pictures of the house

So, Here are some random pictures of the house. 

Our "middle" section is being added because the humongous Glue lam beam is finally hung.   

 This is a shot from the driveway and will eventually be the front entry area

Same, front entry area.

 Looking up at the eventual vault!! 

This will eventually be our formal dinning, butlers pantry and kitchen with a small family room in the middle of it all!  The door way at the back is leading into the food storage/pantry. 

some pictures of the house

 So, things on the home front are finally progressing!  here are some shots from this morning and afternoon.

 Here, they are lifting on the trusses! We were totally amazed and sat here watching it all. 

here are some more trusses over the kitchen and dining room.

Here is a cool shot right before the trusses went up. The "guys" (as Aaron calls them) stayed extra late last night and got here early this morning to insure all would be ready for the crane!

It is all becoming more real and frightening

Happy birthday!!

The last few weeks have been JAMMED packed with birthdays!  It all started with Tyson's 30 birthday!! I planned a surprise party for him that was AWESOME!! (I know, not too humble!)  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos. I think someone in the family did but I don't have any! So, you will have to be imaginative.  

Second came Leah's 3rd birthday.  She is SO old now!  We had a party with the grandparents and had presents, cake and ice cream.  She had so much fun

 Here is Leah before the party.

 Here is the castle cake. This darn cake was a disaster from the beginning, so I was THRILLED when it turned out as cute as it did!

And here she is in her glory! She loves to dig in the dirt with Aaron.

 No, Jesh did not have a birthday but a post wouldn't be complete without a picture of him. He LOVED the wrapping paper.

Then a couple weeks after that, Aaron turned 5. I cannot believe how old he is.  We had a party with the grandparents too and he could hardly wait until they all arrived.  

He asked for a dinosaur cake first then came up with a super hero cake. This is what we came up with.  I tried the fondant route but failed miserably so here is a normal stacked cake with spray food paint and (hold on folks) PAPER CUT OUTS!  Yeah, that's right!! He loved it and had such a great party.

And here he is digging outside in a freshly covered trench.

Speaking of trenches, they are all covered now.  And, the city has finally approved our plans and we are on our way to a new house.  Our contractor has set up a facebook page for us (still in it's infancy) if you would like to watch the progress. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frantz-Family-Home/157517207671528?sk=wall

First DAYS of school

So, both kids started preschool this year. Amazingly, I managed to get a picture of both on the actual first day of school!! They are both attending Little Builders Preschool run but the one and only Jaylyn Scholes.

Aaron was especially excited to get back to school. He goes three days a week for 2.5 hours. He learned to read last year and loves to write words he can sound out. I am excited for him to refine his reading and writing skills, but mostly I am excited for him to get out energy away from home, and come home tired! He will turn 5 this October and start kindergarten next year.

Leah was pretty pumped too. She goes one day a week for 1.5 hours. I won't lie, she is excited for the cool toys! I was going to stay with her on her first day but she was doing so well I thought I should go. I went to giver her a kiss and she backed away from me and started crying "I DON"T WANT TO GO!" There you have it, I have a little miss independent on my hands who doesn't need her mother. She had so much fun!

As for Mr Jeshua, he is doing great. He is scooting now and getting pretty fast at it. He HATES food and trying to feed him is a messy challenge. Too bad it is necessary for this little stinker.

The house is sorta underway! We hope to pour the foundation sometime next week! (cross your fingers) I just really want it enclosed before the rain starts, other than that I have no expectations anymore of when it will be done!

THE shower

So, last night was the baby shower for Sarah, my sister in law. It was WAY fun! I will explain all details later, but here are some pictures!

A Little Update

The Small one is doing GREAT

The middle one is Sassy, but darn cute

And the Big one is learning to read and always "so" helpful!

We are staying pretty busy and STILL waiting for summer to show it's warm, bright head. We are planning to break ground on our new house sometime this summer and have been stressed and delighted in the design stage.

Check out my craft blog for the cute booties I just gave to my SIL's. Another baby shower this weekend so stay tuned!~

Jesh's procedure

We dropped Aaron and Leah off at my parents house on Thursday night so we would be ready to get Jesh to the hospital early Friday morning. The two kids were so happy to be at grandma's again they were ushering me out the door!

We were nervous about Thursday night as we were not supposed to feed Jesh anything but Pedialyte after midnight. Lucky for us Jesh slept until 5am. We changed his diaper and tried to bottle feed him the nasty grape pedialyte. It didn't work. We finally gave up and gave him his pacifier, he fell right to sleep! He woke back up at 7:30, we changed him and tried to feed him again thinking he was probably starving. He had nothing to do with the bottle and took his pacifier again and fell asleep in his car seat. He slept all the way to the hospital. We checked in and got into our pre-op room. The nurses were in love with him (who wouldn't be!) they took his vitals and we changed him into his robe (the picture is on Ty's phone, but he looked cute). We wrapped him into a warm blanket and...HE FELL BACK TO SLEEP!! He slept all the way up to the time they took him back to the operating room.

We waited in the crowded waiting room for the Doctors to come and get us. It took about 15 minutes. They only had to use gas this time and he was only under for about 5 minutes. The procedure only took 1 minute! Everything "down under" looked great. They did stretch him a little, which caused a little bleeding. By time the Doctors were done talking to us Jesh was awake and ready to eat! He was screaming when we got to him, but he nursed right away and calmed down. By time he was done eating, he was smiling and playing. They discharged us shortly after!

He was great all day after that and slept a lot. He slept the whole night (8pm-7:15am!). Doctors said that we have a follow up in one month, and hopefully this would be the last time we needed to stretch his scar tissue. The scar on hi tummy is forming a little weird so we might have to fix that when he is a little older.

All in all the day was fine and our little boy did amazing!

Hopefully tomorrow will be the end!

Tomorrow we check back into Deaconess hospital. Hopefully it will be the last procedure Jesh will have to have, and we can put this all behind us. We check in early in the morning after a night of only pedialyte. We don't know if they will insert an IV but we do know he will be "under" for 5-10 minutes and then we come home after he wakes up. Should be fun.

Pray for Jesh.

Pictures from hospital and other fun stuff

Here are a few pictures from the hospital AFTER surgery and when some of the wires were removed. (I don't know how to rotate pictures, sorry)

This is Jesh on Sunday April 3rd. By this time, the oxygen had been removed but the stickers that held the tubes on were still on his face. He still has his IV in his hand and all the monitor stickers on his chest.

This is the first time I got to hold Jesh after surgery. It was hard to handle him with the wires, but SO worth it.

This picture is from Tuesday, his first really good day. The outfit will always be memorable as it is the first outfit he "blewout" in. At least we know things are all working properly!

One of Jesh's baths in the hospital.

AT HOME! One of his many baths here, looks more comfortable to me.

