A Time For Every Season....

I survived my first day home alone with three children. It started with about 3 hours sleep because Abby was up all night crying due to constipation. I also survived spilled juice, ice all over the floor, a playroom explosion, and put out a few arguments between brothers. I managed to get some good book reading time in with the boys and played "camping" with them in their walk in closet. The only bad part was I fell asleep and woke up minutes later with two boys jumping ontop of me. Overall it was a good day, but I'm feeling totally overwhelmed with life, probably a little depression mixed in too. Adjusting to change is always hard for me - thus the past 9 months has been hard because there has been lots of  change. There is so much I want to accomplish with the boys, but haven't had much ambition since getting pregnant, then having high blood pressure, then the chaos of our little preemie. Now that life is getting to a new normal I just expect to jump in and do...

Our little Abby is home! She came home late Friday evening and has been doing so well! She came home on oxygen but hasn't used it much at all! She has a pulse oximeter which measure the amount of  oxygen in Abby's blood. The pulse ox is attached to a box which beeps when her saturation drops below 90%. In the last 48 hours she has been off oxygen which is a miracle, in the hospital the most she could be on room air was around 90 minutes. I'm so happy to be able to put her in a sling and walk around the house now that she isn't attached to oxygen 24/7. Her coming home story is such a God orchestrated event. I headed to the hospital on Friday after the snow began to thaw, I brought my overnight back and planned to stay until my mom came Saturday morning so I could take a break. Around 3:30 Abby's doctor arrived and started talking about how confused he was about her oxygen levels. He said we had two options, one was to wait it out longer and let her wean herself of ...

Abby is coming home tonight! I'll post more soon!

Just waiting around for the snow to melt a little before heading off to the hospital. John has the day off so he will be watching the boys tonight and I'll be staying at the hospital. Abby did well yesterday, there were periods of about 2 hours where she was on room air, but then she would start to struggle and have to put her back on. Please keep praying! We had a record snow fall - over 11 inches in our part of town. We only recorded 9 inches at our house. The snow is the most we've seen in over 100 years, what a perfect surprise! We've all been having lots of fun and lots of cocoa!

Happy 1 Month Birthday Abby! I can't believe in a month you have only been home with us 9 days. I miss having everyone together under one roof. Not much to update today, we're blessed to be at home due to tons of snow - 7 inches and counting. I can't say I'm too sad, the boys and I are having a wonderful time while little Abby is being spoiled by nurses. Here are some pictures from our very fun morning. It is so nice to be home, be able to cook  for the kids, do laundry, play, and worship the Lord from our warm and cozy home. There is no place like home (and snow), there is no place like home! We are enjoying God's beautiful gift of sabbath rest today!

Well, we're still here at Cooks. Abby is doing well, she just doesn't want to wean off the oxygen. I am going to ask her doctor if we could possible go home with her on  the oxygen and monitor? It can't hurt to ask? We're already doing everything at the hospital that we could do at home - feeding, changing diapers, breathing treatments, and lots of cuddles. We actually went up on her oxygen today since she seemed to be struggling a little. Other than that Abby is eating really well, she even ended up with a tummy ache today because she ate too fast. Crazy girl! She loves that breast milk, she drank 3oz twice for me today, that is a lot for a 5 1/2 little girl!

Well we just returned from a field trip to the X Ray department! They had to catheterize Abby and test her kidney's and bladder to see why she had a UTI so young. Poor thing, she wasn't too happy about the process, but it wasn't as traumatic as the other things she has been through the past month. Abby had a good day, her oxygen is at .25 liters which is not much, but every time they try and take her off her level's goes down. They will try again tomorrow. Other than that she had a good day, she enjoyed a bath and tons of cuddles from mommy. The nurse just poked her head in and the test came back negative, so Abby doesn't have kidney reflux! Yes! She finally get a break! So, here is praying for discharge on Thursday and that she has a good night of sleeping and breathing!

I spent the day with my little girl. She is eating like a newborn already, she is always hungry which explains her 1.5 oz growth per day! She weighed in today at 5 pounds 5 oz. She has gained almost a pound since birth which is remarkable considering 3/4 of her life she has lived in a hospital and much of it sedated. Sweet thing, she is on .5 liters of oxygen today and holding steady! She still sounds terrible, but the pulmnologist says that is normal for RSV babies. Her nights are the worst, which is normal for RSV, so once she doesn't need oxygen at night we can go home. I'm praying we get to go home by Thursday, but are taking this thing one day at a  time. John is headed here tonight and will be spending the nights with Abby. Pray for him. He isn't much for  waking in the middle of the time, feeding and he hates to change newborn diapers. He doesn't might the bigger kids, but he is afraid of breaking Abby! Please pray he gets rest, since he has no more vacatiion d...

