Kevin and I became an aunt and uncle today! Zachariah Keli'i Kai'mana Quiacusan was born at 8:07 am (Hawaii time) this morning. He weighed 6lbs 7oz and is 19" long. Congratulations Shawn and Ashley!
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Just Lounging Around Today Taylor is 4 weeks old! Wow we can't believe it has been a month already. We've only had her to ourselves for a week. Taylor graced the mall with her presence for the first time today (Hopefully it is not the start of an addiction). It was great to get out of the house for a couple of hours! Our days have been easier since we switched to focusing on breast milk through the bottle. Hopefylly this will help feeding volumes to increase.
8/29/06 - Taylor and I had our first day alone together and it was... challenging. Besides some major diaper blow outs Taylor vomited large amounts twice! Please continue to pray for her eating ability. Pray for no more vomiting, and the usual stuff consistancy and increased volumes. We went through a phase of daily progression but things have slowed down again. Taylor seems to be taking the bottle a little better so we may choose to focus on that to get her off her feeding tube.
Taylor had another big outing today. Taylor's great-grandparents had their 50th wedding anniversary (congratulations!) party in Olympia so we made an appearance to show her off! She pretty much slept the entire time, she's turning out to be a great traveler. I think the heat has made her a little drowsy.
8/26/06 - We made our first day at home a busy one - It started with a visit from Angela and Brian. Then Great Grandparents (Smith) stopped by on their way through. We snuck in a visit from Jen Scott who delivered dinner tonight (Thanks, we enjoyed the food, especially the ice cream - Tabitha). Then capped it off with her first bath (finally, she was getting kinda dirty). Prayer requests: Feeding consistency and increased volumes orally, rest and relaxation as we settle into a routine here at home, wisdom and discernment in identifying what is "normal baby behavior" versus recovery related issues and concerns. We also wanted to make sure we thanked everyone for their prayers these past 3 weeks. It is just beginning to set in how remarkable her recovery has been. There is no doubt it is the result of answered prayer after prayer. We don't know all the specific details, but from what we have been hearing being home 3 weeks after birth is extremely rare. In terms of prespec...
8/26/06 - Taylor heard her first bed time story last night, well at least half of it, we'll have to work on her attention span. She is still sleeping good in between feedings during the night. This morning we continued our transition into normal parenting trials. We tried to change a dirty diaper and as soon as we removed it she filled the new one, and then as soon as we replaced that one she filled the 3rd. She must have missed the memo on trying to save money by conserving diapers.
We survived our first full day at home! I just wanted to brag about Taylor's feeding tonight she took 80cc breastfeeding and 15 more from the bottle! She can't get enough food now! =) Thank you for your prayers - they're working! Pray that this pattern will continue and that the NG tube will be out by the end of this next week!
8/25/06 - Her first day out of the hospital and Taylor can even avoid a lab technician poking her heel. She was initiated into the Group Health Pediatric System. She had her first doctor's appointment this afternoon and everything looks good. According to the scale in the office she weighs 8 lbs. 12 oz. Probably a little artificially high, but weigh gain none the less. She continues to adjust to her new surroundings and has spent some time on her changing pad, in her swing, in her boppy (a curved pillow), in her bassinet, in her car seat, and in the Baby Bjorn (a front pack carrier). Hopefully she will continue to be a good car traveler she seems very comfortable in her car seat.
8/24/06- We got discharged from the hospital at 1:30 pm and stopped at Group Health to get her meds. Taylor rode in the car just fine, but it took her a while to get used to all the new sights and smells of our house. I don't know who cried more, her or Angel (our cat) as both let us know they were expecting our undivided attention. On the left you can see Taylor settling in to her basinet. She must have laid there for 2 hours looking around at everything around her before she fell asleep. Once she fell asleep Tabitha got excited about cooking for the first time in 3 weeks, we unpacked way too much stuff, and have generally settled in for the night.
Taylor's excited to go home! Grandpa holding Taylor for the 1st time 8/24/06 - Taylor is 3 weeks old today! Her birthday gift is getting to go home! That's right we'll be officially discharged from Children's Hospital (YEAH!!!!! =) after her 12pm feeding and the prescriptions from her doctor are filled. She has been eating 80cc successfully for over 24 hours and gained a little weight so the doctors are pleased. To ensure that Taylor is gaining weight we will be seeing our pediatrician frequently for weight checks and vital checks. The surgeon and dietician optimistically say that Taylor should be eating well enough on her own to possibly get the NG tube out in 1-2 weeks, we'll see if Taylor agrees.
