Pumpkin Patch

My parents were both in town this last weekend so we decided to head to the pumpkin patch for some fun. My Mom was here for two weeks helping me and my Dad came for the weekend to see the newest addition. It was nice having them here and seeing our new house, etc. We got to test the guest room. It seems to have passed the test, as well as the guest shower and the hot water heater.

We had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch. Dylan rode in the Baby Bjorn and after about 20 mins fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. (I forgot how much newborns sleep.) Zach had a blast. He got to go down a big slide, walk through a hay maze, shoot little pumpkins from a sling shot, play in a big thing of corn (like a sand pile but better) and his favorite, the bouncy house caterpillar thing. I'd say he's about the perfect age for this place. And best of all, it was free to go. The only things we paid for were the pumpkin launch thing, the pumpkins we took home and some snacks. (Thanks Granddad and Grammy!)

We came back to the house and carved the pumpkins. We used the little cutout things you can buy now with the carving kits. I think they turned out great. Although, I had nothing to do with the actual carving. I left that to the other 3 adults. All together it was a fun day!

I put some pics on my Flickr account, but will attach some here too. My mom took a lot of the pics. She never seems to get photo credit, so I'm giving it now. She also took the announcement picture we are using for Dylan's announcement and took Zach's announcement pic too. What would we do without Gaynell and her camera!?!? :)

Our Halloween costumes for a party we went to Sat night. Craig was Magnum PI and I was a Hawaiin girl. I'm wearing a grass skirt - you just can't see it in the pic. The best costume at the party was Portia and Ellen on their wedding day. It was a husband and wife. The husband was Ellen and the wife was Portia. Wish I'd had my camera for a pic. It was classic! Right down to the white sneakers like Ellen's. :)

Neurologist Appointment

We just got back from our Pediatric Neurologist appointment with Dylan. We had to drive to Springfield as it's the closest Pediatric Neurologist. Things went well. However, the doctor didn't have our chart. He starts off the appointment by saying, so Dylan had some seizures. Was his birth normal? Really?!?! We had to explain everything. And Craig and I realized how little we know about Neurology. Not surprising. Long story, but the Neurologist who read Dylan's EEGs in the hospital was not the same doctor. They hadn't transferred our records so he had NO idea about what had happened. We tried explaining, but then he'd ask us a question like, "What was his APGAR score?" Okay, from talking to the nurses I knew he had a 1 at birth and a 1 at 5 mins and then a 6. So we tell the doc that and he says, what time was the 6? Again, really?!? I'm suppose to know that off the top of my head. Luckily, one of us wasn't on morphine when all this was happening so Craig was able to remember a little more than me.

The exam went well. He tested his reflexes, checked that his eyes track well, dropped him on the table...yes, he really did. It made me nervous, but he did it to check his startle reflex and it was only an inch or two. Still, makes a mom nervous when you drop her baby onto a table. Anyway, he said his exam looked good. We will go back in a month to have another EEG and see if we can take him off his meds. Long term, he said with issues like his at birth you can see seizures that occur later or possibly impaired learning. Just as the other doctors said, you just watch to see if he hits his milestones like he's suppose to and that he continues to grow normally. Great, as if I needed more pressure on hitting the milestones. The next thing I'll read is some article in Parenting magazine about how you shouldn't worry too much about the milestones because all kids will hit them at different ages. All good news though. Still nothing major to be concerned about.

The latest on not crying. We have learned that he can cry (the instance in the car). However, it still seems he just isn't a big cryer. They drew his blood for newborn screening and he didn't even shed a tear. He has cried a couple more times when he's been ignored for too long or held in an awkward position. But still doesn't wake up crying at night for food or anything. My friend, Amanda, has said her boys were like this too, so I'm trying to just chalk it up to normal baby stuff and thank God he's not colicky or anything. It is nice to not have a real cryer, now that I can relax that he's otherwise healthy. And this go around, I'm letting him sleep as long as he wants to...none of that waking a baby to eat at night stuff. He's gaining weight just fine (10lbs, 8oz yesterday), so he's clearly making up for it during the day. He seems to sleep from about 11-4 or 5 some nights. Pretty good for a 1 month old.

So that's the latest on Dylan. I'll post some more pics and will write a little on the Pumpkin Patch trip this weekend with my parents. Fun times. :)

Meatball...

This is just a funny story I have to write down before I forget.

For a little history, Craig's Dad calls Zach "Meatball". Don't ask me why, but more or less because it drives Zach crazy. He normally says in a very irritated tone, "I not Meatball, I Zachy."

During one of the days at the hospital while Zach was staying with Craig's parents, Craig and Zach went on a walk around the halls to catch up and bond a little. Zach turns to Craig and says, "Daddy, you my best friend." Craig asks, "Oh, why's that?" Zach replies, "You no call me Meatball."

I laughed so hard, it hurt my stitches! :)

Dylan Update

All is going well. We have been home now for a week. Some days it seems like weeks and some days it feels like just a couple of days. He had his 2 week pediatrician appointment on Tuesday and it went well. He's obviously eating well since he has gained 1lb 1oz since birth. So he's 9lbs 12oz. A big growing boy.

