A few gems

* These are just a few of the things I've heard in the last 10 minutes

Gracie: Here Gunner, let me teach you something dangerous-er

Gracie: Gunner, go up and get me more pillows
Gunner: Ay, ay Gracie

Gracie: Owwww. I guess the flip wasn't such a good idea

Sometimes I just love listening to them while they play.

Hoppy Easter

The kids with the Easter Bunny at Home Depot

 When our dads were here, all the men went to Home Depot to find some supplies to fix part of our slide. They brought back a flier for an Easter Egg hunt. It was from 7-9 am (for the early birds) so we decided to check it out. We were there for about 10-15  minutes total. The kids were sooooo excited.

Gracie asked me if I thought that was the real Easter Bunny or just some person dressed up in a bunny costume.

Gunner, Gracie, Afton, and CJ

 We got together with 2  of Gracie's friends and their moms to have  little Easter egg hunt and party. It was nice to still do something because we are still supposed to beware of crowds for a  few more weeks.

I love how far away Gunner is standing.We couldn't convince him to come any closer.

Gunner Loved hunting for eggs

Action shot of Gracie running to find eggs

Scanning the fence for a few last eggs they missed.

We also dyed eggs. I thought Gunner would be slow and timid, but I turned my back and he dyed 3 eggs yellow before I knew what was going on.

Holidays seem to become more fun with each year as the kids start to realize what is going on.

HAPPY EASTER!!

X- Baby- super mutant healing powers

Does anyone else  enjoy X-Men? I'm not obsessed or anything, but I had to laugh this morning when I looked at Maisy's incision and thought of Wolverine! I think she has the super healing ability that he has.

You might be thinking that I am over-exaggerating, but you would be amazed how quickly Maisy is healing. They say "a watched pot never boils", but with Maisy I feel that from hour to hour or diaper change to diaper change she is making  tremendous progress.

Maisy- April 22 (11 days after surgery)

I originally didn't plan on sharing a picture of the incision site so soon but am so happy with how great it looks. This picture was taken yesterday.

The home health nurse told me that many scars go all the way  up to the neck and babies often have fat or puffy scars (I think the puffiness can sometimes be more of a genetic thing). We aren't supposed to put any scar cream or lotion on for 4 more weeks, but I am really optimistic about how the scar might look when she's older if it looks this good less than 2 weeks out.

We are so grateful to see this miracle unfold before our eyes.

Maisy on April 17th (one week after surgery)

 This was taken on Monday. Pictures of the incision make me hurt a little, but I love how happy she is in every pictrure.

A Special Blanket

 Carol Ann made this super cute blanket for Maisy. I'm always happy to have pictures of my kids with their grandparents because I am usually horrible at remembering to snap pictures when they come. Too much fun to be had!

Saying Goodnight

Justin went in to say goodnight to the kids after they were already in bed.
Gunner: Good night, sleep tight
Justin: Don't let the bed bugs bite.
(Justin leaves)
Gracie:( Yelling from her bedroom) DAD, WHAT ARE BEDBUGS??

**Justin explained that it's an old saying and they don't have any bedbugs in their beds**
**Both kids emerge from their beds**

Gunner: (holding his hands up with wiggly fingers and a very concerned face) SCARY BUGS, SCARY BUGS
** Maggie takes the kids back up to bed, and assures them there are no bugs**
 Gracie: (from her bed again) OH NO!! I can feel the bugs biting me!

She's getting better all the time

I just wanted to write a quick update about Maisy. I know I blog about my baby way too much, but I imagine her wanting to know all about this major surgery later in life and I'd just as soon put it in  a place where those who are interested can see what is going on as well.

Maisy is recovering so well. Her incision is looking really good and maybe one of these days when I think it looks good enough I'll show you the progress she has made. I worry about being too graphic or worrying people, but to give you an idea, it is really healing nicely. I have given Maisy 2 baths since she has been home and they actually have me wash the incision area with soap and water.

I have noticed a BIG difference today in Maisy as far as her comfort level. The first few days home were pretty good, but we could tell she didn't feel that great most of the time (understandably). She has a tiny cold and we all shutter each time she sneezes.

  Maisy came home from the hospital on regular tylenol and we've continued pretty religiously every 4 hours. The first few days after surgery she was on fentanyl for pain, and then they moved her to tylenol with codene, and then to regular tylenol. We gave Maisy Tylenol with codene last night (for the first time since she has been home) and the one dose seemed to really help her. She slept for 6 hours and then she has taken great naps today.

I have been amazed to see the speed of Maisy's recovery and I'm so happy to see her thriving.

Jammies

 I had to take a picture of the girls in their matching jammies and because Gunner was wearing light blue I let him jump in too. I love my kids.

Birthday Homecoming

 Maisy got to leave the hospital on Justin's birthday. We were so excited but it felt like we were waiting at the hospital forever to get released. Did I already mention that the surgeons said she could go home on Thursday but the other doctors wanted to leave her to keep an eye on her.

