Catch Up

Well, quite a lot has happened in the last 6 months.  I'll try and give a quick update.

We moved into our house and have been working hard on making it our own.  I'll make sure to post pictures when we get the finishing touches done.  

Rob, his dad, and sister were in a really bad car accident in September.  His sister was driving and a tire blew.  The car rolled a few times and they had to be lifelited to the Flagstaff Hospital. His sister was in the ICU for several days because she had lacerated her spleen.  Rob ended up with a broken orbital bone (around his eye) with 27 stitches, 7 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a large gash on his arm that caused a lot the nerve damage in his hand and a lot of bruising on his leg.  He had to wear a neck brace for several weeks because of numbness in his hands.  They wanted to make sure it wasn't because of damage to his neck.  But after many tests and follow-ups with a neurosurgeon everything turned out to be fine with his neck.  He had 

to have surgery on his leg a few months later to remove a hemotoma from all of the bruising.  He has been doing so much better these past few months, which I am so grateful for.  I still remember getting a call from his sister to tell me he had been in an accident and how worried and scared I was.  I am very grateful for his sister Stacey who drove down to Flagstaff with me.  I'm not sure I could've made the drive on my own. This experience really made me realize a lot of things.  I don't know what I would've done if something would've happened to Rob.  I know they were being watched over because with how the car rolled they all could've easily been killed or injured a lot more.  I know it sounds odd... but I am very grateful for this experience.  It helped Rob and I become so much closer and realize to a much greater level how important we are to each other.

The next big news is we had our beautiful daughter Sydney Kay on November 29th.  She was 2 weeks early, weighed 8lbs 5oz, was 19.5 in long and has thick dark hair like her mom and dad did when they were born.  Her and I had a a rough start.  I ended up being  in labor for 29 hours.  The last three was all pushing without her moving an inch

(very frustrating and exhausting).  They finally called the doctor in and he said her head was in the wrong position and I could push all night and she wouldn't budge.  So he tried using the vacuum several times and she still wouldn't move.  Next, he used the forceps which he was finally able to pull her out with.  She was really bruised and swollen from being stuck for so long, the vacuum sucking at her head, and the forceps.  She had to stay in the hospital for 4 days after she was born because of jaundice from all of the bruising and a large cephalahematoma on her head. They let us go home but we had to visit with the pediatrician 1-2 days after she was discharged. When we went in to see our pediatrician he did another bilirueben (jaundice) test.  He called us with the results that afternoon and said her levels were really high and we needed to take her into the hospital right then.  This led to an unexpected three weeks in the hospital.

After being in the hospital for about 5 days under the bili-lights her jaundice levels came down to a safe, stable level but the nurses began to notice she had really low oxygen saturation levels.  So called in a cardiologist to do some test.  They found that she had a small PDA but didn't think that was the cause. They said if they didn't find anything else that would cause it they would do heart surgery to close the hole to see that was the cause. Next, they called in a pediatric lung specialist.  He had a sleep study done to see if she had apnea.  From the results, he said she did not have apnea but probably had Acid Reflux and put her on a couple of medications and called in a GI specialist. He had tests done to confirm the reflux and also a test that showed she had Delayed Gastric Emptying.  In the meantime, her eating had become worse and worse (which probably resulted from the pain from the reflux and always feeling full or content from her stomach not emptying properly).  They would weigh her every morning and I noticed that she was losing about an ounce a day.  I talked to the pediatrician about it and they decided to watch it for 2 more days. She still continued to lose and hit 7lbs 6oz... she had lost a pound from her birth weight.  They had me start pumping and feeding her formula so they could measure how much she was eating.  Then they had me start putting in a fortifier and rice cereal to make the milk have more calories.  They hoped after she had gained some of her weight back she would gain more to be

able to eat on her own.  She started to gain but still wouldn't eat so they had to put a feeding tube in her nose.  Once the feeding tube was in and we were feeding her a lot more she started to throw up really bad at least once a day.  We were finally allowed to bring her home on Christmas Eve.  We had to argue with the doctor for about an hour before he would allow it.  But, Rob and I both knew she would do so much better at home without the stress of a hospital and being woken up so much for vitals and tests.  She had to come home with the feeding tube but she now weighs 11lbs 9oz. 

Even though Sydney continued to grow, develop, and gain weight her eating habits did not get any better.  A month ago the GI specialist referred us to a surgeon to talk about getting a permanent tube in her stomach.  We met with the surgeon, Dr. Schiedler, around the middle of January.  He talked to us about the procedure and told us that he would also perform a Nissen Fundoplication also since they already had to do surgery.  This procedure would involve wrapping part of her stomach around her esophagus to prevent her reflux.  After the visit, Rob and I felt really good about the surgery so we decided to set a date.  The earliest we were able to make an appointment was 3 weeks out so we waited patiently for the date to arrive.

Sydney had her surgery 5 days ago.  After they woke her up from the anesthesia she was really sore and tired.  She wouldn't go to sleep (I think because she was in pain) until 6:00pm.  So, besides sleeping from the anesthesia she had been awake since 6AM.  We were finally able to get her to sleep and she slept for quite a while.  The next morning she was doing so much better.  She was back to her smiling, happy self.  They had us start trying to feed her the day after also to see how well she would handle the food since they had manipulated her stomach. She was able to take all of the food by mouth in the increments they gave her.  This was such a surprise and really exciting considering she would only ever eat about 15-30mL by mouth before.  Her feedings now seem to fluctuate a bit but she will now take between 50-85mL by mouth and she no longer throws up.  I know as her esophagus heals she will begin to eat even better.  We were able to bring her home Sunday night which was earlier than expected.  I am so grateful that she is doing so well and more comfortable.  She has been smiling so much more since we brought her home and we are able to do a lot more with her since we don't have to worry about her throwing up (the most exciting thing being I get to sleep a little better!). 

Well, this ended up being way longer than expected.  But, that is the catch up of our last 6 months of excitement.  I hope this next year does not involve as many doctors and hospital visits as the last.  I think we've filled our quota for at least 20 years :) 

June 30th

Well, I guess today marks the day of our first post. Hopefully I can try and post weekly so we can keep you all up to date on our busy lives.

The big news for us right now is.... We're having a baby!! I'm due on December 13th and we find out tomorrow if we are having a boy or girl. I've been counting down to this day for quite awhile now. I was able to have an ultrasound at 7 1/2 weeks which was awesome to actually see something growing inside me! I am 16 weeks now so our little something will look more like a little baby now. I get more and more excited every day.

The other news is we are buying a house. We should be closing the end of July and we'll be moving in a few weeks before that. We are buying Rob's parents home because they have moved to Idaho.

So, once again. Our lives our quite exciting and very busy right now. I hope you all enjoy our adventures as much as we do!