One Week Down...

It is very hard to believe that we have been here for a week already. It has been such a crazy week. I didn't even realize it was Friday the 13th until just a minute ago. We are still in a holding pattern. She had a small poop, if the stuff that came out can be qualified as poop. It was more like asphalt. We got a bit excited but the Doctor didn't think that it qualified as poop either. He needs some of the real stuff before we have a chance to go. They stuff that came out was probably just cooking in there for the past week, nothing to prove that everything is all hooked up and operating correctly.

They have held off on the PICC line for right now. The are just upping the nutrients that they can put in the IV. They will decide later what to do.

Carsten got his chance to be with Mom today. He came in the morning with Matt and spent the morning until Meme came and got him. It was good being with him. He always brings a smile to your face.

Who knows what the weekend will bring. Matt is a bit bummed because the salmon are coming in and he has to be here. Oh well, I think that he will survive.

Not so good a day

The PICC line attempt Failed. Her poor little veins are scarred from the NICU PICC lines and they couldn't push through to the heart. So on to plan B, which is....? The powers that be will be meeting and deciding what the best course of action will be. Well, I know one, she could have bowel movement and be able to nurse but that is not in our control. The women trying to put it in is the best around and everybody defers to her for sticking, she really has the respect of everyone. So I felt really good about her trying and failing. She needs to get nutrition and so they are going to give it to her through her regular IV. The problem is regular IV's fail and this means that this nutritional mix will leak and that isn't really good for tissue. Right now Josette is sleeping well after being made sleepy.

Sophie and I had a great day together and she helped keep me occupied during the 3 hours they were doing the procedure. She has gotten to be such a big girl. She also kills me at Memory.

FUNNY MOMENT: It all began after giving Josette an initial dose of something to "take the edge off" before the actual morphine was given. If she spoke her quote would have been " I love you man". I really wish I could have made a video of her. She was laughing and smiling. There was a red light on her finger and she would wave it in front of her face and laugh. She had us all rolling.

Waiting game

We are playing the waiting game, which is killing Matt. After an x-ray this morning there is still a portion of intestine that is very lax. The intestine being a muscle can be overstretched and like any muscle stretched too much needs time to get it's strength back. Though it is the hip thing we have also decided that we are NOT a green family. When her stomach juices are green it means that bile is building up and things aren't going down the pipeline.

We are also going to put in a PIC line this afternoon to start getting some fats and nutrients into her. 5 days with out an food is the limit. Just goes to show you can go a while without food it's the water you need. (Means I need to start re-thinking my food storage strategy.) Josette will be sedated while the put in the PIC line so that will make for less trauma.

Matt did the hospital night last night so that I could get some sleep. He was a bit grumpy with everyone because as soon as she would fall asleep someone would come in to check vitals. Benjamin though was very happy to have me home and got up at 6am so that he could come to the hospital and hang out with me. He had way too much fun hanging out here and playing games. Whack-a-Mole is a new game I going to have to invest in that the kids loved. A hammer and things to hit is every child's dream!

*Good thing for the day: Abbie is our nurse! Here husband works with Matt and we all play softball together.

First week of June -Part 2

We left off with Josette getting sick in the tent. I moved to the car but it wasn't going to be a one time thing. Feeling that we needed to get back to Anchorage and be near a hospital we packed up camp at midnight and headed home. We were very thankful for Alaskan summers that allowed us to do all this with day(night)light. The kids were very bummed about going home. In fact for two days Benjamin would get up in the morning and say that he would rather be at the campground and I agreed with him. Girls camp wasn't all over yet but it was fun while we were there.

Anyway, I digress. Josette continued to get sick but she wasn't lethargic so the Dr. and I agreed that she had probably picked up a bug while camping and we'll continue to watch it. Friday morning she was worse so our Peditrician suggested that we meet him at the hospital. This is the point I become very thankful that our move to Scotland was cancelled. I arrived at the emergency room at 1:30pm, our Ped. Dr. was on call and had let the front desk know we were coming and to send her right back to him. We waited 1 minute went back. Her surgeon had already been notified of what was going on and had ordered all the necessary x-rays. 15 minutes later we were in x-ray. If anybody is familiar with a busy ER you know that this is pretty darn fast. By 5pm she was in surgery. They weren't exactly sure what they would find but the only real way to find out was to open her up.

An hour and a half later she was out and the news was not the best but not the worst. She had multiple adhesions and narrowing of her bowel. Nothing had to be cut off which is a really good thing. We are still hanging out in the hospital where things are going ok. We take it day by day. We had a tooting party last night when she finally passed some gas. In this world tooting is very,very important. We are still waiting for a true bowel movement.

Benjamin is so sweet and always has the hardest time when something isn't right in his world. He is so tender hearted.

I always feel so blessed at times likes this and I need to write those down for my kids to read some day. Also, so I can remember when I forget. I know that sounds a bit backwards. I appreciate even more the wonderful man that I married and his love and concern for his children. He does everything for us. I am very fortunate to have been born into and married into great families. I know that it isn't always the case to have both things. My mom jumped on a plane the next morning to be with the kids and Mom M. was just as ready to get up here and help out. I sure do appreciate my moms and dads. And there are two grandpa's that I think worry more than we do being so far away. Aunts and Uncles who love and worry for our kids with out knowing them very well. I have some incredible friends and great neighbors who mow our lawn, watch our children,bring us dinner, and wash my dishes. They even offer to wash our laundry! I don't know if I deserve all these great people in my life, those far and near. Most importantly I have the knowledge of priesthood blessings and that miracles do occur. Thank you all and Love you!

