An Innie, No Longer an Outie...

Well we are home and we made it through a VERY long day. Braden was NPO (couldn't eat or drink) after 6 am for his 2pm surgery. So I woke him at 5:30, gave him water and a granola bar and let him sleep more. The morning went good. He was distracted with shopping by his Noni.

We got to BCH at Noon and got checked in. By 12:30 we were in our PreOp room. Braden did so good with me until it came time to change into the gown and socks. Pretty sure I was going to have a black eye today, but thankfully I don't. Let's just say I am forever grateful to a ChildLife worker "Miss Jessica" for distracting the smack down I got by offering to bring in a Wii if he changed. So we waited and waited. And of course the one thing they tell you to bring is a 'friend' from home, but do I remember? No. Daddy to the rescue. He stopped and got B a new Webkinz. Which I have to give him props for- B has accumulated over 20 of those dang things and Rusty picked one he doesn't already have. I was QUITE impressed!

Well by 1:30 we decided to give Braden something to calm his nerves. But we had to wait for the Anesthesiologist to come and give the order. By 2 we were told they were behind and it would be 3:30 before they started his case. Finally about 4 his OR nurse came in and did the final prep. 

He was such a trooper. He was getting really hungry and the wait  was annoying. We played Go Fish, War, did puzzles, I SPy, played Connect 4. Plus the Wii, and his DS and the I Phone came in handy.  They told us once they gave him the Versed that he would probably fall asleep, so when the Doc came back into to check on him he laughed that we were sitting up playing cards. His exact words were "He's no cheap date, huh?"  Pretty funny. 

When it was time to go back he cried for his Daddy which made it easier on me. The Anesthesiologist ended up carrying him down the hall. Less than an hour later the surgeon came to talk to us. It had gone well. The stitches are internal and will dissolve in a few months. They also removed a mole on his leg that looked suspicious to them. 

We were in the PACU (post anesthesia care unit) for over an hour while he woke up and tried to get some fluids down.  Last night was rough, he was in a lot of pain. This morning too. He is finally able to walk on his own-they gave him an epidural so he couldn't feel his feet for 8 hours post op! Now the fun begins- I have to think of ways to keep this kid from running, riding bikes or scooters ect for THREE WEEKS! EEK! I have invested in some new Lego's, board games and I pray he cooperates! Thanks for all the love and support!

Unwanted Flashbacks...

Tommorrow, Tuesday, Braden is having a surgery to fix an umbilical hernia that he has had since birth. It is  a very routine surgery that we have been putting off for, well forever.  It should take less than an hour in the OR and the surgeon said the actual repair only takes him about fifteen minutes.  But there is always that little nudger in the back of my mind- what about his heart? The cardiologist of course cleared him for the surgery - although he listed him as a 'mild risk'. Mild risk? Don't tell me that! I know he is just super cautious with Braden, which I love, but doesn't he know I can't take Zanax when I am pregnant?! So we went to this little preop teaching class they have at Banner Desert. They show the kids a movie, let them walk to the OR, see the post op area, ride in a wheel chair and then they show them all the stuff that will be used on them.  So Braden left that class with a scrub hat, a surgery coloring book, a surgical mask and then they have them pick a mask. It's the ones that they will breathe in while they fall asleep in surgery. It's pretty cute, they put scented goo in there so it smells good (Braden chose bubblegum, not my fav.) All in all he did really well. When they demonstrated some things that would happen she asked Braden to recall what they had called it. First they 'gave the arm a big hug'--Braden's answer, "You're taking my blood pressure" Second they 'checked out the heart' Braden's answer "You are getting my O2 sats" and Third they 'checked how hot you are' and Braden says, "Oh you are just taking my temperature, I do this all the time."  It was so funny.  So why is it, through the whole thing I am playing a slide show in my head. When I see him put the mask to his face I flashed back to the PCH PICU, the first time Braden was in heart failure, and required oxygen and got his feeding tube.
Then as they showed us where we would say bye and they would go with the nurses to the OR, I was remembering that I have not just done this once, but three times. The first time was easiest, since I was exhausted beyond all belief and my good doc's game me a anti anxiety medicine. The second time I was a basket case, since it was for his first open heart and I knew the surgery was going to be 10 hours or more and really risky. The third time I think I was in 'get it done' mode. Plus Braden was on really good drugs  that made him loopy and hilarious to watch- he even said "OOOOOoh" when the OR doors all swung open.And while I am glad we won't be sitting in this waiting room again for hours and hours and hours. I am even more glad that afterward we get to take him right home, instead of having to worry about all this for 3 weeks after...

Keep us in your prayers and wish us luck! I will post an update with pictures tomorrow!

No More Hand-me-downs...

