Hollywood Studios

Alright, so the pictures don't really show much of what we saw at Hollywood Studios but they are of us at Hollywood Studios. That counts, doesn't it? It was a great day! The girls had fun meeting characters from Handy Manny, The Little Einsteins and Cars. We watched a show with Mickey Mouse, The Little Einsteins, Darby and Pooh and Handy Manny. There were a couple of amazing stage shows - The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast - that had the girls absolutely captivated. Hollywood Studios was a much slower pace then Magic Kingdom, which was a nice change!

Nap time for one tired sight-seer.
"I spy with my little eye."

Waiting in line and looking at the pictures that have been taken so far during the holiday.

Lightening and Mater!

Epcot

February, 8th - Epcot
This is the hottie I got to travel with!! Yes, I am one lucky lady!

The girls and the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood.

Mary Poppins!

Brookelyn gives the best kisses!

Swimming

Caybree loving the water.
Brookelyn riding a horse in the water.

Makayla, Paul, Brookelyn and Mark

Ready for the Water!

Mark and Brookelyn enjoying the Lazy River.

Aww

Brookelyn and Makayla warming up in the Hot Tub.

We spent the last day in Florida enjoying the water park and pool at the resort. It was a fabulous trip!

More Christmas

Caybree signing "Up" - Rylie was just trying to play!

Merry Christmas!

Caybree on her Tummy Time mat

Brookelyn feeding her "Baby Poops"

Christmas 2008

Opening Stockings

Leaving carrots for Santa's Reindeer

Sisters

Making cookies for Santa

Oakley, Isabella, Brookelyn and Caybree

Yeah!! In three days I will be 6 months old and I have been healthy at home for 3 months and 6 days!! This makes everyone in my family so happy.

Taking a dip at the hotel swimming pool.

"I can't wait to go swimming!!"

Best friends. (When Caybree isn't getting mauled!!)

Well, we have been home for over 3 months and everything is going very well. Caybree is getting quite chubby which is great to see! We were looking at pictures earlier today and it is hard to remember how tiny she was - even with everything Caybree has gone through, the time does fly. I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs, but roughly 13 1/2 pounds. We are going to see her pediatrician next week and will get the exact weight then.

Caybree will begin getting the vaccination for RSV this month. It is traditionally given to preemie babies through the winter to prevent them from contracting the infection. They are now recommending Down Syndrome babies also be vaccinated for this because of their lowered immune system. This involves a needle a month throughout the winter months. Luckily our pediatrician is having the vaccine sent to Boundary Trails Hospital so we won't be having to drive into the city for the needle each month. Although I am not looking forward to the needles each month, I know it will be better then watching the doctors struggle for an hour trying to get an IV into her little body or the lab techs struggling to squeeze enough blood from her heels during her heel pokes each morning at Children's Hospital.

Caybree continues to be a very content little girl. She happily tells lots of stories and smiles easily. She loves to watch her big sister and no one can get her to giggle quite like Brookelyn can!

Thanks again for all of your continued support!

Four Months Old

We were at Buffalo Point for the weekend at a friend's cabin. We had a great time and Caybree even got to feed the deer!

Four months old and doing great!! We had a doctor's appointment today and she has gained 800 grams in the past month. (They want babies to gain 600 grams - 200 extra grams, way to go Caybree!) She is now 10 lbs 14 oz. She continues to be very happy and content - she is even giggling. (We have to work to get the giggles, but they are there!)

Thanks to everyone for their continued support!

A Record!

Our first bike ride. Caybree loved it as long as we were moving - she didn't care about sitting in the driveway and getting her picture taken! As for Brookelyn - she has always enjoyed going for bike rides.

Well, we have now been home for 1 month and 4 days!! Last time we were home we were only home for a month. We have beat that now by an extra 4 days. As you can see, Caybree is very excited about this!! (Doesn't she have a great smile?!) Things are going very well. She is eating lots and is even getting chubby!

Current Affairs

We are back home and have been enjoying being home for the past 2 and a half weeks. It feels great to be home and to be able to go about our daily lives! Caybree is doing great - eating lots and gaining weight! She has gained a pound and a half since we have come home. If she keeps eating like she has been she will be 10 pounds by the end of the weekend! Her wrist are starting to get a wrinkle and almost a wrinkle mid-thigh - go Caybree go!! We went to local photographers to get some family pictures done - we are very excited with the proofs. Enjoy looking at the few I posted. (I will write about our last stay in the hospital at the bottom of this entry.)



We had been home for 4 weeks and 2 days when Caybree got sick. It started during the night, where she would throw-up every so often, not after feedings - she was just throwing up. So, after a sleepless night, I phoned our pediatrician and asked what I should do. He said to wait 24 hours and if it continued to head into Children's Hospital. I still wanted a doctor to look at her, just to give me peace of mind, so I took her to my doctor in Winkler. Dr. Bessie phoned Caybree's pediatrician in the city and together they decided that we should take her to Children's right away. Of course, being who I am, I cried all the way home to get Mark and all the way to the city. I just kept thinking, "I can't do another 6 weeks of this."

Once we got to the Children's ER they took us into a room right away. They took x-rays and gave her an IV to rehydrate her. It took 5 pokes before they got one in - again, I was crying just as much as Caybree. After a few hours they had a room ready for us upstairs on the surgery ward. The x-rays showed that there was a blockage in the small intestine. When we met with the surgeon the next day he said that the blockages can work themselves out, but not always. They would give it a day or so and if it didn't work itself out, off to surgery again. During the wait, we had x-rays on both Tuesday and Wednesday to see how the blockage was doing. (She was no longer throwing up because they put a NG tube down her nose once again. This time it was for suctioning her stomach instead of feeding. By the end of Tuesday, the stuff that was being suctioned was BM because nothing could pass through because of the blockage.)