I debated about putting this up. This is a picture of the incision 7 days post surgery. The upper right part is where the colostomy used to be. So, it goes from his left side (the right of the picture) to all the way under his belly button

To Wrap Up

The rest of Tuesday went wonderfully. Jesh ate very little, but that is to be expected. We were told that when he starts eating his tummy would cramp up because of the lack of food over the last few days and due to the trauma of surgery. Every time I nursed he would cry after, but it was short lived. He continued to poo well, producing dark green almost black stool, again due to the lack of food. Early afternoon brought a surprise and change for us. We had been in one nursery of the NICU all by ourselves. They admitted another post op patient and we were to share the nursery. No biggy. The little girl did not come out of surgery well and was moaning and crying, so they moved us! We went to a "rooming-in" room all the way down the hall, far from a nurse. Basically we were on our own. Things went fine throughout the day and through the night. Jesh still sleeps most of the day and we were told that is normal. Today his little bum started to get a small rash. We were told to expect that as his bum had never seen poo before. We treated it with cream. Jesh is still taking Tylenol. Dr saw Jesh today and was confident in his recovery and told us we would be leaving tomorrow.

Wednesday:

Today I woke before Jesh and started the post below. Things look to be going well. When Jesh woke up he wouldn't stop crying. I tried feeding him and changing his bottom (which by then was BEET red and tender) but nothing worked. I ran to the nurses station down the hall crying. I had no idea what to do and felt completely abandoned by the staff. A nurse came to see us and dosed him up with Tylenol. After going through the charts she noticed that his urine output was not sufficient. She left to go call the doctor about his condition. Luckily for us, he was already in the hall coming to see us. I held Jesh as he pealed the bandages off his incision for the first time. WOW that thing is huge, way bigger than I thought. Doctor noticed that there was way too much fluid seeping from the wound and determined that an infection had formed in between the stitches and the top layer of skin of the incision. He touched it and more fluid ran from the sides. He looked at me and said "you are not going home today". Um...duh. He ordered us to give him warm baths three times that day to see if we could get it to drain anymore. We did and it did! (haha that is a funny sentence.) The fluid that seeped from the wound was brown almost red and it ran everywhere. During his first bath Jesh peed 3 times, thus ending the urine concern. We stayed in our private room on Wednesday night and Jesh did great. The nurse kept him on a four hour schedule of Tylenol.

Thursday:

This morning we woke up much the same as yesterday. Jesh cried even after eating. Doctor, nurses and I think that his tummy is cramping from the milk as he is taking more and more each feeding. Also, his bottom is so inflamed and sore that it is causing pain anytime he poos, pees or is changed. Doctor feels confident that the infection will seep out if we keep up the warm baths, and is sending us home! He told us all the precautions and warning signs along with instructions for home care. Unfortunately, he believes the rash will last up to three weeks (poor little boy). And we need to be back next Friday for a small procedure where Jesh will be knocked out again. This time it will only be for five to ten minutes. They need to stretch the scar tissue around the "attachment" area up his bottom. He will be home by the afternoon.

So, Tyson picked us up and we were home by 12:30. It is so good to be home, I missed my family. I think Aaron and Leah grew a foot this week and spring has sprung in our little canyon. Jesh is doing well, still having warm baths. His bum is still terribly sore and he cries when we lay him down to change him. All around he is pretty cranky throughout the day. I just think to myself that I would be too if I went through what he did, in fact he is handling it better than I would. The Doctor calls us daily to check up on Jesh, until the seeping stops.

Thanks for all your prayers, they were truly felt. Any ideas on how to treat diaper rash, they have to be pretty hard core, let me know. What we are doing, by doctors orders, is just not helping that much.

Jeshua on the recovery roller coaster

Wow! It sure has been a rough few days. I (Melissa) am sorry for the lack of updates, but every time I thought about updating the blog I found myself crying. I find it very difficult to put into words the experiences of the last few days, they have been filled with pain for Jesh and I. Now, when Jesh is sleeping "naturally" and peacefully beside me, I am going to attempt to share with you what has been happening.

Saturday Night:

After Tyson left on Saturday, the nurses and Doctors continued to pump Jesh full of medications. There are three different medications being used to control his pain. The first is morphine, now only administered every four hours due to his lack of respiratory drive shortly after surgery. The second, good old Tylenol. And the third, Versed a sedative to keep Jesh calm. It is very difficult watching them give Jesh medication, I know it is for his benefit, but to watch him fall into a "groggy" state is eerie and something I can't fully come to grips with. Saturday night was filled with bouts of crying from Jesh as certain medications would wear off and he would come to. But sleep would come easy after each dose of meds.

Sunday:

Today the day nurse tried to back Jesh off some medication, trying to go longer between each dose. It wasn't very successful and Jesh payed the price of that decision. It is super easy to stay on top of pain, but when you fall behind and the pain is strong it is hard to get back on top. So, through the afternoon and evening they tried desperately to get back to a state of no pain. The night was extremely difficult for all as we tried to get him comfortable, it was a hard feat.

Monday:

Today a new nurse was on the case! He has been in pediatric care for over 20 years and has worked with post op babies for several of those years. He thought by this time of recovery Jesh should be up and in momma's arms and moving around. He also wanted to back of the meds after calculating that Jesh had received 17 doses of morphine so far. I lovingly held my baby boy for a few hours has he drifted in and out of sleep, showing little signs of pain. By late morning I noticed a change in Jeshua, a very hard change for me to see. He became totally listless, barely moving, crying, sucking or opening his eyes. When he did open his eyes there was no recognition in his gaze. The nurse was confident that Jesh was just sleeping as he came down from his medication high. He began to throw up and gag, coming out of his sleep with jolts and signs of pain. He never cried, and would fall instantly back to sleep. Even though the nurse was confident Jesh was fine and doing well, I knew he was not okay. I had seen this behavior before, the last time we were in the NICU. I felt that Jesh was in incredible pain and shutting down was his defense mechanism. No would listen to me, and I broke down. Early evening my parents came to visit, it was nice to cry on someone's shoulder. The nurse retold the events of the day to them and I could not help but weep. By 6:30pm I think the nurse was beginning to think that I had been right. He decided to give Jesh a half dose of morphine. Moments after he did, Jesh woke up. He opened his eyes and started moving again. He had been in pain all day and the dose of morphine was just enough to take the edge off. It was nice to see him like that. Also throughout the day Jesh was not urinating, despite being pumped full of IV fluids. They did a bladder scan and decided to put in a catheter. Instantly they pulled out 180 ml of fluids, within 20 minutes they relieved Jesh of 320 ml of urine. His poor body. An hour after inserting the Catheter, he started passing gas and stooling real stool in large amounts. YAY! The night was still filled with bouts of vomit and gaging but at least things on the other end were moving in hopes to alleviate the vomiting. He had another half dose of morphine around 4:30 am.