First week of June -Part 1

So much has happened in the last week I have decided to break it up into two parts because really it felt like two completely different weeks. We got to start out with a DATE! That hadn't happened in awhile. We celebrated Matt's Birthday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY- by climbing Flat Top Mountain and eating great tomato sandwiches. It was so nice to be together and just relaxing. Matt- thanks for putting up with me and loving me. You are MR. INCREDIBLE. To show how much of a sport he was he took a weeks vacation so that he could accompany me to girls camp. So on his actual birthday he had to drive, set up camp and take care of the kids while I met with the girls. What a man! We had a great spot away from the girls with all sorts of room for the kids to play. The kids loved being there and Carsten had enough dirt to dig in and eat....another story.
HIGHLIGHTS
*Finding a very large Eagle Feather
*Getting 80 girls all their certification with out too much confusion. That stress relieved.
*Going on Treasure Hunts (Geo Cache) having to climb over streams and walk through woods was very cool.
*Carsten falling backwards into the firepit and sitting on hot coals with only very minor burns and melted pants. Thank goodness for synthetic fabric!! This also gave mom her first screams of panic that brought Matt at a dead run. Carsten though was unfazed and was only alarmed because mom was hugging him so tight.
*Sophie mountain biking all around the campground like a pro.
*Benjamin found the coolest walking stick with a handle. We even remembered to bring it home after our midnight pack-up. Story in part 2
*Carsten giving himself a third degree burn on his lips after exposing too much of his stick and the marshmellow. Just a hint Carsten: Just because you blew out the flame doesn't make it cool enough to stick it in your mouth and get the marshmellow.
*My cool new sleeping bag with a blow up mattress that you stick inside.
*Josette throwing up massive amounts in my cool new sleeping bag.
*Carsten getting sick in his bag after too many marshmellows and tylanol for the burn.

Trail River Campground site #67 we will be back again. It was the best site we've ever had.

May Fun

May has been a great month! First the long awaited visit from Kim! It was so much fun to be together again and have some real girl time. NO KIDS!! Thank you Nigel and Matt. Matt took time off work and we were able to spend the day down in Seward and see several different wildlifes. Kim even chased a porcupine in order to get the great picture. Two years and New York here we come! We went on a hike and posted in the snow up to our hips. Then Kim left and the sunshine came. AAAH summer is here. There is nothing like summer in AK. It's 11:00pm and looking outside you would think it was 7pm. Everything is greening up and the flowers are all out. I even got my seeds planted in the garden yesterday. The kids are getting that blond and brown skinned combo going. We even got long naps this afternoon after 2 days of being outside for more than 6 hours straight. Yesterday, the first official no more school, summer break is here day and we had a yard full of neighborhood kids and grandkids. It was so nice to have all these kids in our yard playing. This is what I long for the kids to experience during summer. The true playing to your body's content.

Our neighbor goes bear hunting every year and every year we've watched him sit on his porch and clean up the hides. This year the boys finally went over to get a closer look. Carsten loved it. He touched everything he could, while Benjamin watched from a respectful distance. Our neighbor even taught them how they could throw some of the fat and it would stick to the side of his house. I was just thrilled....The kids thought it was great and it made Matt dream even more pressing of having his own bear skin rug.

Keeping with the bear theme the next night we left on a camping trip rather late in the evening and a couple miles from where we were camping a grizzly was on the side of the road. He was about 15 feet from the car and I saw him rear up on his hind leggs. It was so cool to see a bear in the wild, from the car. The kids were especially excited. I don't ever want to run into one on my own but they are so amazing to see like that. Several cars were stopped so we weren't able to get a great picture. There was a stupid Bear hog car in front of us that was blocking any picture possibilities. This was the beginning of a great campout with some great friends that will be leaving us soon. It was also our first time tent camping in Alaska. We did a true car camping trip with the first night being spent in the car. It was 2 am when we got to the site and we didn't feel like setting up tent so we rearranged things in the car and the kids slept great! Thank goodness for a big car. Matt got a new tent to fit all 6 of us and it was huge. Matt could stand up in it. I froze but everybody else did great. It is practice for girls camp when we are all tent camping for a week. That will be the next blog, surving girls camp with 4 kids!

 

 

 

 

B. Rides a bike

Since Sophie has started riding bike like a big person she has gone on a Daddy/Daughter bike ride on Memorial day weekend. This time Benjamin really wanted to go on one with Dad but Matt nicely explained that when he could ride like a big person on two wheels they would go on their own bike ride too. I told Benjamin that we could go out and try riding with out the training wheels while they were gone. I had gotten Josette all arranged and was coming out to help Benjamin learn to ride his bike and what did I see... Benjamin riding around the circle on two wheels! He did it all on his own and hasn't had a problem since. The crazy thing is he had a hard time with the training wheels on and we were worried it would take a while. I guess this shows a little of his personality and when he wants something bad enough. This video was taken the next day. He rides like a pro now!



PS This Happened after all the info in the previous post. Just so much time has passed I'm totally off sync.