 Gunner got his new doctor's outfit when Maisy came home. Gracie got a new pillowcase.They were both so excited.

All 5 of us for the birthday celebration

 For some reason I didn't have any posed pictures of Carol Ann on Justin's birthday. She made it all happen though. She had made a delicious cake, picked up some ice cream and made some delicious sticky chicken. We watched Secretariat that night. It was a fun party and felt nice to finally be home and have Maisy with us.

Justin had a little bit of a cold still and so did the kids. So he found a more sanitary way to blow out the candles. It was hilarious, because he pulled it out as a surprise. Even funnier, were the relighting candles that seemed to have an extra charge from the little mattress pump. I thought the smoke alarm was going to go off :)

Maisy's recovery in the hospital

Day 2 after surgery

More surgery pictures

Maisy's surgery team- profusionists, anesthesiologist, Dr. Leonard, Dr. Kennedy, Karen (the nurse practitioner)

Handing Maisy over to the OR nurse

Justin and his parents at the hospital during surgery

Maisy right after surgery- hooked up to everything.

 

 

Our diligent student.

Poor Justin had a test on Tuesday. I'm not sure how much studying he really got done. It was kind of a big day.

happy to be going home

Going home, going home, Maisy's going HOME

Yes, Maisy gets to come home today. I'm posting this from the hospital computer so no picture now. I'm just awaiting doctors and other stuff and then we will head home. I hope we'll get there before 10am so we can show Justin his birthday present before he has to run to class!!!

Dr. Kennedy said yesterday that she was released from a surgery standpoint but that they might keep her for other "baby things". What a miracle! Isn't it crazy to think that they could have sent her home yesterday (3 days post-op). We love our little Maisy Bell and are so excited to bring her home. She's been smiling at me more too. I'll try to post more pictures of the new Maisy back to her old self. Love and thanks to all for all of your faith, prayers, and fasting.

Maisy's Blessing

 I don't have all of the pictures that Justin's dad took, but here are some pictures from Maisy's blessing on Sunday. We blessed her in sacrament meeting.  I brought her in a minute late and then sat in the foyer for the rest of the meeting and went to the car before people came out.

Justin gave a beautiful blessing that had us in tears. One compliment that I heard was that Justin did the best job that this sister had ever seen of someone holding up a baby after the blessing. I guess it helps to bless your baby at 5 months :)  She wore the dress that Carol Ann made for Gracie's blessing. Good thing it fit perfectly!
I'll have to post more later because we got a picture of our little family with both sets of grandparents and also a picture of our little family.

It's Official

Everybody in PICU has been jealous of Maisy's kimonos. I will post pics of all of them later. Maisy is looking great today. She will get rid of lots of wires today and the swelling is mostly gone.
She even gets a bow! Maisy is still eating like a champ.

Dr. Kennedy is hopeful that she will get to come home on Friday!! That would be a great birthday present for Justin.

Something better to hold

I got to hold and feed Maisy tonight. She is doing so well. I have never seen her so hungry!

They took off her head and kidney stickers and took out the arterial line in her wrist. She gets better and more like herself with each passing hour.

Looking Good (possibly TMI)

Maisy was extubated this morning at 9:55. She is still getting oxygen but doesn't have a big tube down her throat. She is a little swollen, but is looking good.

They will take her off milrinone today (to make the heart not work so hard). They will also put her back on her lasix (diuretic)to help her pee off some of the swelling. Her drainage looks good too. I've heard her cry and she has opened her eyes a couple of times but she is moslty really sleepy.

They took out the IV in her foot but she has an IV in her neck, her left hand, 3 heart monitor stickers, a pulse/ox on her toe, stickers to measue oxygen on her brain and kidneys, oxygen in her nose, a drainage tube from her chest, a urine catheter, and bandages from the surgery.

Because of all the tubes, I haven't held her yet, but I should be able to hold her later today. Most of those things will also be off by later today or tomorow. They will leave ab IV in to keep giving her medicine though so she doesn't need to be poked repeatedly.

Update

Maisy is done with surgery. We get to see her in a few minutes. Dr. Kennedy said it all went well. Her heart is the size of a lemon and the hole was the size of a drinking straw. They were able to patch it with pericardium (the sac around the heart) so she doesn't have any foreign bodies.

can't wait to see our sweet baby.

almost there

The echo looked good. The hole is gone. Maisy is doing well. They are stitching her up and we should see her in about an hour.

beating

Maisy's heart is beating again!!!! Her numbers look good. They are just checking the pressure and doing one last echo, and then she will go off bypass. It isn't over yet, but I feel like I can stop holding my breath.

surgery

Maisy has been in surgery for half an hour. Just waiting for another update.