Tuesday:

Jesh WOKE up today. The nurses call it "turning the corner". A completely different little boy, MY little boy. He smiled for the first time and would follow me with his eyes. He began to suck his hands, then his pacifier, then a small amount of the bottle. He was moving around with no signs of pain, he was poopin' like a fool. He seemed content. After the doctor came to see Jesh, he allowed me to start nursing.

**After Starting this post Jesh has taken a little step back, the downside of this roller coaster. I will finish this post when I find a moment. Please keep Jesh in your prayers as he is struggling to recover.

Recovery

Jeshua returned from Surgery Friday early afternoon with his tummy sewn up and his plumbing hooked up the way it was intended (well, pretty close to the way it was intended)! He responded very well to the anesthesia, and the pullthrough was textbook.

The operating room is on the ABSOLUTE opposite side of the Deaconess complex than the NICU, so shortly after 8am Friday we followed the two nurses pushing Jeshua's huge NICU crib down twisted hallways and up elevators until we reached the point we were no longer allowed to follow. Despite not having eaten anything for the entire morning, and subsisting on electrolyte water the entire previous day, Jesh was happily squirming around with eyes wide open as we loved on him and said our goodbyes, standing in the hallway of the hospital. He had no clue what was happening and received our kisses with his usual funny winces, and we returned to the NICU to await word. The surgeon had nurses call several times throughout to give us status updates, and Jeshua returned to us shortly after noon, still under the effects of the sedation drugs they'd given him, and still using a ventilator. By mid afternoon, he was fully breathing on his own, while still asleep, so they removed the ventilator tube and began watching for signs of pain. Melissa and I were so grateful to see him there; his eyes would flutter open occasionally, and we anxiously watched to for signs that he was coming out of the "grogginess".

Things took a little turn for the worse around late afternoon when he began showing signs of pain. He was still sedated, but would wake up with a jolt and kick and cry for a few seconds at a time, several times per minute. He began to fight and scream longer each time, and they were coming more frequently. They'd administered morphine earlier which can be given every 2 hours at most, so they gave him another dose at the 2 hour mark. Unfortunately, he gave no sign that the pain killer did anything to dull the pain, and instead began with breathing fits where'd he'd stop breathing for a short time in between the pain spats (happens often with strong doses on infants). Later in the evening they attempted a different medication with a stronger sedative effect, which thankfully worked very well, letting him fall peacefully asleep. He remained asleep throughout the night and into Saturday morning. I ended up staying at the hospital through the night to keep an eye on baby and mommy.

Saturday morning, I picked up Aaron and Leah and returned home, while Melissa remained at the hospital. Before I left, Jesh woke up and, while still groggy, could focus on us and waved his hands around. He was doing great and seemed relatively pain free! His painkillers were being stretched out as he truly seemed to be recovering quickly. He was somewhat agitated this afternoon so they stepped up the meds a bit to compensate, but we're still hoping for a second good night. The doctor thinks we'll be able to feed him pedialyte water tomorrow and really jump start his bowels again, and hopefully he'll be breastfeeding again by Monday. He had a small BM (mainly stomach/intestine fluids) today, so things appear to be moving the way they should. We hope to see more of that "action" in the coming days. The doc thinks we're still on track to discharge late next week.

Jeshua vs. Hirschsprung's, round 2

The fateful week of Jeshua's last surgery is here. The past 8 weeks have been good as we've become pros at colostomy care. When I say "we", I really mean Melissa. After several days of colostomy blow-outs, Melissa and I were able to coax the gasket into lasting 48+ hrs, allowing us to remove it intentionally instead of waiting for an explosion. Aaron and Leah have been great, and Jesh is down to waking once most nights, twice on occasion, and even sleeping through the entire night a time or two!

We checked into the hospital Thursday (yesterday) morning at 8am. The surgery isn't until today (Friday), however they wanted to bring him in 24 hours early to clear out his bowels and get some baseline vitals etc. Aaron and Leah went to Grandma's house early Thursday morning. They were so excited when Grandma picked them up! We've tried explaining whats happening, but when we'd get to the part about ".....and you'll stay with Grandma for two nights..." we lost them every time.

Throughout the day Thursday, they allowed Jesh to drink only electrolyte water. The water kept him somewhat content throughout the day, despite our worries that he'd be starving and grumpy. They gave him a naso-gastric tube for only a couple of hours to administer the laxative orally. It is horrible tasting stuff they know a baby would never voluntarily drink. And boy did it work (imagine putting a small colostomy bag over a howitzer...yes, we had blow-outs)!! Melissa and I took turns holding Jesh throughout the day. Besides being bored out of our minds, the day went fine and was rather uneventful. I returned home to sleep while Melissa slept on a roll away bed in Jesh's room (neither of us really got more than a few hours of sleep).

Dr. Fisher is the primary pediatric surgeon here at Deaconess, however he brought in a partner who will be spending the next couple of years working with him here. The partner arrived yesterday from Tacoma. Because of the complexity of the surgery, Dr. Fisher opted to wait until the second surgeon arrived, otherwise we'd probably have had the procedure done a few weeks ago. The surgery will begin around 9am (1 hour from now) and is called an endorectal pullthrough. The incision they made for his colostomy is about one inch wide, and they will expand that across his little tummy a few inches to give them room to work. Without going into details of the surgery (googling "endorectal pullthrough" returns several results), it's expected to take them about 3 to 4 hours to complete, after which they hope to stitch him up and send him back to us here in the Neonatal ICU. Jeshua is sleeping right now in Melissa's arms, which is surprising as he hasn't eaten since 5am. The surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologist, etc have paraded through the room already ensuring that we fully understand what to expect, and giving us yet another opportunity to ask questions. Even through they've asked us for months if we have any questions, we always seem to find one more to ask. They'll return in about 30-45 minutes to put him on the ventilator and sedate him. Melissa and I will remain in the NICU room during the surgery, and are told to expect calls every 45 minutes with updates on how things are going. Lots of prayers and I'm sure a few tears, and we'll see our little baby in a few hours.

back to crafting

So, I have been doing a lot of crafting lately. I haven't been taking pictures however, I know, sad huh. This means my craft blog will be back up and running with new post as a complete new projects... check it out at http://melissascreativecreations.blogspot.com/

St. Patricks goodies

So, we didn't have a GREEN dinner. We had ham and funeral potatoes (yummy) but we did add these goodies.

Kiwi, we had to tell the kids they tasted like Apples for them to even try them.

Heart shaped cupcakes!! The kids liked sticking their little fingers in the frosting.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Out of SEVERAL tries, this is the best "green" family picture we could get!

Jesh is 8 weeks old

Seriously, time is flying by. I really didn't expect to say that at this point in time. I thought the time between Jesh's surgeries would be tortuous. But not so. Thank goodness.

These beautiful pictures were take by a friend of ours, Shalie Morgan, you can check out her work here.

