Home

We are home.... again. We we able to bring him home on Thursday night. He is doing good. I will post later with pics. I'm exhausted so i'm gonna go try for a quick nap.

Pictures of the extubation.

Kisses and Luvs from my Mommy.

Look at me Mama. There's my boy!

His feeding tube kept trying to come out too.

Finally I get to hold him. After 7 long days.

Holding the Daddy's finger

Not so happy.

Right after they pulled it out.

Waiting for all the Dr and nurses to be there to watch just in case something goes wrong.

Right before extubation.

2 months old!!

Wow I can't believe that Gavin is 2 months today. I just hate that he has to spend it in the hospital. Gavin is doing a ton better. He was extubated yesterday and seems to be tolerating it quite well. He is on high flow oxygen and they are planning to slowly ween him down a bit. I guess they would like him to be around 4 liters to go to the 4th floor which is the infant floor for the rest of his recovery. We have no idea how long he will have to be there but we are hoping for no longer than a week. My birthday is on Sunday and that would be the best birthday gift EVER!! We have been able to hold him for a bit here and there. My arms have ached to hold him so when I was able to yesterday it was AMAZING and very EMOTIONAL. I held him right after they took the tube out so he was extremely ticked off. I think he needed his mama to hold him too cause he calmed right down. We have had to move rooms twice because more serious traumas have come in and they said thats a good sign. So right now we are just waiting. We think that if he does not make it upstairs today for sure by tomorrow. I'll post some pics of the whole extubating process. Thank you to all for the prayers, for my family for helping with the girls and to our Mom's for taking the girls over night for the past week. We don't know what we would do without them.

Update

I wanted to post a quick update on Gavin. He is doing better, They have been weening him down off the ventilator slowly. He is just a few more steps from having the tube removed, were hoping by Sunday. He has not had any scary episodes lately, thanks goodness. He is still on some sedation meds and pain meds. He seems so far to be tolerating all the changes as of this morning. They did another chest x-ray this morning as well and they are still not happy with the results, they are expecting bigger changes because he is looking a ton better. He still has alot of secretions and gunk on his right upper lobe. He is trying to be more alert. I posted a ton of pictures yesterday to show the progress that has happened so far. We wanted to thank everyone who has keeped our little guy in their prayers, they have truly helped. He is showing great improvements in the right direction. Keep praying for us and I will update as soon as things change. Love you all.

Pics of Gavin

And with Mommy.

With Daddy tonight.

Looking around, thinking where am I.

Here he is today, trying to open his eyes and see his Mama.

Look at how much puffier his face is. Poor thing was pumped full of a ton of fluids.

Down at Primary's later that day.

And with in hour. Here he is being put on Life flight.

Here he is on Sunday.

Here he is at Davis on Saturday.

Quick vid and update

Just wanted to try and post a quick video on how our little dude is doin. He's still having a little trouble draining his one lung out so the nurses decided to prop him up to help it along. So he's just kickin back in his boppy. As you can see in the video he's a little more awake than he has been in the last few days which makes us happy, and he's draining quite a bit. I'm so happy to see the little guy fighting so hard and winning. I'm sorry it is a little dark but they had the lights off and I was trying not to blind him so I was trying to cover the light on the camera.

Gavin's update as of right now.

Well what a day. It at first seemed that nothing had changed from last night to today. The doctors had told us that they were going to change his pain meds to Morphine so they wouldn't have to dose him every few minutes. So at about 11 I decided to go home-(this is Chris by-the-way)- to get some things like clean clothes and stuff. Well as I was getting ready to come back up Rach called me and told me that they had to do chest compressions on him. Apperantly when they gave him his new meds he clamped up and wasn't getting any air. Not cool... So I hit about mach 9 to get back to the hospital. I can't tell you how slow people can be when you REALY need to get somewhere in a hurry. I also can't tell you how many people I gave the bird to on the way to Primary's. When I finally got here they had to do chest compressions and Rach was/is a mess. As of right now they have him more cumfortable and he is doing just fine. His infection from what the doctors is telling us is accutally getting better. He's just going to be a little more "high maintenance" as one doctor put it. Here are a few pictures I just took of the poor little guy. Keep us in your prayers they are appreciated..

