We finally have our whole family back at home. It is so nice! Mason was released this morning at about 10:30. He is doing pretty well but he isn't entirely himself yet. He has been pretty restless and doesn't sleep very much. I think he is still having withdraws from the methadone. I think we are in for a rough time this coming week when it comes to getting sleep. I guess it wouldn't be THAT big of a change. You can't sleep too well in the hospital either. I am completely sore and stiff. Anyway, hopefully it won't be long before he is completely back to normal. For now, I am just happy to be home and with my family again.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
New room
Just another baby Mason update. They did end up extubating him on Monday at around 11:30. It was such a relief! They still need to suction him out though so now they have to do it through his nose since they don't have the ventilator anymore. It's horrible to watch but he has done such a good job. He doesn't even cry anymore when they do it. Anyway, they put some prongs on him for oxygen but had to move up to a higher flow for a while. The poor little boy couldn't eat until they got him off the high flow prongs. He ended up going a little more than 28 hours without eating. He did SO good though. He didn't even start fussing about it until about the 24th hour and even then he wouldn't fuss long.
When the nurse came to take Mason off the high flow oxygen and put him on the low flow she kept him off it for a while to see how he would do and he ended up not needing it at all anymore. He did great eating his first bottle (I'm sure it was because he was so stinkin hungry) but after that it was kind of a challenge to get him to eat. I'm sure his throat is really sore. Each bottle gets a little easier but he still makes a face like he is scared that something else is going to go down his throat.
We were moved to a new room yesterday which means we are out of the PICU. The room is SO stinkin small and the machines are a hundred times louder. We were put in our new room at noon and by 3:00 I was trying to figure out how to "accidentally" break the dumb thing! The nurses never come when the machines beep but they always come while we are trying to sleep. Everyone who has stayed at a hospital knows this :o) I actually wish we were still back in the ICU :o). The nurses were a lot nicer and it was more comfortable but....my baby is getting better and so that makes it all worth it.
The IV in his neck and hand are gone but he got a new one in his foot. It makes it so much easier to hold him though.
Sleeping in his new bed
I wanted another picture of his bed so you could see the dumb brown piece up top that I have hit my head on 3 times already.
And this is MY new bed. It doesn't recline very far so I am practically sitting up while I sleep. Like I said though, my baby is worth it.
When the nurse came to take Mason off the high flow oxygen and put him on the low flow she kept him off it for a while to see how he would do and he ended up not needing it at all anymore. He did great eating his first bottle (I'm sure it was because he was so stinkin hungry) but after that it was kind of a challenge to get him to eat. I'm sure his throat is really sore. Each bottle gets a little easier but he still makes a face like he is scared that something else is going to go down his throat.
Here is Mason with the oxygen in his nose. You can see that his upper lip is still pushed up from where the ventilator was.
We were moved to a new room yesterday which means we are out of the PICU. The room is SO stinkin small and the machines are a hundred times louder. We were put in our new room at noon and by 3:00 I was trying to figure out how to "accidentally" break the dumb thing! The nurses never come when the machines beep but they always come while we are trying to sleep. Everyone who has stayed at a hospital knows this :o) I actually wish we were still back in the ICU :o). The nurses were a lot nicer and it was more comfortable but....my baby is getting better and so that makes it all worth it.The IV in his neck and hand are gone but he got a new one in his foot. It makes it so much easier to hold him though.
Sleeping in his new bed
I wanted another picture of his bed so you could see the dumb brown piece up top that I have hit my head on 3 times already.
And this is MY new bed. It doesn't recline very far so I am practically sitting up while I sleep. Like I said though, my baby is worth it.
The doctor said that with as long as Mason was on his medication he pretty much became addicted so they have to wean him. They start today and they said it takes 4 days for it to work and they like to watch the baby a full day after they stop just to make sure it worked. So, we are looking at leaving here on Sunday which puts us at two weeks in the hospital. Hopefully all goes well with the weaning and we don't have to stay longer.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Mason update
Mason has been doing a LOT better since yesterday. The doctor said that Mason probably had a really bad case of RSV because of how long he stayed so sick but he finally took a turn yesterday. They have been backing off the ventilator little by little since Thursday so that he could start breathing on his own and he has done well.
I was just told by the doctor that they are going to start preparing him tonight to take him of the ventilator tomorrow morning!!!! They need to give him four doses of a steroid to bring down the inflammation in his throat and they need to stop feeding him for a couple of hours before they extubate so that he doesn't throw up as they are taking the ventilator out. Please pray that everything goes smoothly tonight so that they can extubate him tomorrow.
So, it's Sunday and we FINALLY got to hold Mason! The last time I held him was Monday at the pediatrician's office before the ambulance came to get him :o(. It has been SOO long! It was amazing. I'm finally starting to feel like I have my baby back. He has been opening his eyes today and moving around a lot.