Jesh is now 12lbs 12.4 oz. HE IS HUGE. But we are happy he is gaining weight because there is a weight limit for the upcoming surgery of 10 lbs.

Jesh is sleeping pretty well. He gets a long stretch of sleep of 6-8 hours at the beginning of the night then falls right back to sleep for 3-4 more hours. We are feeling more and more human the more sleep we get.

He is smiling sometimes, but his smiles are sure cute. He ALMOST giggled the other day with much provocation.

He is getting a little bit stronger. We don't get much tummy time around here due to the colostomy bag, but he is learning to control his head a bit.

His brother and sister are still TOTALLY in love with him and kiss (maul) him all the time.

We sure love this little guy, can't wait for him to be done with all this!

Remember these? Before and After

Remember these bad boys? Yes, I am torturing my daughter.

BEAUTY IS PAIN!!

The before pictures:

Stay tuned for the after photos, no guarantees...

Here is Leah AFTER the long night of keeping curlers in:

NOT TOO BAD!

Finally Tried It

OREO STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. Um...yeah, they're good.

Recipe from Picky Palate, link below.

http://picky-palate.com/2011/01/06/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

I found myself in a rare position this morning. There is about 8 inches of snow on the ground, winds gusting and roads TERRIBLE. So, we are home bound. Leah was in time out, yeah I'm that kind of parent, and she fell asleep. Jeshua also fell asleep. Aaron and I took advantage and made these yummy cookies. So worth it

Batman and Batgirl

So, lately Aaron has been into super heroes. He loves them all, but his favorite currently is Batman. For Christmas this year we got him some Batman underoos and a t-shirt. We have to pry them off of him to wash them. Well, after a few washes the t-shirt shrank about 2 sizes. His mid drift shows when he wears it, quite embarrassing for his parents, but hey, he loved that shirt. In one of my few small shopping trips to the store recently I found a new batman shirt to replace the undersized one. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, and still we have to pry the thing off him. We were just going to throw the other away or store it so it wouldn't be a sore subject around here but first, we asked Aaron if he wanted to give it to Leah so she could be Batgirl with him. He was so excited about the prospect he ran and gave Leah the shirt right away. Since then, we have a little Batgirl who is obsessed with her shirt and the whole prying thing applies to her as well. Here are some "in motion" shots of our little Bat-people at play.

Some pictures Jesh is one month

Happy ONE MONTH birthday Jeshua

Some one asked how big I got with this pregnancy... well I thought I was HUGE... (don't we all feel that way?) but I have to say that I didn't get as big as I did with the other two kiddos. SO, for those of you who were curious, here it is.

Jesh received his first "tub" bath this week. We have been sponge bathing him. The Ostomy nurse told us that running water would feel good on his little stoma. The first time we attempted this, we held him under the faucet. He loved it. The next time his little bag broke I put him into the tub, he SCREAMED the entire time. We ran water onto his stoma with a squeezy bottle. When I bathed him today, he liked most of it and we were able to clean him up really well.

( I think he is looking a little like my brother Jim...a little)

Other than NOT sleeping, we are loving our little family. Here are some pictures of the last week. Jesh is sure filling out huh?

Our "BIG" Guy and the upcoming surgery

So, our little Jeshua is beefin' up. We came home on the 21st of January and Jesh weighed in at a whopping 7lbs. 13oz. At a pediatricians appointment on the 24th he weighed 8lbs and 1/2 oz. The Dr. was a little concerned that he wasn't gaining more than that so we had to go back in for a weight check a week later. On the 31st he weighed...drum roll please... 9lbs 2oz!!! The Dr is no longer worried, our little guy is gaining weight like a champ now.

We are so glad to have him home. Aaron and Leah absolutely love him and take care of him when he cries (and wake him up when he's asleep!). We are trying to get into a good routine with sleeping, but we all know how that goes. We usually get a good 5 hour stretch at the beginning of the night. The rest of the night is sketchy. The worst is when we wake up to him crying, change his diaper only to find that we need to change the colostomy bag. Changing the bag really isn't all that bad, but in the middle of the night is seems torturous (for us!) and really wakes him up. Other than that life is settling down and we are getting used to another member of our family.

Today we met with the Surgeon who will perform the "Endorectal pullthrough" surgery for Jesh. We went into the appointment with high hope of the surgery being scheduled for the end of February, after all that is the 6 week mark! Our hopes were almost immediately dashed when he told us that it wouldn't be until APRIL 1st!!! I almost cried, I think Tyson almost did too. 8 more weeks of the colostomy. We are not looking forward to that, but it will be over soon. We were told that there is a 10% chance that he will have another temporary colostomy after the pullthrough just so things can heal appropriately. Hopefully we don't fall into that 10%. So, as of right now we will continue to take care of the colostomy as best we can, in the best humor we have, and wait until we can check back into the NICU on March 31st. By time Jesh is 3 months old we will hopefully be home and colostomy free!!

Here's hopin'

We're home finally!!

To recap yesterday's VERY exciting day:

I went in to feed Jeshua at 8:00am yesterday morning and Dr. Walker came in to check Jesh out right after I arrived. He said that Jesh looked great and was feeding so well that I should be nagging the nurses and Doctors to get out off the NICU. 2 minutes after he left the DISCHARGE nurse came to talk to me about all the equipment I would need to go home. She then asked if I would like to room-in with Jesh on Friday (*side note* "rooming-in means that parents stay with baby in the hospital with no monitors and minimal help from nurses. We would need to handle all the feedings, changings and care of baby. I think the whole process is to grade the parents!) Of course I said yes, and of course I started to cry, because this step would be our last step on the way home. The last we had heard we wouldn't leave until Monday, but this meant that we would be leaving Saturday. After the discharge nurse came in Dr. Walker came back and told me that he wanted me to room-in that night! WOOWOO! And go home today, Friday. All the nurses were going crazy, they couldn't believe how fast Jesh recovered and how fast we were able to go home! Our little boy has been doing so amazing in his recovery and is so strong, we are very blessed.

I fed Jesh and immediately went back to the Ronald McDonald House to clean and pack up. In between feeding Jesh I was able to get all the checkout complete and went to the hospital to stay with my baby. When I got there Jesh had been moved to the intermediate nursery because all his IV's were gone and he no longer needed the "Intense" care of the NICU. I fed him one last time in the nursery and was shown the room we were to stay in. Tyson arrived shortly after and we smothered our little man with more hugs, kisses, and love than he had seen in his short life. We made it through the night with no problems (have to get used to no sleep again!). Dr. Walker visited our room with the discharge nurse and the ostomy nurse. They wanted to check out the colostomy and wanted us to change the bag. Ty held the baby down and I changed the bag all by myself! I was shaking so bad. There were people there grading my performance! They were pleased with how I did things, the ostomy nurse said she never felt so comfortable sending a patient home as she was with us! That gave us a boost of confidence.

