Well, I am a little behind. Since moving into our Flagstaff house,
which was the last time I posted, we have sold our house, moved to
Gilbert, Arizona, Max had his first Easter and has grown by leaps and
bounds, we visited Utah, found new homes for our sweet puppies, and are
now looking for a house to buy in the Phoenix Metro.
I will try to start with the oldest things, and end with the most recent.
Lilypie First Birthday tickers
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Utah visit for Easter
At the end of March we went to Utah for Easter and also got Max's 7 month pictures done, which turned out great. Max loved being around his grandparents and all of his cousins. We even had pictures done of Max with his 3 cousins that were all born within 6 months of him.
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| My parents are proud Grandparents, can you tell? |
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| Max with Uncle Richard and Grandma and Ezra. March 29, 2013. |
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| Papa and Max played until they crashed. 3-29-2013 |
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| Max's cousin, Maylee, was eager to take care of Max for us during the night. |
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
So far behind
I am so far behind! I am sitting here writing this late at night because I can't sleep for thinking about everything that I have to do, yet I am paralyzed because there is so much to do I don't know where to begin.
I am still adjusting to Max and his constant growing and changing, while still trying to unpack from the move. Normally unpacking is a breeze for me, but with Max constantly needing my attention I am having a hard time of it. I do have Max's room put together for the most part, we just need to add fish to his fish tank, and the guest room is done. Other than that, the house is pretty much a disaster. My clothes are still in boxes, except for the 3 pairs I kept out for the move. Our bed is put together but other than that our room is a maze of boxes.
So the reason I am writing this post is to promise myself that I will finish unpacking this week, and catch up on everything I am behind on, which includes blogging so that Max's life doesn't zip by without me recording all of the fun things going on in his life.
I am still adjusting to Max and his constant growing and changing, while still trying to unpack from the move. Normally unpacking is a breeze for me, but with Max constantly needing my attention I am having a hard time of it. I do have Max's room put together for the most part, we just need to add fish to his fish tank, and the guest room is done. Other than that, the house is pretty much a disaster. My clothes are still in boxes, except for the 3 pairs I kept out for the move. Our bed is put together but other than that our room is a maze of boxes.
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| Max's Room |
So the reason I am writing this post is to promise myself that I will finish unpacking this week, and catch up on everything I am behind on, which includes blogging so that Max's life doesn't zip by without me recording all of the fun things going on in his life.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Max is so much fun!
Well, it has been a very long time since I posted, I think Max qualifies as having my hands full. Mark is holding Max right now, so I am taking advantage of the opportunity to record more about Max's life so far.
As of today, he is 3 months old, and growing up so very fast! I have gotten emotional every time I have packed away his clothes that are now too small. He is wearing 6 month sized clothes, and soon will be wearing 9 month. His last checkup, November 21st, he weighed 16 pounds. This time we don't have to see Max's doctor for an entire month! We will be seeing Dr. Tuckman at the end of December for Max's routine 4 month Well Baby checkup.
Since I have taken so long to update the blog, I am going to do a relatively quick recap, and then do most of the updating through pictures.
Quick recap: Max was on oxygen for 2 months. On October 1st Max's lips turned blue, in the middle of the night again, so we called the on-call nurse. Mark told her Max's symptoms, and she suggested we call 911. Mark then called 911, and before I got a shirt on we had a police car, fire truck, and ambulance in front of our house. They said that because Max was already on oxygen, there wasn't much they could do, and wanted us to take him to the ER, except they didn't want us to drive him, and drove him in the ambulance. They observed him for a few hours, and then sent us home recommending that we see our doctor the next morning.