Mommy and Mason
You can see in the pictures how swollen his face still is but it's starting to look a little better. I can't wait to hold him without all the wires and stuff.
I was just told by the doctor that they are going to start preparing him tonight to take him of the ventilator tomorrow morning!!!! They need to give him four doses of a steroid to bring down the inflammation in his throat and they need to stop feeding him for a couple of hours before they extubate so that he doesn't throw up as they are taking the ventilator out. Please pray that everything goes smoothly tonight so that they can extubate him tomorrow.
So, it's Sunday and we FINALLY got to hold Mason! The last time I held him was Monday at the pediatrician's office before the ambulance came to get him :o(. It has been SOO long! It was amazing. I'm finally starting to feel like I have my baby back. He has been opening his eyes today and moving around a lot.
Daddy holding Mason
Mommy and Mason
You can see in the pictures how swollen his face still is but it's starting to look a little better. I can't wait to hold him without all the wires and stuff. Anyway, if they extubate him tomorrow he will still have to stay in the hospital for a little while longer but at least he won't be in the PICU anymore. They will move him to the pediatric ward. So, hopefully we will only be in the hospital for a few more days!!
Also, I want to thank Dorne and Nancy for watching McKay all last week and to my parents who had Makenna last week and now have both the kids with them until Mason gets out of the hospital. I really appreciate all the help we have received from everyone and for all the prayers and phone calls and emails. We feel very loved :o)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My poor sweet boy!
My little Mason is in the hospital right now and has been since Monday. Let me start from the beginning. (Warning: this is a LONG story)
Mason started coughing Thursday night. Friday, he was coughing a little more but was crying a lot (which is not like him. He is the quietest baby EVER!) so I took him in to see the pediatrician. Nothing was really wrong so I took him home with some new formula. Saturday he started coughing even more and started breathing kind of funny. Sunday, he was really breathing weird and looking like he wasn't feeling so good. He was coughing a lot also. He wouldn't take his bottle and he just slept. After trying to get him to eat his bottle all day long I decided something was wrong. I took him into the ER at almost midnight. I went in and told them that Mason hadn't eaten all day, that he had a really bad cough, that he was breathing really funny and that he looked really pale. They took him in and checked his lungs and then tested him for RSV. Finally, at about 2:00 am, the doctor came in and told me that he didn't have RSV and that I could go home and then left.......huh? So, the nurse came in and I said "So, the doctor said he doesn't have RSV but what about everything else? He isn't eating, he is pale and he is breathing funny and he has been really fussy". So, the nurse tells me that maybe he is fussy because I need to give him a different formula but wouldn't answer any of my other questions. Before she takes us out and releases us she has to check his pulse and his oxygen. Well, they hook him up and the machine is saying that he is getting 74% oxygen and that his heart rate wasn't right. So, the dumb nurses think that they just did it wrong. Half an hour later and about 5 different machines later, they finally get a 94% oxygen level and call it good. They thought it was the machines!!!!
Anyway, I get home and Mason is just crying and not wanting to eat. Anthon finally came down stairs and told me that he was going to call in sick to work so I could get some sleep. When I wake up I go down stairs and Mason is finally asleep but still hasn't had a bottle. By this time, he is looking really bad. He was a purplish white color and his breathing was off. He would hold his breath for a long time and then finally start breathing again really fast. We kept trying to give him a bottle but we couldn't wake him up! So, I call the pediatricians office and I tell them everything that's going on with him. They told me to bring him in but it sounded like he needed to go back to the ER. I take him and right away, as soon as the doctor listened to his lungs she told me he didn't sound good. She also told me that she agreed with me about him being pale and that he REALLY didn't look good. They checked his oxygen level and it was NOT good. So the doctor told the nurse to call 9-1-1. She told me that he needed to get to the hospital right away but she wanted the ambulance to take him. So, while they were waiting they were giving him oxygen and they took his temp. and it was 95.7. He was hypothermic. The ambulance comes and starts giving him oxygen on their machines and then get him in the vehicle. By this time Anthon was on his way to meet his dad so that he could take McKay.