The last thing we needed to wait for was the final checkout by the neonatologist. They told us to not expect to see him until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Around 11:30 Dr. Bodenstien knocked on our door and told us he was not on our case but the other Dr. was so far out from seeing us that he grabbed our chart and came to check us out. Jesh passed with flying colors and we made it out of the hospital by 12:20.

We got home around 1:30, Aaron was so excited to see his brother and Leah was napping. Grandma (our awesome babysitter again) stayed just long enough to hold Jesh and welcome us home. After she left we really were on our own! The kids sure love their brother. Leah has been a little mother to Jesh and sits next to him when ever she can. Aaron loves to hold Jesh, but unfortunately he started throwing up this afternoon and we have to keep them apart. He is so sad.

It is so good to be home with my family. I sure missed my kiddos and being "normal." We sure appreciate all who helped with our kids and helped in other ways. We are so grateful for all your help. We look forward to this short time together before the next surgery, but can't wait for Jesh to be "whole" again. We have been blessed so much.

We will post some pictures when we grab a free minute, which truthfully, may not be for a few days as we enjoy being a family again!

Thanks to all, we will keep the blog updated with our family happenings and progress with baby Jeshua.

will post tomorrow when... WE GET HOME!

Day 10 and PICTURES

Ty finally pulled a few pictures off of his phone. I think we'll spare the ones with the tubing/wires/etc and post his "good" side. He's looking so good now!

Well, today started GREAT! I made my way to the hospital at 8:15 after I received a phone call telling me that Jeshua was awake and ready to eat. I know this doesn't sound so great, but my little man hasn't been "awake" enough to demand eating ever! We have basically been force feeding him for the last few days, but today he demanded. In fact he demanded food all day long, way to go Jesh. Through out the night on Tuesday he was eating 50 ml and sleeping for about 4 hours. Today he was eating on average 60 ml and eating every 2-3 hours. Another great leap for Jesh. Now, I thought that when he ate 60 ml every 3 hours he would be free to go. I thought this only because that is what the doctors have told me. Well, what they didn't tell me is that he has to be totally weaned off his fluids (which they do gradually as he picks up eating) and filling his diaper and bag appropriately for up to 48 hours before they take the PICC line out. The nurse tonight told us that Jesh may be totally weaned off his fluids tonight depending on his next feeding, which is by bottle and measured (sorta hard to measure a nursing baby!!) but not to expect him to go home until the weekend or early next week. Jesh is nursing better than he was yesterday. Even the nurses were commenting on how well he did today. I still finished off every feeding session with the bottle just to have some sort of measurement and to "top him off." So, in short, feedings are way better today.

Dr. Walker (the surgeon) came by this morning to check Jeshua, as he does every morning, and he took Jesh off his antibiotic. One less thing going into his little body. Dr. Walker also asked how many times I had cleaned or changed the colostomy bag. Um, never. He encouraged me to listen to the ostomy nurses and even try changing the bag. SCARY. The ostomy nurse came around 11:00 this morning and walked me through the whole thing. I was able to get the bag off (thanks to my mom who was holding Jesh's arms and soothing him.) We noticed that one of his stitches had popped so now his stoma is more almond shaped rather than round, not such good news. The nurse made a new "pattern" for the opening of the bag and helped me get it on. It sure helped that Jesh had fallen asleep by the time we actually got the bag in place. The bag was still holding tonight so I think I did okay for my first time trying. It sounds like the ostomy nurse will be back tomorrow to help me again. Tomorrow I think I will try all of it by myself to make sure I can do it. I know they are grading my performance as well as Jeshua's so I want to do the best I can to get out of here.

I mentioned earlier that my mom helped me out today. It was nice to have someone with me today. I have been getting lonely. She got to hold and feed Jesh a bottle today. I am pretty sure she enjoyed her time with him. Tyson came back this evening and got to hold his sleeping baby for a while. We had a good night together. Tyson told me a pretty funny story about Aaron tonight, I hope I tell it right. Before I had the baby, Aaron asked how the baby would come out of mom. He actually asked if the baby wound rip my tummy to come out. I of course said no, but didn't really know how to explain the whole thing to a 4 year old. I told him that the baby comes out a special way. That was that. Well, tonight at dinner Aaron asked, completely out of the blue, "how does the baby come out in a special way?" (I am so glad he asked Tyson and not me) Tyson told him that there is a special small opening in mommy that no one can see that gets bigger for the baby to come out and then closes right back up. BRILLIANT! Tyson is so much better at talking to our kids about weird things. Aaron scrunched up his nose and asked if it hurts mommy when the baby comes out. Ty was very honest and said yes it does. Aaron told Ty that boys don't have special openings, only moms! Smart boy.

Anyways, tomorrow is a new day and hopefully things go even better than today and we can start getting this little boy ready to go home to a family desperately waiting for him.

Day 9 in the NICU

Another day is gone and little Jesh is still recovering remarkably well. Tyson handed over the blog to me tonight, he thinks it might be "therapeutic" for me to put down my thoughts and feelings. We'll see. Sorry if my therapy session is not as well written or informative, I will try my best to do both.

Last night the doctors let me try nursing my little baby ("little" sure takes on a new meaning here where most of the babies are under 4 lbs.). I was so excited, I have been waiting for this experience for way too long. He latched right on and I started crying. It was an elating moment for me. He only nursed for a total of 10 minutes, but it was enough for him to sleep for four hours! WAY TO GO BUDDY. His doctors were pleased with his progress so this morning they let him go "ad-lib" which means he can eat however much he wants whenever he wants. If he takes a bottle it is now full strength milk. I was so excited and was determined to make this whole nursing thing work right away. Jesh had different ideas, he would barely nurse this morning, which again made me cry. He did take the bottle well and received 4oml of milk. We tried again at noon, with the same results. We tried again at 4:30, same outcome only this time he chowed down on 45ml from the bottle. Tonight however, he nursed really well and only took 15 ml from the bottle. The nurses told me that nursing is actually very tiring for an infant, and were happy with his progress for the day. The Pediatrician told me that he can go home when he is eating a solid 2 oz (60ml) of milk each feeing. YAY! We are so close.

As far as the colostomy bag goes, well I won't sugar coat it, it is gross. I feel confident that I will be able to change it and keep it working, but it is an overwhelming process. The ostomy nurses are coming tomorrow to give me more training on how to attach it to Jesh's skin, how to clean it, and other tricks and techniques. I am thankful that my mom will be with me to be my second pair of eyes and ears to learn all this new stuff. I am more grateful that this is a temporary situation and that in a month or so we won't have to have the colostomy bag. I think I am getting used to the sounds Tyson calls Jesh's new trick. Tyson on the other hand squirms every time Jesh passes gas through his stoma (the opening in his bowels). It does squeak, which is so weird, and it fills the bag with air that we have to release so it doesn't get too full. All in all, we are thankful that Jesh could have this surgery and recover from it and live a full life.