Wednesday afternoon they decided that they would have to go ahead with the surgery because the blockage just wasn't getting better. She went down to the ER at 8:00pm and we were with her in the recovery room by 9:00pm. The blockage was due to two small adhesions from her original surgery. We got the go ahead to feed her in 48 hours! (She hadn't been able to eat at all during this time because she would have just brought it back up. She was so sick, she had no desire to suck, not even on her soother. I was very stressed about her remembering how to eat. We had just been done with the feeding tube for a week when we went back to the hospital.) Well, on Friday, when Caybree could eat again, she showed us!! She latched on and ate like she had never had a problem! What a relief! And the news got even better - we were going to go home the next day!! Only 6 days in the hospital!!

My mom had taken Brookelyn to Souris with her after Caybree's surgery on Wednesday, so they were coming in to pick Caybree and I up. (Mark was working nights on the weekend.) My bags were packed and we were just waiting for our ride - 10 minutes to go. They decided to change the bandages before we left. (Thank God that they did!) As they were pulling back the bandages, the nurse saw some green - I never noticed, I saw something else starting to happen. To use the medical term that was written on the discharge papers, Caybree had an "abdominal wall dehiscence." That is all the detail I will go into - feel free to look it up and if you do, you will understand why I didn't sleep that night and why it took me 3 bandage changes until I could be there holding her hand again and why I still get the chills when I think that it could have happened in the car or once we were home. This led to another surgery to repair the "abdominal wall dehiscence." Infectious Disease were contacted to see about antibiotics for the infections. (There were 2 infections within the wound.) Under their instructions we had to remain in the hospital on IV antibiotics for a week and then continue the antibiotics orally for 8 days.

The last week was fairly uneventful other then another long round of trying to put in another IV. (It took an anethesist and a pediatric surgeon several attempts before they got one to go in her abdominal wall.) Because of where the IV was located, they took her down to surgery on Monday to put in a central line. When we were leaving the recovery room for the 3 time in less than a week, I gave Caybree a very stern talking to that she had been through enough and we didn't want her to go back there again!

Sunday, July 27th, 2008 - Brookelyn's Third Birthday - we get to go home!! Yeah! And we hope and pray that Caybree doesn't have to go through any more. Now it is time for her to be healthy and grow.

Home!

Update

Caybree is still in the hospital but is doing well. She is on antibiotics for the infection, and is back to herself! They should be coming home soon!
Hollie

Back in the Hospital

Caybree is back in the hospital. She had 2 surgerys this week and now has an infection. I'll elaborate later.
Hollie

HOME!!

Okay - I know that we have been keeping people waiting - I'm sorry. HOME - what a wonderful word and an even better place to be. It is great to be here! It is great to have all 4 of us here!

Caybree was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, June 14th. What a great day! (Yes, we were able to be home with Mark for Father's Day. He says that it will always be the best Father's Day gift ever!)

Caybree is still being topped up after most feedings with a feeding tube. Since her feedings were the only thing that was keeping her in the hospital, they trained Mark and I on how to change the tubes and feed her this way. Had anyone told me before that I would be putting a tube down my child's nose and throat to feed her, I would have told them they were crazy. Yet, when they told me on Monday, June 9th that they were going to teach us, I don't think I could have been more excited!!

There was some regression when we first came home. Caybree was quite sleepy and wasn't nursing as much. But we are able to see her become stronger each day and see the amazing progress that she is making. We continue to feed her every three hours to make sure that she is meeting requirements, but she still isn't gaining a great amount of weight. The dietitian has just increased the volume and we may also have to add more formula to the EBM that we tube feed her. (Expressed Breast Milk - and the formula for more calories.)

Again, we are so happy to be home as a family. We would like to thank everyone for their continued love, support, prayers and meals. We are continually blown away by the support shown to us by friends, family and community! We will be forever grateful!

Till next time! (I'll try to update more regularly!)

"The Swing"

The nurses brought a swing into the pod for our nosey little daughter. Brookelyn was in visiting this day and Caybree was sure not to take her eyes off of her! (And Brookelyn was sure to entertain!)

"TOYS!"

When Caybree is awake she is quite alert and loves to look at things. The nurses are all really great at putting different toys in her crib for her to look at. She loves listening to music and watching the fish. She will turn her head to the sound when it is turned on.

May 31st, 2008 "Bath Day!"

Caybree's second bath. Her first one was when she was a day old. Check out how great her scar looks! Healing beautifully!!

Current Events

Well, another week and a bit has past and I haven't updated the blog. (Terribly sorry - I don't know where the day goes. Well, I guess I actually do! Commuting between the hospital and Chris and Paula's to try and spend time with both girls!)

As the days have blurred together, I can't exactly remember when Caybree got up to full feeds and when the central line came out. But, none the less, she is up to full feeds and the central line is out!! Full feeds are 60 ml (2 oz.) - however, she is not taking full feeds from me or the bottle. She will usually nurse 20 - 25 ml at each feeding and sometimes into the 30s and then is tube fed the rest. They are currently trying her on a different bottle - one that is more like the breast - and she seems to be doing better with it, but is still hovering around the 30s at each feed. She just seems to get really tired after eating the ounce. Hopefully she will soon decide to wake up and take full feeds by herself! Once she does take the full feeds herself at every feed, then we get to go home! So, it is all up to Caybree now.

I promise to try to keep the blog more current in the coming week!