Hangin’ Out

For the past few days we all have been just hangin’ out.  This is GOOD! 

Brinnlie has been adjusting well to the changes made with her meds and receiving blood for her blood pressure to stabilize, and Thursday they changed her to a different ventilator from the high-frequency.  This new one, I don’t remember the technical term for it, but what it does is gives enough air pressure to keep her lungs inflated enough so they won’t completly collapse when exhaling, and is set to give her 28 breaths per minute (whereas the high-frequency was giving like 600 per minute) and she can take as many of her own breaths as she wants…with this new one they were able to intubate her with the next bigger tube (yea, she’s growing a bit) which allows for less escape of air around it, making her CO-2 levels lower and normal.  She still hangs-out at about 30% oxygen and is hooked to nitric oxide too, which helps her avuli (sp?) in her lungs not tire out so much.

(Sorry, this picture’s not a very good one, I keep leaving my camera, so this is from my phone)

Trevor and I were able to go visit last night, and she looks so good!  She’s a feisty little thing and hates for her nurses and team members to disturb her---she likes to kick her feet out of her bunting and lie with them straight out and up over her bedding.  When she was first born she looked like Macie and Broxton with the rounder face and darker complexion(they were at birth), but she is SO a little Gunnar!!  She looks so much like him when he was in his isolette!  She is also long and lean (who wouldn’t be weighing in at a pound), but its good to see her looking like a small person.  They mentioned yesterday that they would ‘talk’ about starting feedings, slowly, but it’s the next step to getting her growing!  We haven’t called yet today, we will wait a little ‘til after the rounds, then we can get more info.  We left with a ‘PHEW’, but with a little nervousness ‘cause it’s still hard to get ourselves too optimistic, fearing and knowing that we’re still on a long and bumpy road. 

Brinnlie is becoming famous within the NICU at Primary’s---she’s the smallest in there right now, and every time we head in her room there’s a new face peeking in at her and her nurses remark how many visitors (within the NICU staff) she gets just ‘to see’ the tiny girl.  We’ve even had a couple parents ask if we had the 400 gram baby, so she’s obviously causing some gossip already!

As for Gunnar, Macie, and Broxton, they’ve been hangin’ out too.  It’s been nice to get them back into somewhat of a normal routine here at home.  We’ve been trying to spend more family time with them and do activities and have some fun.  We’ve gone out to eat and colored and played games, read books, made cookies, played outside, etc., things that can be taken for granted at other times.  The hardest for me is not being able to pick up Broxton and hold/carry him.  He still grabs my leg and says ‘get me’ holding up his arms, and I just have to say I can’t and it makes me sad.  The next best thing is just lying next to him watching Wubbzy and it seems to calm his want. 

They all got to go ‘party’ with Grandma and Logan at her school last night while we were in SLC, and they had a blast!  Even Logan said that they should do that every Friday night!  Each time we head to SLC they ask when we’ll be coming back and not to stay as long as before, but they seem to be doing ok with it right now.  Trevor is with Gunnar and Macie at a pancake breakfast with Brigham Implement and they were so excited this morning to go and eat pancakes and see tractors! 

With the sun shining, they will be way excited to go outside today too! 

As for me, I itch like crazy!  I don’t know if it’s just my body this time through, or if they use a different type of tape and sticky pads and steri-strips at the U, but I don’t remember having a reaction the other times before---every place they taped, stuck a pad, and placed the strips on my incision, I have had itchy spots.  My arms and chest spots have gone, but now that the area around my incision is getting more feeling back, I can definitely feel the itch!  I also have a problem with the soap used to scrub in at the NICU.  I have to make sure I get or carry lotion with me so every time I leave I can have some to put on.     Otherwise I am doing good.  Trying to take it easy and not let the fact that I can’t vacuum when I want to, or lift things that seem like no big deal---time is what we all need, and time just doesn’t seem to pass fast enough these days.  Trevor made the comment to one of the nurses the other night, ‘the next medical advancement needs to be time warping so we can all move ahead and be where we want to be’---I guess I can’t wish time away, but it would be nice to have a peek every now and again.

For you out there that ask if there is anything you can do, you’ve done enough already with your thoughts and prayers.  We have definitely felt them and have seen your love for us work.  Now, I’m not sayin’ stop them from comin’ our way :) ---we are at a good place for the moment, we are at the top of the roller coaster and we have to go down at some point, so keep our family in your thoughts and prayers, and thank the Lord for watching out for us at this time and to continue to give us the best in times to come.  We pray for you too, thanking our Heavenly Father daily for having such wonderful family and friends, (and strangers, and new acquaintances) that are here for us and care for our family so much. 

Thank you again and I will get even the smallest updates here and I won’t forget my camera next time!