Tyson spent most of the day with the kids at home. While Aaron was at preschool, Leah spent a few hours with Uncle Jon so Tyson could get some work done. Then they all went home to eat lunch and I think all 3 of them ended up taking a nap! I was able to video call them twice today, it was fun to see them so full of energy and at home. Tyson came over this evening to be with Jesh and I. Jesh was awake and loved to stare at daddy. We had to leave the NICU with our baby still awake. That is one of the hardest things to do. I like to leave him while he is sleeping, it is way easier.

We are proud of our little guy for the leaps and bounds he is taking in his recovery. We will be home soon and taking care of all this by ourselves.

Thanks for listening (reading) some of my thoughts and feelings. I am pretty sure if I was writing the updates everyday it would be depressing for you all. It has been such a hard week. But now that Jesh is on the up side of this roller coaster it is easier to see the positive and the blessings we have received. Thanks everyone for your well wishes and prayers, they have been felt and are working in our favor.

P.S. forgot to mention that Jesh is wearing clothes today for the first time his life! It is way cute.

Jeshua has a new trick

Baby Jesh is kickin' butt! He gobbled down almost every serving of diluted milk he was offered today and is doing his best to fill that little colostomy bag. I haven't had the privilege of changing it yet, but Melissa says it's no fun at all. As far as I can tell, it's not a pretty picture to look at, but it whistles when he passes gas - kinda like an alarm, only more like a parlor trick. We thought for sure the IVs had punctured and were sucking air or something the first time we heard the noise.

They've moved Jeshua into a regular hospital cradle (not really like a cradle, but that's what they call it) because he's progressing so well, and even pulled out his nasogastric tube from his nose! The final apparatus sticking him is the PICC line IV in his little head, which is a special IV that follows a vein several inches down the head and through the neck until reaching close to the heart; they'll keep that in there for safety until they're REALLY confident he's on his way out the door. It used to take at least 3 of us to pick him up and settle him in our arms because of the wires and tubes that needed to be kept slack, but now he's almost as easy as any other. We're still hoping to bring him home this weekend - it's looking really good right now.

Aaron and Leah are doing well and were so glad to spend most of the day with Dad. When I left to meet with a Doctor around noon for a short couple of hours, Aaron was so sad that I might be leaving again. Also, when preparing them for bed and explaining that I'd be gone to Spokane while they fell asleep, I had to promise them several times that I'd be in "Mom and Dad's bed" by the time they woke up. They sure loved their stay at Grandma's, but it's so good to be with them again.

Separation

Baby Jesh continues to do great, and "outperform" on his recovery above what was expected of him! He's now off of all painkillers except an occasional Tylenol. This is great news because babies are typically on pain killers long enough that their little bodies become addicted, meaning they have to wean them off of it even when the pain is gone. Little Jesh has handled the entire ordeal with such a show of strength that he came off of all narcotics much earlier than anticipated and now only gets fussy when he's hungry or when his bandages are changed. We're hoping that tomorrow the Doctor will allow him to start on diluted breast milk (50% dilution). They'll work on feeding him only through a bottle this week to try and get him home sooner, then let us work on the transition to feeding from Mommy when we get him home. But, at least he'll be getting all those good nutrients and immune system boosters that they just can't duplicate in formula. They won't be giving him "full servings" of milk for a couple of days at least. For now, it'll be just enough to "jump start" his digestive system after being empty for so long, so they can test out the colostomy with smaller amounts of food.

While Jesh's recovery is going so well, the day ended in tears as I came home to be with the kids for the week and Melissa returned to Spokane alone. Our kids need us, and it was so very evident today, especially after bringing them home and getting them ready for bed. They'll have to wait a little longer for Mom to come home, but they both spent the evening lovingly mauling Dad right up until bedtime. They ask about Baby Jesh and pray for him, and it's very hard to keep dry eyes when they ask why they can't be with him. Leah follows Aaron's lead more, but Aaron truly is concerned about it all despite our talks, and I wonder what he's thinking when he scrunches up his face to consider what I tell him. The hospital said that when Jesh gets his IV's and nasogastric tube out (the one going in the nose down to the stomach), the kids can see him in a viewing room through glass. This will likely be right prior to being discharged, as they won't remove those things until he is ready to leave anyway, but we're hoping it might happen sooner to give our kids that opportunity.

All next week, Mom will be visiting Jeshua during the days and Dad will drive there at night after the kids go to bed, while somebody from our ward stays at home for a couple of hours in Dad's absence (thank you so much for those who volunteered - it means SO MUCH that I'll be able to be with Jesh and Melissa for at least a short while each evening!). We love our family and our ward family so much and can't wait for you all to meet Baby Jeshua!

Recovery

Jeshua's first day of recovery went very well! He was awake and semi-alert for most of our visits today. He'd been receiving a very potent pain killer called fentanyl through his IV since shortly after surgery. However, he has shown less ongoing pain than expected, and was taken off fentanyl altogether early today. The result: An awake and happy baby (if a little groggy) that we've been able to hold and "coo" at. After holding him for 45 minutes on our last visit tonight, he slowly drooped to sleep in our arms. It was a very sweet moment for us, as were most of the visits today.

Things are really looking positive; we're looking forward to begin feeding him tomorrow and still hope to bring him home next weekend. Aaron and Leah had a great time spending last night with us here at the Ronald McDonald House, and had even more fun skyping with us right before bedtime tonight. They're at Grandma's again tonight, but I'll be going home with the kids tomorrow night for the week while Melissa remains here in Spokane. I will be traveling to Spokane in the evenings to spend an hour or two with Melissa and baby Jesh. Tomorrow or Monday they'll replace the bandages on his tummy with the actual colostomy bag and teach us how to care for this thing. It'll be different than changing diapers, but at least no blow-outs for a little while (although, I think even blow-outs will have new meaning to us after this).

Also, we're pretty sure he's getting cuter :)

Surgery Day

Today was Jeshua's colostomy surgery. A few minutes before 8am, we went to hold him one last time before the surgery. He had a great night free of sedatives and was awake and alert. Mommy and Daddy loved on him with teary eyes until they came to take him at 9am. The NICU doctors and nurses are very good, and the 30 minutes leading up to the surgery was a parade of anesthesiologists, neonatologists, surgeons, infant care nurses, and others who were to be present in the room during the operation - 8 in total! They were all very considerate and patient as they explained further details of the anesthesia, surgery, and recovery, and responded in detail to our many questions. We finally gave him up and went to the waiting room. After an hour, the anastesiologist came out and informed us that he'd responded perfectly and was quietly sleeping through the procedure. An hour later, we had quite a fright when the fire alarm started sounding throughout the hospital! After a moment of panic, the staff informed us that it was simply a fire drill which was quickly silenced.

