It's been a long time since we've updated our blog. Our family has been very busy this year.
James had a pretty eventful year with several hospitalizations, some being severe enough to land him in PICU and on a ventilator. He is still an amazing little boy with the brightest smile. He has learned new things this year like shaking his head yes and no! Elliot has also grown like a weed. Already 1 year old and being a terror! He is all over the house and into everything, even going up the stairs by himself. Too bad he doesn't know how to come back down yet. He is a very daring boy-will stand up on his toy bike and get right back on the stairs even if he's just fallen off! Andy stayed busy with softball this summer and bike-riding with the boys. He spends a lot of time with the boys and is great with them. They are definately daddy's boys. I spent a lot of time with James in the hospital and working. My new work schedule is not ideal and so I'm tired a lot of the time and always playing catch-up with my sleep. I did have the opportunity to go to Baltimore this October for work. It was beautiful and I learned a lot. We are planning to spend the Christmas holiday in North Dakota with my family and get together with Andy's family in January.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
You'd think we live in the clinic/hospital
Today, or I should say yesterday now, was a big day for both James and Elliot. We'll start with Elliot. As I'd mentioned before he has an abssess on his bottom. In early Feb they drained it with a scalpal, but it hasn't really healed yet. It's getting there but taking a long time. We've gone back in to see the general peds surgeon three times now. The first time, he lanced the absess and drained it again. That didn't help. The second time he used silver nitrate. That seemed to be helping, until one night it built up a huge pus pocket. Today I noticed a second abssess forming just a couple of centimeters away from the first. So we saw the surgeon for the third time today and he scheduled him to be sedated next week through the ambulatory surgery department and they'll take a little mesh wire kind of thing and clean out the tract where this abssess has formed. The surgeon thought the second abssess is just the other end of the abssess.
Now onto poor James. My beautiful little boy, he's so strong. He's had a cold for 2 weeks now and starting yesterday (that would be Thursday in my thoughts right now) he seemed to be getting more tired and lethargic and not eating as well. I took him into the clinic this afternoon and they admitted him to the hospital for respiratory distress. He was really working hard to breath with a low-grade fever, runny rose and cough. He was requiring oxygen to keep his oxygen saturation levels high enough (that would be the level of oxygen in your blood-most people are 97-100 most of the time. James was in the low 80s without oxygen). After a few nebulizers and couple of hours in pediatrics the attending physician decided that James had gotten worse and transferred him to Pedicatric Intensive Care Unit where he'd have a one-on-one nurse and monitored much closer. He was put on continuous nebulizers and is getting antibiotics and steroids. They swabbed him for flue and RSV but think it's a bronchiolitis and exaserbation of his Reactive Airway Disease (or asthma). This is in combination with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia which is just kind of lung disease, caused from his prematurity. Since I've left PICU this evening James has worsened. His IV shot and he had to get a new one placed and his respiratory status got worse. James was working much harder to breath and was placed on something called vapotherm with gives more support, this failed to help him and now he's on something called Bi-pap. This is similar to something called C-PAP which he was on frequently in NICU when he was a baby. Hopefully this helps because the next step would be intubation and placed on a ventilator. We ask for your prayers at this point and may God give James the strength he needs to get through this.
Now onto poor James. My beautiful little boy, he's so strong. He's had a cold for 2 weeks now and starting yesterday (that would be Thursday in my thoughts right now) he seemed to be getting more tired and lethargic and not eating as well. I took him into the clinic this afternoon and they admitted him to the hospital for respiratory distress. He was really working hard to breath with a low-grade fever, runny rose and cough. He was requiring oxygen to keep his oxygen saturation levels high enough (that would be the level of oxygen in your blood-most people are 97-100 most of the time. James was in the low 80s without oxygen). After a few nebulizers and couple of hours in pediatrics the attending physician decided that James had gotten worse and transferred him to Pedicatric Intensive Care Unit where he'd have a one-on-one nurse and monitored much closer. He was put on continuous nebulizers and is getting antibiotics and steroids. They swabbed him for flue and RSV but think it's a bronchiolitis and exaserbation of his Reactive Airway Disease (or asthma). This is in combination with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia which is just kind of lung disease, caused from his prematurity. Since I've left PICU this evening James has worsened. His IV shot and he had to get a new one placed and his respiratory status got worse. James was working much harder to breath and was placed on something called vapotherm with gives more support, this failed to help him and now he's on something called Bi-pap. This is similar to something called C-PAP which he was on frequently in NICU when he was a baby. Hopefully this helps because the next step would be intubation and placed on a ventilator. We ask for your prayers at this point and may God give James the strength he needs to get through this.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Busy Busy Busy
