7 Weeks in the NICU

Luke spent 7 long weeks in the NICU at Primary Children's. It is such a wonderful hospital! They even had a kids crew and we were able to drop Kayden and Riley off at the kids play zone for about an hour and the staff would watch them while I was able to be with Luke. That was such a wonderful thing for us, it was the only way I could go be with Luke while Zach was at work. When he got transferred there he was a "very sick baby" That is what the Doctors and nurses said. Of course it was so very very hard to see him so sick and little. He had problems with his hematocrit and platelets (blood problems) Then we spoke with Cardiology and they sat us down to tell us about Luke's heart problems. It was hard to follow but we were told he would have to have surgery. We left the hospital that night crying. During the first 2 weeks Luke was a "sick baby" Then one day he was great! Cardiology talked with us again saying his heart wasn't as bad as they thought, he just has a heart mummer. So that was fantastic news. Then the Doctors called it seemed like once or twice a day saying some kind of good news, " he is off of this or we lowered this" Soon he only had an IV for meds, his feeding tube and oxygen. Then he was off everything but the feeding tube. This was the first of December. They started him on his bottle feedings and it was going extremely well. He was a champ. Then one day he was back on the oxygen and not eating. He became very anemic. And his hematocrit fell again. So for a few weeks everything was at a stand still. It was so tiring going back and forth (long drive) to Primary's then having to spend time with Kayden and Riley to keep their life normal plus having to pump every 3 hours. We finally sat down with the Doctor after they determined there was no medical reason for Luke not eating. We learned how to place a feeding tube and FINALLY the day came to bring him home! January 2nd we arrived at the hospital to take him home. He was 4 pounds 7 ounces. It was a great day!

Very overdue update!

It has been soooooo long since I have updated this blog! I am such a slacker. With Kayden and Riley I always updated the blog. So I am starting now with Luke's birth story, almost 4 months ago! So here it is.

On Monday November 14th I woke up so happy because I had made it to the 33 week milestone! I had an ultrasound at 12 pm. I was so excited to see the baby and finally get a good 3d pic. Zach stayed home with the kids because this was supposed to be a normal check up. As I was laying there I told the tech I wanted a 3d, she hurried through the ultrasound and turned it off and said "have you been leaking any fluid?" You never want to hear that question. She said there is no fluid and not so good blood flow to the placenta. I can't explain the horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I called Zach while I was waiting barley keeping tears back. The Doctor came in and put his hand on my knee and said " we need to get this baby out now" I started crying! How could this happen again?! He said I was lucky Luke was still alive. He had not grown in 4 weeks, they estimated his weight at 1 pound 15 ounces. I was an emotional wreak, I just cried walking down the hall to labor and delivery. We were so blessed we had family that could make it and help with the kids. Since they knew I would be having a c section they wanted to wait 12 hours but the baby's heart rate kept dropping so at 6 my wonderful Doctor came in and said lets do this. So off we went, this time the spinal hurt like hell! But after just a short time we heart a tiny tiny cry and I asked Zach is it a boy or a girl but half his body was still in me :) finally they pulled him out and Zach cried it was a boy. I started crying. I was so happy I could hear his cry! They cleaned him up and brought him over, he was so small, 2 pounds 8 ounces, I gave him a kiss and they took him away.
It seemed like forever before they would let me get out of bed, I told them I would get up myself if they didn't let me up. It was later the next day that I FINALLY got to see Luke. He was so small and it was so hard to see him. Kayden and Riley were in the NICU but they weren't this small. He was on a ventilator among other lines and cords. We could only very lightly put our hands on him. We weren't actually able to hold him for a week. It was so hard leaving him there when I went home. He had to have blood transfusions and so many different medications it was heart breaking. Only 4 days after he was born I got a call saying there was something wrong with heart and he was going to Primary Children's. So there he spent the next 7 weeks of his life.

My favorite freebies page

This is my favorite site to find deals. I found her website while looking through the weekly paper inserts that come in the mail and loved her blog. She always does giveaways and has the best deals. My favorite is the day before premier movie things she does. I am usually able to get tickets to great movies!

VACTERL association

We had another ultrasound done on Monday. I always look forward to seeing the baby. However once again we weren't very prepared for any bad news. Over the last 7 weeks we have been wondering exactly what is going on with our baby. So far all we knew was he/she was missing the left radius bone and it is not a genetic disorder. Other than that all we kept hearing was "it could be this or that", "we will know more when the baby is born", things like that. The last Doctor said he thought it was an amniotic band. I was confused because what I knew about that, the entire arm would not have grown. But he is the Doctor right? So we really just thought this was a random thing.