Gavin's down at Primary Childrens.

Gavin is in the hospital at Primary's. He was admitted yesterday to Davis hospital with respiratory distress. He was not responding to the oxygen they put him on. Once we got to the hospital they did a chest x-ray and found that he had pneumonia, so they started treating him for that. In the mean time he will still not responding well to the oxygen so they decided to up it and that seemed to help through the night. In the morning(so today), he was doing OK but by 11am he quickly started showing more signs that something else was wrong. They came to draw blood and suction twice and this time he just laid there not responding or crying like he had done before. So they decided to check his 02 levels in his body and they were through the roof, immediately they knew he needed to be at Primary's. He was not breathing enough to get out the o2 that had been going in to him. So he was totally lethargic and just laid there. They said it was kind of like carbon monoxide poisoning. He was sedated and intubated and life flighted down to the hospital. He is coming off his sedation slowly and he o2 levels are slowly going back to where they need to be. He will have to be here for at least a few days. Please keep Gavin in your prayers.

Meeting my Sisters!!!

Here we go. We are ready to go home. Waiting in his car seat for the nurses to bring us his discharge papers. He weighed 6lbs 2 oz when we took him home. We had to sleep over in the hospital to learn the monitors and we sleep on the smallest bed, well it felt small when we sleep on a king. My legs were hanging off so you could imagine how far off Chris were. We love having home and here are a few pictures of the girls seeing him "for real" for the first time.

Sleeping on Daddy.

Olivia would get so close but would not actually kiss him. It was quite funny to see her reaction.

Madalyn could not get enough of him and still can't. She just held him and held him. She wants to hold him through everything. Sleeping, feeding, pooping, whenever she can. She is a good"Mommy" and loves to help me.

Happy Mother's Day.

I have to wish my Mom and my Mother-in-law a very Happy Mother's day. I was very fortunate to have such a wonderful and fabulous mom, who cares for me beyond imaginable. Then I was blessed to gain a wonderful Mother-in-law almost 7 years ago. I could not ask for a better one. I was again blessed to gain a fabulous Step Mom who has brought happiness again to my Dad. And then there is Grandma Vickie who has been like a mom to me, helping out my family any way she can. I love all of these Moms with all my heart and am truly blessed to have them in my life and my family's life. I have to send a greeting out to all of my sisters wishing them a wonderful day as well. My sister Holly became a Mom very young but has proven over the last 6 years that she is a great mom and deserves this title. My sister Saralyn is not a Mom yet but hopefully will be soon one day, but she has been like a second Mom to my girls their whole lives but especially the last few months. And to my sister-in-law's Ashely and Jessica for bringing wonderful boys to our family and being great mom's to them. I have not been able to be the "normal" mom my girls are used to, so thank you to all my "Moms" for the overwhelming help they all have been. I am so blessed to be a mom myself to 4 beautiful children. Becoming a mom has not come easy for me, struggling through a miscarriage, infertility, death of a child, and then nearly dying trying to get my last one here. I would not trade any of it for anything. I know I was meant to be a mom, just never thought it would be so hard. I have to thank my Mom for raising me to be a great mom. Mother's are true gifts from heaven and I'm glad to be one. Happy Mother's Day to everyone that is a Mother or some day will be.

Happy Birthday!!

I have to wish my sister Saralyn a Happy birthday. You are the best sister anyone could ask for. You have done so much for me and my family and there will be no way I could ever repay you. My girls think the world of you and so do I, and I am so grateful that they have you in their lives. Thank you for everything. I love you. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Also I have to wish my brother-in-law Nate a Happy birthday. Thank you for coming in to my sister Holly's life, you have been a true blessing that this family needed. We love you and thank you for everything. Hope you have a good Birthday as well.

Happy Birthday and We're home!!

