have to do when we see her later this afternoon. There is still no new news on her...no news is good news! She is still on the conventional ventilator, still on 21% oxygen, and being a good little girl.
Riley had more of an eventful day than her sister did. We had a great time at our playdate with Ethan and Aleasha! As usual, Aleasha and I were able to get some much needed mommy bonding time in while Ethan and Riley ran around and played. Both of them seemed to have grown within the two weeks they hadn't seen one another. This time they were sharing with each other on purpose. Ethan pulled a toy out of the toy box, would hold it up for Riley to see, walk over to her, and give it to her. She would hold it for a few minutes, and then give it back to him. It was so sweet of them. They also both learned they could scream back and forth at the top of their lungs at one another. Riley would screech, and Ethan would answer...and so on and so on. Next time I might be bringing some ear plugs...ha ha!
Another momentous event in our day yesterday was Riley 'puttin the moves' on Ethan. She was sitting on the groud, and Ethan was standing in front of her. She proceeded to give him a hug, which to Aleasha and I, did not look very lady like. She grabbed his pants, pulled him to her and while burying her face in his 'front diaper area' said "mmmm!" (she does that during hugs). Aleasha and I just cracked up laughing! Not too long after, somehow the little ones had switched places (Ethan sitting, Riley standing) and Riley bent down, opened mouthed and gave Ethan, as best she could, a kiss on the mouth. But wait! The fun didn't stop there! During Ethan's diaper change (I know you are all thinking, "oh no!"), that's right, she walked right over and grabbed his "business"! Talk about a bold little girl! I couldn't believe it....as if hugging and kissing were not enough. Needless to say, when we got home, Daddy and Riley had a serious talk about boys and what is appropriate behavior.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
October 9, 2008
Good morning all!
This morning is a great example of no news is good news. Bree is still on the room air (21%) oxygen, resting comfortably, and just being a good little girl. Our visit with the neurologist yesterday was very insightful for me, and I learned some good information. Bree does have a new brain bleed, however, it is not causing any new problems. The ventricle size is the same in her brain so they are still at a stage three.
The doctor explained to me that since her ventricles are enlarged due to the brain bleeds, that they will always stay enlarged even when the brain bleeds dissipate. Very rarely, she explained, do the ventricles shrink back down to their original size. Bree will have an MRI shortly after being released from the hospital so that we will be able to see if there was any brain damage caused from the brain bleeds or anything else.
Other than that, we, as a family, have a busy but uneventful day. Here shortly (right after I post this) I am going to get my oil changed, do some grocery shopping after that, come home for lunch and head off to a playdate (and mommy time!) with Ethan and Aleasha. After that, Adam and I are leaving Riley with Papa while we go to our first R-group meeting. The day is bound to pass fast with all those plans!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
This morning is a great example of no news is good news. Bree is still on the room air (21%) oxygen, resting comfortably, and just being a good little girl. Our visit with the neurologist yesterday was very insightful for me, and I learned some good information. Bree does have a new brain bleed, however, it is not causing any new problems. The ventricle size is the same in her brain so they are still at a stage three.
The doctor explained to me that since her ventricles are enlarged due to the brain bleeds, that they will always stay enlarged even when the brain bleeds dissipate. Very rarely, she explained, do the ventricles shrink back down to their original size. Bree will have an MRI shortly after being released from the hospital so that we will be able to see if there was any brain damage caused from the brain bleeds or anything else.
Other than that, we, as a family, have a busy but uneventful day. Here shortly (right after I post this) I am going to get my oil changed, do some grocery shopping after that, come home for lunch and head off to a playdate (and mommy time!) with Ethan and Aleasha. After that, Adam and I are leaving Riley with Papa while we go to our first R-group meeting. The day is bound to pass fast with all those plans!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
October 8, 2008
Good morning all!
Bree is doing wonderful this morning! She has been weaned down to 21% oxygen and she is doing perfectly fine at that setting. Her blood gases have continually been better and better, so they have changed the settings on her ventilator to start weaning her off it a little bit. (not giving as much support) Her Dopamine medication is being weaned as well, so she is on half the rate of what she was yesterday.