The next morning, the day before we were supposed to go to Utah, we saw one of the other doctors in our doctor's office, and she had us get an oxygen monitor to make sure Max was still getting enough oxygen, which he was. We went to Utah on October 2 and had a great time visiting with family. Max was able to meet all of his Utah cousins, aunts and uncles. While there we had 2 baby showers for Max, and an impromptu birthday party for my brother-Travis, Max and I. Finally, Mark blessed Max on October 7, 2012, which was the main reason we went to Utah. Max also got to listen to his first General Conference and attend his first two soccer games, which were his cousins' Andrew and Ashlee.
When we came back, Max saw his doctor, who sent him to see the cardiologist. Max had already seen the cardiologist when he was in the PICU, but Dr. Tuckman wanted to make sure nothing had developed since the last time he saw the cardiologist. Everything went fine, and it was decided that Max has acro-cyanosis, which is the bluing of the area around the mouth and other areas of the face, which he is supposed to grow out of. He still has it, by the way. And, Max is still the cutest little boy I have ever seen, which is why I have taken over 1200 photos of him in these 3 short months.
November 7th Max got his first haircut. He was starting to get the bald spot on the back of his head making him look like an old man, and I hate the old man look. So we got out the trimmers, and buzzed his head. The hair was a light brownish-red, and now that it is starting to grow back a little, it is really blond so he looks bald. His head still feels like a tennis ball. Mark really doesn't like it, but I'm used to bald babies, since most babies born in our family are bald. I do miss his hair.
Last week we were able to go to my aunt's house in Gilbert for Max's first Thanksgiving. We thought we were going to spend Thanksgiving at home by ourselves since Mark had to work the day after, but my Aunt Michelle invited us down to spend the night the night before, and we had a great time. It was the first time we have ever eaten Thanksgiving outside, which we did because the weather down in Phoenix was fantastic!
In other news, our house is being built, and is scheduled to be finished so that we can close January 22nd. We are very excited!
And now to the pictures...
As of today, he is 3 months old, and growing up so very fast! I have gotten emotional every time I have packed away his clothes that are now too small. He is wearing 6 month sized clothes, and soon will be wearing 9 month. His last checkup, November 21st, he weighed 16 pounds. This time we don't have to see Max's doctor for an entire month! We will be seeing Dr. Tuckman at the end of December for Max's routine 4 month Well Baby checkup.
Since I have taken so long to update the blog, I am going to do a relatively quick recap, and then do most of the updating through pictures.
Quick recap: Max was on oxygen for 2 months. On October 1st Max's lips turned blue, in the middle of the night again, so we called the on-call nurse. Mark told her Max's symptoms, and she suggested we call 911. Mark then called 911, and before I got a shirt on we had a police car, fire truck, and ambulance in front of our house. They said that because Max was already on oxygen, there wasn't much they could do, and wanted us to take him to the ER, except they didn't want us to drive him, and drove him in the ambulance. They observed him for a few hours, and then sent us home recommending that we see our doctor the next morning.
The next morning, the day before we were supposed to go to Utah, we saw one of the other doctors in our doctor's office, and she had us get an oxygen monitor to make sure Max was still getting enough oxygen, which he was. We went to Utah on October 2 and had a great time visiting with family. Max was able to meet all of his Utah cousins, aunts and uncles. While there we had 2 baby showers for Max, and an impromptu birthday party for my brother-Travis, Max and I. Finally, Mark blessed Max on October 7, 2012, which was the main reason we went to Utah. Max also got to listen to his first General Conference and attend his first two soccer games, which were his cousins' Andrew and Ashlee.
When we came back, Max saw his doctor, who sent him to see the cardiologist. Max had already seen the cardiologist when he was in the PICU, but Dr. Tuckman wanted to make sure nothing had developed since the last time he saw the cardiologist. Everything went fine, and it was decided that Max has acro-cyanosis, which is the bluing of the area around the mouth and other areas of the face, which he is supposed to grow out of. He still has it, by the way. And, Max is still the cutest little boy I have ever seen, which is why I have taken over 1200 photos of him in these 3 short months.
