I'll say it again...

... I love my gig. And here is why:

Andrew day 78

He is doing so great today. This week he had an echo, his 2 month immunizations and an upper gastro. assessment in prep for his gastronomy tube placement next week.
The "G" tube will replace the "ng" tube he has now in his nose. When we bring him home he will try his best to feed from a bottle but the milk he is too tired to "nipple" he will get through this tube in his stomach. As soon as he doesn't need it, and is taking full feeds through the bottle, the tube can be taken out and will heal like normal.  Good bye ng tube on Thursday.

Andrew day 69

Had another great night with him. He stayed awake for 3 hours. Drank a whole bottle. Played and looked around. Couldn't be better.

Aaron's second tooth

...Out.

He pulled it out during a movie all by himself.

Andrew day 68

When Andrew is awake he keeps his eyes so wide that I wonder what he is concentrating on. I am positive he can see angels.

Andrew day 67

We got some great news today about Andrew. He had another echo yesterday and the found two new things. 1 - his PDA closed even though he has been on the PGE. 2 - His pulmonary hypertension had improved over the last week. After the cardiologist gave the initial assessment, one cardiologist was in "awe" of his progress and another cardiologist had to look for himself because he couldn't believe it.

I don't know what the next month will bring but this is the first time a doctor has spoken of discharge. And she spoke of it in terms of weeks not months.

Perfect valentines day.

The painting made it in!

The painting of the staircase that I entered into the LDS art competition made it! It will be displayed from March - October of this year. Next to the painting will be my name and this small statement I wrote up:

"The light of the gospel is inviting. The ground floor in this home is well traveled but the light beyond our view is so much greater. So many times we live below our means even though we are all drawn to ascend to a higher state. Our Savior, Jesus Christ is the source of the light and the person who we come unto."

Andrew, Day 63

Andrew is a little baby. Yes, he's very sick and still has a long climb, but each day we spend with him reminds us that he is a sweet little baby.We're suppose to have had another echo-cardiogram on Monday the 13th to see if there's still pressure and back-flow from his lunges to his heart. There's also a looming procedure; a cardiac catheterization, that may give us some better data on Andrew's heart and cardiovascular health.

Andrew day 60

The results of the echo weren't too good for us. He hasn't improved enough to stay off the PGE so he back on it.

We are not terribly clear on what this means for him in the near future. We will meet with the "pulmonary hypertension" people later this week.

I am trying not to panic about how long he's been in the hospital or how long until he comes home. I can " how long" this and that all day. The bit of revelation I've received today is - Everything will happen in the Lord's time. Anyone else's time just isn't good enough.

Testing his heart

Andrew, and all babies with CDH, have pulmanary hypertension. It happens because there aren't enough developed blood vessels in the lungs to handle the blood flow from the heart. There is a little valve in the heart (ductus arteriosus) that is open in utero but closes soon after birth in normal babies. This closes to in order to get more blood flow to the lungs when it is needed after birth. When this ductus doesn't close, it is called a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and means that the blood is going to other areas of the body instead of to the lungs.

For Andrew, his lungs don't have enough blood vessels to handle the blood flow from the heart when the PDA is closed. When blood doesn't flow it puts pressure against the heart, this is pulmanary hypertension. So up until now doctors gave him a medication (PGE) that keep the ductus open and hopefully gave his lungs enough time to develop some more blood vessels and handle the full blood flow. Over the last month, they have tried 3 times to take him off the PGE and let the PDA close. He didn't tolerate it very well and the echocardiogram showed that there would be damage to the heart if it was closed. They took him off the PGE again on Saturday and he has shown no signs of decline in the last 48 hours. That is great.

He had an ECHO today and we are waiting to hear the results.

Andrew day 50

Here we are 50 days old. Such a sweet little guy.

Alex had a dream...

Years ago, Alex saw me throwing away some jeans with big holes in them and said "HEY, we can make a quilt out of that." I agreed with him and set the jeans aside, and I kept setting them aside, and setting them aside. Then a year ago, I started cutting them into squares. Then a month ago, I had gathered around 600 squares.

While I was pregnant I also had a little revelation while I as laying in bed. I thought - "My boys need to sleep under denim and flannel." After I got out of the hospital, I started cranking them out and here they are.

Aaron Lost His First Tooth

It was late Friday night and Alex couldn't wait any longer. "AARON!! JUST LET MOM PULL IT OUT!!" Aaron wasn't sure about it. After he ate a whole apple (to get it more wiggly) he let me pull it out. And he was so excited.

The tooth fairy gives $2 a tooth these days.

LDS International Art Competition

"Make Known His Wonderful Works" was the theme of this year's art competition. It happens every three years. I entered and was rejected 3 years ago, and this year I entered and they had I made it through the first round of judging. They requested that I send the framed painting to the Church History Museum for the final round of judging. So I sent it off 2 weeks ago and am waiting to hear back. If they like it, it will be part of the 2012 exibit in the SLC museum. If they don't, they will mail it back to me.

The exibit begins in March. I can't wait to find out.