I have to start out wishing my Mom a Happy Birthday. I love you mom and want to thank you for everything you have done for us. You have been a HUGE blessing and a HUGE help my whole life but especially the last few months. Thank you, thank you mom. I truly love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday.
On another note, We are home, well Gavin is at least. We are adjusting to life on his schedule. I am super exhausted but he is so worth it. Madalyn was so excited to see her brother and hold him for the first time, she has not wanted to let him out of her site. Olivia has just had a hard day today, she woke up from a nap a bit cranky so seeing "that baby" at first was not good. She just cried and wanted to be held. When she quit being so upset she did give him kisses. So life here will be hectic for the next few months but we will hopefully be okay. I will post pics tomorrow.

Home?

It's official we get to "room in" tonight and Gavin will be home tomorrow. Yeah. Unless something goes wrong, which it won't we will finally have our boy home. The nurses want him to stay longer and sometimes I think i do to, this is a whole new ball game for us. But we know he is meant to be here so bring it on. He has been there by far the longest out of any of the babies left in the NICU, so we have become very attached to the nurses there and will miss them. But we are ready for this next step.

Wednesday

Gavin is so close to coming home. If all goes well today they will let him come home on Wednesday. He was circumcised last night. Poor thing. The nurse said he did really well and did not cry. If he gets to come home on Wed., we will have a sleepover at the hospital tonight. They call it a "room in". He will be coming home on Caffeine for sure and possible oxygen so they will be sending him home on an apnea monitor, when we sleep over they will be teaching us all about the machines and what to watch for and listen for. I am so excited but so nervous, sometimes I feel like a first time mom and I hate that because I think I should know all this stuff, I have taken care of 2 other babies. But I know things are a little different this time, but still. I never imagined that we would have a boy and all the circumstances surrounded by his birth but I can truly say that the love I have for him and for my 3 girls is more than I ever thought possible. I don't know what I would do with out any of my kids in my life. I know my Chloe was watching over me and her little brother that day and I hate that she can not be with us now, but I know she is the reason we are both still here. I miss you baby girl and thank you for protecting your brother. Now all you have to do is keep your mommy "sane" for the next 18 years. Once we have Gavin home and settled I will try to keep you updated on him being home.

1 month, 1 week and 1 day old.

Gavin is still off oxygen and doing ok. He is now 5 lbs 13 oz and for the last few feedings has been eating around 85cc, like a a bottle and a half. He has been desating a few times but considering he is breathing room air, we say that's pretty good. He may have to go back on it but that;s ok cause they will still let him come home. They are just trying to see how well he can breath with out oxygen. The nurses keep telling us that they think he will be ready to come home sometime next week. We are so ready for him to be be home.

Update and pics of Gavin

OMG!!(gosh) Isn't he edible?

Oh no, get back here.

Oh Mommy, I'm so tired.

All nice and bundled after my bath.

Hurry bundle me up!!

Need I say anything??? Precious.

Mommy getting my bath ready.

Gavin is 5lbs 11 oz today. He is doing so good and was able to have his oxygen tube out as of 8am this morning. Oh my gosh I was so excited to finally see my baby's face with out all the tubes. He more handsome than I ever thought. He had some tests done and it looks like everything came out good. We are still trying to get the hang of breast feeding but he did really good tonight for a while and then got too tired and started getting frustrated so we went to the bottle. They did the numogram 2 nights ago and decided to switch the formula he was having to an acid reducing one to help with the acid reflux and it seems to help, although he love the breast milk this is helping with the acid. I was able to give him a bath tonight(my first time) and he seemed to like it. He still has his leads on so it was still a littel awkward bathing him with those on his chest but I think we did alright. Our little guy is well on his way to coming home. Things will be very hectic and crazy for a few weeks after he is home because the Doctors and Nurses recommend not taking him out anywhere, so if you want to see him you will have to come to the house. If you or your kids are sick we will have to ask that you wait to see him till things are better. I know this will be hard on all of us, but we know that in order to protect him from getting sick we will have to miss out on alot of things and Chris and I will have to take turns going to events. It will be ok and we will do what we need to. He is a blessing and is meant to be here.