Having two boys both born in the same month (and throw in a nephew -born in the same season just a year before Berk) I have had good use of the clothes my kids have.  After Braden outgrew things I shipped them up to Draven and then we get them back in time for Berk to wear. We had a pretty good thing going I thought. Quite a lot of BANG for our bucks, ya know?

Until about 3 months ago- when 'pants season' started for Braden. Suddenly jeans only are lasting about 3 weeks.  I started seeing all these little holes in the knees of his jeans. So I did the thrifty thing and ironed on patches. Those lasted about another 3 weeks and now we are getting holes in the patches covering the holes!  Seriously what is my kid doing at school? It is ALWAYS the left knee- always.  For some reason his khaki pants are exempt from this thrashing, thank goodness!  So I have hit the point where my kids will no longer be getting hand-me-down jeans pants. Mostly cause they have all been cut into nice jean shorts. 

My theory is that denim just isn't what is once was or something, cause I was the youngest of six and I know I got loads of hand-me-downs, so why did those last and these didn't?!? Anyway, just needed to vent. And now  I am going to go wait for the UPS guy- he's bringing me some new maternity clothes (yeah) and a few new pairs of jeans for Braden to thrash...oh the joys of motherhood.

Happy Birthday Rusty!!!

Happy 30th Birthday to Rusty!

Hope you have the best day! Are we really getting this old?!?

This and That...

Thanks for all the well wishes! I am still realizing this whole thing is really happening. This pregnancy has been very different from my last two.  First off I was able to get pregnant with out all the extra medical help and waiting that I needed for Braden & Berk.  Second, and most fantastically, I have not been sick. Now this is not to say that I have not been puky and tired and in general felt just gross. But for the most part I have felt really good. I could hardly look at the ultrasound at my appointment for fear that it was all a big mix up.  If you were around me when I was pregnant with Braden, but more so with Berk then you know how sick I get. I get ill. I lost nearly 20 pounds in my first trimester with Braden and I puked everyday till I was 7 months. With Berk I was even more sick, but somehow managed to still gain weight. I still don't know how, since I swear my diet for 6 months was red Poweraide and crackers. With Berkley I was so sick so early, I missed that trip to Hawaii! I puked everyday until I had him - all day really.

So with this baby I had the thought, "Oh, this is how people have ten kids" I totally got it. I keep telling Rusty that when I say I am having a bad day it is on a different scale than the others. Most the time I cant even complain because I am so grateful that I can go into my kitchen, eat anything I want and rarely see it again. Having bad seasonal allergies has been kinda nice since my super smelling power is null.  A few firsts this pregnancy include restaurant dining, movie going and traveling in a car without incident! Big deals for me!

As I leave my first trimester behind I am excited to finally have a little energy back. I am dismayed that the whole "you show really early with your third" is actually true!  I am already bustin out the Belly Bands so I can get my jeans on and I am searching the Internet for a few more swimming suits. I really do plan on living in the pool this summer. I just wish if the weather was going to be this hot that the pool could warm up too!

Finally, this week marks two important things for us. 

1. It is the 6 year anniversary of Braden's first Open Heart Surgery 

2. It is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

One of the 'perks' to having a heartbaby is the extra testing I have to have with each subsequent baby. Next week I go in the the perinatologist for the first of a couple tests I will have there and then in about 6 weeks I will head back to the pediatric cardiologist for a fetal echo. These tests are pretty cool and easy to do. And always nice to know that the heart looks good. I am grateful as always that Braden had such an incredible outcome to his heart story. If anyone missed it, there are links on the side to his Heart Journey and other CHD sites.

Fingers crossed, I would really love this baby to be a girl- but I also feel like I would be fine with all boys. Being the only Princess in the house has it's perks! 

This Summer...

Sitting outside in the 'heat' of February has got me thinking about this Summer. Is it really 80* already? Am I really sending Brae to school with out a jacket, in shorts and with a water bottle- already? So what, our winter lasted about three whole weeks? I even bought a cute new jacket at Forever, but I only got to wear it at the cabin! Berk has no complaints about the great weather. He would live in the backyard if I would let him. And after school if I am not sitting in the drive way watching the boys play, then certainly I am in the back breaking up fights on the tramp.

Sure we still have a few 'cold' days but from the looks of the trees that are already blooming Spring is on its way. The only down side to that is that allergy season has already started for me. I feel like crud, my boys feel like crud and being outside in the breezy weather doesn't help at all.

Last night we sat planning our trips this summer- Snowbird, Powell, Colorado. This summer is going to be jam packed! I am so excited. We missed our annual trip to our condo in the Utah  mountains last year because we were headed to Europe, so I am glad to get back there. And I just found out we are going to see Wicked in July! I've seen it before but Rusty hasn't. Our seats are 5th row Center- who could ask for more? Yeah! 

