Wordless Wednesday

GOOD LUCK TO THE FLORIDA GATOR'S THIS WEEKEND! -DYLAN

Sweet Cousins!

Dylan and Beau. September 23rd 2010

Dylan's 1st beach trip!

In August we had a really nice friend give us her condo in Orange beach.......it was perfect! It was a great time for us to get away. We went to Lambert's Friday night...Saturday we went shopping and Lulu's for dinner (our fav) and home the next day. What a nice getaway!

A BIG.......

Because of both our parents, family, and friends we were able to stay with Dylan the entire time he was at Children's. The money, calls, visits, and most importantly prayers were very much appreciated! You will never know how much we truly appreciate all the help we got. It was overwhelming! It took off more stress than you know. We thank God for each and every one of you everyday! Thanks again!!!!!!

A Nightmare!

Don't know how much I actually want to re-live this by writing everything out but I will do my best. After Dylan was born and we were still in the hospital he spit up so much! He would also cry like he was hurting! I kept asking the nurses about it and she had said she also noticed he appeared to be hurting and would get it checked. We left Dylan in the nursery at night so we could get some sleep.....which did me no good because I called them every hour it seemed! She got the doctor to check and said he made a 10 out of 10 on his test and babies never do that they told us. They just kept telling us he's perfect and its just a little spit up. We were so ready to come home. I never took any medication and was healing fine so I didn't see the point of being there anyway. We left that Tuesday the 8th! Got home and we LOVED it! We were worn out but just glad to be in our home. Dylan still spit up ALOT! Nights were really bad he cried and cried and never kept his milk down. I called the doctors office the very next day (Wednesday.) Told them he continued to spit up a good bit and needed something different to try. They told us just to leave him still for 15-30 minutes after each feeding. Well we tried this....nothing helped! I called back Thursday and they set us up with an appointment for Friday. We saw the doctor that Friday morning and she thought for sure it was the milk and acid reflux. His spit up was now turning bright yellow! I asked her over and over about this. She assured us everything was fine and to try the milk and after a couple of hours he would be fine. He wasn't! That night it turned lime green. I know my husband, family, and friends were getting aggravated with me but I just knew something was wrong! I called at 2:00 Saturday morning and talked to a doctor. She was going to meet us at the office around lunch Saturday. (This is another story in itself and not going there or I will not be a very happy camper for the rest of the afternoon!) Anyway she sent us over the Baptist East to have a test run to "prove to us" it was acid reflux. I cried and cried. I just knew something wasn't right. I took his little clothes off and went into the x-ray room. Daddy waited outside for us. I fed him this thick thick milky stuff out of a bottle while they turned him every which way. They let Adam in and the man came out from looking at them and I heard the words I NEVER will forget, "your son has an abnormality!" My heart sank and I sobbed and held my son even tighter. I didn't know what to think , ask, say, I just cried. They took us back to the room and the RUDE doctor came back in and told me to dry it up it would only take about 3 days for recovery if even that and we would be home.....again....YEAH RIGHT! We were transported by ambulance to Children's. Never ever do you imagine having to travel in an ambulance with your child to a hospital. We get there and there are literally 15 surgeons and doctors waiting on us. They took him out of my arms without a goodbye hug or kiss and left before my very eyes! One of the surgeons came and took me and Adam in a private room. She went on to explain to us how serious this was and how he possibly didn't even have a 1/2 a day and he could have died. She explained how big this surgery was, what percent didn't make it and all I could think was wait we are getting 2 stories! I was so confused and so was Adam! She said he had Intestinal Malrotation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Malrotation is twisting of the intestines (or bowel) caused by abnormal development while a fetus is in utero, and can cause obstruction. Malrotation occurs in 1 out of every 500 births in the United States. The small and large intestines are the longest part of the digestive system. If stretched out to their full length, they would measure more than 20 feet long by adulthood, but because they're folded up, they fit into the relatively small space inside the abdomen. Malrotation occurs when the intestines don't position themselves normally during fetal development and aren't attached inside properly as a result. The exact reason this occurs is unknown. When a fetus develops in the womb, the intestines start out as a small, straight tube between the stomach and the rectum. As this tube develops into separate organs, the intestines move into the umbilical cord, which supplies nutrients to the developing embryo. Around the 10th week of pregnancy, the intestines move from the umbilical cord into the abdomen. When they don't properly turn after moving into the abdomen, malrotation occurs.
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She told as long as surgery went well recovery was going to take 3-5 weeks. I cried even harder. I didn't know what to do. We all went to the waiting room and within about 30 min the doctor came in....the BEST doctor in the WORLD (Dr.Chin) Said everything went well. I got to see my sweet boy as they took him in the NICU.

