This is my house. Take that!
We are sooo excited to have Brandon home. He has done really well. He really seems to enjoy the attention and extra stimulation. He hasn’t been out of a hospital room for almost six months. He opens his eyes really wide and looks around at everything. He really seems to enjoy the attention, both from his parents and from his brothers. He hasn’t fixed his eating problems overnight but he has done really well in general and it appears to be really good for him to be home.
However, even with this happiness and excitement we feel very overwhelmed. My Birthday was on Christmas. I planned on eating cheese cake instead of a birthday cake. (I like cheesecake much better). We have one in the freezer and I still haven’t found time to take a bite. I’ll give it another shot tonight.
Christmas evening was like a scene out of a movie. It was so crazy and stressful I think you would’ve had to seen it to believe it. The afternoon went great, but by evening the boys were running around yelling and screaming. We had to wade through a sea of wrapping paper and toys. We didn’t really get that many gifts but it is amazing how much space toys and junk can take when everything is taken out of the box. A nurse showed up to help us learn how to use some of the equipment. Katelyn was crying because she was tired. Brandon was crying because he was hungry. They both needed medication. I was holding both babies trying to listen to the instructions. Amy was listening while preparing the medication. The alarms on the monitors kept going off and we had to determine which baby they where attached to. We kept tangling the massive pile of tubing and cables in knots. I think the highlight was when, as the nurse was talking over this ruckus, Amy shot me in the head with some of Brandon’s medication. I’m pretty sure that the nurse was happy to get out of there when she was done.
Brandon quickly pulled out his NG tube in the middle of the night last night so I got to place my first tube without a nurse around. It made me pretty nervous and it was even more worrisome because he pulled the tube during a feeding. This left milk in his nose that of course caused some breathing difficulties. For a while we were pretty worried. By morning he was still had noisy breathing but a quick suction took care of the problem.
It’s continued to be crazy but Amy is amazing. She is working hard to get organized. We are getting smarter and filling syringes with medication for the entire day. We are mixing large daily rationings of food for Brandon and dividing it up into feeding size proportions. Amy has made a chart to track what needs to happen and mark when it has happened. We are going to make it, but it certainly won’t be easy.
In addition to the baby responsibilities it seems like other problems keep popping up. Our garage door has become finicky and doesn’t want to open all of the time. The dish washer seems to be following the garage door’s example. We got some plastic stuck in the garbage disposal and this morning I was in the attic checking to see if our roof was leaking. Our computer also seems to by dieing. We have somehow seemed to handle all of these problems but needless to say, our house isn’t looking as clean as I would like.
Even with all of this stress, it is all worth while when we realize that we have both of our new babies home and they are doing so well. At the doctor’s appointment today he told us about his conversation with the nurse that help revive Brandon shortly after his birth. We were reminded of what bad shape he was in and how lucky we are to have him at all.
On Christmas, before the mayhem broke loose, I was planning on writing a deep and contemplative Blog post about how grateful we are. I guess I will save that post for later…
However, even with this happiness and excitement we feel very overwhelmed. My Birthday was on Christmas. I planned on eating cheese cake instead of a birthday cake. (I like cheesecake much better). We have one in the freezer and I still haven’t found time to take a bite. I’ll give it another shot tonight.
Christmas evening was like a scene out of a movie. It was so crazy and stressful I think you would’ve had to seen it to believe it. The afternoon went great, but by evening the boys were running around yelling and screaming. We had to wade through a sea of wrapping paper and toys. We didn’t really get that many gifts but it is amazing how much space toys and junk can take when everything is taken out of the box. A nurse showed up to help us learn how to use some of the equipment. Katelyn was crying because she was tired. Brandon was crying because he was hungry. They both needed medication. I was holding both babies trying to listen to the instructions. Amy was listening while preparing the medication. The alarms on the monitors kept going off and we had to determine which baby they where attached to. We kept tangling the massive pile of tubing and cables in knots. I think the highlight was when, as the nurse was talking over this ruckus, Amy shot me in the head with some of Brandon’s medication. I’m pretty sure that the nurse was happy to get out of there when she was done.
Brandon quickly pulled out his NG tube in the middle of the night last night so I got to place my first tube without a nurse around. It made me pretty nervous and it was even more worrisome because he pulled the tube during a feeding. This left milk in his nose that of course caused some breathing difficulties. For a while we were pretty worried. By morning he was still had noisy breathing but a quick suction took care of the problem.
It’s continued to be crazy but Amy is amazing. She is working hard to get organized. We are getting smarter and filling syringes with medication for the entire day. We are mixing large daily rationings of food for Brandon and dividing it up into feeding size proportions. Amy has made a chart to track what needs to happen and mark when it has happened. We are going to make it, but it certainly won’t be easy.
In addition to the baby responsibilities it seems like other problems keep popping up. Our garage door has become finicky and doesn’t want to open all of the time. The dish washer seems to be following the garage door’s example. We got some plastic stuck in the garbage disposal and this morning I was in the attic checking to see if our roof was leaking. Our computer also seems to by dieing. We have somehow seemed to handle all of these problems but needless to say, our house isn’t looking as clean as I would like.
Even with all of this stress, it is all worth while when we realize that we have both of our new babies home and they are doing so well. At the doctor’s appointment today he told us about his conversation with the nurse that help revive Brandon shortly after his birth. We were reminded of what bad shape he was in and how lucky we are to have him at all.
On Christmas, before the mayhem broke loose, I was planning on writing a deep and contemplative Blog post about how grateful we are. I guess I will save that post for later…
2 comments:
Brent and Amy,
your family is so amazing. We pray as a family for you all and are really glad to see that Brandon has finally made it home. I like the love-tap picture that Katelynn gave him. She was probably telling him that he shouldn't have been playing around in the hospital so much and come home sooner. Your blog has been a great way for all of us to keep up to date on their progress. It will be fun to see them grow up big and strong. Christmas sounded hectic, but well deserved. May God continue to bless you for all your hard work and love for your amazing children. Love you all,
Jeremy Mangum and Family
check out our family blog when you get a spare minute (about 3:30 in the morning probably) ***** it is
www.fourcrowns.blogspot.com
You are both amazing. I'm so happy that you have both babies home at last and that they are improving. That's wonderful
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