Saturday, July 25

Finally . . .

Finally everyone is fixed, and life can slow down! Sort of except . . . get ready for it, you may want to sit down . . . We're expecting again! Wow! What a shock to us. It's a miracle! This is our 5th pregnancy, and this is the 1st time we haven't had any fertility treatments. I'm only about 5-6 weeks, so we haven't been able to confirm by ultrasound that all is good. However, my HCG level (hormone present in pregnancy) is great and so is my progesterone. The doctor is comfortable that everything will be fine, but we just have to pray and have faith that it will be. We decide to fully rely on God in hopes of more children, so he brought us this far and we're going to continue to trust in His will. It's such a miracle, we just can't say that enough. We want to give all of the glory to God for this AMAZING blessing. Please pray for Baby Wicker; he/she is due mid to late March. Another March baby for the family! (Bradley's birthday, Austin's due date- so his adjusted age dates back to March, and Lisa's birthday all fall in March- not to mention both of Lisa's parents, the boy's Aunt Beth and Aunt Melissa too!) So, now that is finally out! Bradley and Austin are recovering nicely. Bradley is doing great except for when he goes to the bathroom and his ointment has to be applied. It has been amazing the difference in him since his surgery and no accidents! Yay! Bradley did so well at the hospital. He climbed in a little wagon and off he went with the nurse- no tears at all! It was such a blessing. Mama on the other hand had a few tears, but I think it was mostly because I saw just how old he is getting! He didn't even look back, but they did rush out to get me after he woke up from anesthesia. He was crying for his Mama; so sweet! Once I got back back to him he was fine. Praise the Lord for allowing everything to go well for Bradley. Austin is doing well too. His arm is healing nicely along with his private area too. :-) There is a lot of swelling down there, but we think that is expected. Austin's pain seems better and the clear bandage is starting to come off his arm. He is finally getting back on schedule and seeming happier everyday. Another amazing miracle in our life. God is so good! I go to my high risk OB on Monday for my first prenatal, all the bloodwork and exam. Then, Austin's EI is coming on Wednesday. His physical therapist may be coming too, and he should have a followup with his surgeon in the next week. Thank you all for your prayers!

Thursday, July 23

2 Surgeries in 1 week!

Last Friday after 5pm (conveniently after the doctor's office closed for the weekend) Austin's Hemangioma on his arm started to hemorrhage. (yes I use the word hemorrhage as that is what the ER said) We aren't sure if we caught the corner of it as Chris was burping him, and it's on the back of his left arm or if it just started on it's own. Nonetheless, a hemangioma is a collection of blood vessels that is usually found on infants commonly on their faces. Thank goodness his is on his arm. It's supposed to necrose or scab over and start to recede around a child's first birthday. They don't commonly bleed or cause trouble. However, Austin's was very big taking up most of his upper arm and close to the surface. So, we rushed to Richland ER with Chris applying pressure to it while holding Austin in the backseat. When we got there they treated us as a trauma as Austin had lost a good bit of blood and called in the surgeon. There were a lot of blessings with the way everything happened; God is so good! First of all, it could have started during the night and he could have bled out. The surgeon did tell us that children have died from ones like Austin's. Thankfully, Chris was with me and Bradley was taking his nap at my parent's house as we had just left a doctor's appointment. Another thing was that the surgeon on call had performed Austin's hernia surgery in January, so he was familiar with Austin, his medical history, and us. Then, a girl I grew up with was in the surgery and she was the one giving us updates throughout it. She was in Brayden's surgery in the NICU and was also familiar with Austin and our story. So, that is always very comforting to know someone. Austin was admitted Friday night and had surgery early Saturday morning to remove it. He did have more bleeding than they would have liked and his hemoglobin is low but it's already coming back up. He also experienced some difficulty with fast, heavy breathing after coming off the vent and had to stay in the PICU Saturday night. They circumcised him during the surgery too to avoid another sedation and time on the vent later this year. What another awesome blessing as sedation and being intubated can be scary with Austin's lung disease. So, Austin came home Sunday after a crazy weekend. He has done well this week. We're still treating his pain, and he is still a little pale from the blood loss. All of the nurses were so amazed at how well he is doing considering he is a 24-week triplet; he'll have that title for the rest of his life. All in all, he was a trooper in usual Austin fashion. He will probably have quite a scar on his arm, but it's just his arm and anther testimony for him to share! Tomorrow morning Bradley is having surgery. He has developed Meatal Stenosis, which is a band that develops and narrows at the tip of the penis. He also has some adhesions around his circumcision area that they will remove. It's just a quick outpatient surgery, but I'm sure he is going to freak out when they take him from us. He hasn't had surgery since he was a baby. Bradley had hernia repair surgery at 5 weeks old and then tubes at 10 months. So, at least we know he handles surgery well, but he is much older now and will definitely realize something is going on. Bradley has always been quite clingy with us as he is saying he doesn't want to even go to school this fall. I've been trying to "talk it up" for him. I'm praying that there will be an awesome nurse that will be specially trained to walk him right back without any issues. His surgery is at 9:15, and then he'll have a few days of recovery over the weekend at home. I was told it would take a couple of weeks for him to fully recover. I got him some special prizes for after his surgery, just some tractors and work cars complete with cones and other neat things that Bradley loves. I've kind of spoiled him this week too allowing some special treats here and there. I just can't help myself. Bradley is the healthy one that isn't supposed to have any problems. He has always been our one consistent child that doesn't have issues. I'm praying for peace and comfort as we go to sleep tonight and take him tomorrow morning. God is good, and His will is awesome- we just have to trust!

