Update for Us

After 50 days in the hospital, they finally kicked me out. I have been doing good(thank goodness for pain killers). I went back to the hospital today to see Brody and they took the catheter out, which was my last tube to be removed. YEAH!!!! I am healing better than they expected. That has nice to hear after being told quite a few time that it was touch and go and I am lucky to be around. The doctors have said that if things had waited a little longer, like they wanted to, that chances are I wouldn't be here. I definitely have so much to be thankful for; especially my little man. He is doing awesome. He would be 32 weeks along if I was still pregnant. So he is 2 weeks today. He weighs 4 lbs 4.8oz(3lbs14oz at birth). He no longer has an IV and is bottle feeding all of his feeds as of last night. He was tired of the feeding tube and pulled it out. In the next few days they are going to see how he maintains his body temps. As of right now he is still in the incubator but according the the nurses--still feisty as ever. Thanks again to everyone that has helped with the girls and for keeping me and Brody in your prayers. We definitely has someone looking out for us. Here are a few pics of him and us.

Injuries

I know that all of your were interested in seeing my battle scars:)

This is my tummy--ignore the stretch marks.

This the my neck where the a-line was stitched in to supply me with blood.

Here is my arm. I don't so well with IVs. They had one in my bicep, for arm and my wrist and they all leave marks.

He's Here

Brody Vaughn Liljenquist

Sunday, May 11, 2008

9:51 am

3 lbs 14 oz

16 inches

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ME!!!

He is doing great, especially for being only 30 weeks. He only needed a breathing tube for a few hours then he was breathing on his own. He still has a feeding tube but eats very well; up about 2 Tbl per feeding already. All the nurses comment that he is feisty. Lets hope grows out of that some. Here are a couple of pictures of him, anyone who wants a few more gory details-the painful story is below.

OK, for a few more details: I had just been sent back to ante-partum on last Thursday which is like a long term, stable wing. I had a bleeding scare the Monday before. I was excited to be back from High risk cuz they are less fussy. I woke up on Mother's day to a little bleeding. The nurse put me on the baby monitor and about 30 minutes later--Whoosh--blood started coming out. The Dr. came in and said lets head to the OR and get this done. As they wheeled me down, I called Ryan and my mom to let them know what was going on. I was in the OR pretty quick and the rest of the story is from what other people have told me cuz I don't remember anything til Tuesday. When they put me under they quickly did the c-section with a vertical incision. Then the surgeons went to work. It was a lot worse than they thought. I was in surgery for over 5 hour. I used 18 unit of blood(drs are nervous if you lose 4 unit) and 8 more transfused over the next two days in recovery. When I came out of surgery I was minus a baby, uterus, cervix, 1/2 a bladder and 1/2 another female organ. But I had a tube down my throat, an a-line stitched into my jugular, an a-line in my left wrist, 2 IVs in my right arm, a catheter, lots of staples up my tummy and a drain line in my side. So i guess it was a give and take situation. All of the Drs and surgeon have let me know that I am lucky to be here. When I woke up they had my arms strapped down to the bed(It's a good thing cuz I would have ripped that stupid tube out of my throat-that thing sucks) So far everything has been removed except for one IV line, the catheter, the drain line and the staples. I have physical therapy now to try and build up my strength after being in bed for the past 45 days. It is exhausting. I get to see Brody once a day cuz that is all I have the strength for right now. If anyone else wants to see him AND visit me let me know when you are coming and I can take you into the NICU.

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and for helping out with the girls. Ryan has done a wonderful time stepping up to the plate but I know he has been very appreciative of everyone doing what they can. Things really have worked out well. Brody is doing very well despite being born at 30 weeks and if the drs. were able to wait longer for the surgery things really could have turned out worse. I also wanted to thank my Father in Heaven for looking out for both of us, He has been a real comfort.

Birthday time

We celebrated all 3 girls birthdays at the hospital last week. Rylee will be 3 on May 29th, Kodee turned 2 on April 27th and Bailee will be 1 on June 22nd. It was a blast. We had Olive Garden and cake & ice cream.

As you can tell Bailee loves ice cream and enjoyed every bite.

The 2 older girls got bikes. They have been bugging us lately cuz our neighbors Eric and Jake ride their bikes all the time out front. They were so excited when they saw them. I was so glad that I was there to see their faces.

Rylee caught on right away. She was so proud and would ride by us with a big ole smile on her face. She has a horn on her bike and would ride with one hand on her handle bars and the other honking the horn. It was so sticking cute.

Kodee's legs were a little to short to peddle but she liked to be pushed around on her bike. She didn't catch on to turning but she felt pretty special with her helmet on. She would just sit there and ring her bell on her bike.

Bruise

I had a procedure, called a Cystoscope, a couple of weeks ago which is where they wanted to see is the placenta had grown into the bladder. For this procedure I had to have a spinal block. The anaesthesiologist had a hard time finding the spot on my back and had to try 4 different times. I thought that all of you would like to see the trauma. In the middle of the bruise you can see the needle marks.

Hospital Stay

I have now been at St Joseph's Hospital for 30 days now.(Not that I am counting) There is no chance that they will send send me home. In other words, I will be here until I deliver. I am currently 29 weeks and they plan on scheduling the c-section between 34-36 weeks. So anyone that would like to visit, I will be here for awhile-in the hospital-all by myself. We would like to thank everyone that has helped out with keeping an eye on our girls. I really appreciate everyone being there for them while I can't. Everything is going great with our little boy. He is big, healthy and moving a ton. I will try to keep this up to date with what is going on with me, Ryan and the girls, hopefully put up a picture or two.