Wow have we been a busy family! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated the blog. Recently Elliot decided he'd like to visit the place where James spends so much time-the hospital! He had an abscess on his bottom that they said was "complex" and couldn't be drained with a needle. He was admitted so that they could make an incision to drain it and st art him on IV meds because they didn't know what kind of bacteria was causing it. Turns out the bacteria were ones that are commonly found in your stool. So he probably had an open skin sopt and stool got in there :P James recently had a bad cold that made him vomit as well and got dehydrated. He ended up needing to go to the clinic for IV fluids and got better soon after he got those. Mom recently spent a weekend away from home with friends for a weekend of scrapbooking! I got tons done! I did about 26 pages for my brother Adam's scrapbook and got 21 pages done for James' scrapbook. In October I'll be spending a weekend with my mom, her sisters and some of my cousins scrapbooking and I'm hoping to start on Elliot's book then. Dad stays busy taking care of the yard and doing small home improvements. He recently made me shelf for our shoes in the kitchen closet and I love it!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Christmas-time with a new baby
Wow have we had a busy December so far. Elliot has been a wonderful addition to our family and we are enjoying our time together before I have to go back to work. It's wonderful to be able to spend our evenings as a family. Hopefully one day I can work days, although for now working evenings sure does help with the daycare bill. James loves his new little brother and finds it hilarious when Elliot gets the hiccups. A big smile comes to his face whenever he sees Elliot. We are lucky enough to be able to make a trip back to ND for Christmas this year! I am most definately excited for the rest of my family to see James and meet Elliot. I'm also excited to meet/hold Seth for the first time and meet Avery and of course see my godson Austin and his sister Brooklynn. Living in WI is great but it's so far from my family and with my older brothers also having small children it makes travel for us all a little challenging. I feel like I'm almost done Christmas shopping and I mailed my Christmas letter today. I must say it's nice to be off work from Thanksgiving to New Years. All in all our family is happy and healthy and I hope yours is too.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Elliot Lucas
On November 23 at 6:16 pm our family welcomed our newest addition, Elliot Lucas Buettner. He was 8 lbs 2.8 ozs and 21 inches long.
Around 8 am on Monday Andy and I checked into the birth center. By 9 am I had started contracting on my own but at 10 am they started pitocin. By 11:15 am I was still at 4 cm (where I had been for about 3 wks) and Dr. Mascola ruptured my membranes. Shortly after I got an epidural. We debated whether or not we wanted to have an epidural but I am so glad that we opted for it! When James was born we decided not to have epidural, but of course I only pushed 3 times to deliver him. By 1 pm I was again feeling a lot of pain, at which point they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. They had the anesthesiologist come back up and he decided to give me another bolus of drugs to see if that helped with the pain. We were concerned slightly because back in May when my cerclage was placed they used a spinal block and it didn't work at all. They decided to try the bolus and if it didn't work they would have to replace the epidural. Thank goodness the bolus worked and I felt great! I was able to nap and get some good rest in and spend some great quality time with Andy before Elliot arrived. Around 3:30 Dr. Mascola checked me again and I was 8-9 cm! By 4:30 I was complete at 10 cm and they had me start pushing. I pushed for about 2 hours-Elliot came down the birth canal crooked which took longer for me push and it more difficult. I had an awesome nurse who coached me and a great med student who was there for the whole birth and Andy did great as well!! I was even surprised he watched the whole time! These 3 along with my doctor were great for encouragement etc and at 6:16 pm Elliot arrived!
Within a few hours I had the initial recovery completely and Elliot started to eat immediately. We have chosen to breastfeed and Elliot is a natural! He does great and has no problems! Today we'll be going home and I'll get to see James and he and Elliot will meet for the first time! Unfortuately with the H1N1 flu season being here they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the birth center and so I have not seen James since Monday morning.
Elliot has been doing great and so am I. We're ready to go home but we've gotten quite a few visitors including a couple of my co-workers and one of Elliot's aunt and uncle, Everett and Tasha. We've also gotten to see several of our old friends from NICU and they are thrilled to see us here with a term baby!
I must say that the birth of our two boys were completely different and having a term baby is great to experience.