We were told yesterday by the NP that her brain scan showed results of new Stage three bleeds, but he could not tell us to what extent they are. Her ventricles have not increased in size since her previous scan, which is good news. However, new bleeds are not a good thing. Adam and I are going in this morning to talk with the neurologist about this new result sand what it means. The NP did agree with me though, that these new bleeds are probably the result of all of the excitement we had on Sunday.
In other news, Riley did something quite unexpected yesterday. She was playing like normal, and I was sitting on the floor with her. She came over to me, laid down like when she gets her diaper changed, grabbed her feet, and pulled them up. I checked her diaper out of curiosity and she was poopy!! What a big girl for telling us!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Bree is doing wonderful this morning! She has been weaned down to 21% oxygen and she is doing perfectly fine at that setting. Her blood gases have continually been better and better, so they have changed the settings on her ventilator to start weaning her off it a little bit. (not giving as much support) Her Dopamine medication is being weaned as well, so she is on half the rate of what she was yesterday.
We were told yesterday by the NP that her brain scan showed results of new Stage three bleeds, but he could not tell us to what extent they are. Her ventricles have not increased in size since her previous scan, which is good news. However, new bleeds are not a good thing. Adam and I are going in this morning to talk with the neurologist about this new result sand what it means. The NP did agree with me though, that these new bleeds are probably the result of all of the excitement we had on Sunday.
In other news, Riley did something quite unexpected yesterday. She was playing like normal, and I was sitting on the floor with her. She came over to me, laid down like when she gets her diaper changed, grabbed her feet, and pulled them up. I checked her diaper out of curiosity and she was poopy!! What a big girl for telling us!
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
October 7, 2008
Good morning all!
My oh my, do we have a little fighter on our hands! Yesterday, even with being on a constant morphine drip, Miss Bree was fighting her oscillating ventilator to the point that all her struggling was wasting her energy and making her blood gases worse. Since she was oxygenating well, they took her off her inhaled medicine and off the oscillating ventilator. They have her back on the regular (or as hospital staff call it, conventional) ventilator!
As of this morning, she is doing well. They have weaned her from 100% oxygen to 30%. The nurse did remark that she hovers anywhere between 60% and 90% for her oxygen saturation's right now, but the instability is to be expected because she is being weaned off of the high oxygen. So they may have to bump it up a little bit to stabilize her Sat's.
As a preventative measure she received the second of her three course round of antibiotics. She gets a round every 48 hours I believe, so it will be a bit before she gets the last dose. Bree had an echo cardiogram yesterday to see if she had pulmonary hypertension, which she did not. She also had a head ultrasound yesterday to check on her brain bleeds and the unofficial report is that they are still at stage three. This is a blessing because with all of the recent excitement, it would not have been surprising if the stress of everything had exacerbated the bleeds.
Adam and I are going to pick up her birth certificate and social security card today, so she will be an official member of the United States of America! Riley says "Quack, Quack, Quack!" to everyone! (It sounds like "Kak! Kak! Kak!")
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
My oh my, do we have a little fighter on our hands! Yesterday, even with being on a constant morphine drip, Miss Bree was fighting her oscillating ventilator to the point that all her struggling was wasting her energy and making her blood gases worse. Since she was oxygenating well, they took her off her inhaled medicine and off the oscillating ventilator. They have her back on the regular (or as hospital staff call it, conventional) ventilator!
As of this morning, she is doing well. They have weaned her from 100% oxygen to 30%. The nurse did remark that she hovers anywhere between 60% and 90% for her oxygen saturation's right now, but the instability is to be expected because she is being weaned off of the high oxygen. So they may have to bump it up a little bit to stabilize her Sat's.
As a preventative measure she received the second of her three course round of antibiotics. She gets a round every 48 hours I believe, so it will be a bit before she gets the last dose. Bree had an echo cardiogram yesterday to see if she had pulmonary hypertension, which she did not. She also had a head ultrasound yesterday to check on her brain bleeds and the unofficial report is that they are still at stage three. This is a blessing because with all of the recent excitement, it would not have been surprising if the stress of everything had exacerbated the bleeds.