Shortly before noon, the surgeon emerged from the operating room and told us that everything had gone splendidly. They had found the "cut-off" where the nerve cells ended and the Hirschsprung's began and had performed the colostomy at that point. After Jeshua's next surgery, he will be missing the last 20-25% of his colon, which is considered a textbook Hirshsprung's and positions him for a full and complete recovery.

We were so releived to have the surgery over and done with. After waiting another 20 minutes for the nurses to clean up Jesh's tummy and return him to the NICU nursery, we went back to find our baby looking great! He was completely asleep, still under the effects of the anesthesia, but the ventilator had already been removed and he was neatly swattled looking very peaceful. Prior to surgery, we had been prepped for him to remain on the ventilator for possibly 2 or 3 days while his body "woke up" from the anesthesia. However, he has such strong respiratory and cardiac systems that they were able to pull him off the ventilator almost right away and leave him on a very minor dose of constant pain medication.

Doctors say they'll test out his digestive track with some pedialyte clear fluids Sunday, and possibly start him on diluted breast milk on Monday! If Jesh can muscle through his recovery, we might be able to bring him home next weekend.

Day 5 in the NICU Prep for Surgery

Baby Jeshua was a bit grumpy today off and on and is constantly rooting around or sucking on a pacifier. We're convinced he is fully ready to nurse now and are told that he feels hunger from his empty stomach despite being nourished intravenously, but will have to wait to nurse until sometime mid next week depending on how fast he recovers from surgery.

We met with Dr. Walker today who will perform his colostomy tomorrow and remove the lower part of the colon. Including prep time, it'll be about 2 hours and should be done around noon. The time is not written in stone, as the first procedure is to begin biopsying five sections up the colon to determine exactly where the nerves are so he knows what section to take out. If they don't find any nerves, they'll have to cut and send more samples to pathology, and back and forth until they find nerves. It takes them about 30 minutes to freeze the sample and find out if its got nerves, so hopefully they'll find it on the first shot.

We got to skype with our kids today. I'd recorded video of baby Jesh as he woke up today on my cell phone. So, while skyping, I played back the video so it looked to the kids like Jesh was with us. We didn't intend to be sneaky, but realized they thought he was actually with us and were waving and talking to him and things. It was so cute that we might do it again, even if it is a little sneaky!

After surgery tomorrow, I'll go pickup Aaron and Leah to come and stay Friday night with us here in Spokane for just the night. They won't be able to visit the baby, but it'll be good to spend more time with them.

Biopsy Results

We received the results of the biopsy today just after lunch. But first... Our morning was great! We arrived at the NICU around 8am as we've done everyday, and were greeted by Jen, Jesh's day nurse, with great results from blood work. His potassium had come back into normal ranges, his bilirubin had finally come down (at first it was hardly dropping at all despite the bili-lights), he was still gobbling up pedialyte from a bottle, and he was wetting his diapers like a champ! We enjoyed holding him while he was awake, and he kept flashing smiles while he slept. We came back to NICU after lunch and were greeted with the same happy baby who stayed awake long enough to scan us over once more before crashing for the afternoon while we waited for pathology results. Shortly thereafter, the pediatrician came in to announce that the biopsy results were back and they confirmed that Jeshua has Hirschsprung's Disease. Despite what we'd been told, we were so hopeful that it would come back negative, that Jeshua would get his bowels moving and we'd be home by mid-late next week. Instead, after a few moments of renewed heartache, we gave our sleeping angel kisses and went home for dinner with our other kids Aaron and Leah. We had a great evening of play (more tears for Melissa) and came back to the hospital to hold our sleeping Jesh for awhile.

The next surgery is scheduled for Friday morning at 9:30. We have an idea what'll happen, but will meet with the neonatal surgeon tomorrow to get precise details and sign consents. Ultimately, when the surgery is complete Friday, Jeshua will have a colostomy coming out of his tummy for 3 to 6 weeks and his bowels will begin healing in preparation for the final surgery.

Now that we have a timeline of upcoming events, we'll likely nail down our schedule for the next week. The social worker and pediatricians are now telling us that they expect us to be able to take Jesh (and his colostomy) home for a few weeks after recovering from the colostomy, but before the final "pull-through" surgery. If he recovers well, that'd be around the last week of January. We can't wait for the day we can introduce him to his home, and work him into "daily life" with his big brother and sister.

Jeshua's first time "under the knife"

Baby Jeshua was knocked out today for the biopsy of the rectum. The anesthesia is powerful enough (and babies weak enough) to knock out their respiratory system completely. So, they put them on ventilators from the start. Jesh responded as expected to the various anesthesia and everything went fine. It was another freaky moment to see him on a ventilator after the surgery, but they ended up unhooking it and pulling it out couple of hours earlier than normal because he was fighting it so much and clearly had regained use of his respiratory system. We won't get results back until Thursday, but we're remaining hopeful that the nerve cells will exist in the biopsy. They're also doing some other tests tomorrow to find out why some various readings are off and not improving, so they're x-raying kidneys and liver. That's new to us, but hopefully nothing major.

We left for home around 11:30 after seeing Jesh safe-and-sound post op, and spent the afternoon and evening with our kids at home. They were so in need of time with Mom and Dad as much as we needed to spend time with them. Closer to bedtime, they went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the night. We decided to check into the Ronald McDonald House here in Spokane. It's a couple of blocks from Deaconess, and much more family friendly than a hotel (not to mention less expensive). The kids aren't with us right now, but we wanted to check the place out and be closer to the hospital. We're not sure how long we'll be here or what our schedule is really going to look like. We decided to stop trying to plan it all and just wait until Thursday to get biopsy results and at least have a timeframe. At that point we'll try and figure out how to fit all these pieces together.

After checking in, we went back to visit our baby and were able to hold him again for a little over an hour. He was, again, awake and alert, and happy to be held. He even wiped out a bottle containing a tablespoon of pedialyte formula! This was really good news because that was the first time he showed interest in sucking on anything at all, and he did great at it! They won't allow him to eat breast milk yet, but at least he'll be ready when the time comes. Hopefully we'll get some much-needed sleep tonight...

Jeshua Alan Frantz

We are so very pleased to announce that we have a new member of our family: Jeshua Alan Frantz! He is a beautiful baby boy born Friday January 7th at about 2:15 pm, weighing 7lbs 3ozs and 20.5 inches long. We left for Kootenai Medical Center at 4:30 in the morning and were settled in with a pitocin drip by 6:00. We had gone back and forth on whether or not it was a boy or girl, and were happy to be surprised. Labor and delivery went as expected and we were happily settled in with "Baby Boy" Frantz by Friday evening in a postpartum room, wondering what we'd name our new little squirt. "Baby Boy" was sleeping just fine, and in fact didn't do much else! We received welcomed visitors and were pleased to show him off. Aaron met him Friday evening and was so sweet as he held and kissed his new brother. We had to peel the baby away from him, and listen as Aaron repeatedly told us "Thanks for my new baby". He also had some great recommendations on what to name the baby: "Sockey" (cat's name), "Paper towel", "Picture", and "Baby Jesus". All good names, all VERY close calls ("Paper Towel" almost had it!). By Sunday night, we finally decided on a name which Aaron had known all along (kinda): Jeshua Alan Frantz. Jeshua is Aramaic for the name we know as Jesus. That's right Aaron, we named him baby Jesus :) Alan is a family name from both sides of the family. We've americanized his first name and will say it phonetically, and call him "Jesh" for short except when he's in big trouble.

