Tub Time

Keaton's first bath at home...He is so adorable!!!

Thanksgiving and Giving many thanks...

Keatons shirt says "gobble till you wobble"...sooo cute!

Indian Kyler.....

Thanksgiving was really nice this year. It was soooo nice because we had little Keaton with us and just felt like such a complete family. And Cort's grandparents and aunt and uncle got to meet Keaton for the first time. We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Cort's parents house and it was fun and delicious! And now, I must say this year I am especially grateful to have Keaton home. I am grateful to my husband and how loving and understanding he is of me!! When keaton was in the NICU, I went to the hospital every night and he would put the kids to bed and we rarely spent any time together- he never complained and always let me do what I needed to do. he works so hard to support our family- and I love and appreciate him!! I am so grateful to my friends and neighbors who helped me dearly with watching my kids so I could be at the hospital every day. I am grateful to my family who support me through everything, even from far away. I am thankful to my Heavenly Father who has given me many blessings-and I know I may not know why some of these things have happened for many years, I know I am truly blessed!! Okay, I'll stop now or I'll never be able to...

By the way...

This is what happens when you give me an entire bag of Almond M&M's...

WOWZA!

Okay, sooooo much to say without trying to write a novel...

Keaton came home on Sunday! FINALLY!!! I did not believe it until he we were halfway home and I kept looking at him thinking "is this really real that my baby is coming home!" It has been wonderful. Tonight I was sitting on the couch with Cortney watching a movie and holding Keaton!! It was such a simple thing, but yet I couldn't get over how wonderful it is to just hold my baby whenever I want!! Keaton is on oxygen when he sleeps to help prevent any apnea spells and so far it is working, he has gone 10 days now without a spell!! So we turned down the settings a little today at the docs office, and will turn them down again in 4 days if he continues to do well...so we are making great progress.

Monday was unusual- I got up and prepared to go to the NICU to see Keaton- just out of habit...then I was realizing he was right there in the bassinet! I almost called his nurse twice during the day to check on him out of habit...I was going crazy! But it was so amazing to have so much time to do things around the house and not have to drive to the hospital again...

Monday night I started having some severe stomach pain...really crazy back pain with it. I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and passed out in the hallway. I had my mother in law take me to the doctor the next day who pushed on my stomach and the right side killed. It also really hurt when he took his hands away...which I guess is called rebound. So he believed I had Appendicitis..and sent me to the ER. After a 3/4 of the day stay, they did a CT scan of my abdomen which showed NOTHING. Everything looked normal. So they gave me pain meds and sent me home. The medicine they gave me in the ER however, made me very nauseated and I threw up about 6 times that night. After I threw up though, I felt tons better.

This morning I felt a lot better but still went in for a follow up with my primary doc. We went over ever detail of my life to try and determine what is causing the pain- and the pain is still stronger in my right side. After some further tests, we believe it is an ovarian cyst on my right ovary. I only have my right because my left was taken out due to an ovarian cyst that wrapped around it and killed it...and that was very painful. So Monday I am getting an ultra sound...

I am feeling muuuuuch better tonight, but still having some pain. My ward, who has, by the way, watched my kids for like 13 weeks now and brought us meals here and there, stepped up AGAIN and brought us dinner all week, watched my kids yet again and been so wonderful with phone calls and e-mails of concern. I am so blessed~~

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am feeling overwhelmingly thankful. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am so excited to be better and get to spend it with my all of my crazy boys!!

It's Pizza Time

We had so much fun last week making pizza with the kids. I find that a lot of time I am in such a hurry to get dinner on the table, that I don't take the time to include the kids and make it as fun as it could be. So this time, I even made Cortney help and we had such a fun time together!! And the pizza turned out great!

Test after Test

I don't have much time to write, but...Keaton had a sleep study done last Thursday where they determined Keaton has SEVERE obstructive sleep apnea. A mild case would be if he held his breath one time an hour, moderate would be 5 times an hour, but Keaton holds his breath on average at least 47 times per hour. He should sound asmatic for how much he does it. Most of this is not picked up on the regular monitor because it happens so fast, so we had no idea it was so bad. They did a test yesterday where they put a scope/camera down his throat to see how inflamed it was and/or if there was an obstruction causing this, but they found nothing. They are going to do a 3D MRI and a swallow study to make sure they are not missing something and to make sure his food is going to the right place and digesting properly, then at that point, they will try to make it possible for him to finally come home- He is on room air, but getting flow through a nasal canula because that seems to decrease the amount of spells he's having. He was off oxygen and flow and everything for over a week, but he needs this extra help now. We will know more after Friday but in the meantime, we are just waiting...He's 8 pounds, 3 ounces now and doing great in every other area.