Around 8 am on Monday Andy and I checked into the birth center. By 9 am I had started contracting on my own but at 10 am they started pitocin. By 11:15 am I was still at 4 cm (where I had been for about 3 wks) and Dr. Mascola ruptured my membranes. Shortly after I got an epidural. We debated whether or not we wanted to have an epidural but I am so glad that we opted for it! When James was born we decided not to have epidural, but of course I only pushed 3 times to deliver him. By 1 pm I was again feeling a lot of pain, at which point they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. They had the anesthesiologist come back up and he decided to give me another bolus of drugs to see if that helped with the pain. We were concerned slightly because back in May when my cerclage was placed they used a spinal block and it didn't work at all. They decided to try the bolus and if it didn't work they would have to replace the epidural. Thank goodness the bolus worked and I felt great! I was able to nap and get some good rest in and spend some great quality time with Andy before Elliot arrived. Around 3:30 Dr. Mascola checked me again and I was 8-9 cm! By 4:30 I was complete at 10 cm and they had me start pushing. I pushed for about 2 hours-Elliot came down the birth canal crooked which took longer for me push and it more difficult. I had an awesome nurse who coached me and a great med student who was there for the whole birth and Andy did great as well!! I was even surprised he watched the whole time! These 3 along with my doctor were great for encouragement etc and at 6:16 pm Elliot arrived!
Within a few hours I had the initial recovery completely and Elliot started to eat immediately. We have chosen to breastfeed and Elliot is a natural! He does great and has no problems! Today we'll be going home and I'll get to see James and he and Elliot will meet for the first time! Unfortuately with the H1N1 flu season being here they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the birth center and so I have not seen James since Monday morning.
Elliot has been doing great and so am I. We're ready to go home but we've gotten quite a few visitors including a couple of my co-workers and one of Elliot's aunt and uncle, Everett and Tasha. We've also gotten to see several of our old friends from NICU and they are thrilled to see us here with a term baby!
I must say that the birth of our two boys were completely different and having a term baby is great to experience.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
With a new addition coming to our family soon I've decided to start a blog so everyone can keep up with the whole family. I'll still occasionally update caringbridge for James.
Currently our family is doing well and growing. James has been healthy for the most part and Andy has been keeping busy taking care of James and myself and the household duties while I've been on bedrest for the past 9 weeks. I am currently in the hospital. This is the second time I've gone into preterm labor with baby #2. I am on a drug called magnesium sulfate which they are using to stop my contractions. I received a dose of steroids yesterday evening to help the baby's lung develop. At 6 am on Wednesday October 14 they will discontinue the magnesium sulfate. If I start to contract again they'll allow me to deliver. I am currently 33 1/2 weeks gestation. A whole world of difference from 25 1/2 weeks when James was born.
This pregnancy has brought about a lot of emotions for our family. Early on in the pregnancy I had surgery to place a cerclage on cervix to help keep it closed as they suspect I have an incompetant cervix. That means the cervix cannot hold the weight of the baby as it's growing and the cerclage helps give extra support. A short while later we had a scare that they may be something wrong with the baby. On an ultrasound they detected extra fluid around the baby's neck which could have meant a variety of things including Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome among other chromosomal or heart problems. We opted to have an amniocentesis done and thankfully everything turned out ok. Since then the baby has been progressing very well and is about 85% on the growth charts-a big baby :) We hope and pray that will all the bedrest and steroid shots and such that this baby will be able to join our family at home shortly after birth.
Stay tuned for the announcement of our baby and to hear how James is doing and what Andy and I are keeping busy doing!
Currently our family is doing well and growing. James has been healthy for the most part and Andy has been keeping busy taking care of James and myself and the household duties while I've been on bedrest for the past 9 weeks. I am currently in the hospital. This is the second time I've gone into preterm labor with baby #2. I am on a drug called magnesium sulfate which they are using to stop my contractions. I received a dose of steroids yesterday evening to help the baby's lung develop. At 6 am on Wednesday October 14 they will discontinue the magnesium sulfate. If I start to contract again they'll allow me to deliver. I am currently 33 1/2 weeks gestation. A whole world of difference from 25 1/2 weeks when James was born.
This pregnancy has brought about a lot of emotions for our family. Early on in the pregnancy I had surgery to place a cerclage on cervix to help keep it closed as they suspect I have an incompetant cervix. That means the cervix cannot hold the weight of the baby as it's growing and the cerclage helps give extra support. A short while later we had a scare that they may be something wrong with the baby. On an ultrasound they detected extra fluid around the baby's neck which could have meant a variety of things including Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome among other chromosomal or heart problems. We opted to have an amniocentesis done and thankfully everything turned out ok. Since then the baby has been progressing very well and is about 85% on the growth charts-a big baby :) We hope and pray that will all the bedrest and steroid shots and such that this baby will be able to join our family at home shortly after birth.
Stay tuned for the announcement of our baby and to hear how James is doing and what Andy and I are keeping busy doing!
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