He broke the seal on crying. Of course, it was in the car on the way to the Dr and I had to find a place to pull over and adjust his carseat. The same thing happened with Zach, but with Zach it took me a month to figure out why he hated his carseat so much. This time around I was much wiser and realized it is the stupid infant inserts. These are evidently made for petite babies who need a more snug fit. Not an issue with my large babies. Took the insert out for Dylan and he was much happier. Zach was not happy about Dylan's crying. He'd never heard it and was extremely upset at the fact that Dylan was so upset. Zach put his hands over his ears and had tears in his eyes telling me how upset Dylan was. It was very sweet. I had to explain to him how babies cry a lot but they are okay. They are just telling Mommy that they need something. I'm not sure he gets it.

Things seem to be going well. He is still on anti-seizure medication since his last EEG in the hospital showed some "potential" for seizures. He takes the med 2x's a day and will hopefully be able to come off of them within a month or two. Other than that, you really wouldn't know there was ever anything wrong with him. It's really still amazing to me. I just keep marvelling at my little miracle baby.

My mom is here visiting from Florida (for those of you who hadn't heard, the Smith's moved to FL). She's loving being able to spend time with both the boys and has been a great help to me. Laundry, changing diapers, entertaining Zach and letting me nap! I now know why Angelina Jolie can have 5 children. If you get this much help, it seems like 5 kids wouldn't be so bad. My dad is coming in next weekend to see Dylan and Zach too. I think we're going to try and hit the pumpkin patch in town. Should be fun!

Will attach some photos on my Flickr account. I think I can make a link to it? Will try and see how that goes.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home...

We're home! We came home on Tuesday afternoon. Monday night we were able to stay at the hospital and "room in". They have all NICU babies stay with Mom and Dad overnight the night before they come home. It's a test run to make sure you're comfortable with dealing with baby all alone. (The preemie mom's have it much tougher with some going home on monitors and oxygen to manage - not to mention they are like 4 lbs!) We were grateful to get the test run. Even though we have done the newborn thing, it's a little scary when you are so use to the close monitoring all the time. My mom asked if it was a test, what if we failed? Who would get Dylan!?! I said she could try and fly here and beat Chris to the punch, but it would be an ugly fight. :) I also told her there were some nurses in the NICU that kind of took a liking to him. I pictured them keeping him like the cat at a vets office. Just have him be the little NICU child. HA!
Since we passed with flying colors, off we went back to Pittsburg. We had a car full of stuff we'd accumulated over the week and a "It's a Boy" balloon in the front seat. (I rode in the back to keep an eye on Dylan.) :) Zach came home later in the afternoon to meet his baby brother. He was thrilled and has been such a good big brother so far. All night he kept going over to the bassinet to check on Dylan if he made any little noise. He'd say, "Don't cry baby, it ok." He has quite the heart.
Dylan is doing fabulous. We are all hanging in there and adjusting to life with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year old. The only problem we're having is that Dylan still doesn't cry. The doctor looked at me like I was crazy when I asked about this at the hospital. His first response was, "Maybe he hasn't had anything to cry about. We take pretty good care of him. I'm sure I could make him cry." So I didn't worry too much more about it, but mentioned it to his nurses so they could tell me if they heard him cry. One nurse, Rachel, went with him to his circumcision. We thought for sure she'd hear him cry. He didn't. So when the doctor was dismissing him, she mentioned it to him. Dr. Topper tried to make him cry by pinching etc and no cry. He did note it on his chart. We'll follow up at 6 months to see if anything is still wrong. He thinks it's from the intubation and that his vocal chords are just irritated. The important things like breathing, swallowing properly, etc are fine so it just may be some mild irritation.
Now, you might think, who cares if he can't cry, it's nice to have a baby not cry. Actually, it makes you quite crazy. How do you know when to feed him in the middle of the night if he's not crying? How are you sure that his older brother hasn't thrown a toy in the bassinet and hit him in the head if you don't hear a cry? Just because he can't cry, doesn't me he doesn't need me. I find myself checking on him a lot more than I would have with Zach. Any little grunt/noise, I have to check his face to make sure he's not really uncomfortable. I'm starting to learn his grunts too. I'm hoping this will clear up in a couple of weeks. We'll see.
On top of all this chaos, Craig went to Urgent Care today because he has a kidney stone. Really?!!? This is not the best timing for this. He had one in the past and it was pretty painful. They compare it to childbirth. Ironic, huh?!?! He does have some pain meds to help until he can pass it, but he's pretty uncomfortable right now and not able to do a whole lot around the house. Luckily, I'm recovering nicely and feeling a little more like myself.

I will try and post some pics of Zach and Dylan. They are pretty cute together, if I do say so myself.
***For those of you who know how much I love the Wizard of Oz and now living in Kansas, of course that would be the title of my post! :)

Thank you!