8/23/06 - Well things are progressing, we have been feeding her 80cc since last night and she has kept it all down. She is gaining weight according to their scales as well. They are beginning to talk about discharging us again, which we are more then ready for. Not that being discharged changes our routine a lot, but at least we will be doing the same routine from the comforts of our home and without nurse coming in every couple hours. We have started stuffing our bags with supplies. As far as other updates, her belly button is turning in and it looks like she will be a "inny," her hair is continuing to lighten, she is growing more hair on the front of her head, and she is beginning to gain some dexterity in her hands (grabbing her pacifier and holding in her mouth etc). We gave her a sponge bath the other night and her hair kinks up when damp and is really curly when wet. We'll see if that results in anything down the road. All of her bandages are now off and you can see...
8/23/06 - One more posting for friends of the Teabos. This is copied right off their CarePage: Friends, Please forgive us for not returning calls. We didn't know how busy it would be to plan a funeral. And not to mention emotional. Yesterday we had to pick out a castket for Hudson. Not to long ago we spent time and energy in picking out a nice bedding where he would sleep, and then he had to pick one out where his body would lay. Also picking out a spot, its just heart wrenching, we chooses a spot under a beautiful tree and near some apostles near a cementry a mile from our home. We will have a private burial on Friday monring. And all are welcomed to Hudsons Celebration/Remeberance Service at Westwood Baptist Church on the WestSide of Olympia at 7pm Firday Evening. We would love you to make it if you can. Snacks after! Phone number to Westwood is 866-6888 or visit on the web at www.westwoodbaptist.com Thanks for sharing this jorney with us everyone, words can never express how tha...
We take out the NG tube and look what happens! Before anyone gets too excited her tube was not removed for good. =( Kevin and I were trying to fix the tape that holds the tube in place and had a difficult time, to make a long story short we took the tube out and took the opportunity to snap some adorable pictures. Food update: The new formula didn't work, the first try made her vomit so we scratched that plan. Now we're back to straight breast milk and we're working on increasing her volumes again. Right now we're up to 78cc and we're moving back up to 80cc tonight. So far she is tolerating it very well. I think her tummy is ready for the 80cc it just needed more time to stretch naturally. She is also continuing to increase her oral intake. Right now she is averaging 30 cc from breastfeeding (YEAH Taylor!) last night she even took a whopping 50cc! So we're seeing SLOW progress every day but we're on our way. Yesterday Taylo...
8/21/06 - Taylor had another ultrasound today to look at her liver. Her bilirubin levels had dropped but they recently noticed they are starting to go back up and they aren't sure why! Her feeding volumes are back up to 75cc - so far so good, but she always starts off good. Next feeding we are going to go back to fortifying the breast milk with a different formula to see how she tolerates that. If this plan fails our back up is to try feeding her every 2 hours with smaller quantities instead of every 3 like we're doing now. The results are just in, everything looked normal in the ultrasound. So we are just working on solving the feeding issues. Taylor loves Mommy Daddy bores Taylor
8/21/06- A note for friends of the Teabos who read our blog: The following is the posting about Hudson from the Teabos this morning on their update page. For anyone who wishes to read his whole story their page can be found at www.carepages.com . You have to register and then his page is HudsonSawyerTeabo. There you can read the details of their journey for the last 3 months. Friends...Hudson made the call today to Jesus who entered him into his throne at 9:30 this morning. It was the most peaceful event, we got the call and rushed in, as soon as they put him into our arms...we prayered for his spirit to be recieved. He looks so peaceful now, no noise in his room finally, he deserves it. It was his call and not ours and this gives us peace that we have done EVERYTHING. We thank you for your prayers and if you want to send us your address to send memroiral whatever they are called: Our address is 5045 Orvas Ct Se Olympia WA 98501 email:teabo5@cocmast.net We Thank you for EVERYTHING. The...
8/20/06 - Kevin and I are very frustrated right now, Taylor just vomited her milk again! They told us to go ahead and stop feeding her the fortified breast milk for the night to see if that is the issue. So we're back to just straight breast milk. Please pray that God will give the doctors that are assessing her situation wisdom in determing what her problem is. Pray that God will work in Taylor's body to get everything functioning correctly. Thanks!
