we've had a wonderful week filled with lots of family.. too many blessings to count.. and yet somethings missing. the presents are still under the tree. the stockings are still stuffed with goodies.. patiently waiting for our little family to be complete. this little guy, his dad and i will have a very merry christmas tomorrow evening when sissy makes it home. i love christmas eve... 
guess who moved out of ICU today? she is doing so much better! she certainly isnt cured. she is still suffering from the lingering effects of the virus just like any cold with a nagging cough that you cant seem to kick even after most of the other symptoms are gone. and then theres the side effects from all the crazy meds she has been on.. poor thing. but she is doing so much better! as long as they dont have to use that feeding tube you see in the pic {which is the only tube left~yay!} then she will be going home soon! merry christmas to us!
so.. i failed to post an update yesterday. but to make up for it i have GOOD news this morning!! on wednesday, as jenny posted, they began to wean macy off of the super strong sedative she has been on since she arrived. in fact they took away the drip all together. they started giving her a more mild sedative thru her central line just as needed to ease her transition back into wakefulness. my mom and i left the hospital just before 10pm on wednesday night and she had been awake, but not really aware, off and on for a few hours at that time. FF 24 hours. {jennys dad and s-mom, my mom, jenny, nick & lance took turns hanging out with her during those 24 hours} when i arrived just before 10pm last night she was SO awake. and SO aware! it was awesome to not only see those big blue eyes.. but to also see them focus on my face!
oh, sweet sweet baby macy, tho we have been by your side every moment for the last 10 days, we have missed you so.
around 10:30pm, lance and i over heard the night dr tell the rt to turn the vent down to 16 breaths per minute at 2:30am. and i cant tell you how excited i was! i would have called the entire fam..except the point of 2 people staying the night is so that everyone else can rest.. anyway. i did sleep some in this comfy chair. and when i stirred around 5:30am i found that they did not stop at 16.. miss macy is breathing quite comfortable with only the help of 12 breaths per minute from the vent. weve been told that the settings have to be down to 5 or 6 before they can extubate.. but it doesnt seem like it will be much longer before we are there!! however, one thing to note about this weaning process, we make lots of progress one day and then we wait... even if today is just waiting - getting her off the vent before the weekend is over is a real possibility! of course we will not be removing the tube and grabbing her bags. she will have to stay in icu for a bit longer to make sure everything is just as is should be. then she will have to move to a regular room for a little more observation.. this journey is by no means over. but i do see the light at the end of that rsv tunnel.. and its getting brighter. ;)
she is waking up now and i am going to stand by her side.. hold her little hand and enjoy her gazing in my direction until my relief arrives for the day. thank you for all your thoughts and prayer. God is good.
today is macy's second wedneday in the hospital and hopefully her last. she is definitely getting stronger. they have turned down the sedative {and the vent a tiny bit more}. hopefully by the end of the week she will be awake and breathing on her own.
jenny took care of reporting the news for the day.. and i have the pleasure of posting two sweet pics that i took on sunday afternoon.
the first one is a little misleading. she isnt awake.. she is still heavily sedated. but over the weekend she would spontaneously open her eyes every once in a while during her more restless periods. i just happened to have my camera out to snap this one. her eyes were only open for a brief time...but it was a bit refreshing to see those big blues.
things are mostly the same around medical city today in the picu. macy is in good company. mommy has been here ALL day. and daddy got here a little while ago.. he had to get some work done today. cousin lance and i have been here since noon. the nana's have the other kids.. and we will all switch for the evening and night shift.
macy is stable.. no major changes. however, her mom and dad just met with a dr who showed them all of her chest xrays and the progression of the secretions from the virus over the last week since she arrived. her lungs are finally starting to clear! they havent made any changes to the vent today.. but we are happy with the news just the same.
jenny spoke to the nurse today and got an approval for kennedy to visit baby macy for the first time. i just told her over the phone when she got home from school and she was THRILLED.. i mean like hannah montana tickets thrilled. thank you, jenny, for thinking of my little girl when your little girl is so sick.
when i left the hospital a little before 6 macy's vent was down to 20! great progress! i took a few pics that i will share tomorrow..