November 7th Max got his first haircut. He was starting to get the bald spot on the back of his head making him look like an old man, and I hate the old man look. So we got out the trimmers, and buzzed his head. The hair was a light brownish-red, and now that it is starting to grow back a little, it is really blond so he looks bald. His head still feels like a tennis ball. Mark really doesn't like it, but I'm used to bald babies, since most babies born in our family are bald. I do miss his hair.
Last week we were able to go to my aunt's house in Gilbert for Max's first Thanksgiving. We thought we were going to spend Thanksgiving at home by ourselves since Mark had to work the day after, but my Aunt Michelle invited us down to spend the night the night before, and we had a great time. It was the first time we have ever eaten Thanksgiving outside, which we did because the weather down in Phoenix was fantastic!
In other news, our house is being built, and is scheduled to be finished so that we can close January 22nd. We are very excited!
And now to the pictures...
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| Max's first, and hopefully last, ambulance ride. 10/1/2012 |
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| Max's cousin, Maylee, gave him his Halloween costume - a bear. 10-31-2012 |
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| The cute little bear bottom, 10-31-2012 |
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| Max's first Thanksgiving at Aunt Michelle's house 11-22-2012. |
Friday, September 14, 2012
Max's story, continued
My last post left off with all of us going home, and Max being on the bili-light. When we went home, the pediatrician filling in for our doctor told us to go back to the hospital on the following Monday to have Max's biliribin levels checked. We had to go to the hospital because it was labor day, and all of the other labs in Flagstaff were closed.
Sunday was a great day, Mark and my Dad went to church, and then the rest of the day we all spent just relaxing, and Grandpa and Grandma Robbins and Aunt Traci all got to spend the day holding Max. Monday morning we all got up and got dressed to go to the hospital to have Max's blood drawn. It was a great start to our day.
Then when we got to the lab, the technician drew Max's blood twice, both times not getting enough out of his heel. She called down a NICU nurse to draw his blood again, hoping that she would have better luck at getting enough. The funny part was that the nurse that came down is the wife of our favorite NICU nurse, Bill.
Bill did a great job taking care of Max for us, and it was he who realized that Max was having a hard time passing the amniotic fluid which was causing him to not eat and have really bad reflux.
Back to the lab, when Bill's wife came to draw the blood, she did a great job, filling two vials very quickly, but by that point Max had had enough, and was freaking out. He was completely inconsolable, and this is when we believe that he refluxed and then aspirated it. We went straight home after that, and Max was cranky all day, and didn't eat very well. That night Mark and I were up all night trying to calm him down, and we realized the only way that Max would stop crying was when he was lying on our chest, so we took turns holding him so the other could get a few minutes of sleep.
The next morning around 6:30 he started whimpering like we had never heard him do before, and so Mark woke Traci up to check him out. When Traci came down, he had several bouts of apnea, where he completely quit breathing and went totally limp. I woke up my dad, and he assisted Mark in giving Max a blessing, then Traci, Mark, and I rushed Max to the ER. Once we got there they put an oxygen monitor on him, and his oxygen levels were in the 70's and low 80's. They put him on oxygen, then started testing for different things. They really wanted us to do a lumbar puncture, but Mark drew the line there, and told them to rule out everything else first. Max was still too young to have caught spinal meningitis, especially since he had been on antibiotics pretty much the entire first 48 hours of life, and he hadn't been exposed to very many people.
Up to this point Mark and I had only had a few hours of sleep a night, and both of us were exhausted. So after Max was admitted to the PICU, my Dad volunteered to sit up with Max all night long so that Mark could go home and sleep, and I could sleep on the chair in the hospital room. He literally stayed up all night long holding Max and watching movies. Whenever Scott, our night nurse, came in he would tell my dad that he could lay Max down on the bed. My dad would tell him no, and that holding him he would be sure that Max was still breathing and ok. We will be forever grateful to my Dad for doing this for us, and for loving Max so much!