They took Mason to Mercy Gilbert hospital to get him stable before they sent him to another hospital. Anthon showed up and we sat there watching them take x-rays and put an IV in him and stuff and then it got bad. His oxygen level kept dropping and eventually he got down to 35% oxygen. For about 20 minutes to half an hour we kept hearing the nurse say "Come on Mason, come on buddy, breathe. He isn't breathing. Come on Mason!" That was probably the worst part of this whole thing :o(. They finally got a ventilator in him to help him breathe and things started to go a little more smoothly. They did some blood tests and urine tests and even a spinal tap :o(. Poor little thing, and guess what.....he DID have RSV!!!! And pneumonia!! Anyway, they got him stable and then got him ready for the helicopter. Unfortunately, neither of us was able to get on with him. Once he was on, Anthon and I went home real quick to get some things packed for us and for McKay. BTW, My parents were down last weekend and ended up taking Makenna home with them on Sunday, so she has been in Thatcher the whole time. Anyway, they took him to Banner Desert so we met up with him there. They had already put two more tubes down his throat and had him hooked up to a bunch of monitors. They had him sedated so he was sleeping. I guess they keep him sedated for as long as the ventilator is in him because it bothers the baby so much. They also had to give him an IV in his neck so that they could draw blood without having to poke him every time they needed it.
They ended up having to paralyze him because he kept trying to breathe over the machine and it was causing some problems. They have taken him off the paralytic 3 times but have to keep giving it to him because as soon as he can start doing things on his own, he tries to breathe over the tube. So, he has been a bump on a log since he has been here. I feel like I don't even have my third child anymore :o(. He has been doing well though. They have cut back a little on the oxygen they are giving him because he is getting a little more on his own. There are just a couple of things I don't like. I can't hold him, they pound on his chest to break up all the stuff in his lungs and his face is really swollen. He doesn't even look like Mason anymore :o(.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
He was mad because it was SOO cold but the poor little thing couldn't cry because the tube is between his vocal cords.
On the stretcher waiting to be put in the helicopter.
A little ostrich they use to help prop things up so that they aren't leaning on him. I thought it was cute because they put his arm around it.
This is the "bed" Anthon and I shared for two nights. We are now switching off sleeping at home.
My poor swollen baby :o(
BTW, I called the first ER that I took him to and got mad at them. My little boy could have died! Seriously! They gave me my $125 co-pay back but I am still so mad. I told the lady that my only concern was the people there. They need to know what they did and that they need to do a better job checking their patients.
Mason started coughing Thursday night. Friday, he was coughing a little more but was crying a lot (which is not like him. He is the quietest baby EVER!) so I took him in to see the pediatrician. Nothing was really wrong so I took him home with some new formula. Saturday he started coughing even more and started breathing kind of funny. Sunday, he was really breathing weird and looking like he wasn't feeling so good. He was coughing a lot also. He wouldn't take his bottle and he just slept. After trying to get him to eat his bottle all day long I decided something was wrong. I took him into the ER at almost midnight. I went in and told them that Mason hadn't eaten all day, that he had a really bad cough, that he was breathing really funny and that he looked really pale. They took him in and checked his lungs and then tested him for RSV. Finally, at about 2:00 am, the doctor came in and told me that he didn't have RSV and that I could go home and then left.......huh? So, the nurse came in and I said "So, the doctor said he doesn't have RSV but what about everything else? He isn't eating, he is pale and he is breathing funny and he has been really fussy". So, the nurse tells me that maybe he is fussy because I need to give him a different formula but wouldn't answer any of my other questions. Before she takes us out and releases us she has to check his pulse and his oxygen. Well, they hook him up and the machine is saying that he is getting 74% oxygen and that his heart rate wasn't right. So, the dumb nurses think that they just did it wrong. Half an hour later and about 5 different machines later, they finally get a 94% oxygen level and call it good. They thought it was the machines!!!!
Anyway, I get home and Mason is just crying and not wanting to eat. Anthon finally came down stairs and told me that he was going to call in sick to work so I could get some sleep. When I wake up I go down stairs and Mason is finally asleep but still hasn't had a bottle. By this time, he is looking really bad. He was a purplish white color and his breathing was off. He would hold his breath for a long time and then finally start breathing again really fast. We kept trying to give him a bottle but we couldn't wake him up! So, I call the pediatricians office and I tell them everything that's going on with him. They told me to bring him in but it sounded like he needed to go back to the ER. I take him and right away, as soon as the doctor listened to his lungs she told me he didn't sound good. She also told me that she agreed with me about him being pale and that he REALLY didn't look good. They checked his oxygen level and it was NOT good. So the doctor told the nurse to call 9-1-1. She told me that he needed to get to the hospital right away but she wanted the ambulance to take him. So, while they were waiting they were giving him oxygen and they took his temp. and it was 95.7. He was hypothermic. The ambulance comes and starts giving him oxygen on their machines and then get him in the vehicle. By this time Anthon was on his way to meet his dad so that he could take McKay.