Something to hold

Dr. Kennedy (the surgeon) gave us this little statue to hold while our baby is away from our arms. I love it.

She is all hooked up and gets one last echo before the surgery starts. Maisy is doing great. The nurse practitioner says it is all moving really quickly.

Justin says he has no reason to tweet if I'm writing a million updates. Ha ha.

From my KIN

In the OR

They took her back about 8am. Now we are waiting. We will get word next when she is all hooked up and they are ready to start surgery. She started to get hungry and cranky for a minute there but was happy when we handed her off to the nurse.

Justin's parents just got here too. Thanks to my parents for watching Gracie and Gunner at the house.

From my KIN

Happy Maisy

We are at the hospital. Just waiting with a happy girl
until they call us back for pre-op. We left our house at 5am. I will probably blog more like a tweeter today for any of you who are wanting to follow surgery.

Justin is tweeting if you want to follow him : little_buckaroo

Preparing for Surgery - Part two

 Maisy goes in for surgery tomorrow and it is starting to feel real. Maisy had a pre-op appointment on Friday morning at 7am in Denver. We went down and they did all kinds of procedures to prepare for surgery. We met Dr. Kennedy, who will be the primary surgeon on the case. He is from Texas and was dressed like a true cowboy. He was very nice and after he had explained some stuff to us about surgery, he asked if we could say a prayer together. He gave us a paper to sign that was consent for surgery. He had written out the risks and we noticed that he had beautiful penmanship- just the kind of steady hand we want for our baby's surgery.

I was asked about  reservations going into surgery. I can honestly say that at this point my reservations are all related to the normal reservations that any mother would have. The doctors told us exactly what to expect and I feel a lot of peace about everyone we are working with.

As you can see on the last post, Maisy is having to work really hard when she breaths. There are some things that are hard to record or share on a blog, but just listening to her heart through a stethescope is a compelling reason to do surgery. Maisy's heart is so loud and instead of hearing a beat it just sounds like a loud swooshing (almost like a baby's ultrasound heartbeat in utero). The surgeon confirmed that these types of holes don't usually close on their own. If we were to wait until she is 2, there would be so much damage that she would probably need a heart transplant.

So. Yeah, it is scary. Really scary. But I physically feel the love and prayers of others and I know that I would never be asked to do something that I couldn't handle. I can handle this. My guiding light right now is thinking of where we will all be in a week. Maisy is going to be okay and not only will she be okay, but she'll be better than ever. Wish us luck. I'll be updating my blog as we get updates from the hospital. Maisy goes to the operating room at 7:30am

Preparing for Surgery

I took this video a few weeks ago, but it shows Maisy retracting when she breaths.

 Maisy will need a blood transfusion after the surgery and they will also prime the heart/lung machine with blood, so my dad and I went to donate blood for Maisy. Don't ask me why, but it was my first time donating blood and it was a really good experience. It was fun to be able to donate with my dad too and to know exactly who our blood would help.

 Did I mention how good-natured she is? This is the day of pre-op after she had been fasting for 6 hours. Fasting is hard for me, so I feel really bad that she had to fast so long.

 All hooked up for her EKG. She also had a chest x-ray, and echocardiogram, and some lab work drawn.

 Justin helping to hold Maisy while the EKG guy was there. The EKG is a bunch of stickers all over that are connected to those wires.

Cinderella dressed in yellow...

 ...went upstairs to kiss a fellow.

 I started teaching Gracie how to jump rope this week. The actual  swinging the rope over our heads didn't work, but we've been sticking one end in the door and I've been holding the other end and swinging it back and forth while she jumps over the rope. It is a start and I love to see how excited she gets about it. I was  a big jump roper back in the day and have fun trying to remember good jump rope rhymes. Do you have any favorites that we should incorporate?

Gunner used to be little nervous on the swing (I think the lack of control), but he has blossomed and LOVES to swing these days. He'll wait patiently in the swing for a good 5 minutes if I've forgotten to come and push him again. Gracie is officially pumping all the time on the swing now, although she still loves to be pushed.

No Foolin'

10lbs. 4oz.

I'm so sure. We plan surgery, for almost a month this girl has put on next to nothing every week. NOW she puts up the big numbers.  We are so excited though. A few weeks ago I thought it might take forever to reach 10lbs. GO MAISY!

Gracie requested Malt O' Meal this morning (the hot cereal). I made some for the kids and added a little salt while it was cooking. I just made enough for the kids and added some brown sugar.then I tried a bite of Gunner's and it was way salty. Ha ha. I guess I should have measured. I tried to add extra sugar but it didn't really help. I decided to let the kids try it anyway for a little April Fool's trick.

Gracie: This is the baddest oatmeal I ever had.

Gracie: Mom, next time I think you should add all of the ingredients but leave out the salt.

Gunner just kept shaking his head and wincing his eyes with each bite.

I am such  a mean mom. HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S.