Since Rielly is doing so well, Morgan was able to hold him today for about 45 minutes. He loved it. His sats went up as soon as they put him in her arms and stayed up the whole time. I can't get over how cute he is. His hair is getting so long, he's going to need a haircut soon!

More good news!

Rielly is breathing on his own! He is getting supplemental oxygen but the ventilator is no longer giving him extra breaths. He is an amazing little baby!

Rielly is still doing great on the cpap, they haven't had to reintubate him. His oxygen level on the ventilator is even less than what they started him on yesterday. Woo hoo!

Big Day

Today was a big day. Good news everywhere. Rielly is 2.12 lbs, 15 inches long. He had an eye exam and his eyes look good. No conditions present that some preemies can get which can lead to blindness or vision loss. He was extubated today at 3:00 pm and doesn't have a big tube down his throat anymore. He does have a small tube down his throat which they are using for feedings. He is now on cpap. It went better than I thought it would. I didn't think he was ready, I thought they would have to re-intubate him but so far, he is doing well. We got to see his face without any tubes and we also got to hear him for the first time. He grunted some but didn't cry at all. They said most babies will be on the cpap for about a week and then will just have a nasal canula. Hopefully that is the case with Rielly.

Today is my dads birthday! Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Funny story

I was reminded today about a funny story that happened to my dad a couple of months ago. He loves his little car and only parks out in BFE so that he doesn't get door dings from other cars. He was getting his mail, which he has to get at the clubhouse in his neighborhood. He came out to get back in his car and noticed a ding on his door. He got all upset and went to try and see if it was dirt or an actual ding. He licked his finger and was rubbing the spot, getting really upset now. Suddenly he felt like someone was watching him, he looked up and noticed there was a woman sitting in the drivers seat, just staring at him and wondering what the heck he was doing. He then realized that it was not his car, but someone elses who had parked right next to him. He stood up and walked to his car. I'm sure the lady thought he was nuts. That's my dad for ya.

I didn't see Rielly today but I know that they have ruled out NEC. They think his infection is in his lungs or his blood. They have started feeding him again but will have to start out slow. He is gaining again and is 2.9 pounds. Morgan said he looks better today. I'm going to see him tomorrow.

I went to the Draper Temple open house today with my parents and Breanne and Tyson. It's a nice temple. Very pretty.

Rielly did not get extubated, instead Morgan received a phone call at 6:30 am yesterday telling her that he has an infection and they think it is NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis, an infection in his bowels). They have had to stop his feedings and suction everything out of his bowels. He is pale and lethargic. He has dropped down to 2.5 pounds. They had to increase the ventilator settings (from a breath rate of about 20 to now 40). They sounded pretty concerned. This freaked us out. I wasn't able to see him yesterday. We went up today, he still looks sick but they said he is doing much better. He is receiving a blood transfusion, at least his third since being born. I started crying when they poked his little foot for a blood sample. I have not seen him cry before today. We can't hear him cry because of the tube down his throat but when I saw him cry, I lost it. It was so sad. He seems to be getting better and I hope they can get this infection cleared up, they won't be feeding him for about a week, he will be on antibiotics again for 7-10 days. They will try to extubate him when he gets better. Check out the photos

He's crying =-(


He just doesn't look himself

Depending on Riellys blood work this morning, they are going to try to extubate him. I can't wait to see his face without that big tube going down his throat. It might be just briefly, they might have to reintubate him (let's hope not). They have stopped giving him morphine, which they were giving for anxiety, they are still giving him Ativan though. He was back down to 2.8 today but I'm sure it's because of the diuretic they gave him the other day to try and clear his lungs of some excess fluids. After we go see him, we are heading up to Park City for the Film Festival. It should be fun and a nice little break from work. I'll let you know how it goes.

Haven't seen Rielly in two days, have to go to work tonight and again tomorrow night, can barely keep my eyes open now as it is, not good.

I went to see Rielly today. He is doing about the same and they are going to try to extubate him next week. It will be the first attempt at it and chances are they will have to re-intubate him. At least it's a step in the right direction. He is getting pretty chunky. He is 2.11. When they told us last week that he was 2.8, the nurse was wrong. He was only 1.14. I don't know why or how they got it wrong. Made me kinda mad though. Here are some pix:

They put Rielly on a different ventilator that is a step down from the oscillator he was on. The oscillator was giving him 500 breaths a minute to make sure that his lungs stayed open and didn't collapse. The new ventilator is only giving him 34 breaths so it is more like what his normal breathing would be. He isn't breathing much on top of that, which is what they would like him to do. He likes the vent to do all the work for him. Once they have him stable and he starts breathing more on his own, they can wean him from this vent and put him on a bipap, which is another step down, and then a nasal cannula, which is probably what he will be coming home on. It's a ways down the road, but it is at least in sight now. Yay! He weighs 2.8pounds now. He is getting huge! Yay!