Then I think about the end of the summer, Braden will be starting 1st grade and will be gone all day, and Berk will start preschool. When did my boys get so big?  I can hardly believe Braden is almost 6 1/2! Oh the changes this summer will bring...

Mainly things will change because...

We're pregnant! Baby #3 headed our way in August! 

(Love the Alien Baby Look)

My Nemisis...

I hate laundry.

Okay really just the gathering part and the actual switching loads part.

I dread Monday's because that is my designated laundry day. And yes it's Tuesday but I have been procrastinating. 

But worst of all, I hate pairing up socks.

Hate it like I hate having sand all over my clean hardwoods or having it rain after I finally get my car washed. Hate it.

And why is it that all of the socks can't come back out of the laundry when you KNOW they all went in? Rusty is always asking for a pair of dark socks- good luck I say! I like the tidiness of having the laundry all folded and in baskets and ready to be put away (shoot I even started paying my little niece to help me put some of it away!) Everything is peachy, my system is set-- all except for the sock matching.  Is there a better way, any tricks? I mean besides the whole 'wear once and toss' thing which is utterly wasteful but sounds oh so good to me right now...

Enough with Dead Fish Already!!!

So you may remember that we had the oh-so-brilliant idea to get Braden a fish tank for his birthday last year. Then we dealt with babies being bred by the dozen, and I mean within days people...  And again a few months later...And don't forget we had to get a house sitter when we went to Europe to watch the fish-(nothin' like 5 year old drama!!!)  Now I am no fish expert (as the fine folks at Petsmart will agree) but it seems to me like fish are a lot more involved than one would think. 

Braden with Larry number 3 (I think)

For starters, the whole tank cleaning thing.  One sales person says clean the tank once a month but change the filter every week. Another says clean water every other week and the filter monthly. And another 5 people tell me something else entirely! So now I have it worked down to a system, when the tank looks like the one in the dentist's office on Finding Nemo- I clean it. Now this use to be Rusty's job, but somehow I inherited it... Oh, and I had the brilliant (seriously tho) idea of getting a sucker fish because they eat algae! So my tank is way cleaner! They are seriously ugly though and I won't put my hand in anywhere near it, they kinda freak me out. 

But then there was a whole series of fish dying, 'must be the Ph' they said so we got the stuff to fix that and bought a round of new fish. Then another few drop off and it 'must be the water temperature' so we get a heater. Then we didn't have a 'bubblier' and that must have been why those few more died. Then we got 'ICH'. Which is as gross as its name. It is a bacteria fish get that makes their scales get air under them, painful and gross.  So weeks of daily water changes, plus the medicine for it and a new batch of fish have a squeaky clean home. 

Now you may think I am exaggerating, but I bet if I checked my credit card history we would have bought like 50 fish over the last year. No joke! Currently we have three cute little gold guppies (6 have come home with us in the last week), a sucker fish "Sucker the Third" (first one lasted eons and Sucker the 2nd lasted just 48 hours), and a gold Molly fish.  Monday I flushed the silver Molly "Maggie" after she was attacked by our Beta fish. And I wasn't really sad to see her go because I knew my baby fish days were OVER! The Beta "Larry the 5th" was red this time, instead of blue and that seemed to make him more aggressive. He attacked the three little guppies and took on Maggie who was WAY bigger than him. So he got himself put in fishie time out (a small vase aside the tank to remind him what he could lose). But apparently he couldn't take the separation. He feeds on having other fish around (no pun intended-ok yeah there was) and after a mere afternoon in timeout he was dead. Sad. 

SeRiOuSlY people! I am DONE with the fishies! I swear when these last 5 die out the tank is DONE! Or at least when the other 4 die the sucker won't have anything to eat and he will probably just give up.

In fact it seems the only fish that has managed to hang around a while is Nemo! And he is a cyber pet! EEK! 

So Braden is gonna have to learn to love him some plush fish (thank heavens Webkinz makes a bunch of them)- cause I am so done with the ones we have now!

Home Sweet Home...

This month marks 6 years since we moved from our first home in Mesa to this home in Gilbert. Six years. It seems so crazy. Braden was only a few months old, we were weeks away from his first surgery and this house seemed so big.  Over the years you change things and adjust. You get more stuff, more people and more stuff. A once playroom gave way to a new nursery when Berk came around. A guest room was sacrificed so I would have an office of my own to 'girlify' and leave a mess if I wanted to. All white walls have been painted in the last few years so that the only white that remains is in the bathrooms- and that's just cause I can't decide how I want to paint them.  Ok really, the kids bath I want to paint in stripes-but the texture on the wall makes it impossible to get a clean line- so for now it is white. We've put crown moulding up in nearly every room, framed the windows and changed out all the light fixtures, nearly.  

