Saturday, December 17, 2011
Just Pictures!
Just some fun pictures from our visits to Santa and Nick and Ben's Christmas program at the Lee Ann Britain Infant Development Center.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Whew!
Well, we just got home from a 2 night stay in the ICU at the local children's hospital....not fun!
Our oldest, Brianna, had some virus last week where she had a high fever one day, slept all day, and developed a slight cough during that time. She still isn't completely better but is back at school at least.
Nikolas, on the the other hand, started with a slight cough on Friday night, he wasn't acting sick and had no fever. By Saturday morning, you could tell he wasn't feeling good. I gave him a bath in the morning and by the time he was dressed and lotioned up, he started getting a fever. He wasn't acting himself and I could tell he was getting sick so I let him sleep the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon. He woke up around 2 and I had fed him while he slept (one bonus of the tube!).
Suddenly, his breathing started to sound extremely congested, kind of like when you need to clear your throat really bad. Well he couldn't clear it, he would try and cough but it would still sound the same. You could also tell he was starting to have a hard time breathing through the phlegm.
My dad needed help moving a new ac unit into their house so we headed over there. The whole (5 minute) drive was terrible. I kept trying to suction Nick with a bulb syringe and I would get some gunk, but the back of Nick's throat (where his adenoids are) is very sensitive, so I was also starting to get a lot of blood. So he's screaming, can't breath and can't cough enough to clear his throat....not fun.
My dad convinced us we needed to get him in, now. The local children's hospital has a branch hospital (but not as well equipped, as the downtown one) with an ER so we took him there, mainly because I knew he'd be able to see an actual doctor.
His oxygen saturation levels are at 85% and he is sounding terrible. I had given him ibuprofen earlier so no temp.
They deep suction him, lots more blood and a good amount of phlegm. The doctor decides he needs to be admitted, he knows he going to get worse and he's going to need oxygen and lots more suctioning.
Well in the 2 hour time period we are waiting to be moved upstairs, Nick's fever spikes to 102.7. His heart is racing in the the 200's and his respiration rate is in the 80's....not good.
They bring in another doctor and she decides he needs to go downtown to the main hospital. The transport team was on their way.
This whole time I am having terrible flashbacks of when Nick just had his second lip repair (back in Feb), we bring him home, take him to the same branch hospital and he has his first seizure. And actually, his symptoms are very similar and he ended up having RSV.
I am praying he doesn't have seizures this time....
They do blood work, and chest X-rays and cultures, but nothing turns up. It's just some nasty virus that Nick's little body can't seem to handle on his own.
Amazingly, Sunday evening he starts to do much better, no more fever and he doesn't need the oxygen or suctioning anymore. It seems as fast as the symptoms appeared, they disappeared.
So we spent two nights in the PICU and went home....very unusual. Normally you are sent to the floor first, then maybe the next day you get to go home. But he was doing so well they decided he could go home. Yes!
He's still not himself, very sleepy and cranky, it seems it hurts him to cough. But he's breathing fine and doesn't need oxygen.
I'm just happy we're home. Even more so right now because my Chemistry final is supposed to be tonight and I have not had adequate time to study. But my teacher is great, he said I could take the final anytime before Thursday....so thankful I have an understanding teacher!
BUT, now Ben is getting sick....it's a never-ending battle with the cold season. Hopefully, Joe and I can dodge the bullet though!
Oh, and I almost forgot to update about Carsen. He looks great! No abnormalities and growing perfectly so far. Praise the Lord! We can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family...
Our oldest, Brianna, had some virus last week where she had a high fever one day, slept all day, and developed a slight cough during that time. She still isn't completely better but is back at school at least.
Nikolas, on the the other hand, started with a slight cough on Friday night, he wasn't acting sick and had no fever. By Saturday morning, you could tell he wasn't feeling good. I gave him a bath in the morning and by the time he was dressed and lotioned up, he started getting a fever. He wasn't acting himself and I could tell he was getting sick so I let him sleep the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon. He woke up around 2 and I had fed him while he slept (one bonus of the tube!).
Suddenly, his breathing started to sound extremely congested, kind of like when you need to clear your throat really bad. Well he couldn't clear it, he would try and cough but it would still sound the same. You could also tell he was starting to have a hard time breathing through the phlegm.
My dad needed help moving a new ac unit into their house so we headed over there. The whole (5 minute) drive was terrible. I kept trying to suction Nick with a bulb syringe and I would get some gunk, but the back of Nick's throat (where his adenoids are) is very sensitive, so I was also starting to get a lot of blood. So he's screaming, can't breath and can't cough enough to clear his throat....not fun.
My dad convinced us we needed to get him in, now. The local children's hospital has a branch hospital (but not as well equipped, as the downtown one) with an ER so we took him there, mainly because I knew he'd be able to see an actual doctor.
His oxygen saturation levels are at 85% and he is sounding terrible. I had given him ibuprofen earlier so no temp.
They deep suction him, lots more blood and a good amount of phlegm. The doctor decides he needs to be admitted, he knows he going to get worse and he's going to need oxygen and lots more suctioning.
Well in the 2 hour time period we are waiting to be moved upstairs, Nick's fever spikes to 102.7. His heart is racing in the the 200's and his respiration rate is in the 80's....not good.
They bring in another doctor and she decides he needs to go downtown to the main hospital. The transport team was on their way.
This whole time I am having terrible flashbacks of when Nick just had his second lip repair (back in Feb), we bring him home, take him to the same branch hospital and he has his first seizure. And actually, his symptoms are very similar and he ended up having RSV.
I am praying he doesn't have seizures this time....
They do blood work, and chest X-rays and cultures, but nothing turns up. It's just some nasty virus that Nick's little body can't seem to handle on his own.
