ARRESTED!!!

Ron received a phone call today informing him there was a warrant out for his arrest. His sentence? To raise $1950 for Muscular Distrophy from “Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse” http://www.ruthschris.com/ in PDX. Who filed the complaint against Ron? Our “former favorite” Wedding/Sports Photographer Craig Mitchelldyer www.craigmitchelldyer.com

So, if you would like to make a donation to help bail Ron out and end his sentence of making never ending phone calls begging for donations while eating great steak drop us a note.

-oh yeah, it does go for a good cause  

Very Proud Big Brother

Hank has been begging since our return home from the hospital to take his sister for “show and tell”. Here is Big Bro showing off his little sister for the first time!

My baby is growing up…

Today Gabrielle is 18 days old. We have had her home 4 nights and changes are happening every day. She slept better last night than she has so far, and today was the biggest change so far… her umbilical stump fell off. It made me happy that she is growing, yet a little sad…. The past 18 days, while they have been crazy, stressful, and joyful have gone so fast. It’s hard to believe how far we have come!

On another note ~ Hank has a friend spending the night tonight. We had their family over for dinner, and then the boys went to a movie. When the boys got home from the movie the boys took Max (the dog) out for a walk and found a bird with a broken wing. As I write this Ron, Hank, and Matt (Hank’s friend) are out trying to capture the bird so they can turn him into the wildlife rehab center. UPDATE… The boys just returned with the captured bird. Ron is now headed to meet with the wildlife person to turn the bird in. We’re so lucky… we have a great kid!

Are you sick of hearing about the baby yet?

Tonight we have something different to share.

Around the end of April Ron started doing freelance work with the newspaper here, The Daily Astorian. We didn’t know how much he would actually get to write, or take pictures, but figured it was worth a shot… hey, you gotta get a start somewhere, right? I’m proud to report that Ron has had a few sports articles published and even some pictures. The Astorian doesn’t pay that great, but it’s a step in the right direction toward retirement from the Coast Guard. 

I wanted to put links to a couple of his articles… you can see them from this link:

First Article by Ron

Second Article by Ron

 -Ron, we are so proud of you, especially now that you are a published journalist 

She did it! We’re home!

Gabrielle gained weight again today so the hospital let us go home! It’s such a nice feeling to be home with our baby!

Hank is so excited to have his little sis home, this afternoon he said he didn’t know if he’d be able to sleep tonight. Hank managed to fall asleep this afternoon during the car ride home and was awakened by a crying little girl that was hungry and needed her diaper changed.

The hospital staff said that we might hold the new record for going home time after a gastroschisis surgery.

Gabrielle has a follow up appointment in two weeks with her surgeon. Tomorrow we will take her in for a weight check, and then she will need to meet her new pediatrician.

Baby Update

 We are still in Portland… I was really hoping that we would get discharged today, but no such luck. I know that it’s the best thing for Gabrielle, but we really all want to be home!!!

Today the doc’s said that they want to see a few days on consistent weight gain… she has gained weight a couple days in a row now and it sounded like tomorrow or Wednesday they would let us go home.

Gabby is eating like a champ… actually I am a little distressed because it seems that she is eating more than her poor old mom can produce. It looks like we might have to supplement a little with formula unless I can get my milk supply boosted more. I am already taking every supplement and prescription known to man for that…so time will tell.

It’s hillarious that just a couple days ago she was falling asleep during her feedings and we would have to wake her to eat, now we are feeding her every two hours because she wakes up crying and wanting food. I guess that it is a sign that her belly really is ready for the food that we are putting in it, and a sign that she wants to go home as badly as we do 

Superstar!

“Superstar” — kinda makes me think of Molly Shannon on SNL. Superstar is the name that the docs have been referring to Gabrielle as. She is doing awesome!!! I couldn’t be happier.

Today they removed her PICC line (the IV through the vein in her head), so she is a cordless baby! She still has a heart rate monitor and respiration monitor — but those are easily detachable and from time to time we turn her off – like at feedings, etc. We also recieved that FANTASTIC news that she will go home early next week as long as she continues to make progress with her feedings and doesn’t lose any weight. She is on a schedule that she is allowed feedings anytime she wishes, but we still have to wake her up from time to time to make sure that she eats. I am so excited, I can’t believe that we are getting close to taking our little girl home with us!

She did a little better at breastfeeding today, but rather than burn all her energy on trying to figure that out I am continuing to bottle feed and will concentrate more at breast once we get home. It’s a whole process to breast feed them here from weighing, to getting curtained off from everyone in our pod, etc… so, it might wait a few days until we really get into it. I am still pumping so she will get that good stuff. There is talk about enriching her breast milk with a supplement or formula if she isn’t gaining enough. We’ll find out about that tomorrow based on her weight.

Hank finally decided it was ok to hold her on Thursday. Naturally he has been a little hesitant due to the cords. One teacher at school told him the same thing we have been telling him, “You’re not going to break her.” and I guess that hearing it from someone else made it ring true. He now loves holding her and is already planning on nights when she is older and can sleep in his room with him-like little sleepovers  I am so glad that he likes his little sis. He has already began asking for a little brother, but dad and I turned him down on that request 

Breast feeding

Today the docs gave the ok to begin feeding Gabrielle directly from the breast. This means a before weight, and after weight… Given that she is feeding from her bottle like a champ I thought that I would pop any old nipple in her mouth and she would eat… boy, was I mistaken. Turns out breast feeding was not on today’s agenda, at least not on Gabrielle’s agenda. Her agenda for the most part seems to consist of sleep, sleep, and more sleep. She really hasn’t expressed interest in feeding today.

I get set up with the rocking chair, pillows, and baby… I try to entice her to the breast with a little milk… and… she latches on, sucks a few times and then stops. Just happy and content to hang out and lay there – eyes wide open, checking out the world. Not eating. So we keep trying a while, switch to the other breast — basically a repeat of the first. After about 15 minutes we switch to her breast milk in the bottle that I pumped for her. She eats like a champ.

Current prayer requests: Gabrielle figures out this whole breast feeding idea, no reflux/vomiting, increase in breast milk supply, Gabrielle able to eat enough to be discharged from the hospital. — That means that she needs to gain weight and be eating about 60cc’s ( 3 ounces) every three hours – and hold it down.

Mommy brag moment!

Ok, I know you have all heard about the baby over and over… but here goes again.

This morning the docs said that they are so impressed with our little girl and it’s looking like she will be the fastest baby to go home with gastroschisis they have seen. Like I said yesterday, they have been upping her food every six hours and she is tolerating it like a champ! Tomorrow she gets to start breast feeding from the breast! We will change her diaper and weigh her before and after and bottle feed her anything that she doesn’t get from me. I am very excited! It’s just another step closer to coming home!

I am so impressed with the hospital, doctors, nurses, and support staff. They have been absolutely fantastic…. and although it’s hard to leave at night, it’s comforting to know Gabby is in the best hands possible.

Breast milk is best

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers for Gabby. Yesterday morning at 11 am she started getting fed breast milk. She got her first taste of 15cc’s (1/2 ounce) and LOVED it. I don’t think she stopped for air, she gobbled the good stuff down so quick!

This morning they upped her amount to 18cc’s per feeding (every three hours) and they are increasing it by 3cc’s every six hours. By this evening she was getting 21 cc’s – and still wanted more.

She is doing FANTASTIC! She has had bowel movements and is having active belly sounds, which means that her intestines are working to digest the food she is eating. Please continue to pray that all goes down well (literally) and we don’t have and set backs like nausea or other complications.

The docs called her the gold star gastroschisis baby today. We can’t wait to have our little gold star baby come home!