Today we moved out of the PICU and into a room! We were excited for our big move, but with the move comes more time away from home. Abby has a private room which means she has to have John or I here most of the time. John graciously has taken nights and I'm here during the  day. The boys are holding up ok, but I really hope we don't live like this for too long. We're all exhausted and the house is a pit! It would be so nice to get on with our lives. Abby is doing well, she is stable, breathing on 1 liter of oxygen, she has breathing treatments every 4 hours and they are suctioning her like crazy. Most of the junk is sitting in her lungs, today they said it dropped to her lower lungs. Abby is thrilled that she is off the vent, she is eating a ton! One feeding she ate 85 ml which is about 25 more than normal. Her antibiotics are done tomorrow so then maybe I can convince a nurse to take out the IV in her hand - then she can have a much needed bath. Abby was so excited to ...

Abby was finally taken off the vent this morning around 9:00 am! John spent the night to make sure she didn't get upset, was resting comfortable, and had great CO2 numbers. John just gave her a passy to suck on and she is in total bliss - daddy and a passy what more can a girl in the PICU ask for!

  Friday Evening Update: Abby was not extubated today. It was a horrible day I'd prefer never to relive again. Abby spent the  day very restless because her breathing tube wasn't in properly. They planned on extubating so they didn't fix it, then she got really mad from the discomfort and the fact that her feeds were turned off (planning to extubate means turning off feeds) which hindered her progress today. Her CO2 went up because she spent over an hour upset and crying. I'm very upset too, a mommy in tears is never a good thing! Abby and I both cried, only you couldn't hear her, only see her sad eyes and see her struggling and red in the face. It was a busy day in the PICU, we had a terrible nurse, there were many emergencies more critical than Abby and I wanted to throw a big temper tantrum in the middle of the floor to get anyone's attention. In fact, I pretty much did! Very mature of me I know! What is a mother to do when she is trying to advocate f...

Abby is doing well weaning off the vent, in rounds this morning her CO2 wasn't as low as they wanted so they decided to wait 24 more hours before taking her off the vent. She is breathing over the vent and was a little restless today so they gave her some medication to make her sleep. Please pray that she comes off the vent tomorrow and that she rests comfortable the next 24 hours. Abby is so sweet, she gets red in her face and tries to cry when some junk needs to be suctioned out of her lungs or nose, or she needs a diaper change. The rest of the time she just rests. This morning when I arrived she was a little too awake and I got to see her beautiful blue eyes for the first time since Saturday. She just looked so sad and tired. Poor little peanut, the hard part is almost over, just wait one more day!

Abby is doing well, blood gasses will show when she is ready to be weaned off the vent. In the interim, she is regaining strength every day. The worst of the disease is today, so we're turning a corner. Abby also developed a UTI so she is on antibiotics. She has a slight fever last night but it is gone this morning. She is no longer using the warmer for heat which is great, she is maintaining her own body temp. Her cute brown/pink blanket is covering her and all the nurses are in love with her cuteness! Abby's feeds are at 12CC/hour and she is resting well due to the sedation medication. The boys are doing well, they miss their sister. We're going to have the boys make her a drawing and hang it by Abby's bed. Drew wants to draw a rainbow to remind Abby that God's promises are true. Such a sweet brother! God's promises are true! We're so blessed to have God's promise of comfort and strength! I haven't any strength left, yet I know I am daily drawi...

I awoke last night to the cry of a baby, but it was only a dream. I looked at her empty cradle and sighed, how did this become my life? I am thankful, amidst what seems like chaos, because my baby is alive, her prognosis is good, she will eventually come home. Those are all wonderful things that some parents haven't heard. There are babies in the NICU right now whose future prognosis is unknown. Tonight I am thankful amidst this unexpected trial. Our little peanut was diagnosed with RSV Saturday morning at the Cooks urgent care clinic. Her X-rays were clear and she didn't have a fever. We were released on breathing treatments, saline drops, and instructions to suction her nose like crazy, Saturday evening I picked up her medicine and gave Abby her first treatment around 10:00 pm. I then gave her a warm bath and then prepared her for bed. During her feeding ar 11:00 John and I noticed her struggling to feed. I also heard a "crackle" in her chest. She then choked on...