Stuck in the Nursery

Unfortunately, Hannah's breathing wasn't getting better after a few days in the ICU, and in fact, it was even getting worse. Her breathing was becoming more labored and her oxygen requirement was going up. That being the case, they did a chest X-ray and discovered that Hannah has congenital pneumonia. Unfortunately, that means another week in the ICU with IV antibiotics (the video is from her first day in the ICU). Fortunately, she has made some improvement in the past 24 hours. Her breathing has become slightly better to the point that she was able to breastfeed today for the first time since birth. She's still needs a lot of oxygen to maintain her saturation, but at least she actually is maintaining a good saturation now (which she had not been doing during the past three days). The neonatologist is now talking about working on weaning her oxygen down starting tomorrow and her IV fluids are already coming down as she's starting to drink. While we're not getting our hopes set too high, there's definitely a possibility that she'll be able to come home next weekend. Interestingly enough, she started doing better soon after Eric Palfreyman came to the hospital to help me give her a blessing. Anyway, things are looking up. Hopefully, more good news will follow. Thanks to everyone for their support!

And Then There Were Five

Well, the delivery went well, and a new little girl was added to our family this morning. Hannah Lee Anderson was born at 7:53 AM on Valentine's Day.

Summer will be thrilled that I posted a picture of her pregnant and in a hospital gown!

Hannah was born after only about 2 or so hours of labor, and she weighed in at 7 lbs, 1 oz, and was 20 & 1/2 inches long. Unfortunately, her rapid descent through the birth canal caused inadequate expulsion of some of the amniotic fluid from her lungs, so she had some difficulty breathing at first (diagnosed with Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN) for all you medical types out there). She had to be transferred to the Special Care Nursery today, and will likely need to stay there for another day or two as her breathing gradually improves. Summer was only able to hold her for about 30 seconds today immediately after the birth, so we look forward to being able to hold her when her breathing gets a little better. She had lots of hair, unlike our two little boys when they were born. Anyway, she is doing well, and hopefully will be able to come home sometime Saturday.

"Maintenance needed for a wet spill in the paint department!"

It's worse than it sounds...

SO...we'd been standing for about 20-25 minutes in the paint department of Severance Wal-Mart last night, just waiting for someone to come mix one gallon of paint for us. We had someone paged twice and Bryan had to go buy the kids some blue Gatorade to keep them happy.

When someone finally came to help us, Logan said to me, "I have a tummy ache, Mommy!" I stepped closer to him, and was about 1 foot away from him when I got hit with a WALL OF VOMIT! PROJECTILE VOMIT! I just stood there, gasping, not realizing what had happened. The first thing Bryan said was, "Are you okay, Summer?" I guess I must have looked more distressed than poor Logan. Despite how cranky I was for having to wait so long for some freakin' service, I felt a little bad about the disgusting mess we left behind in the paint department! (It was fascinating to see how many employees suddenly appeared when there was something interesting like vomit to see.) We did our best to mop ourselves off with paper towels, paid for our paint, and rushed out to the car in the pouring rain.

On the way home, Logan got sick again in his car seat. Did I mention he had eaten Salt & Vinegar potato chips a bit earlier? I'll just let you imagine that smell in an enclosed car!

When we made it home and got Logan stripped down and into the tub, he sounded pretty proud of himself, "I did TWO frow-ups, Mommy!" (Yup.) "BIG ONES!" he said with a smile. He must have felt better after that, cause he went right to bed and we all slept through the night without any more "frow-ups."

This morning, I woke up a bit late and was rushing to get Andrew and Airyonna ready for school. I was thanking my lucky stars that none of us were sick this morning (despite the fact that we all drank from the same Gatorade bottle last night - nice, huh). Just as the timer rang to tell us it was time to leave, I heard the unmistakable sound of a "blow-out." Poor Logan...this time it was the other end! I started peeling a soaked shirt and pants off his body while shouting to the other two to get their coats and shoes on, "and don't step in the puddle of poop in the carpet!" I hosed him down in the tub and redressed him kicking and screaming (he didn't think it was fair that he couldn't stay and play in the tub). Back downstairs, it took me a while to realize that I couldn't find Logan's or my shoes and coat because they were in the laundry (Oh yeah, they were full of vomit last night!)

We did finally make it out the door (though Logan had to go shoeless; I put him in the stroller) and got the kids off to school - only a little late. I just finished scrubbing the giant puddle of diarrhea in my carpet, and thanks to a whole lot of Febreze, the poopy smell invading my entire house is starting to dissipate.

Through the ordeals of this morning, I had to keep thinking about Bryan and what he said last night, "Everything is okay, this is just part of life." When I was about to loose it at Wal-Mart (okay, I was already in the process of loosing it) Bryan kept a happy, cheerful attitude throughout it all! He even cleaned all the vomit out of the car and carseat with a smile on his face! I don't know how he does it, but this is one of the traits that I admire the most about Bryan! In difficult or very unpleasant situations, he always has a good attitude and is able to keep things in perspective. This is exactly opposite of my reactions; I just get moody and snap at everyone. I feel SO fortunate and grateful to have Bryan as my husband! Heavenly Father knew that I needed someone like him to make up for all my weaknesses and teach me how to behave! I just hope it doesn't take me an entire lifetime to learn from his example! I love you, Bryan!