I must be getting old

Tyson was watching me put on my makeup (I have no idea why he decided to do this at his age)and was asking me about what the different things are for. He saw one that was a moisturizer and read it. It said it was for wrinkles. He hurried and handed it to me and said "this is for wrinkles". Apparently, I'm looking pretty old lately and need to use this product every day. :-(

Happy 14th Birthday Breanne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only did Breanne get to sleep in this morning, she also woke up to this...




breakfast in bed, well in this case breakfast on my floor, where she fell back to sleep after she woke up this morning. I was still asleep and I heard Tyson come upstairs and start cooking but I thought he was making himself food. Ten minutes later, he came in with a tray of food, french toast, chocolate milk, eggs, toast, a birthday card, and some reeces pieces. What a guy. And Happy Birthday to Breanne! (Don't you love the drunk look on her face)

To answer your questions, he is doing about the same on the vent. His setting is right around 32%. When the setting gets down in the 20's they will be able to start weaning him. I can't wait for that day.

To give you some perspective on how much he has grown, compare the two photos. The first one, Riellys eyes look huge compared to his face. You can't see any of the whites of his eyes. When I went to see him last night, his head looked huge. I have always thought his head looked small compared to his body. The second photo which was taken last night, his eyes don't look so huge compared to his face and you can see the whites of his eyes now.

Every time I see Rielly, he looks like a different baby. Look at how fat he is getting!

Kinda Sad

I'm a little sad today because they told us that Rielly has chronic lung disease which I guess alot of preemies get. The sad part about it is they said they have had to turn up the oxygen on the ventilator to 60% vs around 30% where he was before the pneumonia thing. They have concluded that he didn't have pneumonia because his lungs still look bad on the xray even after the antibiotics, plus he doesn't have any secretions from his lungs like he would if he had pneumonia. The bases of his lungs have either collapsed or are not getting enough oxygen because they are totally white on the xray. They said if they have to keep turning the ventilator up and they eventually have to get up to 100% on the ventilator, then there is nothing more they will be able to do. It will be up to Rielly whether he gets better or not and Morgan and Austin will have to make a decision on whether they want to continue or withdraw care because it's not good for his brain if his oxygen level is low. I know they have to prepare us for the worst possible case, but I wish they wouldn't tell us these things. I don't want to know all the bad things that can happen, I only want to know what is actually happening with Rielly. They gave him albuterol today to test and see if it helps him. They said it did help him because they were able to turn down the vent settings from 51% to 30% after he received it. It's time for some more prayers.

The Disadvantage of Working Nights

I wake up and the house is dead silent. I vaguely remember kids asking me while I am sleeping if they can go here or go there with such and such person. Apparently when I sleep, I say yes to everything the kids want. But then I wake up. I search the house, no one is around. I have no idea where my children are and I have no idea what I've agreed to. Hmm, maybe that's why the kids ask me for so much when I'm sleeping. Yeah, they have this routine mastered ...

Rielly is growing like crazy, he is 2 lbs 10 1/2 oz! He is starting to get chubby cheeks. It's so cute. He will probably be over 3 pounds by the end of the week! They have taken out all the IV lines and don't need to give him supplement nutrition anymore. He is solely on milk. He is getting one step closer to coming home every day.

Riellys lungs look clear on the xray so they are stopping most of the antibiotics. He is now 2 lbs 1 oz and is almost 14 inches long. He got down to 1 lb 8 oz last week so he is doing great with his weight gain. He is getting 12 milliliters of milk every 3 hours and is tolerating it great. THe next step is to try and wean him off the ventilator. I can't wait until that happens, his skin is raw from the tape they have kept on his face to hold the tube in his mouth. It will be nice to have that come off and to be able to see his face without the tube.

I'm laughing my butt off!!!!

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Lesson Number One

If you are going to try and color your hair on your own with coloring from the grocery store, make sure you have both the time and the money to go to the salon and get it fixed. That's all...

Love,
The idiot

It's still snowing! I don't care, I am heading to the hospital no matter what. I have to see my little man.

We didn't make it to the hospital, the roads were just too bad. We called the hospital instead and they said they still didn't have the results back but they are treating him with 3 different antibiotics for pneumonia regardless of if he actually has it or not. They also said they have been able to wean him more off the vent so he likely does have pneumonia and the antibiotics have been doing their job. They also have been suctioning his lungs and have found lots of goop in there. He seems to be doing much better tonight than he has the last 2 nights. So good news!

Apparently, the milk he has been getting (1 ml every three hours now) has been doing him good. He is now 2 pounds 1 oz! That's 6 oz in 2 days! It's so amazing to be able to see him grow so fast and how he changes everyday. I have to work tomorrow night but hopefully I will make it up there tomorrow. I'm going through withdrawals.