8/20/06 - Guess what I had to do today? I had to actually insert an NG tube into Taylor's nose down into her tummy as practice for when we get to go home! Yesterday the nurse did a demonstration for Kevin and I and today it was our turn. I was dreading this lesson but it wasn't so bad. Taylor didn't cry at all during the insertion process only afterwards as we had to hold her head down so we could tape everything in place. We also know how to check that the tube is actually in her stomach not down her windpipe. Some fun facts for you - Taylor's umbilical cord fell off two days ago and is starting to look a lot cuter and Taylor is working on her smile. She smiles at us quite often now, but of course it's too random to catch on camera. Kevin says she has two smiles one with her tongue sticking out and one without her tongue.
8/20/06 - Well the results of the last ECKO have been reviewed by all the doctors and they are all satisfied with Taylor's progression. She won't needed additional oxygen or medication for her heart. The feedings seems to have worked their way out too, literally. Trying to get the feedings up to the 80cc volume which is necessary to provide her with enough calories has resulted in emesis (fancy word for vomit, I guess) of about 20cc. We have adjusted the volumes back to 70cc which she seems to tolerate fine. She has been eating 15-25 cc thorugh nursing and the rest is put through her feeding tube. We will begin fortifying the breast milk that's going through the tube with formula to increase its caloric value. This way she will be getting the caloric intake of 80cc of breastmilk while only consuming 70cc. The fellow surgeon told this morning that this is normal. Taylor has been able to consume more volume than most babies in her condition. I guess I take better pictures wh...
8/19/06 - Another first, Taylor's first outfit of ours. Of course she spit up on it 5 minutes later and we went back to swaddling her in the blankets supplied by the hospital. Ruin their stuff not ours. Tabitha also wants to assure everyone that she holds Taylor too. I guess she is a better photographer; the pictures she takes of me are much better than the ones I take of her. Good afternoon! We apologize for our lack of blog entries but these days "free time" is non-exsistant. We are constantly preparing feedings, feeding, or cleaning up from feedings! In all honesty we've been rather stressed out and frustrated these past couple of days trying to teach Taylor how to eat. She is SLOWLY learning to breastfeed and then the majority of her feeding is finished thru her NG tube (the feeding tube through her nose into her stomach). Yesterday after receiving 8-10 feedings at 80cc (3 oz) she started vomiting during or after each additional feeding. We requested to talk to a ...
8/18/06 - I've got no strings attached . As of yesterday evening Taylor was removed from her IV drip so she has no wires or plumbing connecting her to anything. She still has the feeding tube in her nose and will for some time as she builds up her endurance and nursing abilities. Currently, she is taking about 25% of her feedings orally and the rest are dripped through the feeding tube. Her IV site will be removed today so her feet will be free of hardware and they sent away the morning lab so she got spared an extra poke this morning. As she celebrated her second week of life, her life has been full of firsts. She rode in a swing for the first time on Wednesday night, she was held by her Grandmas for the first time, today we will take her outside on her first walk and let her experience the great outdoors for the first time as well.
8/17/06 - The ball is rolling, but maybe a little too fast... During their rounds this morning the surgeons decided to drastically increase the volumes of milk Taylor is getting. Instead of yesterday's plan of 5cc (1 teaspoon) increases every nine hours we are jumping to 50 cc almost instantly and with two more big jumps will be at 80 cc by tomorrow morning. All this is great news for getting Taylor home from the hospital, the catch is that during her feedings last night she was only taking ~20 cc orally and the rest was being pushed through her feeding tube. I think it is safe to say we are both overwhelmed a little bit. We want to go home, but we really don't want to be tube feeding her for any extended period of time. Pray that things would "slow down" for us, not necessarily physical time, but at least mentally (if that makes any sense). Pray that Taylor would develop stamina for extended feedings, a hunger to eat more and more, and that as her stomach and digesti...
