Winter

We are in full swing of Christmas "fever" at our house! Norah and Isabella are so excited for Santa and this month has been challenging for them to say the least :) We had a great surprise one night - some of our cousins came over for dinner and Santa stopped by!! He brought each of the kids a small gift and for the first time ever Bella sat on his lap! Norah sat on Santa's lap a few weeks ago which was the first for her as well! They are getting so big. William loved Santa - especially his beard!! The kids were so excited and had such a great time.

We had a rough week last week at home. William went down for bed and, from what we can tell, refluxed and stopped breathing. It took 3 rounds of compressions and rescue breaths to have him start breathing again. By the time the EMS team got here, he was breathing, but he had a really hard time coming out of his spell this time. William and I took our 2nd ambulance ride to the hospital and he spent the night in PICU for observation. The next day, they released him - which wasn't too much of a surprise because he had been doing well since midnight the evening before. It's hard because they don't know what to do to help but they can't just let him go home after what he went through.

After visiting with his GI and Surgeon; a few things have changed and we have a tentative plan of action depending on what happens. They switched his main reflux medicine to Nexium which is the next step up for reflux meds. Hopefully this works because if not, the next step will be to determine if a surgery called a nissen fundoplication will help. (Basically they tie the stomach around the esophagus to create a knot of sorts.) This is supposed to help with reflux but it can cause other problems which is why we've been hesitant to look at it as an option. However, the complications are not worse than his dying spells; so it is the better option if it is necessary.

Right now, William has an endoscopy and bronchoscopy scheduled for January 5. They will look to see if he has a recurrent fistula (he has been coughing during feeds) and will dilate his esophagus again. Depending on how things look and how they go, he might have another dilation later in January.

Since his aortopexy, he has been doing great - with the exception of last week that is. He started rolling over and realized yesterday that if he keeps rolling he can get closer to the Christmas tree :) He also can sit up for longer periods of time unassisted - a few minutes for him - but that is a big improvement! He's such a happy baby since his surgery that it makes us realize how starved for oxygen he must have been.

Norah and Bella are doing great. They amaze me daily with their sensitivity and kindness to William. It also amazes me how flexible they are - we have a medical pole for William's feeding pump that we moved the other day and they used it to play with their dolls - apparently their dolls were in the hospital because their throats don't work. (That's how we explain William's problems to them) I am so thankful for their health and well being. I wish things could be easier for them and they didn't need to see so much of a hospital; but God has a purpose; maybe we have a future doctor or nurse on our hands!

I know I need to upload photos of our beautiful children (yes, I am biased!). But for now, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!