Pictures

Nate loves to hold Levi this way



Lucy after some of Jon's blueberry pancakes



Levi today. I think there will always be some body part of Lucy's in all of Levi's pictures. :)



And here is Lucy sort of talking. I've been trying to catch her on video, but every time she sees the camera, she clams up.

Melted heart

Levi came down with another cold. This had me worried--did this mean the same thing that happened before (he stopped breathing) would happen again? I spoke on the phone to Levi's doctor, who assuaged some of my fears. (No, him getting another cold doesn't mean he will have the same serious reaction. Just watch for the same symptoms he had before, but don't assume it'll happen again.)

Then, my little Levi smiled right at me for the first time. It was like, "Thank you, God, for that confirmation that he is OK."

This is late for a baby to have his first smiles, which of course also had me a bit worried (is he developing OK?). I think Levi's being born a little early contributes to his smiling a little later, though.

This is what melted my heart this morning; he was cooing in addition to the smiles:

Sayings

Cute things Nate is saying:

• "Can you do me a flavor?"
• "Smarshmallows" for marshmallows
• When Lucy was here last week, she overheard Jon and Nate reading a Bible story. Jon was trying to explain burnt offerings, and Nate said, "Oh, they're making a pizza?" Jon said, "Kind of..."

Crafty kick: gifts

Two friends are having baby girls in March; their shower is in February and I decided to make/embellish a few things for them. (Neither of them reads this blog, so I can post everything now!)

Three onesies for baby Hailey



And two longer shirts for Hailey


Two onesies for baby Mallory (the cupcake is an iron-on)



And my favorite: a dress for Mallory


I was thinking of trying to make some soft-soled shoes to go with the onesies in the apple/pear fabric, since it wouldn't take much fabric. But I might just decide to be done, since my "crafty mood" for the week seems to have passed. :)

Cute girl

I made my first pair of pants today (from a pattern I found on Etsy). I am in love with this fabric and keep thinking of things I want to make with it. :)



Tonight I added some green pom-pom trim on the bottoms to finish everything off.

(In sadder news, my sister went home today. We miss you, Luce!)

Loving Lulu

Nate and Lucy are in love with Lulu. :)

Thankful

We have been home since Thursday afternoon and are doing great! Levi seems better than ever... He hasn't coughed all day today. And each night since Thursday has been the best sleep Levi has ever slept---thank you Zantac!

My sister is still in town, and I wish she'd never leave. I'm having a lot of fun just doing normal life with her around. :) She's here 'til Wednesday.

Going home

Yes, we are indeed going home today! The doctor is finishing some paperwork, and then we will be able to go. :)

The upper GI test the doctors ran on Levi revealed "moderate reflux," so they are giving him a prescription for Zantac. Perhaps this will stop what he used to do at home: constant groaning (seemingly about his tummy) all night! This reflux issue seemed secondary to me--not really related to why we entered the hospital in the first place--but the doctor said that reflux could have made Levi's breathing/congestion/infection worse.

I'm so glad to get home, take a shower, and get back to normal!

Sometimes you just need your mom (... or sister)

I got back to the hospital this evening after having gone home for the afternoon (a good family friend came to the hospital to stay with Levi) to find out that they're probably keeping Levi here until the end of the week. I was definitely stressed about this--not because they're keeping Levi but because finding people to take care of Nate and Lucy has been so hard. It seems all of my non-working friends have children who are sick or are sick themselves (e.g., Casey, Lissa, Janel, and Kim). All of the emotion and stress from the past week I think have just been building up, so I called Mama in poor spirits. Within an hour, a flight had been booked: my sister is arriving tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.! I am so thrilled! I haven't seen Lucy since June. Lucy, hurry here! :)

P.S. They are going to do some "breathing treatments" (albuterol with a nebulizer) on Levi to see if they help with his cough.

P.P.S. There is a very loud child (sounds like 3 years old or so) next door. Poor thing--I'm sure he/she is sick and feels terrible, but I hope the crying dies down soon, or it'll be a long night for all of us!

Still in the hospital

The pertussis came back negative, which is great! We are staying in the hospital another night. They want Levi to go at least a full 24 hours with good numbers on his monitor (monitoring his heart rate and his oxygen saturation/breathing). I'm happy about staying a bit longer to have him monitored.

Ray and Colleen came and stayed with Levi for a few hours today while Jon and I both spent time at home with Nate and Lucy. Things have been out of whack for the kids all week, so I know it was good for them to have several hours of "normal" today with both Jon and me home.