8/16/06 - Sorry we have been a little stingy with the updates as of late. I forgot to bring the camera card with the most recent pictures. Not much has changed lately in terms of visible changes though so you are too out of date. Here is Taylor in her little hospital gown. We are waiting to put her in her own clothes until the chest tube dressing is removed. We don't want goo all over our cute little outfits! She is doing alright with feedings, and nursed for the first time today. She is supposed to get 25cc with each feeding and that increases every nine hours getting us to our goal of 60 cc (2 ounces) by Saturday morning. She has a feeding tube in her nose still in case she doesn't take her full feeding orally, but we haven't had to use it the last two days. Pray that the feedings would continue to go well and improve with the volume increases. It is a little tricky because she is still being nourished by IV so she doesn't really feel hungry. As a result her instinct ...
8/15/06 - Taylor has had her ups and downs as feedings continue. We worked with a lactation consultant this morning and tried a couple different things. After Tabitha had pumped we tried dry nursing and Taylor seemed to latch on well and was a lot more comfortable than when we introduce a bottle. The consultant talked with the surgeon and we will begin working a little breastfeeding into the rotation even though it makes it trickier to monitor the amounts. We also made up a feeding tube with a pacifier to reduce the flow she gets when feeding through a nipple. When she uses a bottle it seems as if she scares herself with the amount that comes out and shoots into her mouth so we are playing around with that as well. Her morphine has also been dropped to as low as it can go and should be turned of tommorrow. She has shown some signs of withdrawl from the morphine drip so pray that her body adjusts to life without marcotics. We've decided that she has had enough to last a lifetime.
8/14/06 (2:00 pm) - We got "floored"! Actually we are on the same floor, but we have been moved out of ICU. Taylor had her chest tube removed this morning and then they told us we were on our way out of the ICU. We were moved to a surgical recovery wing on the 4th floor and you can see our new room below. We have a great view of the helicopter pad; not that we want anybody to have to use it, but it would be fun to see. Now Taylor needs to get down the feeding process she has done better with some feedings than with others. They are slowly increasing the volumes she is being fed and even though she hasn't gotten that much yet, it all seems to be staying down. She gulped down her 6:00 pm feeding almost instantly (maybe she has finally got the process). I think I have figured out a trick or two to get her going through the correct motions. We need prayers for suck, suck, swallow, breathe - That is the pattern we want her to develop, right now it tends to be suck, swallow, g...
8/14/06 - Here is a crib picture as requested. Sorry it isn't the greatest, but I was trying to attach a couple more and was having issues getting them all to post. I will try again later, but I am on my way to visit with Taylor. Tabitha had her doctors appointment and didn't get any new information so she will rest and let the antibiotics do their thing.
8/13/06 (10:00 pm) - Slow day for comments on the blog...Guess nobody is at work killing time on the internet:) Taylor is still doing well, she is adding new nurses to her fan club every shift. She is now up to 11 cc per feeding. She is very hungry and would love to eat more, but they are taking it slow to get her digestive system working. She is getting the small feeding tube in her nose removed because she is able to feed from the bottle there is no need for it at this time. Her chest tube is still in for a TBD amount of time and her morphine is weaned all the way down. As soon as they removed the chest tube they will stop the morphine drip. Tabitha is feeling a little better after resting this evening. She will visit the doctor who delivered Taylor in Tacoma tomorrow or Tuesday to get her opinion. As of now the thought is that she has some sort of bacteria infection and the have given her antibiotics to fight it. She doesn't have any symptoms besides the fever so it is hard to d...
8/13/06 - Taylor is doing well. They bumped up her feeding amount to 8cc (about 2 teaspoons) this morning, but it is taking her a little longer to digest the food than normal. There is no reason to be concerned yet, but pray that her digestive system would function correctly. On another note, Tabitha has been feeling a bit achy and chilled so she had a nurse take her temperature and it was 102, so we are headed over to the group health urgent care to get her checked out. The consulting nurse didn't think is sounded like anything too serious, but that is pretty high for an adult and since she just gave birth a week ago they wanted to make sure she got checked out. Keep us in your prayers.
8/13/06 (8:45 am) - Feedings have been going fairly well. She is starting to get the hang of feeding from a bottle. We are working through the breast milk that Tabitha has pumped in small amounts. In the next 24 hours she should begin receiving larger amounts. Her stomach seems to be processing everything that is put into it. Most of her nutrition is still coming through her IV at this time. Hopefully Tabitha will get to start breastfeeding her soon.