They took Mason to Mercy Gilbert hospital to get him stable before they sent him to another hospital. Anthon showed up and we sat there watching them take x-rays and put an IV in him and stuff and then it got bad. His oxygen level kept dropping and eventually he got down to 35% oxygen. For about 20 minutes to half an hour we kept hearing the nurse say "Come on Mason, come on buddy, breathe. He isn't breathing. Come on Mason!" That was probably the worst part of this whole thing :o(. They finally got a ventilator in him to help him breathe and things started to go a little more smoothly. They did some blood tests and urine tests and even a spinal tap :o(. Poor little thing, and guess what.....he DID have RSV!!!! And pneumonia!! Anyway, they got him stable and then got him ready for the helicopter. Unfortunately, neither of us was able to get on with him. Once he was on, Anthon and I went home real quick to get some things packed for us and for McKay. BTW, My parents were down last weekend and ended up taking Makenna home with them on Sunday, so she has been in Thatcher the whole time. Anyway, they took him to Banner Desert so we met up with him there. They had already put two more tubes down his throat and had him hooked up to a bunch of monitors. They had him sedated so he was sleeping. I guess they keep him sedated for as long as the ventilator is in him because it bothers the baby so much. They also had to give him an IV in his neck so that they could draw blood without having to poke him every time they needed it.
They ended up having to paralyze him because he kept trying to breathe over the machine and it was causing some problems. They have taken him off the paralytic 3 times but have to keep giving it to him because as soon as he can start doing things on his own, he tries to breathe over the tube. So, he has been a bump on a log since he has been here. I feel like I don't even have my third child anymore :o(. He has been doing well though. They have cut back a little on the oxygen they are giving him because he is getting a little more on his own. There are just a couple of things I don't like. I can't hold him, they pound on his chest to break up all the stuff in his lungs and his face is really swollen. He doesn't even look like Mason anymore :o(.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
Putting him into the helicopter
He was mad because it was SOO cold but the poor little thing couldn't cry because the tube is between his vocal cords.
On the stretcher waiting to be put in the helicopter.
A little ostrich they use to help prop things up so that they aren't leaning on him. I thought it was cute because they put his arm around it.
This is the "bed" Anthon and I shared for two nights. We are now switching off sleeping at home.
My poor swollen baby :o(
BTW, I called the first ER that I took him to and got mad at them. My little boy could have died! Seriously! They gave me my $125 co-pay back but I am still so mad. I told the lady that my only concern was the people there. They need to know what they did and that they need to do a better job checking their patients. Don't ever go to the ER on Power and Galveston!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Makenna turns 4
On Monday Makenna turned 4 years old! It's hard to believe that I actually have a 4 year old. Here are some pictures of Makenna's last 4 years.
Makenna weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long when she was born.
The first month of Makenna's life was not fun for her. I didn't know that she wasn't getting enough milk from me so she pretty much starved for the first few weeks.
This was the worst she got. Poor little girl. We saw her every day so it was harder for us to notice how bad it really was. They almost put her back in the hospital but I started giving her formula and that helped.
3 1/2 months old
I think she is 6 months old in this picture.
Makenna's first time at the beach.
There is a huge jump in age in the pictures because we went almost a year without a camera. Within 2 months we broke all three of our cameras!!
We had a little family birthday party for Makenna on Saturday. She was so excited for it ALL DAY!!
Sarah took Makenna with her to the mall while I stayed behind and chatted with some old high school friends. Anyway, Sarah bought them matching dresses. Aubrey ended up staying the night at our house and the girls wore their dresses all night.
Happy Birthday Makenna!!!!!!
Anthon and Makenna in the hospital the day after she was born.
Makenna weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long when she was born.
The first month of Makenna's life was not fun for her. I didn't know that she wasn't getting enough milk from me so she pretty much starved for the first few weeks.
You can tell she is losing weight in this picture.
This was the worst she got. Poor little girl. We saw her every day so it was harder for us to notice how bad it really was. They almost put her back in the hospital but I started giving her formula and that helped.
3 1/2 months old
I think she is 6 months old in this picture.
Makenna's first time at the beach.
There is a huge jump in age in the pictures because we went almost a year without a camera. Within 2 months we broke all three of our cameras!!
We had a little family birthday party for Makenna on Saturday. She was so excited for it ALL DAY!!
On Monday, Makenna's cousin, Aubrey, came to visit and see the new baby. They had so much fun together. Aubrey wanted her hair done exactly like Makenna's so they were twins that day :o)
We went to lunch at a place called Flancer's, it was OK.
We went to lunch at a place called Flancer's, it was OK.
Sarah took Makenna with her to the mall while I stayed behind and chatted with some old high school friends. Anyway, Sarah bought them matching dresses. Aubrey ended up staying the night at our house and the girls wore their dresses all night.
Anthon is playing Angelina Ballerina with the girls. They enjoyed it.
Happy Birthday Makenna!!!!!!
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