finally! some good news. macy's mommy had the pleasure of announcing today that they turned the vent down this morning from 28 breaths per minute to 24. and she is taking up the slack on her own! way to go macy!!! it might be a baby step.. but its a baby step in the right direction!!! the prayer is working.. thank you! im having lunch with the fam and then heading up to the hospital to spend the day with my girls. looking forward to the day real soon that all the girls can hang out. kenners included. .
think im gonna take my camera with me today...
we made it thru the night. and just as i suspected.. we did not sleep. but we did catch up. and we did completely enjoy hanging out together despite the situation. jenny just posted an update about macy's condition here. i will update again later today. thanks for checking on her and please continue to pray with us that today will be the day things REALLY turn around.
not much change to report.. everything is pretty much the same as this morning. she has had a full day of visitors. so many people are worried about her. im sure she is feeling all the love around her. jenny and i are having a sleepover at the hospital tonight. im sure we wont get much rest.. but not because she will be keeping us up.. somehow we havent actually seen each other since wednesday afternoon. and we need a little catch up time.
ok.. so i REALLY stink at to-the-point-brief updates. but im going to try my best to get better at them. i know there are people checking this blog for any glimpse into macy's day..
she had a good night. she has been moving around and being a bit more restless since late yesterday afternoon. {even tho she is still completely out} they have decided to start turning back the vent this afternoon.. but nothing too drastic. and they still expect the process of weaning to take 24-48 hours. when she is successfully breathing on her own they will allow the sedatives to wear off so that she can wake up. we definitely dont want to rush things.. but i think i speak for everyone when i say we are anxious to see those big blue eyes looking around again. if all goes well she will be looking for mommy and daddy on monday just like she did exactly 8 weeks earlier on her birthday.
thank you so much for your continued prayer. she desperately needs it.. more voices = louder cries.. we are asking everyone we know to pray for macy and hope that you will do the same.
so.. the tomorrow WILL be a better day chant.. didnt quite do the trick. in fact wednesday was some how so much worse. i have to be brief... too tired to type much. we all are. tuesday night was relatively peaceful. jenny and i took turns staying up, holding her and helping the nurse and respiratory therapist while macy and her dad got a little bit of rest. we really thought things were turning around. but by noon on wednesday it was clear that nothing was really changing. she was still very sick. early in the afternoon the staff at the mckinney medical center explained that there wasnt much more they could do. they had called for a transport team to take sweet litte macy to medical city childrens hospital in dallas. after she and her mommy arrived by ambulance they worked for more than an hour to get her settled into her new room in the pediatric intensive care unit {picu} and stabilized. she was sedated and intubated. every monitor you can imagine surround her tiny body.. a sea of wires, tubes and machines were now looking after macy. as well as a picu nurse right outside of her door. and finally she rested.
wow. what a long day. and just because im tired.. ive borrowed well an entire post from jennys blog.
MACY
This post is not a pleasant one to write and is simply to inform everyone of what is going on with our baby girl. Friday evening Macy came down with a cold...not too bad, but she was definitely congested. Saturday all day it was more of the same. Saturday night I was up with her all night. She stopped eating and clearly couldn't breath. Sunday all day was the same...no eating, labored breathing and lots of crying. Sunday night she vomitted and became very pale, so I called the triage nurse at her pediatrician's office - she listened to Macy breathing and directed us to go to the ER. Which we did. They did a breathing treatment, took x-rays and tested for RSV. They said all the test results were okay and we went home. That was about 2:00 in the AM. First thing Monday morning we took her to the pediatrician for a follow-up appt. She had a breathing treatment and got some nasal spray and we went home. Monday night was the worst...she screamed all evening, night and early morning. Wouldn't eat, couldn't breath. So it was back to the ER at 4 AM for us. This time she tested positive for RSV and was admitted right away. We have been here all day and the doctor just said we'll be here at least until Thursday...depending on how she does. Prayers are greatly appreciated and I will try to update the blog regularly as to her progress.
so.. a few of the details. she has been having breathing treatments and suction to remove secretions every 1 to 2 hours. eating has been very difficult.. so theyve inserted a feeding tube. 3 times. she has endured 2 of the worst iv's and iv mishaps known to man {or i guess i should say baby} only to be left with an open wound on her tiny little foot. but finally 20 hours later she is sleeping.. and she actually looks almost comfortable. her breathing is still quite labored. and tho we are keeping our eyes peeled.. we cant quite see the light at the end of this rsv tunnel. we are praying for a peaceful, restful night. one thing is certain. she is so loved.