8/12/06 (12:00 pm) - They are currently moving Taylor into a new bed. She gets her first crib, a big girl bed. That is the first step to leaving the ICU and being moved to another floor. We like the care and know a bunch of nurses in the ICU so it would be bittersweet if she is moved before she is discharged. We just pray for God's will and whatever is best for her care. She had her first two feedings and they were very successful. They were both with Pedialite, but her 2 pm feeding will be with colostrum. That will start getting her the anitbodies she needs and coat the digestive system because breast milk is just around the corner. The chest tube is still in, but should be removed shortly. Pray for sooner rather than later. They removed her arterial line, a blood pressure IV and source for blood sampling, now both of her arms and hands are free of tubing, tape, etc.
8/11/06 - Well, as you can see in the pictures below she is overcoming her fears of things being put in her mouth and with a little sugar water coating to encourage her she has accepted a pacifier. The nurse also snuck in her first attempt at feeding since her stomach was growling pretty loudly. She didn't quiet get the hang of it, but she was close. Tonight she will have the IV and accessories removed from her left arm leaving both of her arms free of any devices. Tommorow she gets the chest drain tube removed, so pray for that process to go smoothly and have minimal pain. Once the chest tube is out the the only accessories will be the IV in her leg and the sensors which are stuck to her chest. Thank goodness for answered prayers.
8/11/06 (8:00 am) - They removed her from the ventilator this morning, it went drastically smoother than the first time and it seems that it will be successful. They also removed an IV that was in her right hand that wasn't being used and a suction tube that went through her mouth into her stomach. They might have to reinsert that tube if she starts getting air in her stomach, but hopefully not. Her chest drain tube will come out tomorrow and then the will start trying to feed her. Thank God for the answered prayers.
8/10/06 (11:30 pm) - Look closely, her eyes are open!!! The ventilator is scheduled to be removed tomorrow morning around 9:00 am. Specific prayers for that procedure can be found in the previous post. If the removal is successful they will remove the drain tube from her chest later in the day. If both of those go well we will begin attempting feedings shortly. So many big steps...
8/10/06 (12:24 pm) - Taylor is 1 week old today. We celebrated by holding her of a couple of hours this morning. Tabitha almost missed it, but snuck into the room about 12:20 and sang her Happy Birthday. Taylor celebrated by getting her first dose of steroid medication through her food IV (good thing she isn't in the major leagues). They are going to make a second attempt at removing the ventilator tomorrow morning and the steroid medication will help reduce any swelling in her airway after the tube is removed. Her morphine levels are dropping back down to pre-surgery levels and her ventilator settings are minimal as the prepare to remove it. They did a trial run for an hour this morning; turning off the ventilator while it was still in and she did just fine. Yesterday and today she has seemed pretty comfortable, content, and in a lot less pain most of the time. They are also talking about removing the drain tube from her chest tomorrow as well. The drain tube is probably what is c...
8/9/06 (8:00 pm) - VISITORS - Visitors have been coming a decent rate for the past couple days. We have been getting one or two people/groups a day since last Friday. That seems to be about the right amount, connecting with one in the morning and the other later in the day. For those of you who have visited, it has been great hanging out with you. For those of you who are thinking about visiting, just give us a call on my cell phone or write us an email and let us know when you would like to come and we will let you know how that time looks. We aren't filling out a schedule or calander so contacting us a couple days in advance is great. A little flexibility the day of the visit will probably be necessary because we are never quite sure of our schedule, but we have found some enjoyable places to hang out around the hospital. Finally, for those who visit the blog, thanks for all your comments and postings, the more you guys post the better it is to check up on the blog.
8/9/06 (4:00 pm) - Guess what we got to do this afternoon!!! Don't cheat by looking at the pictures... Our nurse for the past couple days, Ann, was working the last day of her shift for the week and before she finished her shift she helped us bundle Taylor up, attached her wires and tubes, and gave us each a chance to hold her for a half an hour or so. It was an incredible opportunity and another answer to prayer. She said that Taylor is in stable enough condition that we can ask to hold her anytime, but the nurse who is caring for her will have to give their approval. It is great to have the option on the table, but it's a little tricky to hold her in a position that doesn't cause the ventilator tube to aggetate her. Moral of the story being that holding her is now an regular option, but due to the logistics we probably won't be doing it more than once or twice a week until she get the ventilator removed.