After 24 hours at KMC, the nurses and pediatrician were concerned that he still had no interest in nursing and had no BMs to speak of. Thinking his stomach might still have uterin fluids, they pumped his stomach and found materials that raised small concern. After some x-rays and other procedures, they were able to identify some kind of blockage in his colon. By Sunday afternoon, the pediatrician decided there was nothing to be done at KMC and he would need specialized neonatal care in Spokane, so Medstar came early Sunday evening and took our little gift to Deaconess Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for additional diagnosis, testing, and care.

After running by home to gather a few things, we arrived at the Deaconess NICU to what was one of the scariest scenes for parents to see. The nurses and floor doctor were wonderful, kind, and understanding, but the picture of such a sweet innocent and fragile life hooked up to what looked like a torture rack drew tears from a well we did not know had anything left in it (we think they had to mop the floors at KMC by the time we left - or at least restock every paper towel / kleenex bin in that wing). We had been "prepped" for what we would see, but nothing short of seeing it could truly prepare us. The great blessing through it all was Baby Jesh himself; he had been content from the beginning. His little digestive tract was bloating and backed up, but he expressed no pain or discontent and was sleeping peacefully when we arrived. After meeting with the doctors today and spending much of the past 24 hours with our baby in the NICU, it is a much happier feeling as we enter his nursery and are able to touch and sometimes hold him. The NICU isn't the scary place it was a long day ago, and we have found the staff there to be fantastic and supportive.

Baby Jesh's condition: The neonatologist and lead neonatal surgeon for Deaconess believe baby Jesh has Hirschsprung's Disease. HD is a condition that comes about during development of the baby and has unknown origin (lots of studies link it to chromosomal mutation as with most prenatal genetic conditions) but is thought to be hereditary to some extent. HD is basically the absence of nerves in part of the colon. In most cases, it's 3 to 6 inches, and in some it's the entire colon. As the nerves grow from the top down, it's always the last part of the colon that lacks the nerves. The end of the colon is in a constant constricted state until waste is present, at which point it relaxes to allow bowel movements, however HD causes the colon to remain constricted because it can not sense the presence of waste, blocking off all bowel movements, and ultimately was fatal in the "old days" before it was recognized and researched.

The diagnosis comes through a small biopsy of the rectum to examine the tissue for nerves. No nerves in the tissue means HD, nerves means no HD. While the doctor is not 100% sure until the biopsy is performed, most other signs are consistent with HD and he expects the biopsy to confirm that, which is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 8:45 am. The biopsy is a simple procedure and is probably less risky than the act of completely sedating a 4 day old baby, but they do this "all the time" at this NICU and we have been assured that Baby Jesh will be fine.

If HD is confirmed, then there will be a small series of surgeries which typically cure the matter completely. First is a series of biopsies and a colostomy which is already scheduled for this Friday morning on the hunch that tomorrow's biopsy will be confirm HD (results come in Thursday, so they'll start the surgeries the day after confirming). They will biopsy up the colon until they find nerves, so they know how much of the colon to cut out. They'll then install (probably not the right word) a colostomy on the remaining colon, which is to say they'll take the end of the "good" colon and bring it through a hole in the stomach and into a bag which will collect baby Jesh's BMs. This will give the end of the remaining colon and the beginning of the severed rectum to heal in preparation for part 2, called the "Pull-through". After 3 weeks or so, they'll sew together those two ends inside of his abdomen making him good as new, but with a shorter colon than the average Jesh. In most cases, no lasting effects beyond 6 to 18 months during which he might not be able to control his BMs. We were concerned about Jesh not being able to control his bowels for possibly 18 months - what a mess that might make! ..... obviously, we'll never know if he fills his diapers indescriminately because of HD, or because he's, ya-know, A BABY!!

In terms of timing, the colostomy and removal would be Friday this week, 2 to 3 weeks later would be the pull-through surgery, and 2 to 3 weeks of NICU recovery. There is a chance we can bring him home between the two surgeries and care for the colostomy at home; the Doctor says its likely, but the nurse says don't count on it. Doc makes more money, but Nurse has worked Deaconess NICU for 30 years. We'll see who wins. If not, it'll likely be late February before baby Jesh gets to come home for the first time, so we are really praying we can bring him home before that.

Through this all, there is a slim chance that Jesh just needed his bowels "jump started". Apparently, there is a VERY small occurrence in babies of mother's who have diabetes (gestational or lifelong) where the baby has a merconium plug that, once removed, allows the bowels to function normally. With lots of bowel stimulation, they got baby Jesh to clear out his bowels almost completely and we're still hoping the biopsy comes back negative and baby Jesh will fill a diaper on his own this week, which would get us home by next week. Here's hoping.

This evening, we were able to spend several hours with our two other kids Aaron and Leah here at a hotel in Spokane which we got with a pool just for them. They recognize their baby brother's absence, and know he's in the hospital, and can't wait to see him again. Aaron keeps calling him his "new best friend", and they have added baby Jesh to their prayers. It absolutely breaks our hearts to think they might not see him again for over a month as kids aren't ever allowed in the NICU. We really really hope to bring him home in between procedures for at least a week to give them that bonding time, but we just don't know if it'll happen. Thanks to loving and supportive family, Aaron and Leah were rushed to KMC when we found out Medstar was on its way to pick up our baby, and they were able to see him loaded in the transport incubator, and give him a kiss right as he left KMC. We just hope to reward their loving patience with a new brother soon.

We have been encouraged and uplifted by the great show of support from our family and ward and we love you all for it. Even though we've not needed much help as of yet (except from awesome grandparents who have kept our 2 kids), it boosts us up to know we have so many true friends.

Today was a good day; the first good day since Friday. It feels like it's been months or more that we've been dealing with this when it's only been a few days. And I think we've felt months or more worth of heartache and tears, but today was a good day. We were able to hold baby Jesh for a couple of hours this afternoon and late evening. Most of that time he was actually awake (not characteristic of him) and he just looked at us with his sweet complection, as his eyes searched our faces. It was a very healing time for both of us.

We have been blessed with many tender mercies, and ask only for your prayers. We don't know yet what our schedule will be like for the next several weeks and are taking it day by day this week. We will also be posting some updates here as we move through this.

Thank you again for your support and prayers.

Love,

Tyson and Melissa