Adam and I are going to pick up her birth certificate and social security card today, so she will be an official member of the United States of America! Riley says "Quack, Quack, Quack!" to everyone! (It sounds like "Kak! Kak! Kak!")
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life!
Monday, October 6, 2008
October 6, 2008
Good morning all...
Bree is doing slightly better than last night. We were up until eleven calling and getting updates on her. We left the hospital at five, and she was stable and her oxygen saturations were around 85. By the time we called at six thirty her O2 sats were dropping again. By eight o'clock her O2 sats were back in the 50's, and that was at 100% oxygen.
They tried a new drug, which is an inhaled medication that helps the muscles in her lungs relax to allow the air in, and for the oxygen to exchange. This is called "nitrious oxcide" (once again, I don't know if it's spelled correctly, but that's what it sounds like). What we were told is that some kids do not respond at all to this and if they do respond it is a quick response. Of course, our child was the exception and she responded slowly. However, any response was good and after a while she was oxygenating much better. She is now doing so well they were able to wean her off a little bit of the oxygen so when I called this morning at six she was at 78% oxygen.
She is on a constant morphine drip to help keep her sedated to reserve her energy for healing and getting better. She is on dopamine, which helps her blood pressure and takes some strain off of her heart. Other than those two, I believe she is only on her usual TPN, and lipids.
Adam and I had to have a hard talk last night that I do not wish on anyone. We had to talk about if she continued to not respond to treatments (which she has since then), at what point do we want to say "enough"? If she coded again, would we want them to do CPR again? Making a decision about your child's life or death is the hardest conversation any parent would have to have. After consulting with parents and our pastor, we did come to some decisions, and some of them are on a situational basis.
Bree is such a little fighter, and I believe that she is a testament to the power of prayer, and to the goodness of God.
Adam and I are just about to take off to go see her for the morning...Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life.
Bree is doing slightly better than last night. We were up until eleven calling and getting updates on her. We left the hospital at five, and she was stable and her oxygen saturations were around 85. By the time we called at six thirty her O2 sats were dropping again. By eight o'clock her O2 sats were back in the 50's, and that was at 100% oxygen.
They tried a new drug, which is an inhaled medication that helps the muscles in her lungs relax to allow the air in, and for the oxygen to exchange. This is called "nitrious oxcide" (once again, I don't know if it's spelled correctly, but that's what it sounds like). What we were told is that some kids do not respond at all to this and if they do respond it is a quick response. Of course, our child was the exception and she responded slowly. However, any response was good and after a while she was oxygenating much better. She is now doing so well they were able to wean her off a little bit of the oxygen so when I called this morning at six she was at 78% oxygen.
She is on a constant morphine drip to help keep her sedated to reserve her energy for healing and getting better. She is on dopamine, which helps her blood pressure and takes some strain off of her heart. Other than those two, I believe she is only on her usual TPN, and lipids.
Adam and I had to have a hard talk last night that I do not wish on anyone. We had to talk about if she continued to not respond to treatments (which she has since then), at what point do we want to say "enough"? If she coded again, would we want them to do CPR again? Making a decision about your child's life or death is the hardest conversation any parent would have to have. After consulting with parents and our pastor, we did come to some decisions, and some of them are on a situational basis.
Bree is such a little fighter, and I believe that she is a testament to the power of prayer, and to the goodness of God.
Adam and I are just about to take off to go see her for the morning...Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and in love with life.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A quick visit to Heaven
Bree Marie decided to take a half an hour visit to Heaven today. At 11:45 this morning, she stopped her heart rate and breathing. For a half an hour, the staff had to do CPR on her for her to be able to continue living. We were called at around 12:00, and told that we needed to be at the hospital now. Fearing the worse, we raced to the hospital as fast as we could. Of course, the exit we needed to take was closed, so it took us an extra ten minutes to get to the hospital.
Once we got there, they were re-taping her intubation tube back in place. Her heart was beating on it's own at that point, and they were drawing labs to see if there was an infection that had caused her 'episode'. All of her labs came back infection-free, but to be on the safe side they gave her a course of antibiotics. She was switched to an oscillating ventilator, which is similar to the jet, it just works a little differently. As was told to me by the NP, it has a little more "oomph" than the jet.
