out of isolation

Hello everyone! Everything keeps getting better and better here, and we are so pleased!

Last night, they moved Rhys out of Isolation (phew) and he did great in the ICU, so the doctors decided it was time to kick him out! He was transferred up to a regualr pediatrics ward sometime this morning…however, they didn't call us to let us know so when Jonathan & I went in to see him tonight; we didn't know where he went! It took us a good 15ms to find out where 3F was, as well! (Jonathan claims it's the same place they had Abi in 2004 but I can't remember!)

Rhys is looking SO good! I'm so happy! I got to hold him for a while and he's getting more and more alert. Tomorrow will mark his one week stay at the hospital and Friday will mark his 6th week "birthday". WOW! It looks like he'll be staying at BBCH for a few more days, up until next week at least. They have to increase his feeds to the correct amount and then spread them out (right now he's only getting 15cc every hour) and then they'll wean him from the ng tube and get him onto the bottle. I don't know how long that will take, but it sounds like forever!!!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers. I can't wait to have my little peanut home. Before this summer is over would be nice….. *wink*

good news for Rhys

Good news today! I went in to see Rhys this morning with my Mom and Rhys is doing MUCH better. He is off the oxygen nose prongs and doing great. No apnea episodes in the past 24 hours, which is such a relief. (he had a few the other night which meant more tests…) Yesterday, they switched his ng tube to an nj tube, which means it was lowered down into the jejunum (a fancy word for the second segment of his small intestine!), to minimize his reflux. Today he is also starting Ranididine to help eleviate the acidity. But the oxygen is the most exciting news! Tomorrow morning the doctors will decide if he's well enough to leave the ICU and go up to the regular pediatric ward for a few days! Wonderful! We left the hospital feeling good and happy. Thank-you for all of your prayers, they are really helping. Thank-you also to everyone who has helped out our family in different ways; we appreciate all of you.

Will let you know what happens.

day 2 @ BCCH

Rhys has improved somewhat; his colour is better and he has brought up some phlegm, so his lungs are slowly starting to clear. He's still in isolation at the Children's Hospital in the ICU. Last night, he coughed and gagged and brought up some of his feed, dislodging his breathing tube (that was a bit frightful for me!) so they took the tube out. They were thinking of just using a nose plug thing for his breathing, but as the Respiratory Therapist and nurse were preparing for that, the Doctor said Rhys was tiring too fast, so they had to reintabate. The poor boy looked so uncomfortable and irritable since they had taken him off of the morphine, but with the reintubation, they started up again. Today they stopped the morphine again (but are giving him a different sedative) as they are slowly weening him off the ventilator, in hopes of removing it sometime tomorrow. When we left this afternoon, he was looking better with more colour and alot more comfortable. They took another x-ray last night and his lungs looked moist, but were getting better. All of his tests are still coming back as negative, which is a good thing in one sense, but also frustrating as it means we still don't know what has caused the pneumonia. It's likely from aspiration, but I hate having to wait to be sure. I'd like some answers now!!! So, while he is improving and looking better, it still feels like it's taking forever!!! We're handling things and are coping, but being at home (for me) is tough; I feel lost and have trouble concentrating. Prayers, dinners, visits and helping with household chores (such as floor laying and dry walling!!!) are welcomed! :)

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers and love. It has been much appreciated.

(Rhys with the breathing tube in isolation at BCCH)

missing my baby...please pray

It's been a *bit* crazy here lately….

On Thursday evening, I had to rush Rhys to the hospital because he was "discoloured". The nurse described it as "grey" and that's pretty much it, plus he was a bit blue around the lips and eyes. Scary stuff!!! There were suddenly 4 nurses and a doctor at his side in the ER! Blood taken, X-Ray taken, warming blankets on him (he was cold), IV inserted (in a vein in his head)…the whole works!!! The X-Ray showed something on his lungs, which was to mean Pneumonia, poor babe. But they had to figure out how come he got it, so a battery of tests were done, including a spinal tap! (I had to leave the room for that one!) Finally, the Pediatrician (who ended up being the same Ped that Kai and Bryn saw, Dr. Ward, whom I really like!) decided that they needed to send him to Children's Hospital as they couldn't care for him properly there. *sigh* As we are all waiting for the transport ambulance team to come, Rhys needs to be intubated. Oh my goodness, my heart wants to stop by then! I understood the whole reasoning, but it was all so hard to take. I was to leave the area then as well, as they gave him morphine to numb him so they could put the tube down his little throat. On top of all of this, Rhys is having Apneatic Episodes…which means he's ceasing to breathe every now and then. It's getting so bad that the nurse is having to pinch his legs to stimulate him back to alertness. It was getting nerving and scary to watch. He definitely needed some help with his breathing!