8/9/06 (2:00 pm) - Well, according to the clock we're running a little late on the morning update. Sorry for those checking who have been left "messageless". This morning between 11:00 and 11:20 Taylor had her most attentive and alert phase that we have seen since she got to Children's. Tabitha missed most of it because she was off pumping, but she had both eyes open and was looking around for quite a while. She even perked back up when Tabitha came into the room. Her activity couldn't have come at a better time. We were a little down this morning and when we entered the room she was zonked out letting the machine do most of her breathing so that didn't help our spirits. So it was all the more uplifting as she stirred and awoke to let us know she was doing fine. They have started dropping the settings for the ventilator and when she is awake is breathing on her own about twice as much as the settings are set for right now. Another answer to prayer is that the ...
8/8/06 (1:00 pm) - The rollercoaster continues... Taylor had some difficulties as she tried to adjust to breathing without the ventilator. They tried a couple of different treatment options with some success and eventually the got her carbon dioxide levels to fall, but not far enough. In order to keep her condition from getting worse and her body from stressing out even more (giving things a chance to affect her heart) they put her back on the ventilator. She is resting confortably now and the stress levels for Tabitha and I have decreased substantially. The nurse assured us that even though this attempt was not successful in weaning her from the ventilator we should not view it as a failure. She will need a couple of days to recover and relax and then they will try to do it again. They learned some things about her body and reactions to the procedure that give them information on how to modify the procedure next time to increase the chances for success. Keep praying for her to gain st...
8/8/06 (10:45 am) - This morning they turned off the ventilator and just had it supplying pressure to the lungs and just now they removed it completely. Notice there is no tube taped to her face. We are so thankful that it has been removed and many prayers have been answered. Now please direct your prayers for the following: That her throat and airway would relax as they adjust to not having the ventilator tube (she is more used to having it in than it being out right now), that she would begin taking frequent deep breaths, that her Oxygen saturation levels (the amount of oxygen being carried in her blood) would increase to normal levels, that she would remain calm and relaxed as her body adjusts to the new changes, that her blood pressure would remain low, and that her heart would remain calm and not become stressed in the her new condition. Tabitha and I began to realize this last night that we wanted her off the ventilator, but now it is a little scary because we are entering the u...
8/7/07 (9:55) - Sorry, no new pictures today instead we had fun videotaping. Taylor had another wonderful day. We just got home from our p.m visit with more encouraging words from the nurses. They keep praising Taylor and her progress. Tonight they told us that babies with diaphragmatic hernias normally are NOT stable and Taylor has been extremely stable so they are impressed. Our nurse, Lisa, said we have much to be thankful for! All of our/your prayers are being heard and answered. They are continuing to turn down her ventilator and we were told she might have it completely removed by tomorrow evening - YEAH!!!!! They will also start weaning her off of her morphine slowly over the next couple of days. We also learned tonight is moving night for Taylor. They're moving her across the hall for staffing reasons (one nurse can watch her and her roommate). Prayer Requests: Taylor's bilirubin level is on the higher side (she has jaundice) so she may need light therapy if it does not...
8/7/06 (11:50) - It's Monday morning and we just said "good morning" to Taylor. She had a restful night healing from surgery. She doesn't enjoy it when the nurses mess with her, but hey who can blame her! They have already begun to turn down the ventilator (YEAH!) and she's continuing to urinate which means she's getting enough fluid. She tried to open her eyes for us several times, but the morphine made that quite challenging! Thank you for your prayers and comments they mean so much to us. I just want to take this opportunity to give God all the glory and praise for the outcome of her surgery! We have another prayer request to add. Taylor has a little roommate named Jackson who has a condition called Pulmonary Hypertension. The doctors have been unable to figure out the source of his problem and the prognosis is not good. They asked us to leave the room this morning so the chaplain could come in and talk to the family. Please pray for this little boy. Pray f...
8/6/06 (10:00 pm) - We are headed back to our hotel for the night to catch up on some sleep. Taylor seems to be doing well recovering from surgery. The recovery process is probably best viewed as a winding staircase; the end is not in sight, yet each step gets us closer to the top. We don't know how long it will take, but we want to keep heading in the right direction. Here are a couple of specifics steps to be prayed for as we wait for them to occur: 1) Removal of the catheder - This was put in following surgery to monitor her fluid output. Its removal will occur as soon as they know she can process fluids efficently. The fewer tubes the better. 2) Removal of the ventilator - This assures a minimum respiration rate and monitors the gas exchange between her heart and lungs. Being removed from this would mean her heart and lungs are functioning well. 3) A Feeding Tube Installed - This will be a small tube installed through her nose down into her stomach or maybe as far as her small ...