tomorrow will be better. tomorrow WILL be better.
its no secret that korb lives the good life around here.. he is rarely awake before 8 am on a weekday. and only then because he can hear others up around the house. on the weekends he's been known to sleep til.. well.. last sunday.. noon. what can i say. he is his fathers child. ;) but thats not the point of this story. for the most part he gets out of bed. eats breakfast. plays with his friends until 11. eats lunch. then takes a nap. and during that busy morning i almost never take the time to get him dressed. we just worry about that when he wakes up from nap. so yesterday around 3pm when i was getting him dressed for the day, i took a pair of jeans and a super-cute-old-navy-striped shirt out of his closet. one that he has had for weeks and i have only gotten him to wear a few times. this one.. he wore it the day we took kennedys hairkut pics.
its cute. i like it. so yesterday, as he was throwing the same fit he always does when i try to put it on him, and yelling that he doesnt like it... i stopped and asked, 'korb..WHY dont you like it?' {WHY is completely his favorite word right now. but thats another post entirely} his reply. and i quote. "it makes me nauseous." what? nauseous? seriously? seriously. when i inquired further.. certain that he did not know what nauseous meant. he said, "dizzy mommy. that shirt makes me nauseous & dizzy." not exactly the response one would expect from your 2 year old. he seriously cracks me up!
and ive dodged a few tags over the last few months.. so ive decided to combine!
10 years and 5 things.. this is for kelly
Rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people & posts their names, then goes to their blog & leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged & asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.
10 YEARS AGO I...
5 THINGS ON TODAY'S TO-DO LIST
5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
5 JOBS I'VE HAD
My Big Eights.. this is for jaime {and jodi and jennifer! ...julie its your turn} love me some lindley girls!
rules: this one seems pretty simple. just list eight things about yourself in each category. however.. it wasnt SO easy to come up with EIGHT things in each category! but it was fun!
8 TV Shows I Love To Watch:
8 Favorite Restaurants: about restaurants.. can you really put taco bueno and nick & sams on the same list? well, im about to!
8 Things That Happened Today:
8 Things I am looking Forward To:
8 Things On My Wish List: starting big and working my way down to realistic ;)
And finally.. The Christmas edition of “Getting To Know Your Friends”.. this one is for melissa. because she was nice enough to play along when i tagged her in the 6th photo post.
If you are reading this, then join in the fun (not a blogger?... email it and keep the fun going!) Here's what to do and try not to be a SCROOGE! Copy and paste these 25 questions into your blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you & your family. Tis the Season to be NICE! Enjoy reading everyones answers reading from their blog!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? for christmas, wrapping paper. for the rest of the year..definitely gift bags.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial! totally and completely cannot breath around the real thing!
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? the weekend after new years
5. Do you like eggnog? yep. and wassail!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? clothing. always clothing. imagine that.
7. Hardest person to buy for? kennedy
8. Easiest person to buy for? kyle
9. Do you have a nativity scene? actually, no. and that makes me sad!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail - gotta do that!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? thats a hard one..
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? umm... die hard?
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? i do things at the last minute! that includes christmas shopping..
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? not that i can recall.. but if im being honest, im not sure i would tell. :)
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? deviled eggs..im sure kyle just threw up a little in his mouth.
16. Lights on the tree? clear..but i like colors on everyone elses ;)
17. Favorite Christmas song? i have a new favorite this year.. santa claus got stuck in my chimney by ella fitzgerald. dont ask. ;) normally im a christmas island kinda girl.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? a little of both
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? see above..eight things ive done today..do you know how many times ive read twas the night before christmas lately.. its korb's favorite! he can almost quote the whole thing on his own.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? christmas eve! if we can wait that long!!!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? most years.. the exhaustion of long hours working retail. this year.. missing the hustle and bustle of long hours working retail. i know. it makes no sense.
23. Favorite ornament? all of the kids first christmas ornaments.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? all of it!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? for kennedy to stay home...
ok. done. that was actually kinda fun! i would love it if you could find time in your busy schedules to play along.. lita, nikki, nickie, jenny, heather, jaime, jennifer, julie, jodi, kelly, amy, katie.. not that im tagging you. just suggesting a little mindless fun..