The Doctor yesterday was the most knowledgeable we have had so far. During our ultrasound there was a lot of focus on the heart, never a good thing. After that, he said that the right side of the heart was a little more dominate than the left. Just one more thing to keep an eye on. He said as of right now he can't see any Major problems like holes or openings in the heart but until we can do a chest xray after birth we won't know for sure. Then he moved on to the stomach. He said he really can't see a left kidney or it might be a pelvic kidney (in the pelvis not upper back). He looked and looked but there was no definite kidney where it should be. As the baby gets bigger you can see things a little more clearly which must be why the other Doctors and techs always measured 2 kidneys. Unless they were all idiots :)

So the term for what the baby has it VACTERL association. It is not a syndrome or condition it is just a grouping of birth defects. Our baby has 3 of the 7, so far. It is really hard to hear. I don't want a long NICU stay which is what will happen if things are worse after the baby is born. I just hope they chest x ray shows nothing serious. The only thing we won't know is the kidney. You just can't tell how bad or not so bad something is from inside the womb. We really have no idea what to expect. We are so extremely lucky there is a Shriners Hospital here in Utah. That is where we will be sent for all future visits.

That is what we know so far. The baby is growing and developing normally expect for those few thing and as of now they are not a concern in the womb at this point. We have another ultrasound in 4 weeks. The baby will be much bigger by then and maybe we can learn a little more. I am grateful that it is not something worse. We could have found out our baby won't live past birth or have some terrible genetic defect.

Less than 3 months now!!

They are getting so big...

I can't believe how fast kids grow. Where have the last 2 1/2 years gone? I remember when my nephew Nixon started talking and I thought I just couldn't wait until Kayden and Riley started talking too! Well now I find myself thinking, if I could just get some piece and quiet! :)

I do love this age though. It is fun I can carry on conversations with them. However the back talking and "NO MOMMY!" can get old.

We finished setting up the babies crib that used to be the crib that the twins slept in. I remember them in it, I had to clean off some old milk! Now they sleep in a bunk bed.

Riley still loves her baby and blankey but Kayden lost his taggy a while ago and we had to convince him he was a big boy and was okay without it. I think I had a harder time loosing it, I love to keep stuff like that.

Kayden know all of his letters. Don't know where he learned it but one day at Olive Garden he was looking at his kids menu and stared telling me all of the letters on the page. He doesn't know the order of the alphabet but he loves telling me all the letters he sees in words, the cereal box, netflix, and even the toilet. :)

They love Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, Pirates, Word World and Blues Clues. If they could they would drag me to the park EVERYDAY! I don't know what they would do with out each other. They are their best friends. If Riley wakes up early she has to wake Kayden so they can start playing.

Kayden is all boy. He loves his cars and trains. Riley loves playing mommy with her baby and almost anything she can tuck into a blanket. However Kayden does like the occasional dress up game.

Missing bone...

So here is the update on our little peanut.

We went in for a routine ultrasound almost 2 weeks ago, well what we thought was going to be routine. Everything was going fine during the ultrasound. The tech was very good at her job when she found a problem. She had the Doctor come in and he told us that it looks like our baby is missing his/her left radius bone. I never knew that could happen. So of course we had a ton of questions. The Doctor said he could not see anything more wrong besides that but he wanted us to meet with a genetic counselor at the University of Utah to rule out any other major problems.

Today we had our ultrasound at the University. It took FOREVER! The baby was as stubborn as could be! It would not move. They could not get a great look at its arm so they could not see if he/she has a thumb or not. If there is no thumb then we will need to figure a way after it's born to make a thumb somehow so he/she would have more use of the arm. If there is a thumb bone then it is just a little less visits to a specialist.

The heart and brain and other organs all looked good. According to the genetic counselor it looks like this is a sporadic thing that happened to this baby. That is great news. The only thing they could not say 100% sure was if the baby has the opening to its butt. Or as they called it the button on the butt. I guess with things like missing or shortened bones that something like no opening on the butt could happen. She could not get a great look today so she could not say for sure. If it is there and formed than everything is good but if there is no opening then that will be a whole list of other problems that I don't want to thing about.

I am hoping for the best of course and I know there are so many other terrible things we could have had happen but no one wants to see there baby go through anything like surgery or having to meet with different specialists.

So for now we hope for the best and try to get me to full term!

4th of July

Going back for more!

Kayden had no fear of the fireworks. He just wanted more and more
Riley was happy just sitting back and playing with the pop its

I think this face tells you how much she liked sparklers
Kayden loved all the fireworks


This year we finally did fireworks with kids! The past 2 years they were in bed by the time we could do fireworks. Riley touched the end of the sparkler (her first one of the night) and it scared her because it was hot, it didn't burn her but she still freaked and would go near anymore. So she sat back and played with pop its. By the end she said "Mommy go inside. No more. Fireworks later." It was cute she would put her hands over her eyes during the bigger fireworks Zach lit off. Kayden on the other hand couldn't get enough fireworks. He loved them all. He would bring Zach the fireworks. He would run around holding 2 sparklers in his hands jumping and laughing. We had fun. Zachs mom (Opi as the kids call her) came to watch along with Zach's cousin Mandy.