I Heart Emerson

Two months ago I had a routine fetal echo to check Emerson's heart due to Colin having pulmonary stenosis. When you have a child with a congenital heart defect your chances of having another child with one go up, to a whopping 2%. At 19 weeks the techs detected some mild regurgitation or leaking on Emerson's tricuspid valve. This week at 29 weeks, it's still there. So it's not just because she's so little or they got really good pictures, it's because she too like her older brother has a heart defect. The picture below helps you get an idea of where we are talking, Emerson however, doesn't have an enlarged ventricle. (Colin's issue is on the blue valve for a reference).

So what's up next for our next little heart baby? Well another fetal echo at 34 weeks, and then nothing until she is born. Which will be with my doctor, at my hospital, with specific instructions NOT to take my baby away from me:) Then an echo, the same day that Colin goes in for his one year check (I wonder if there's a punch card for this?...) once she's about 2 weeks old. From there we will know much more, but we think it will just be to watch it.

Though I'm disappointed for there ever to be anything "wrong" with one of my children (let alone two or three) in the grand scheme of things this is nothing, a blip on the radar, a freckle on the back or a regurg on the triscuspid valve as it were. We will accept any and all prayers that all this will ever amount to is a blip, and that there are no larger underlying issues, but we also insist that you pray for someone having a much more difficult time then us. Because this is a freckle:)

Praying

This morning my cousin M had her third beautiful baby boy Thomas. Unfortunately Thomas was born with an undiagnosed diaphragmatic hernia. From what I've read on the internet it looks like Thomas has a best case serinario, but it still isn't great.
I was never a overly religious child, in fact I wasn't ever that spiritual. Until I had children and knew there must be something greater than me, because seriously have you seen my children? They are perfectly little imperfections. During the time right after Colin was born, I looked hard for a reason. Why did this happen to my child, why didn't the doctors catch it in any of my millions of ultrasounds, what is my next step, what does the future hold for us? I know how my cousin is feeling and it is killing me that I can't hold her. It is throwing in my face many of the feelings I knew were coming towards me with Colin's birthday next month. I don't have any of the answers for my cousin, but I do know that she needs all the prayers she can get. Please, Please pray for this baby brother and his family, they could really use it. And kiss your little ones or big ones a little more tonight:) I know I sure did!

Broken!

Fever has broken as of last night. Colin is on the tamiflu, which is preventative. And Colin has been approved for the synergist (anti RSV) again this year. Now I'm getting the house ready to show to prospective tentents and putting away toys with tons of parts. 6 weeks from thursday we close and it seems much much closer.

Wee, Wee, Wee :(

Last night around midnight John woke up with a temp of 105* After calling the local ask a nurse number, the Children's Hospitial advised us to have him looked at. Seth ended up taking him in so that we didn't have to bring Colin in also.
Turns out John has H1N1 (swine flu)... He is doing okay today, still has a super high fever (102*) and the aches, he just wants to be held mostly by Seth.
I've spent the morning sanitizing toys and books. It's needed to be done for a while and now I have a really good reason to do it.
We'll have to bring Colin in tomorrow because he is high risk and will have to be treated, I'm not sure what that entails but I'll let you know.
So we're out of commission until his fever is gone +24 hours... I'll let you know about that too;p
And a picture from less sick times:)

We're home, we're tired, and we're sick...

I have to deal with the sick part right now, but we had a wonderful trip, got to attend a beautiful wedding (which we WT'd right up with John's strip down), were able to see many members of our family, and missed many more! I'll post more pictures here later, or you can see them on facebook for now.

10 on Tuesday~ Colin Edition

1. This morning Colin had his 6/9 month metabolic geneticist appointment at the Children's Hospital in Aurora.
2. Unfortunately we found out that Colin DOES have the genetic variation that can cause his low carnitine. Just like his mama.
3. Fortunately the only course of action is to continue taking the supplements that we already take, and to continue to be monitored.
4. We found out that because we have the variation and not the mutation, we are somewhat of a rare case.
5. In fact our doctor has only seen it one other time and neither parent showed symptoms.
6. Colin weighed 22 pounds 14 ounces (between the 75-90 percentiles)
7. Colin was 29 inches long (between the 75-90 percentiles)
8. Colin's head was 18.5 inches (between the 90-95 percentiles)
9. That means Col is thinning out;)
10. I am just a little sad that he has to deal with this too. As if a bum heart wasn't enough. Poor guy. I am thankful that it is not life threating, but darn!

Sick again, or still

I'm sick, not the flu, but a UTI again I wish they would just give me the medicine when I call in. I probably have more experience than they do on the subject. But maybe the antibiotics will kill my sinus infection A girl can hope!
Col's sick too, diarrhea poor baby. So in honor of my sick kiddo here's last weeks picture.
Hopefully I'll be back to our regularly schedule blogging next week, with pictures, because I found my camera. In my diaper bag.

The Haley House of Pain

Seriously, I am SO over this week already. John has had a reaction to his shot. That resulted in a temp of 103, lucky he's starting to break the fever with the help of motrin. Col, didn't really have a reaction, he has just been super sleepy, and a bit crabby. But now both are teething again:(
We have watched so much Barney I want to puke, but it is the only thing that he doesn't cry through. We did have one moment this morning of playing in the puddles from the almost constent rain we've had the past few days in our new rain boot and coat, it lasted only about a minute, but even that was a nice break!

I know that this will pass, but goodness it's tough today.

Do you ever just have a day?

When everything is either hurried or wrong? I kind of had that day today. J was up at 6, Usually my wonderful hubby deals with anything having to do with that time of day. He was working, I guess so was I because I was nursing, and trying to convince a two year old that in fact the sun WAS still sleeping and he should be too. All to know avail.
I did get a ton done today. 2 dishwasher loads run and emptied. 6 loads of laundry wash, dried, and folded, and half put away. (Sether is going to bring up the rest later and I'll put it away before bed.) The kitchen is, er was clean. And that was all before 10! I made dinner, not from a box, not from a menu, and not one of my go to meals. Something totally new, and different, and yummy. I took an uncooperative two year old to gymnastics. I took a very cooperative 6 month old to the cardiologist. And then to get blood drawn. Two sticks later they want to quit, I got a bit mamma bear and told them there would be no more pricks, and they needed to get everything right then. All day everything was hurry up and wait, between a train, and a Children's hospital waiting room. I'm done. John is still awake upstairs not sleeping. Telling Seth every reason that he needs to come out of his room. He needs to pee (duder you're in a diaper), he's thirsty (there's a water bottler in your room), he's not even tired. I am buddy I am.
So here is to the hope that tomorrow is truly a new day. Complete with better weather. And less hurry up to wait moments. (though we do have another doctors appointment, so that's not looking good:)

Oh and Colin's heart... Perfect! His pressures are going down, which is unbelievable considering the type of defect that he has, and his robust growth. Doctor's use words like perfect. He definitely still has a problem, one he will deal with his entire life, but hopefully, it won't have to affect his entire life:)