I'm not sure how to begin this post except to say, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you." Craig and I have received such an outpouring of love and support over the last week that we feel truly blessed. I have NO doubt that all the prayers are the reason we've seen such dramatic improvement in Dylan.
Warning: I'm about to get on my soapbox.
My faith was first tested and then renewed and stregthened by the events of this week. When things were at their worst, laying on the table wondering what was going to happen to my baby all I could do was pray. There was nothing left for me to do except give it to God and I did. Although I was extremely emotional throughout the week and brought to tears many times (and still am). I never lost a deep seeded feeling that everything was going to be fine. I can NOT explain this unfound sense of peace that I have felt all week other than God holding me tight. I would get nervous about a test result but when they would say, "it looked good." I just felt like, yes, that's what you're suppose to say. All week I told Craig, things are going to be okay. I never felt once Dylan wouldn't make dramatic improvements. When I did start to think about the "what if's", I was reassured that I would get through that too. Some how. Some way. I also wonder how I would act if things had gone a different way, but quickly decide not to dwell on that and just look to the future. I truly believe God has worked a miracle in Dylan's recovery and my ability to deal with this event.

With all that said, everyone's prayers were also a powerful part of that faith. We had so many people praying for us that I'm sure I felt the power of that too. Thank you! Thank you for the emails with such kind, powerful and encouraging words for Craig and me. We again feel truly blessed.

Finally, lots of people have said, "Let us know if we can help." I've often said this to friends when they are going through a tough time. I never know how to help, but really want to be able to offer some support. Most of you are far away, so help with Zach, Dylan or meals is just not possible. I've been doing a lot of thinking and want to extend a way that we would really appreciate your help. We have been staying at the Ronald McDonald house since Wednesday. It has been the best thing for us. Zach can come visit and have a place to play while we hang out with him. It's hard to get him to leave the great playroom and playground outside. He calls Ronald...Mr. Donald and thinks he's from Old MacDonald. We can get to the hospital in literally 5 mins, including parking and walking in. It's inexpensive ($10 a night) and we have a fridge, coffee maker, stove, etc at our disposal. We've also seen many other families here with longer stays ahead of them and probably a tougher budget situation than Craig and me. It's really a great service to this community. With that said, if you'd like, we would love if you made a donation in honor of Dylan to the Ronald McDonald House of the Four States.

Here's the address to send any donation and please note Dylan Ward on the memo line.
Please contact us at:
Ronald McDonald House of the Four States
PO Box 2688
Joplin, MO 64803
or
3402 S. Jackson
Joplin, MO 64804
Phone: (417) 624-CARE
Fax: (417) 624-0270

Again, thank you!
Keep scrolling if you're looking for the update on Dylan's condition.

My Miracle Baby Update - Sunday

I can't believe it's been a week since we had Dylan. It seems more like a month. Days are busy and filled with visits and milestones but tiring with recovery for me and pumping to keep up with Dylan.


To update on his status, he's come off of all IV's as of Friday. They have been able to take blood via his foot and give medicines orally. He really started opening his eyes and looking alert on Thursday/Friday. He was able to try and breastfeed on his own on Thursday, but was too sleepy with meds to really try. Friday we tried again and he latched on but didn't last long when he found out the bottle was much easier. Saturday was also frustrating with little interest in breastfeeding, but a lot of interest in the bottle. I was beginning to see my future of pumping and bottle feeding which would be nearly impossible with a 2 year old at home. This morning he "made me happy" (as Zach would say) b/c he took the breast for 20 mins (just like a typical newborn) and THEN finished his bottle of 2 1/2 oz. I keep saying, "He didn't get to be 8lbs 11oz by being shy about eating." He has a great appetite just like his big brother did. Feeding is going great. The Neonatologist said that the most complex thing a baby does is suck and swallow. He's doing that really well so that's a great sign for his overall health.


MRI was done Thursday and we just found out the results yesterday afternoon. It showed only swelling. Which is good. There were no signs of stroke or any major concerns at this time. Whew! He will need a follow-up EEG on Monday to evaluate improvement from last week. The doctor that examined him on Saturday said that if you didn't know his history you wouldn't know there were any concerns. He's acting just like a typical newborn. Double Whew!

The best news, we received this morning. He's being fed by bottle/breast 100% of the time starting this morning. They took out his feeding tube and his oxygen came off too. No more tubes! He only has some monitors that are just stuck on like stickers. If the EEG goes well and he continues to feed orally and no oxygen problems, he can come home on TUESDAY! That's much earlier than Craig and I had ever expected! We are so thrilled to be able to take him home and start our new family together. Part of me will be very nervous to have him without monitors to tell me he's breathing fine and his heart is at the right rate, etc. But I'm sure we'll be just fine once we get settled into our little routine. :)


I'm posting two videos with this posting. The 1st video Craig took the evening after he was born. I wasn't able to get to the NICU b/c of my recovery and he took video so I could see him again for myself. He has on the ear muffs to keep out noise, the intubation to help him breath and his head has an ice pack on it to keep the swelling down. He's also swollen from all the fluids they needed to give him. His hands are clenched unnaturally too. Craig also calls him Zach in the video. He's quit doing that now. :) The 2nd one we took today and it's Dylan looking absolutely fabulous. The videos next to each other are quite remarkable.



The nurses really do call him a miracle baby. None of them thought he'd do as well as he has done. Amen! Look for another post of all my thank you's for all the prayers, emails, etc!