Wednesday, July 15

What's up . . .

Loving Brothers
Woodside Wonders
We're in trouble when they get older- they're all so close in age!
Laughing together
Piggies! Cuddling on the couch Can you tell I like to be naked?!?!
Getting so strong with tummy time!
Bradley and Mama on July 4th
Bradley is on the left on his first July 4th and Austin is on the right on his first 4th in the same outfit. What you couldn't tell was that Bradley almost had to be cut out of the outfit! Their head is shapped very differently, but they have a lot of the same features
It has been awhile since I've posted anything. Chris has been working a good bit, leaving me to hold the "fort" down. We've been busy with the backyard; finally got the sod down and some mulch back there. We had 25 cubic yards of mulch delivered, dumped in our driveway, and we had to get it all to the backyard. The pile was bigger than our van! Then, the sod was delivered and thanks to a great guy, Matt, it was all put planted in one day. It looks awesome. We had a cookout on our street on July 4th. It was fun as usual; lots of yummy food and great company.
Bradley is having surgery on the 23rd. He has developed a band around the tip of his "tee tee" that is causing problems and some adhesions that developed around his circumcision site. It's a minor surgery that will be done as outpatient. He will have a few days of recovery and then have to be careful for a couple of weeks while he heals. Chris will be home with us through the weekend to help out. Praise the Lord! We haven't told Bradley about his surgery. I think he is going to freak when they take him from us, but I know he'll be fine. So, I'm praying they'll have some cool way to distract him. Bradley is still doing great with Austin and loves him so much. Austin loves Bradley too, and I often see them smiling and laughing at each other. Which by the way, Austin is laughing out with this big chuckle now. It's wonderful to hear. Back to Bradley. He helped us load the mulch with his little wheelbarrow and shovel and take it to the backyard; we were pretty impressed with his strength and endurance. He has always been a strong kid though, obviously physically and mentally.
Austin also had an appointment with the urologist for his circumcision to be schedule. They weren't able to do it in the hospital, because he was so premature. That will be done later this fall perhaps arond his first birthday to give his lungs more time to grow stronger. Austin is doing well. He had a well visit back at the end of June and had his 3rd round of shots. That appointment was equivalent to his 6 month well-visit, so I had to answer the developmental quesitons for a 6 month old. He actually did pretty well. His EI and the pediatrician both believe that his verbal skills are beyond a 6 month old which is amazing because he is just now as of yesterday 4 months adjusted. He has come overcome so much and come such a long way considering what he has been through. He is currently about 14.5 pounds! He was 24 inches long at his well visit. We started back on dairy based formula and so far so good for almost 2 weeks now. We're planning on trying breastmilk in a few weeks. We also are going to start him on solids in the next few weeks just for practice on eating. I think we're going to try bananas first. I'm going to start in the mornings, because he won't take a bottle anyway until after 10am or so. He wakes up, but he doesn't eat more than an ounce or so.
I guess that is it for now. It has been amazing to see all the miracles that God has given us, more to follow on that later!