In the PICU Max got a new mask for his bili-light, and Traci said she had to draw eyes on it. My dad said that while he was holding Max all night, he would look down and the eyes would startle him, and in his delirium he thought for a second that it was Max staring at him.
We stayed in the hospital for two more days with them still running tests on him, and doing room air challenges to see how he would respond off of the oxygen, which he failed every time. His second day in the hospital his biliribin levels were down significantly, so they took him off the blue light.
The last day we were there they did another chest x-ray (the third one in his short life) and they finally found small pneumonitis in his lungs. Because of the the size of it, they knew it wasn't an infection, so they determined it was from aspirating reflux during his heel prick on Monday. We were finally able to leave on Thursday, with several bottles of oxygen and instructions on how to take care of a baby with reflux and an appointment to follow up with our pediatrician the following day.
While in the hospital with Max we found out that the incision from the cesarean was also infected, requiring a quick visit across the street to my doctor, and 10 days of antibiotics, again.
When we left the hospital, he weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
The following day we did our follow up, and Max still had not improved, still requiring oxygen.
This past Wednesday, the 12th, Traci left to return to her family in Florida.
We have all been very sad to have her go, but especially the dogs. Roslyn keeps going up to her room and looking for her, and coming back out very disappointed.
Wednesday we also had another appointment with Dr. Tuckman for Max. This one was the worst. They weighed him and he weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20 and 3/4" long. He eats a lot! They did a room air challenge, and he failed again. After the weigh in and room air challenge Max was circumcised. When we came home afterward, I couldn't help but think we had made the wrong decision because the poor little guy was (and still is) miserable! We also had to go to the lab again to have more blood tests done for food allergies, meaning more heel pricks. The poor little guy has had a rough start to life, but he has been a trooper, and is still a great baby, when we aren't changing his diaper.
So today was my first day alone with Max. My parents went home last week, Traci went home Wednesday, and Mark went back to work today. I am proud to say that Max is still alive! I have been terrified to be alone with Max, worrying that something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself. So far, so good. I am anxious for him to get older (bigger) and to not require oxygen anymore. I think then I will not be so anxious. He seems so tiny and fragile right now, it breaks my heart knowing how much he has suffered.
Sunday was a great day, Mark and my Dad went to church, and then the rest of the day we all spent just relaxing, and Grandpa and Grandma Robbins and Aunt Traci all got to spend the day holding Max. Monday morning we all got up and got dressed to go to the hospital to have Max's blood drawn. It was a great start to our day.
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| Our first family outing with Max. |
Then when we got to the lab, the technician drew Max's blood twice, both times not getting enough out of his heel. She called down a NICU nurse to draw his blood again, hoping that she would have better luck at getting enough. The funny part was that the nurse that came down is the wife of our favorite NICU nurse, Bill.
Bill did a great job taking care of Max for us, and it was he who realized that Max was having a hard time passing the amniotic fluid which was causing him to not eat and have really bad reflux.
Back to the lab, when Bill's wife came to draw the blood, she did a great job, filling two vials very quickly, but by that point Max had had enough, and was freaking out. He was completely inconsolable, and this is when we believe that he refluxed and then aspirated it. We went straight home after that, and Max was cranky all day, and didn't eat very well. That night Mark and I were up all night trying to calm him down, and we realized the only way that Max would stop crying was when he was lying on our chest, so we took turns holding him so the other could get a few minutes of sleep.
The next morning around 6:30 he started whimpering like we had never heard him do before, and so Mark woke Traci up to check him out. When Traci came down, he had several bouts of apnea, where he completely quit breathing and went totally limp. I woke up my dad, and he assisted Mark in giving Max a blessing, then Traci, Mark, and I rushed Max to the ER. Once we got there they put an oxygen monitor on him, and his oxygen levels were in the 70's and low 80's. They put him on oxygen, then started testing for different things. They really wanted us to do a lumbar puncture, but Mark drew the line there, and told them to rule out everything else first. Max was still too young to have caught spinal meningitis, especially since he had been on antibiotics pretty much the entire first 48 hours of life, and he hadn't been exposed to very many people.