*sigh*

We arrived at BC Children's Hospital at 10pm Thurs the 24th by ambulance. (one of the transport team members was a man who helped transport Rhys from Peace Arch Hospital to Langley Memorial when he was 3 days old! That was neat. Neal didn't remember us, which is understandable, but I remembered him and it made me smile) Rhys is in an isolation room in the ICU ward getting one-on-one care, so I can feel confident he's getting the best type of help, but it's also hard to take in. It's all happening so fast!

On Saturday night, they decided to stop the morphine so they could prepare to remove his breathing tube the next day, so the poor boy was uncomfortable and irritated. He ended up coughing and bringing up some feed (from the ng tube…yep, back to that!!!) and choking when my husband and I were visiting, so we called in the nurse, which in turn brought in two doctors and 4 nurses!!! Rhys' ng tube was bubbling and there was feed in his breathing tube, which concerned the nurse. It was discovered that his tube had moved, so they had to remove the ng and the breathing one! Rhys looked so peaceful and alert then! The doctors discussed putting the breathing tube back in or just giving him a nose plug with oxygen, and decided on the plug. However, as the Respiratory Therapist and another nurse were preparing for that, the doctor decided to reintubate him! Poor baby. Back to the tube. Back to morphine. A day behind what we were hoping.

I miss him so much. When I'm there, it's a bit boring since all I can do is watch him, but when I'm at home, my mind is on him and I feel anxious, so it's frustrating.

Please pray for my boy. And for our family. Thanks.

you know you're sleepy when....

…instead of grabbing the juice for your child, you mix some kind of soy sauce cocktail!!!! I nearly died! It's a good thing (is it really???) that I was thirsty, so I took a sip of the poison before bringing it to Kai at 3 in the morning. NASTY!!!! It took a lot out of me to NOT puke, but to oh-so casually spit out the salty concoction and wash my mouth out several times. It was then that I realized that instead of Ribeena, a concentrated juice mix, I had grabbed Soy Sauce and mixed it with water!!!!

Oh bother!!!! That was gross! I need sleep!!!!!!

One Month

Rhys is one month old now! He's only been home for one week, but he's settled in quite nicely and we're all happy with him. It's hard to imagine that it's already been a month since he arrived. Time has flown!

We loves him long time!!! These are pictures taken the day he came home.






On July 20th, we went to some friend's house to celebrate a bunch of birthdays. It was Andy's (my brother in law) birthday on that day, as well as my Dad's on the 16th, and Andy's father's (29th) and his brother's (15th) so our families all got together for a BBQ. Who doesn't like those?

Jamie and Maricelle had their first child the same day Rhys was born, which was so neat. One hour apart too! Matthew James Santos. (yep, same middle name too!!!) He's so beautiful but double the size of my peanut!  I look like I'm holding a toddler! We had fun taking pictures with the boys beside eachother.





Rhys now weighs 6lbs 7oz. A whole pound over his birthweight! Yay! I think Matthew weighs 9lbs, just like a normal baby should! ;)

hooked on phonics

I had to steal this off of my friend's blog.

My five-year old Grandson, Jake, is learning to read. Yesterday he pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, 'Look Grandma!? It's a frickin' elephant!'

I took a deep breath, then asked, "What did you call it?"

'It's a frickin' Elephant, Grandma. It says so on the picture.'

And so it does…

' A f R I c a n
Elephant'


Hooked on phonics…………ain't it wonderful?

He's Here!!!

And yes! He's a BOY!!!!

It's been a while, I know. So sorry. Everyone tells me how I NEED to update my blog, but well, if they're telling me I need to then they already KNOW the news! Am I correct??? *snicker*

So where did I leave off…??? oh right, bed rest! Well, I was allowed off bed rest at week 35 and all was wonderful! Yay! Freedom! …sortof. I really did Enjoy not doing anything and being able to rest when I wanted (which was often) and not do any housework or cooking or anything. (Man! I am a sloth!!!! I admit it. *blush* ) So in that aspect, it wasn't NICE getting off bed rest, but in many other ways, it was good. I still wasn't allowed to drive though, so I needed to either wait until Jonathan got home from work or employ my lovely sister (who came anyways to check up on me) to go anywhere.

