Day 84 - Samuel Update

Samuel is still off of the cpap! It has been a little over a week and a half since he's been off and he's doing great. The past 3 days his numbers have been great. You can probably count on one hand how many desats he has had in the past few days. He hasn't had any heart rate drops recently either. He is bottlefeeding/nursing 3 times within a 24 hour period. The rest of his feedings are still through the feeding tube through his nose. He has nursed 4 times total now and has done great with it. He falls asleep so fast each time he nurses but he is getting it down. He didn't need the oxygen help when I nursed him today. He did so great! He is now 6 lbs 9.3 oz. He is filling out as you can see in the pictures below. He changes so fast! He looks so different than he did a week ago. I am getting more comfortable with taking care of him. When I was there today with him, we really bonded. We had some good snuggle time, exercise time, tummy time, and nursing time. It was a good day.

Are you surprised at our little chunk Morgan?

Day 79 - Samuel Update

Wow, so a lot has happened with Samuel in the past week. He is completely weaned off of the cpap now!!! As of last Tuesday they trialed him off for 12 hours and he did great with that so they kept it off. This last friday they did have to put him back on for 8 hours or so because he had an eye exam and he didn't like it one bit. Supposedly he was screaming and going crazy. Poor guy. The eye doctor said that his eyes still look a little premature but they are developing and they look good from what she could tell so far. He'll have one more eye exam in a couple weeks. A couple hours after his eye exam he got his immunizations so he had a big day. He is now bottlefeeding 3 times within every 24 hour period and gets 55 mls at each feeding (so almost 2 oz every 3 hours). He needs the cannula while feeding because he's still trying to get the bottlefeeding down but he has been doing great with the suck/swallow/breathe thing. He's amazing. It usually takes him anywhere from 15-30 minutes to get the 2 oz down which is great. Before going home he needs to be bottlefeeding/nursing every 3 hours and be gaining weight at the same time. His heart looks good and the "ductus" looks significantly smaller which is great. As of today he weighs 6 lbs 1 oz which is a huge gain so they are going to be giving him some extra diaretics to help him out. A lot of that weight gain is water weight. Samuel is doing great and we are hoping that in the next 2-3 weeks he'll be home.

This last Saturday evening, my sister Leslie and I went to visit him. He had a mohawk goin' on. It was surprisingly really cute on him;)

The Big Move

The love of my life moved away this last weekend to go to BYU Provo for the Fall Semester. I am to stay here with Noel while Samuel is still in the hospital. Once Samuel comes home, me and the chillins will have to stay a couple more months just to make sure he's okay and stable to be able to move to Utah. It really is all a blessing that it's working out this way because it means we have Samuel. It's going to be hard the next few months being away from my hubby, but so worth it in the end. He is fulfilling his dream of going to BYU and getting a great education and soon we'll be together again. If all goes as planned, Morgan will visit a couple of times and hopefully will be here for when Samuel is discharged.

All I can say is, we have too much stuff. I miss you dearly Morgan and I love you so much. I didn't think absence would make the heart grow fonder after marriage but it sure has and it's only been a few days!
Noel, making faces at her daddy while he's packing the truck.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MORGAN! NOEL AND I ARE PRAYING FOR YOU. WE MISS YOU!

Craw Fishin'

My brother Chris and his wife Kareena came into town this past week for a visit so the family did quite a few fun things together such as camping, fishing, crawdading, eating In'n'Out, visiting Samuel, and other fun things. Although Morgan and I couldn't be there for all of everything, we were there for most of it and we enjoyed every minute of the time we were able to spend with family. We also enjoyed spending some time with Morgan's family a couple of different times this last week before he left for Utah for school.

Morgan, my brothers Mikey (who is living at home for the summer) & Chris, and Kareena went craw fishing this last friday Morning. They had a great time and I think they said they caught 111 crawdads. Morgan fried them up later that day and they were eaten for dinner.

They also caught a couple of bull frogs.

Morgan and Mr. Crawdad.
My niece, Mya. A brave soul.
Another brave soul, my niece Brianna.
All 111 crawdads.
Noel was watching nearby.

Morgan's Last Visit

Morgan and I visited Samuel together last Thursday afternoon. It was Morgan's last visit before leaving for BYU. Morgan got to bottlefeed him during the visit. Morgan's parents came to visit Samuel while we were there so they were able to hold Samuel for the first time so we snapped a few pictures. It was a good visit.

My husband, the photographer

So, my husband secretly is a very good photographer. One evening last week after visitng Samuel, Morgan took the camera and took some pictures in the backyard. Isn't he amazing?!








I was so amazed with all of these pictures. They're beautiful!

More lake time

Last Tuesday, Morgan, Noel and I spent the day with our friends, George, Audrey and her son, Chris, as well as my brother Chris and Kareena up near Union Valley Reservoir. My parents, my brother Mikey and 2 of my nieces and 1 nephew later in the evening joined us and camped overnight with Chris and Kareena. Morgan and I left after dinner so we could get some things done before he left this last weekend.
Noel helping her daddy set up camp for those who were staying overnight.Noel played in the water a lot.

My handsome hubby.
Chris and Kareena.

Our friend, George.
Audrey's son, Chris.
Noel absolutely loved playing in the water and mud. She was entertained the entire 2-3 hours we were out there.

Audrey, relaxing on the lake shore.
I'm not sure what was happening here but it brings a smile to my face when I look at this picture.



Relaxing and waiting for the fishy's to bite.

My brother Chris caught a fish and Noel would giggle each time she'd touch it.
Noel with her dad fishin'.
He went out a little further to fish and told her to hold onto this fishing pole holder, so... she did. It was too cute.
Check out my hubby casting. What a guy!

Hangin' with Noel. Funny face.

The sunset.