Up to this point Mark and I had only had a few hours of sleep a night, and both of us were exhausted. So after Max was admitted to the PICU, my Dad volunteered to sit up with Max all night long so that Mark could go home and sleep, and I could sleep on the chair in the hospital room. He literally stayed up all night long holding Max and watching movies. Whenever Scott, our night nurse, came in he would tell my dad that he could lay Max down on the bed. My dad would tell him no, and that holding him he would be sure that Max was still breathing and ok. We will be forever grateful to my Dad for doing this for us, and for loving Max so much!
In the PICU Max got a new mask for his bili-light, and Traci said she had to draw eyes on it. My dad said that while he was holding Max all night, he would look down and the eyes would startle him, and in his delirium he thought for a second that it was Max staring at him.
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| Max with his bili-mask in the PICU 9-4-2012 |
We stayed in the hospital for two more days with them still running tests on him, and doing room air challenges to see how he would respond off of the oxygen, which he failed every time. His second day in the hospital his biliribin levels were down significantly, so they took him off the blue light.
The last day we were there they did another chest x-ray (the third one in his short life) and they finally found small pneumonitis in his lungs. Because of the the size of it, they knew it wasn't an infection, so they determined it was from aspirating reflux during his heel prick on Monday. We were finally able to leave on Thursday, with several bottles of oxygen and instructions on how to take care of a baby with reflux and an appointment to follow up with our pediatrician the following day.
While in the hospital with Max we found out that the incision from the cesarean was also infected, requiring a quick visit across the street to my doctor, and 10 days of antibiotics, again.
When we left the hospital, he weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
The following day we did our follow up, and Max still had not improved, still requiring oxygen.
This past Wednesday, the 12th, Traci left to return to her family in Florida.
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| Traci and Max on her last day here, 9-12-2012 |
We have all been very sad to have her go, but especially the dogs. Roslyn keeps going up to her room and looking for her, and coming back out very disappointed.
Wednesday we also had another appointment with Dr. Tuckman for Max. This one was the worst. They weighed him and he weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces, and was 20 and 3/4" long. He eats a lot! They did a room air challenge, and he failed again. After the weigh in and room air challenge Max was circumcised. When we came home afterward, I couldn't help but think we had made the wrong decision because the poor little guy was (and still is) miserable! We also had to go to the lab again to have more blood tests done for food allergies, meaning more heel pricks. The poor little guy has had a rough start to life, but he has been a trooper, and is still a great baby, when we aren't changing his diaper.
So today was my first day alone with Max. My parents went home last week, Traci went home Wednesday, and Mark went back to work today. I am proud to say that Max is still alive! I have been terrified to be alone with Max, worrying that something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself. So far, so good. I am anxious for him to get older (bigger) and to not require oxygen anymore. I think then I will not be so anxious. He seems so tiny and fragile right now, it breaks my heart knowing how much he has suffered.
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| Max likes to sleep with a foot uncovered. |
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| Our little Monster Max! |
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| Polly loves Max. Every time he squeaks or cries, she is right there watching him... |
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| ...or licking him. She loves to lick his feet, and Max doesn't seem to mind. I suppose that is better than the heel pricks he's used to. |
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| From his first day home Max has been rolling onto his side. I can only guess he can do it because of his long legs? He rolled over with the bili-light on, I was quite impressed! 9-13-2012 |
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| Ros still seems undecided about Max. She seems interested, but still jealous of the attention she has lost to him. |
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| Our long, skinny baby! He loves holding on to his pacifier. |
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| Max is especially cute when he is sleeping! |
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| Max smiles a lot! 9-7-2012 |
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| And he loves having his hands by his face, even if it gives him a squishy face! 9-7-2012 |
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