I managed to make it almost through the whole week, until at 1:30 Friday morning, my waters broke. Of course, me being who I am, wasn't convinved at first that's what it was, so I stayed in bed and thought and pondered and hobbled to the bathroom every hour just to "be sure"!!! Sometimes I thought I had peed myself, okay??? It HAPPENS, you know!!!! *sticking tongue out* At 7am, Jonathan asks me how I"m doing and such before he goes out to drop Abi off at school. I don't mention a THING to him. *teehee*blush* I was in denial, I admit it! It was Abi's very last day of school and I so badly wanted to go to the school and say goodbye to her teacher and get some pictures taken and such! Of course, that would mean that I wouldn't be able to! *pout* Jonathan called me just after he dropped her off and he was making his way to his work, I can't remember why, but I do recall making it to the kitchen phone with amniotic fluid leaking down my leg into a puddle! How embarrassing. By then I knew For Sure what it was!!! LOL My dear hunny asks if I need to go out anywhere because he has just realized he accidentally took the keys to my van with him! (oh right, that's why he called!!!) I tell him no-ooooo… trailing off. He asks what my plans were for the day, so I tell him rather sheepishly, "uhm, maybe going to the hospital today…." I'm so Strange!!!! I don't know why I do this to him!!! But hey, at least, he was the first to know, doesn't that count for something? *grin*

So I make it to the hospital, and my sister (whom I called to come along as my Labour Coach, when DH called his mom to come watch the boys for us) and hunny tell the nurses that I tend to go FAST, and so when I say I'm ready to push, I'm ready!!! LOL It's true, but still…. after a few hours of NOTHING, I felt a little silly, and was begging my body to work faster! LOL At 3pm, the doctor decided to induce me by drip since they were going to be short staffed that night and so they wanted me to go while it was all covered! I was feeling quite proud of myself b/c I was trying REAL hard to stay focused and breathe through the contractions, but by 5pm the pain was getting quite intense and I was only 3cm!!!! (oh good grief) By 5:40pm, I was checked by the doctor, who said that I was now fully dialated at 10cm!!! YIPPIE!!! of course, by then I had already guessed that b/c my body was really fighting, and I was starting to hyperventilate (how embarrassing) and I had basically tuned everyone out! (well, actually I did that at the beginning of the hour, lol) For some strange reason, that's the time the doctor decided to step OUT of the room. Why oh why do they do that? When will they learn??? So of course, he missed the whole thing!!!! sheesh! Oh well, why break tradition, right? None of my babies were delivered by a doctor! Go Nurses!!!!

Rhys James
born June 20th
17:50 hrs 5lbs 7.4oz
19" length

During the contractions, the nurses had trouble finding his pulse, so when I was checked at 5pm, the doctor put an internal wire on his head to keep check of the heartrate. I guess it went down a few times still, but it was still "okay". Which is good b/c I was starting to worry about having an emergency c-section. Could they do that while I was contracting? Did I need to be concerned about my antibody disorder? We found out after he was born just what was causing all the trouble: a knot in his cord!!!!! (according to my sis, who researched it, I had a TON of "signs" of this happening. very curious)



Rhys did well on his Apgars, but the Pediatrician noticed a poor suck and said he may have help with feeding. Sure enough, that night, he had a feeding tube put into his nose. Poor boy. By Monday (day 3), I was discharged, and Rhys was transferred to a different hospital who could care for him better. Rhys stayed at the Langley Memorial Hospital's Special Care Nursery for three weeks, which was just starting to take it's toll on me.



He is now nearing his One Month Birthday, and is at home and we are all adjusting. He's such a sweetie. Doesn't complain….much! LOL He's got bad gas and hiccups often, and I recall hearing him burp up stuff and swollow it down again, so I have a feeling he has a *bit* of Reflux. Poor boy. (if you can only have a bit! lol) I'm keeping an eye on it. I was pumping, but am already finding it hard to keep up with (I can't breastfeed b/c SOMEHOW he got thrush while in the hospital and it's not cleared up yet) so I think I'm going to just stick with Formula. I am torn though. Am I doing this out of selfishness? Am I giving up too easily? Breastfeeding is MUCH cheaper, you know! And a bit more convenient… but it depends on how you look at it too…

I can't get over how I have THREE boys!!! And most importantly, I have FOUR Children!!!! I love to watch them. They make me smile. I am so blessed!

his first hat


my Canuck, July 1st


So I hope you feel "updated" now. If I got any info wrong, I blame it on my post-pregnancy brain! LOL However, if it's wrong, chances are that I'll correct it so you won't even know anyways! *wink*

Thanks to Julie for "letting" me steal her great pics off of FB!!!