Bad Blogger

Did we just fly through the 2009 holiday season?! It is hard to believe that 2010 has arrived and what's harder to believe is we had/have no resolutions! I guess it has come to a point in our lives that if we say, "we are going to do this" or "stop doing that" or "eat better" we can do or say that at any point not just January 1st. As soon as I say, I am going to eat better I run, (not walk) to the nearest candy isle. If I could I would just unhinge my bottom jaw walk over to Hersey and open up for a fountain of chocolate to fill my stomach. Well, here's to 2010 and hopes of it being calm and drama free!

Before I write any further, I need to give my mother-in-law a shout out! She and her husband took off two days of work to drive in early so that we could be at Payson's side when he had his trach surgery. It was so nice to know the kids were taken care of and we could stay at the hospital as long as we needed too. It was very sweet of them to do that and a great help to us! Thank you, Peggy and Mike for making the extra effort to be here for our family!

Onto this weekend...

Can you believe I blog and didn't take one picture this weekend? I am so ashamed of myself and have let down my fellow bloggers. Oh, well the memories are within they just won't have physical reminders!

I can't tell you what a sigh of relief it was to have my sister in town! It was so nice to have someone I could talk medical jargon with and them understand, (my sister is a nurse). After observing our medical environment she shared some pointers and made some suggestions. All of which were very helpful. She is possibly one of my biggest fans and was cheering me on after as I cared for Paysons trach. Even though suctioning Payson is the easiest task we have with his care she was so proud and encouraging when she watched me suction. Having someone accompany me to the hospital was also a welcomed change that both Payson and I enjoyed. He really enjoyed hearing someone other than his parents tell him how special and loved he is! Both his Aunt L and Uncle Mo were able to visit Payson during the weekend. It was a special two weeks indeed with so many new visitors!

On the home front it was fun to have the cousins together. Noelle's kids adore Walker and Zach, (although Zach wasn't here for their visit this time) and the boys enjoy them. Virginia Ruth was so sweet with Margaret Ruth asking her to play make believe kitchen. They made world famous veggie soup, delicious fruit cocktail and unbelievable tasty concoctions. Yum, yum. Reagan was so content just playing with little match box cars and has stashed them all over to where I am still finding them places, (you wouldn't believe the places they have been). The two little girls cracked us up with conversations that only they could understand. Margaret Ruth went around calling Mary Clair, "baby" even though they are only 3 months apart! We didn't really do much over the weekend, but did celebrate New Years Eve with our dad's side of the family over a nice dinner. Then on my sister's birthday, (aka New Year's Day) Sara relieved us of our parenting duties and allowed us to go to the Melting Pot for dinner. Ahhhh, so yummy! Before we knew it our time was up, but not before feeling completely revamped and relieved to have had her here!

By the way, my sister has a surprise #4 growing in her belly!!! WooHoo! I can't wait to be an aunt again! So, while she is tired from pregnancy and exhausted from three little children she made us a three dinners. We froze two and one she made for the kids! She is so kind, considerate and selfless! I couldn't have asked for a better sister! Noelle and Maury, thanks for coming you will never be able to understand how nice it was to have you all here. Maybe it was the difference in routine that came with you or just the deep need of wanting my family...either way I loved your visit!

Onto the Payson front: He is doing well and adjust beautifully to his new tube. Today he was just smiling away, cracking me up with his flirtatious looks and kicking his legs like a frog! That was until they had to knock him out to put in a PIC line, (a more stable IV line that won't blow out as easy as normals veins do). He came out sedation happy as a clam, but after some trach care he was tuckered out. I left him today peacefully sleeping with Mozart playing in the background. If things go as planned he might have a study tomorrow to determine if he will need to have the stomach wrap surgery. The surgeon doesn't want to do the surgery, but the ENT and PICU doctors thing that we need to do this. So, the study will reveal if he has acid reflux enough that he could possible aspirate on it. They can't allow him to aspirate with any of his stomach acids, b/c the it could cause scarring. If scarring occurs then they will have to do reconstructive trachea surgery, (can even cause more scarring to his esophageal repair too), so we all are wanting to avoid that. On a good note he did get moved to his home ventilator yesterday. That is a big step in the coming home direction! After having his setting turned down on the Cadillac ventilator they felt he'd be okay transferring to the home vent. Normally it takes the kids a couple of days to adjust to the new vent, but he sailed through with no problems! Way to go baby! They will continue to wean him on the settings while we get trained. We have started our training and I am on the fast track to get out of there. I have never felt more determined to leave a place then I do this hospital, (not even the unwed mother's home...a close second though). On a huge, exciting note Payson is making NOISE!!! We hadn't heard his sweet voice for weeks, but over the past couple days we have heard some faint noises or resemblance of cries! It is truly the sweetest sound since we were told not to expect to hear him until the trach comes out! WooHoo! I have also determined that we all need to learn sign language to help him communicate with us and us with him. So, far Margaret Ruth is in the lead on the learning train! I am still doing research on how to teach a baby, but the hospital has given me some good resource material. Payson's pneumonia is still hanging in there, but he is much better! They are continuing to have him on antibiotics and keep him under isolation. He has a bacteria that is very persistent and hard to get rid off. Whew, when will this kid get a break. Really it is not a big deal b/c we are still able to do what we need to do with Payosn. No date for discharge has been set, but I have made it clear that my goal is by the first week of February. So, far they seem to think that is an okay goal. We will see! It really is up to Payson though.

Thank you all for your prayers! Words fail me when it comes to how touched and cared for we feel.

Side Note: Today I was reading the blogs I follow and one is of a family in our church who had a baby at (24 weeks) 2 weeks after I had Payson. As you can imagine it has been a very long, scary road for them! Today they were able to bring their son home for the first time! Congratulations Brown Family! This feat in their lives is bitter sweet for us! We wished it was us and that we didn't have weeks to go before coming home!