Her blood gases have been all over the board today...before her episode her CO2 levels were off the charts at 206 (which is really bad!), and the last two gases before we left were at 78 (3:30) and 94 (4:30). The nurses and doctors are baffled as to why her levels are not being more consistent. The lower the CO2, the better. The nurse said that they would prefer her CO2 level not be at 94, but it is much better than it was earlier in the day.
Adam and I decided that Bree just wanted to see what Heaven was like. Once she got there all her grandparents (Ma, Pa, Grandpa Tim, Grandma Mercer, Grandma Jean, Grandpa Terry, and "GramattheBeach") threatened to whup her little hiney unless she got back down here. Since she made her choice, she better stay here with us!
We thank you for all your prayers, well wishes and thoughts of Bree...let's all continue to pray for Bree's strength and God's healing in her little body. Our littlest blessing is having a bit of a rough patch and needs all the prayers, well wishes and thoughts she can get!
Once we got there, they were re-taping her intubation tube back in place. Her heart was beating on it's own at that point, and they were drawing labs to see if there was an infection that had caused her 'episode'. All of her labs came back infection-free, but to be on the safe side they gave her a course of antibiotics. She was switched to an oscillating ventilator, which is similar to the jet, it just works a little differently. As was told to me by the NP, it has a little more "oomph" than the jet.
Her blood gases have been all over the board today...before her episode her CO2 levels were off the charts at 206 (which is really bad!), and the last two gases before we left were at 78 (3:30) and 94 (4:30). The nurses and doctors are baffled as to why her levels are not being more consistent. The lower the CO2, the better. The nurse said that they would prefer her CO2 level not be at 94, but it is much better than it was earlier in the day.
Adam and I decided that Bree just wanted to see what Heaven was like. Once she got there all her grandparents (Ma, Pa, Grandpa Tim, Grandma Mercer, Grandma Jean, Grandpa Terry, and "GramattheBeach") threatened to whup her little hiney unless she got back down here. Since she made her choice, she better stay here with us!
We thank you for all your prayers, well wishes and thoughts of Bree...let's all continue to pray for Bree's strength and God's healing in her little body. Our littlest blessing is having a bit of a rough patch and needs all the prayers, well wishes and thoughts she can get!
October 5, 2008
Good morning all!
Bree is has taken a little bit of a step back today, but it is for her comfort and health. Since the surgery, her right lung has not been expanding as much as they want it to be. So, in order to help it expand they have been keeping her on her left side. Bree's blood gases have been not so good since her surgery and the nurses, NP's and doctors can not figure out why. So, this morning they switched her back to the jet ventilator to see if it will help.
They are keeping her sedated again today to give her body a rest. She is on morphine and verset. (I am not sure if that's how it is spelled, but that's what it sounds like). The nurse did say that her chest x ray looked better this morning (reffering to her right lung), but they will continue to keep an eye on it.
She is still being really 'touchy'...if they start messing with her in her isolette (to get a blood gas, reposition, etc.), she drops her sats, and then they have to change her vent settings and oxygen to help her to balance out again. This has been exaggerated since her surgery, but we are reassured that it is normal for a baby her age.
Hopefully, the jet ventilator will help her to start feeling better, and her blood gases will improve.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
Bree is has taken a little bit of a step back today, but it is for her comfort and health. Since the surgery, her right lung has not been expanding as much as they want it to be. So, in order to help it expand they have been keeping her on her left side. Bree's blood gases have been not so good since her surgery and the nurses, NP's and doctors can not figure out why. So, this morning they switched her back to the jet ventilator to see if it will help.
They are keeping her sedated again today to give her body a rest. She is on morphine and verset. (I am not sure if that's how it is spelled, but that's what it sounds like). The nurse did say that her chest x ray looked better this morning (reffering to her right lung), but they will continue to keep an eye on it.
She is still being really 'touchy'...if they start messing with her in her isolette (to get a blood gas, reposition, etc.), she drops her sats, and then they have to change her vent settings and oxygen to help her to balance out again. This has been exaggerated since her surgery, but we are reassured that it is normal for a baby her age.
Hopefully, the jet ventilator will help her to start feeling better, and her blood gases will improve.
Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy, and in love with life!
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