This week has certainly given me an appreciation for how things normally are!

We're still in the hospital but doing well. Levi still has lots of congestion and needed to be monitored another night. I'm happy about staying since it means he's being monitored, but I also miss Nate and Lucy! And of course, Jon and I have really only seen each other in passing this week.

The doctor sent out for a pertussis (whooping cough) test on Levi, and the results haven't come back yet. I haven't seen the doc yet this morning, so we'll see if she knows anything yet and whether she thinks we might go home today.

Another update

We were moved to the Pediatric wing yesterday (good), and Levi is off of all assistance (IV, canula, etc.) and just has one monitor on his little foot. There's a chance they'd send us home today, but I'm kind of leaning toward staying another night so they can monitor his pulse-ox, which dipped a few times last night. We're doing well!

Pictures from this week

Levi on Monday night in the PICU


Levi today


Levi leaving the PICU today (going to Pediatric wing)


Doesn't he look so cute leaving the ICU today? Levi is doing wonderfully and looks like himself again. He is nursing well but we still have to be sure to "suction" him before he eats because he's still quite congested.

Levi update

Levi has continued improving and is looking great tonight! He drank an ounce of sugar water at 10:00, over two ounces of milk from a bottle at 2:00, more bottled milk at 6:00, and he just nursed for the first time at 8:30. He loved it! :) It looks like he may be able to move to Pediatrics tomorrow.

Jon's home with the other kids and will do the morning breakfast-school routine like he did today. Various friends have offered to watch Lucy during Nate's school hours so that Jon can do some work and/or come to the hospital.

We are elated at the great progress Levi has made and are looking forward to even more progress tomorrow. :)

Levi

As some of you know, we've been in the pediatric ICU with Levi since Monday night. He most likely has RSV or a very similar respiratory virus. He's doing much better right now and will be OK--now we're just waiting out the virus while they help him breathe and monitor all his vital signs. It sounds like we might be here for about a week.

On Monday, I noticed Levi was very pale. He also became lethargic and too sleepy to eat (very unlike him) for a number of hours. By the time I took him to his pediatrician at 7:00 p.m., his color was terrible--ashen, grey--and he was limp. The doctor checked him for a minute and decided we should call 911 and get him to the ER. Levi had had several episodes of apnea (stopping breathing) for 20-30 seconds just while the doctor observed him. I rode in the ambulance with Levi to Mission Hospital. The doctors at the hospital ran lots of tests, and they put Levi on a CPAP machine (thankfully they didn't have to intubate him) to help him breathe. The tests ruled out bacterial infection, and most all other signs point to RSV (though the initial test for RSV came back negative). The doctors say there are basically no long-term effects from having this virus, and Levi should make a full recovery.

Just this morning, the doctors took Levi off the CPAP and put him on a canula (just those little clear tubes you sometimes see people with that go into their nose). This is a good sign, because it means he's doing the breathing much more on his own now. He also spent about an hour awake and alert. The doctor said we may move him to Pediatrics tomorrow, too, and perhaps be able to go home earlier than anticipated (we were thinking early next week, but perhaps it'll be this weekend), since Levi is doing so well this morning and his bloodwork from today looks real good.

We have lots of help from family and friends for taking care of Nate and Lucy. It is such a blessing to have so many dear friends who want to do anything we need.

I'll post more later!

Back to reality

Well, it's back to the real world tomorrow! No more lazy mornings in pajamas until late. No more Dad (Jon) home for four-day weekends two weeks in a row. No more Mama (me) staying in bed with the baby during the older kids' breakfast time. Nope--I'll be out the door at 8:10 with three kids in tow--but two of them might still be in their PJs!

A much dirtier rug

Nate at 3 months:





And Levi yesterday at 7 weeks (these were the best I could do):

Sick week

We have been sick with pink eye and colds. You would think a trip to the drive-thru pharmacy would be pretty easy, but that outing on Wednesday turned into an hour-long ordeal that included several meltdowns, two pharmacies, pulling the car over to the side of the road to discipline, and letting Nate urinate in my travel coffee mug. Yeah. But we made it, and now we're no longer contagious ("we" being Nate, Lucy, and then me), so I'm hopeful Levi won't get what we all had.

I took the Christmas decorations down today, which is always a little sad but also makes everything feel so clean (or, in this year's case, a little less messy).

I'll be back to post pictures soon!