8/6/06 (1:45 pm) - We got the page for our meeting with the surgeon. Surgery is now over. It went as well as anyone could have hoped. They went in with the scope and she has 5 small incisions (~3mm long). She is recovering nicely. We saw the post surgery X-ray and the left lung is almost as big as the right lung. Now time will tell how much functional tissue exists, but the outlook is good. We were told by one nurse today that she was the healthiest baby in the whole unit last night. 3:00 pm - Post surgery 3:00 pm - Mommy and recovering Taylor
8/6/06 - Surgery was pushed back to sneak in an emergency surgery before her. The negative of her being in stable condition; our schedule is dependent on other cases as well. In other news, we made our first "mistake" this morning and can no longer consider ourselves perfect parents. Going to bed last night we set the hotel alarm clock for 2:00 am for Tabitha to wake up and pump, and then my phone for 6:00 am to wake up and get to the hospital by 8:00 to talk to the doctors and see Taylor before surgery. What we failed to do is switch my phone from vibrate to ring so we never heard the alarm go off this morning. I woke up at 8:10 and look at the clock an realized we had overslept. We called the hospital and luckily her surgery had already been delayed (as mentioned above). Thank goodness God was moving things around to make up for our tardiness. I guess He knew we needed some extra sleep. Surgery is set to begin around noon and we are about to meet with anesthesia doctors who...
8/5/06 - We are on our way into the ICU to Taylor tell goodnight, and thought we would post our schedule for tomorrow while Taylor is in surgery. We will be with Taylor until 9 am as we send her off to surgery and then we will head out to the 4th floor lobby area to connect with anyone who wishes to come to the hospital the morning of surgery. By 10:00 am we would like people to leave the 4th floor lobby as a place Tabitha and I can hang out without having to interact with anyone. I know some people will want to hang out at the hospital for the day and that's great, there are plenty of other places to hang out in the building. We will then plan on connecting with anyone who wants to show their support with their presense or wants an update on the surgery without having to check the blog. That is planned for around 5:00 pm around the Tully's/Chapel in the hospital near the giraffe entrance. (I think there are multiple Tully's in the hospital). Thanks again for your thoughts ...
8/5/06 - Taylor is doing quite well. The ventilator settings are as low as they can be set. We have been told that if she wasn't going into surgery (where she needs a ventilator) it would have already been removed. As it is she has adopted it as her pacifier and continues to suck away. Tabitha and I have gotten several opportunities to interact with her with her eyes open, but most of the time she sleeps away in a mildly drugged condition so that she is not distressed and irratated by all the tubing and confinment. It is so hard to not be able to hold her. One nurse mentioned that might be possible sometime next week - We can use your prayers for that as well - We want to be able to hold her as soon as possible! 8/5/06 - Tabitha changed her first diaper today. She has had several bowel movements so at least some of the digestive tract is functioning correctly. 8/4/06 - She is receiving wonderful care at Children's her nurses Ann (day) and Bessie (night) are both incredible. ...
8/3/06- After her birth Taylor had 45 minutes to an hour to bond with me and mom. She latched on pretty quick and started sucking away. Then we were informed by the baby nurse that things didn't sound quite right in her chest and they would have to take her down the the Neonatal nursery for X-rays and further examination. Here in the neonatal unit I found out that they were having difficulty hearing breathing on her left side and her heart (which they should hear on her left side) was only audible on her right. There were several issues that could cause this so an X-ray was ordered to explore the problem. The X-ray revealed that she had a diaphragmic (sp?) hernia, her intestines had pushed up through her diaphragm and were sitting on top of her left lung and pushing her heart off to the right. They prepped her for transport and drove her to Children's Medical Center in Seattle for surgery. Luckily Tabitha recovered from delivery remarkably well and she was able to get dischar...
August 3, 2006 (12:24 pm) - After 32 1/2 hours of labor the world has just gotten a little more crowded. Taylor Madison Moberg tipped the scales at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and measured in at 20 inches long. The nurses have all commented on how long she is. She has pretty big hands, long toes, huge feet, and long, thick dark hair.