We got to go back and see Dylan before we left that night. I sure didn't want to leave my boy but I was so proud of the way he looked. It just looked like he was sleeping. We all left and got us a room. Adam and I were at lost for words. We just cried! Worried about him, our jobs, the bills, our house, him again. Just everything! I really thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown! We got up bright and early the next morning. I was so excited to see my baby. Then we got there Adam and I could see him from where we had to wash our hands at the entrance. My heart stopped and this is what I saw.

I broke down in the NICU in front of everyone. I couldn't believe that was my baby there with all this stuff on. I was not warned and wish I had been. I guess I was so blown away with how good he looked after surgery I didn't think I would see this on him. He had oxygen, cpap, tube down throat, and monitors hooked up all over him. He just layed there and moaned. Let me tell you its the worst sounds EVER hearing your child making sounds like that knowing they are in deep pain and you can't do a thing. Oh how I wanted to switch places with him SO bad. We didn't want to leave his side.
He later got a Pic line in his head. They had tried 4 times and finally got it then it got irritated and they moved it to his foot.....which they tried 3 times.

One week later Dylan was put in a room. His tube was removed and we had until he started having dirty diapers before they would let us go home. He finally started to have Dirtys!

We were discharged from Children's June 23rd. Dylan at birth weighed 6 lbs 14oz. In the NICU he went down to 6lbs 3 oz. When we left that day he was 7lbs. He now weighs a wonderful 14 lbs. Maybe more! My little man was a TROOPER and still is. He will never know how proud mommy and daddy are. He was much much stronger than we ever could have been.
This was taken 2 weeks ago. My Dylan is a healthy growing boy now and I owe everything to those doctors and surgeons who saved him! I also thank my God for watching over all of us during this time. Needless to say we NEVER went back to that doctor....and NEVER will! If you look close in this picture you can see his small scar! Thank the Lord that's all he has to show from the surgery! He sure is a blessed little boy.

Guess who's back!

Wow! What a year! Longest year of my life I do believe. I have been so bad about not keeping up and writing everything down so I am going to do my best to remember and try to update everyone. I need to put this all in a book......like I had planned to in the beginning. I know boys are different than girl but Dylan still may want to look back on this one day. So here goes...........

I had a doctors appointment on June 2nd 2010. *Dylan was due on the 18th of June* Adam took me to the appointment. I always called them "our" appointment, I don't think he missed one! I had been having real bad problems with my leg to the point I couldn't even lift my leg in the bed. Come to find out it was sciatic nerve and I almost couldn't take it any longer. The doctor examined me and I had already started to dilate. I asked when did he think we could induce. He looked at us and said come in this Saturday and we will have a baby Sunday. Adams jaw hit the floor and all I could think was that's only 3 days away. Aah!! Adam looked at the doctor and said, "this Saturday??!!...are we talking about the same Saturday?" The doctor laughed and said yes, this Saturday. Adam didn't say much as we approached the front desk. It was kinda sad because I knew that was the last "baby" appointment we would have. I enjoyed traveling to Montgomery with my husband and having dinner with him throughout the entire pregnancy. But boy o boy what a pregnancy it was and I was ready for Dylan to make his arrival. Ken and Kelli were at the hospital, they had Lily the day before on the 1st, so we went to visit. We stood outside for awhile hugged, laughed, cried, then called everyone we could think of. Everybody was so excited. We met Valarie at the door and walked to Kelli's room. Lily was BEAUTIFUL! Dylan is going to have the best of friend! We left Montgomery and came home for church.

Saturday rolled around and emotions were everywhere! Didn't know if we wanted to laugh, cry, or what. I think we were both very very nervous. We left Greenville about 11:00. Made our usual stop to Priester's and got Adam his divinity. We met mom and dad at Texas Roadhouse....our favorite. I had the pork chop and couldn't even eat much. We enjoyed our dinner together, it was really nice. Adam's parents later came in and also had dinner. Before we left my phone started ringing, it was Niki. Adam's 1st cousin was also pregnant and due on the 18th. She asked where we were and I told her. She said her and Todd were about to have A BABY!!! They beat us to the hospital and Beau was on his way! After dinner mom and dad went to check in the hotel and we headed to the hospital. We got checked in and they placed us right next to Todd and Niki! All the family was there.....it really was the best thing! Beau was born around 7 that night.

They hooked me up to the monitors and I was having strong contractions but because the bad pains in my leg I was not able to feel them. (Thank goodness!) Everyone left and we got ready to try and get some rest. My water ended up breaking on its own around 10:00 Saturday night. Thank you Lord for having me in the hospital and not in the middle of WALMART! Never once felt a contraction and labor was the easiest thing ever! Really it was! I would rather go through labor 5 times than my pregnancy once! =) ....it was that bad. Mom and my sister were in the room holding my legs and Adam was right beside me. I loved having them in there with me. I pushed for about 20 minutes and Dylan was born at 10:19. 6 pounds - 19 in long.

*can you believe out of all the "picture takers" we never got a picture of all 3 of us! gah!*