On a hot, hot, day in July...

This has been a relatively uneventful week :) which by our standards is a very good thing! William's visit to the cardiologist went well and he has a healthy heart. Yea! The downside is William still has "blue spells" and so far adjusting his feeding isn't stopping them. We decided to try the antibiotic route the GI doctor suggested. He'll be subjected to the same amount of antibiotics as if he had an infection. I've read other accounts of children going on this to help with gestational motility, so we'll see if this helps.

It's still REALLY hot in STL so we've been forced to stay inside. Norah and Isabella have been so good even though they've not been able to be outside much. On Saturday, we celebrated Abigail and Jenna's 2nd Birthday and it was a lot of fun! Norah and Bella got to play outside in the kiddie pools and slip-n-slide and make cute flip flops. William hung out with me and was happy there was a ceiling fan to look at as well :)

The weather is supposed to cool down over the weekend, so hopefully we can get some outside summer photos to share!

William loves being on his back -something we just realized because he hasn't been allowed to lie flat. He "dances" and talks so much when he's on his back!

Two mommies :)
Sweet Daddy painting toenails for his little girls.

Three beautiful children :)

Summer

Summer heat has come to STL! The past two weeks have been really hot and this week is no different. (100 plus!) Soo...we're inside most days which makes it hard to have energy burned off for the girls! Luckily, the weekends haven't been as hot as the weekdays and last weekend we were able to get outside and celebrate our good friend Angie's 30th birthday party! Her family threw her a surprise party and Angie was very surprised :) It was at the Millstadt park and was a lot of fun.

Norah and Isabella got to play with bubbles, t-ball, badminton, and kites! They also invented a fun game ;) of running around the field with a jump rope - imaginations are a wonderful thing!!

William enjoyed the warm weather and slept through the party. It was fun to go out as a family - the first time we've made it out as a family of 5 other than to doctor's offices, the hospital, family, or friend houses - and we hope we'll get to get out a little more before summer is over!


Daddy, Norah, and Bella flying a kite.
Mommy, Norah, Isabella, and William
Norah and Bella blowing bubbles


We've been visiting a lot of doctors for William lately. He is having a hard time with turning blue after he spits up or refluxes sometimes. One of the GI doctor's suggested we try lengthening his feeding to 2 hour feeds (vs 1 hour) or medicine. Since he's on a few medicines already, we preferred to try to extend his feeding to see if that helped. Unfortunately, he was just hungry the whole time and was very, very upset throughout the feeding. After trying it for 2 feeds, we went back to 1 hour feeds. Before we try medicine, we're going to visit a cardiologist to see if the hole in his heart closed. The GI doctor said that might be why he has a bluish tint to his skin sometimes.

We also started William's First Steps therapies this week. We have a wonderful OT/Feeding/Speech therapist and a wonderful nutritionist who each come once a week. Since feeding is the most difficult time for William right now, they are both helping to work with him and us to make that a better experience for him. It's really hard when something so fundamental to life is so difficult for your child. All you want to do is help him through it so he can be comfortable.

It amazes us how happy William is (when it's not a feeding). He started smiling and cooing the past week!! It's so much fun when they start to do that! In one of the picture's below, you'll see him looking at one of the animals on his bouncy seat. It's a lion and Norah and Bella loved it too! He loves to talk to us and smile at all of us and has the best expressions when he is cooing. It looks like he is taking after his sisters and will be a talker :)

We're so lucky to have such wonderful children. Norah and Isabella love helping with William and especially love holding him, singing to him, and playing with him. Brian and I were slightly concerned how welcome William would be, but both girls adore him so much. It's interesting because to them all of William's health issues are typical for a baby since they don't know anything else. When they play house, they keep a bulb syringe next to their babies "in case they spit up"and they feed their babies through a g-button! Most of all, they love on their babies, which makes any parent feel good!


William asleep at Aunt Haley's
William talking to the animals on his bouncy seat. All three of the kids loved the lion the best!

Summer Fun and Other Going Ons...

We've had an interesting couple of weeks. Last week, William had two episodes where he stopped breathing. The first was on Tuesday night after his 6:00 pm feeding and he spit up and started to turn blue. We sat him up straight and he turned pink again and was okay. On Wednesday morning, during his 9:00 am feeding (51 ml - I'll always remember that number) he spit up and turned blue. I always thought when people said someone turned blue, it was a figure of speech - but it's not. There isn't an in-between color - it's blue as blue can be. I sat him up like we did the night before, I turned him over on his stomach against my forearm and hit him on the back to try to force anything out, and nothing happened. I told the girls to go to their room, ran to hit the fire button on the alarm pad, and opened the front door. I laid William on the floor and tried to stimulate him, nothing happened so I blew one rescue breath and nothing happened, I blew another one and he coughed and sputtered and started to breathe - Thank God.

By this time, there were all sorts of alarms going off - the house alarm, the apnea monitor, and the feeding pump. It took me a minute to realize all of them and to turn them off. The firemen came and the EMT checked William's lungs and said they were clear. They offered to take us in the ambulance, but since he was pink and breathing, I declined. I called the ENT's office since they told us to call if William stopped breathing and, after scaring the nurses, I was told to take him to the ER.

Brian met me there with William and the girls (who were amazing this whole time and did such a great job of listening. I am so proud of them!) and Brian's parents came to take the girls so they wouldn't have to stay at the hospital since we didn't know how long we would be there. It turned out, the doctor's wanted to keep William there overnight for observation.

On Thursday, we were able to take William home as he didn't have anymore episodes. They aren't sure what happened, which makes it hard to know how to prevent it from happening in the future.

Thankfully, he has had a good week since then and hasn't had any problems. While in the hospital, they put him back on formula, which has upset his stomach again. It's a new formula and seems to be better than the previous one, but it still causes him discomfort.

It amazes me how happy he is though! He is gradually getting to be awake more and more during the day and spends that time cooing and working on smiling (almost there I hope!!) at us. He especially loves looking at his big sisters, who in turn, love being around him and want to hold, kiss, and touch him as much as possible!

Norah and Isabella are doing great. They are loving summer in ways only kids can do - just the simple joy of playing with a water hose or swimming in the kiddie pool - makes them so happy! So far, the weather has been nice enough that we've gotten to spend at least some of the day outside at the park or in the backyard. This weekend is going to be hot but hopefully it will cool off a little next week and we can get back outside!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July weekend!

Love,

Em


One of my favorite pictures of our sweet baby - here is his beautiful smile!

Big girl Norah - climbed the rock wall all by herself!
Norah, Isabella, and William celebrating Canada Day!
Bella playing at Kirkwood park in the sprinkler - we used to play as kids too - and both Norah and Isabella LOVED this!! We now call Kirkwood park the Sprinkler Park :)
Norah and Isabella playing with the pink (we also have purple) sand Mimi and Papa sent
We have such happy children!
Cute as a button
Norah and Isabella playing in the kiddie pool at Grandma and Grandpa's
Bella on the swing at Kirkwood