Yesterday, the hospital told us that Rielly might have pneumonia. They did an xray of his lungs and it showed he had some fluid in there. We will find out more today, hopefully we can make it up there with the bad weather. They said they can clear the pneumonia with antibiotics. It still scares me.

No real new news, Rielly is still doing great. I wasn't able to see him today but I will tomorrow. I can't wait!

When we got to the hospital today, the nurses told us they had moved Rielly to the next room, which is for less critical babies. Another big milestone! He turned 2 weeks old yesterday. The most exciting part was that they were switching out the isolette which they have to do every 2 weeks, so Morgan got to hold him for a few minutes while they did that. She was so excited.

Rielly opened his eyes today! It's amazing how much he has changed in so little time. The other day when I saw him, he had some hair but today he looked like a little gorilla man. He has long hair all over his body, and the hair on his head is getting darker and more thick. He also was lifting up his head today while he was lying on his belly. He amazes us everyday. The nurse said that they were able to wean him off the vent some today because he is breathing more on his own. She also said he is out of the woods for anything major that can happen, except infection. I wish I could set up a bed right next to his because I don't want to leave him.

Oh my gosh. He is perfect! And where did all that hair come from? It wasn't there the other day.

He can finally open his eyes!

Look at that scar. It's alot larger than they said it would be.

Cutest baby EVER

Just before his surgery on Monday

Rielly is still doing great. They started feeding him milk today. He only gets 1 milliliter every 6 hours. I didn't get to see him yesterday because I had to work and it was yucky weather. I also can't get my camera to connect to my computer so I haven't been able to put any pictures up. Sorry!

Oh yeah! He also had another brain scan done today and it was totally normal again. No brain bleed! They won't do another one for a month! Woo Hoo!

Rielly had his surgery and it went well. We were worried sick and can't believe they can even do surgery on such a little guy. He was pretty doped up after the surgery but he looked so cute. His skin is getting really dry now and is starting to peel. He has definitely stolen all of our hearts. I'll add some more pictures as soon as I can. I'm working tonight and tomorrow night also but I'll try tomorrow.

I had to go back to work Friday night and haven't been able to go see Rielly. It's killing me! Yesterday was his worst day so far, they had to keep adjusting the vent settings. I'm assuming that is why they scheduled the surgery for Monday because the day before the nurse said they weren't in a rush to do it because he was doing so well. They weren't too concerned about his bad day yesterday though, they said it was completely normal and not to worry. Yeah right! I worry about him 24/7. Every time the phone rings and I see that it is the hospital calling, my heart sinks. Luckily, they have only called once about his condition, which is great because no news is good news. He is one week old!

The medication was not able to close Riellys ductus arteriosus so they are going to do surgery on Monday. They said that they go in under his armpit and they put a tiny little titanium clamp in which will be with him permanently. I'm still amazed at how well Rielly is doing and grateful that this is the only complication he has had to face so far. We are still taking it day by day.

****UPDATE**** The "credit card" I used is only a gift card and a used one at that. Sorry to all the psychos who thought they were going to go on a Christmas shopping spree!


Oh my gosh! I just want to grab those cute little toes! He had his hands up to his face all day today. He has little froggy legs. A credit card next to his leg. Wow We tried to put the ring on his foot but he didn't like it. He's a feisty one already. The credit card is bigger than his head!

Rielly has had a good couple of days. They did an echo of his heart today which shows that the hole in his heart hasn't closed yet with the indomethacin they gave him. They are going to give it to him again tonight and hopefully that will close it. If not, they will have to go in and do surgery, which they say is pretty minor but it's still scares me. They will also do another ultrasound on Monday to see if he has a brain bleed. He is back up to his birth weight now. I was able to touch his feet today. It was awesome. Morgan read him a few books, which he seems to like alot. His O2 sats keep jumping all over today but they made a small adjustment on the ventilator and his labs came back perfect, meaning the adjustment they made worked. The ventilator is pumping at 600 beats a minute! They are giving him Versed and Fentanyl to keep him sedated. Here is a video of Morgan changing his diaper for the first time.

Good News!

Just after his blessing on Sunday

The ultrasound shows that Riellys brain looks good. He does have patent ductus arteriosis (the hole in his heart that is supposed to close when the baby is born) but that is pretty normal and even full term babies can have that. He might need surgery to fix that but I'm so happy to know his brain is fine. He still can get a brain bleed at anytime though. The nurses are saying he's doing fantastic for how early he was.

Morgan was able to change his diaper yesterday. He received a blessing from great uncles Kirk and Steve on Sunday. They did a great job. We are just taking it day by day.

Don't bother me! I'm getting some sun

I love my mommy