Poor Rusty changed out three ceiling fans just today. About ten times. Is there some sort of law that says a box CAN'T have either a)the directions in it or b) all the parts included??? I swear we have made 10 trips to Home Depot and Lowe's today! Anyway.

And outside there are so many changes. A pool fence was one of the first additions, followed by a bigger grass area, and eventually chairs by the pool, a tramp and an ever popular sandbox. Out front we still have a list of 'eventually' to do, but we did cross a big one off early last year when we removed an UGLY tree and put in two new shade trees.  I really really really want to paint my house.  I have the color all picked out, I have a painters number- now I just need the OK from Rusty to spend the money! (hint hint)

It seems so funny how you can feel like you are bursting at the seams with toys and clothes and stuff and yet there is always something to be bought! We love this house. We thought it would be a temporary thing, only a few years at most. But we love this neighborhood, school, friends, ward and now we wonder if we can ever leave.  Now if we can just figure out where to put everything we've outgrown... I am praying for a storage unit for my anniversary, how romantic, right?

So Happy Moving Day Anniversary House- we love you. 

Knock Down Drag Out Fight...

It shouldn't be this hard. I mean really. In the scheme of things this is just about the easiest, pain free doctors visit any kid could go to--- but somehow Braden still managed to make his yearly cardiologist visit a day to remember. (So much so that I don't even have any  *gasp* photos to go along with this post- so I will bust out some oldies as filler.)  It is probably my fault, trying to be efficient I scheduled his dental cleaning this week too. Which he had NO CAVITIES, but in order to find that out it took me, the dentist, and three- YES THREE- hygienists to hold him down to check. Seriously? SO he was more than a little traumatized going in to today.

It is one of those catch 22's. While it is an amazing blessing that his health is good enough to only require yearly trips to the peds Cardiologist- that also means it doesn't happen frequently enough for him to remember what goes on there. Plus they moved offices and so it was a new place for him, and the nurse that took us back was new to us. I should have known when we had to tag team him to get him out of the car, but I thought once we were there it would be smooth sailing. 

Wrong.

So here is the rundown of his visits. Height, weight, blood pressure check, EKG, Echo, and finally the actual exam. As they told us today they are all 'stickers and cords' nothing to hurt or poke you with there. He cried about taking his shoes off to get weighted, what? And then looked like the ruler was gonna chop his head off when he got measured. And of course they weigh him in Kilos and measure him in centimeters, so have fun doing that conversion- oh fine, I did it for you, he was 44.something pounds and just over 45 inches. 

(last year's EKG)

Once we got into the room for the BP and EKG he freaked. Kicking & screaming, and he full on punched me! The nurse was great- sensing a brawl was ensuing he left the room and came back with stickers, a robot toy and a play stethoscope. We calmed him down, after forcibly removing his shirt for the tests and then he was great. He sat still for both and was fine. 

After a LONG wait the ECHO tech was ready for us. Can I just say first of all, those machines are the coolest thing ever. And to watch the techs work them is mind blowing. There are a million knobs and switches and a whew, here is a photo. No wonder they go to school for so long just to do one machine! Anyways. After a little scuffle to get him onto the table, biting was involved, it wasn't pretty...  But the tech was a tough lady who took NO bull crap and she told him to lay down that they had to get an image. Finally after crawling up on the table with him he settled down and they got a good looking echo while he watched Kung Fu Panda.  

After the tough tech we went back to wait for our doc. We had been there for over two hours and I was BORED- luckily Rusty had his Itouch to keep Braden amused and I played on my Iphone enough I ran the battery dead. Sad story. So since Braden's defect is really rare, and his outcome of such great health is even rarer, they always drag any medical students in to see him and hear his heart. I wish I had taken a picture of his chart. This one is about 3 inches thick, and I know he has at least one more chart in storage.  Crazy.  He listened and listened. They check the pulses in his feet and listen more. Then the med student listens.  We are continually blessed and amazed at how well Braden s still doing. He isn't on any heart medication and under no restrictions. We will go back again in a year and then the doc said we may even go to once every couple years. Amazing. 

He is such a great doc. He even told us this funny story about how his daughter had done a google search on him and a photo of he and Braden came up, and his daughter thought that he was pretty cool to be on google. So funny. So we are done for another year, the bite marks on my arm are healing, the scratched on both Rusty and I will fade and we will somehow try to think of a way to make it less terrifying for the next time we go! Now we just have to figure out how we are going to get Braden to his consult with the pediatric surgeon he has coming up (for a umbilical hernia that never healed). That outta be fun...