I am so ready to be done with this...I am glad we are at least finally getting some answers that makes us aware of how he really did need to be in the hospital all this time to get the extra help. But now I am ready for him to be home...

Thanks always to everyone for their prayers.

Just Another Manic Monday

Well, Monday was a very scary day to say the least. We were approaching day 5 on the spell countdown, and I called in Monday morning to learn that Keaton had in fact had a spell in the night. I had a feeling before I even called in, so it was not as traumatic as the previous spell was. When I got into the NICU later that morning and was holding Keaton, he was asleep. but started to tremor- it was almost like he had the shivers at first, so I just bundled him up and made sure he was warm, but he kept doing it. I called the nurse in to see it, and she immedietly called the Doctor to take a look. The doctor came in shortly after he stopped doing it (it lasted roughly 2 minutes), so the doctor ordered some labwork to help determine if he truly had a seizure. In the meantime, Keaton started the tremors again and this time the doctor witnessed it and Keaton was sent to Primary Childrens hospital to run further tests. The doctor believed he was having seizures, but we could not be sure until further testing was done, and this testing was not available at the hospital keaton was at.

So on Monday afternoon, as Keaton lay asleep, he had a spinal tap, lab work, 2 IV's, a cat scan, and an EEG done. The EEG was tons of little probes put on his head that read his brain functions, etc. to see what happened if he had another seizure. He was video taped for this for 12 hours, and we are still waiting for the results.

Now the good news is that the results on everything back so far are negative for any seizures. So far, he looks great! The doctors are confident at this point that he did not have seizures after all and the only concern for him going home at this point is the apnea.

The great news- they are going to do a sleep study on him where they hook him up to some monitors to better read what is happening right before, during, and after an apnea spell. The nafrologist(I know its probably not spelled that wrong) said that he believes not only is there a reason for the apnea (not just the same answer weve been getting over and over again- which is that he is premature and just needs more time), but that we can find a reason, and produce a cure/answer/solution where Keaton can come home without repeating the 7 day countdown a thousand more times. YEAH!! This is what Cortney and I have believed in for the past month, but now we are seeing the doctors here agree and are going to get our little Keaton home with us soon!

The sleep study will be on Friday night and we should be learning results by Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Keaton is 8 pounds- HUGE!! He hit his official due date last week, will be 12 weeks old on Sunday, but really what he should be as a 1 week old. He is adorable, all the nurses dote on him and I love every second I have with him.

Meanwhile Kyler and Brayden continue to show the signs of being tired with their current life/routine and need more stability, which I hope to provide as soon as little Keaton comes home. We try to spend quality time together every day, but it always seems to be filled with them feeling insecure over everything, and I am trying to help comfort them. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it starts getting brighter rather than fading further away.

I love and appreciate you all!

Halloween Town when Mom's around...

It's been too long since my last post. Little Keaton has continued to keep us on the edge of our toes with going 5 days without an apnea spell, then he will have one. This past one was a little easier to cope with for several reasons. The first being that my mom was there with me, and the second being that I have been through this many times now. So my mom came into town last Wednesday and had to go back today. We really wanted Keaton to come home while she was here, but that was not in the plans.

Having my mom here was amazing. I miss her so much, and miss all my family. Going through what we have gone through with Keaton has really brough all my emotions to the surface and I can't stand living so far away from everyone right now. So when my mom was here, she cooked, cleaned, took me shopping (a must with mom) we went to lunch, went out to the hospital together numerous times and just had some good time together.

Halloween was great! Kyler was a policeman, Brayden a fireman, and Cortney was Napoleon Dynomite. Keaton was a pumpkin! Our neighborhood had a bon fire, hay rides, a haunted house and tons of candy! We really live in the best neighborhood!

So now we are on day 4 of 7 with the countdown for Keaton to come home again. I am not getting my hopes up. I know the end is near, it HAS to be! I know Keaton is getting bigger and stronger, and I just cant wait until I can hold him whenever I want. I cant wait to roll over in bed and see him in the bassinet instead of driving 35 minutes, parking, and scrubbing in before I can see him. I can't wait until I can just love on him as much as I want whenever I want!! Thanks to everyone always for their continued prayers.