Amazingly, Sunday evening he starts to do much better, no more fever and he doesn't need the oxygen or suctioning anymore. It seems as fast as the symptoms appeared, they disappeared.
So we spent two nights in the PICU and went home....very unusual. Normally you are sent to the floor first, then maybe the next day you get to go home. But he was doing so well they decided he could go home. Yes!
He's still not himself, very sleepy and cranky, it seems it hurts him to cough. But he's breathing fine and doesn't need oxygen.
I'm just happy we're home. Even more so right now because my Chemistry final is supposed to be tonight and I have not had adequate time to study. But my teacher is great, he said I could take the final anytime before Thursday....so thankful I have an understanding teacher!
BUT, now Ben is getting sick....it's a never-ending battle with the cold season. Hopefully, Joe and I can dodge the bullet though!
Oh, and I almost forgot to update about Carsen. He looks great! No abnormalities and growing perfectly so far. Praise the Lord! We can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family...
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Big day Friday...
Friday is a big day for us. We go for our second level 2 ultrasound to see how baby Carsen is doing. Really, the only reason this is a big deal is because of Nick's recent 'possible' diagnosis of Lenz. From the little information I can find out about Lenz, mother's may not be carriers. Maybe I'm just reading into the wording a little too much but it does say IF....
Lenz microphthalmia syndrome is inherited in an X-linked recessive manner. The risk to sibs depends on the carrier status of the mother. If the mother is a carrier, the chance of transmitting the mutation is 50% in each pregnancy: males who inherit the mutation will be affected; females who inherit the mutation will be carriers and will not be affected.
This was taken from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ so I am assuming is pretty credible.
But the other reason I am a little worried is because this baby is having similar, 'shaky' movements like Nick did. I always thought Nick was having seizures in utero but we could never actually capture it on ultrasound or on the non-stress tests. I am praying it is nothing, that Carsen is fine, but all these things are starting to worry me, even though the first few ultrasounds looked great.
Nick didn't start having seizures until he got really sick and had just had surgery. So I'm thinking he never was having seizures before he was born. The only thing that I can think that the odd vibrating movements were is either my uterus is weird or when you push upward on the bottom of Nick's feet, they start to shake. Maybe that's what is was, and that would make perfect sense because when you push on his feet it only last for maybe 5 seconds which is about the same amount of time the shaking 'episodes' would last.
One of his OT's explained that his feet shake like that because of something to do with his neurological issues.
But if that's why Nick was doing it, and now Carsen's doing it....ugh, I need to stop worrying. I really can't handle much more stress right now. Brianna is sick again this week, possibly with bronchitis or strep. My Chemistry final is Monday, and I CANNOT get sick before that! And Christmas is coming up....
If you've read this far, sorry. It really helps me to get everything out but then be able to go back and see what I've written and re-evaluate.
I've been constantly reminding myself that God is in control. But something else I've recently decided to focus on is that all these trials we go through, all the heart ache and stress, they are actually blessing's from God. I know that seems backward, and it's hard to wrap my mind around it sometimes but He wants us to rely on Him 100%, and not just during the hard times. This thought process comes somewhat from Laura Story's Blessings song. I cannot control anything and I cannot do anything by myself, but with God's help I know we will be just fine, whatever the results.
Please pray for Carsen, for Joe and myself. Oh, Nick is doing great by the way, his eye continues to heal and the week before Christmas they are going to try and put a contact lens in, so we'll see how that goes!
I'll update as soon as I can on Friday after the ultrasound.
Lenz microphthalmia syndrome is inherited in an X-linked recessive manner. The risk to sibs depends on the carrier status of the mother. If the mother is a carrier, the chance of transmitting the mutation is 50% in each pregnancy: males who inherit the mutation will be affected; females who inherit the mutation will be carriers and will not be affected.
This was taken from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ so I am assuming is pretty credible.
But the other reason I am a little worried is because this baby is having similar, 'shaky' movements like Nick did. I always thought Nick was having seizures in utero but we could never actually capture it on ultrasound or on the non-stress tests. I am praying it is nothing, that Carsen is fine, but all these things are starting to worry me, even though the first few ultrasounds looked great.
Nick didn't start having seizures until he got really sick and had just had surgery. So I'm thinking he never was having seizures before he was born. The only thing that I can think that the odd vibrating movements were is either my uterus is weird or when you push upward on the bottom of Nick's feet, they start to shake. Maybe that's what is was, and that would make perfect sense because when you push on his feet it only last for maybe 5 seconds which is about the same amount of time the shaking 'episodes' would last.
One of his OT's explained that his feet shake like that because of something to do with his neurological issues.
But if that's why Nick was doing it, and now Carsen's doing it....ugh, I need to stop worrying. I really can't handle much more stress right now. Brianna is sick again this week, possibly with bronchitis or strep. My Chemistry final is Monday, and I CANNOT get sick before that! And Christmas is coming up....
If you've read this far, sorry. It really helps me to get everything out but then be able to go back and see what I've written and re-evaluate.
I've been constantly reminding myself that God is in control. But something else I've recently decided to focus on is that all these trials we go through, all the heart ache and stress, they are actually blessing's from God. I know that seems backward, and it's hard to wrap my mind around it sometimes but He wants us to rely on Him 100%, and not just during the hard times. This thought process comes somewhat from Laura Story's Blessings song. I cannot control anything and I cannot do anything by myself, but with God's help I know we will be just fine, whatever the results.
Please pray for Carsen, for Joe and myself. Oh, Nick is doing great by the way, his eye continues to heal and the week before Christmas they are going to try and put a contact lens in, so we'll see how that goes!
I'll update as soon as I can on Friday after the ultrasound.
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