Baby Ella's nursery is practically finished! After she is born I would like to add some frames with her newborn photos, but other than that...it's ready for her arrival. Newborn and three-month-old clothes and blankets are washed and put away, which means that all that is left to do is pack our bag for the hospital. I am now full-term at 37 weeks so we will be thrilled to meet her when ever she decides she's ready!
Day 11-Saturday, August 21st. We got the good news today that Nicholas would have his g-tube surgery on Monday afternoon. That means more days in the hospital, but going home with a g-tube instead of an NG tube makes mommy and daddy feel so much better. Plus Nicholas doesn't have to have a tube coming out of his nose anymore!
Mommy, Gramme, and Daddy gave Nicholas lots of loves all day
And Gramme helped Nicholas prepare for surgery by wearing the cap and mask to show him what the doctors would look like. He was wheeled down to the operating room at 3:30 p.m. and we were able to be with him in recovery at 5:00 p.m. so thank goodness we didn't have to wait too long to see him.
The surgery went great and Nicholas did really well. He had a bit of pain medication after surgery started his feeds through his g-tube six hours later. He is such a little trooper!
He especially loves his room, but isn't sure what to make of all the equipment in there now. I think he thought we would leave all that at the hospital!
We would still like to get some darker curtains to block out daylight when he naps and a nicer light fixture on the ceiling. Hopefully we will be able to get these things done in the next week or two.
Again, thanks so much for all the prayers and support during Nicholas's hospital stay. We appreciate all the emails, phone calls, and visits!Day 1: Admission to Doernbecker's Children's Hospital: August 11, 2010. Nicholas was admitted for respiratory distress, pneumonia, and failure to thrive (because of his low weight). He had an NJ tube inserted to start getting him the nutrients he needed.
Day 4: August 14-Still in PICU but steadily gaining weight and the physical therapists gave him a Tumble Form seat to sit in to watch TV. Also, we discovered the amazing selection of children's DVD's to watch!
We are hoping to be released by Monday (8/23) which will give us time for Nicholas's home ventilator to arrive and I will be trained to use it. The only reason we would stay longer is if the surgeons can fit Nicholas in for his g-tube placement surgery. We are hoping to get that done while we are here so that we don't have to come back in a couple weeks. Goodness knows, we've all had enough of the hospital for awhile!
This month is SMA Awareness month, so I thought I would post a few things about Spinal Muscular Atrophy...Look for more information about SMA on our blog as the month continues...
Last Saturday evening Jeff and I had our first date night in many, many months. With the impending arrival of this baby girl, we thought it would be nice to go out just the two of us for an evening together. The date started off wonderfully when Jeff bought me flowers from the Washougal Farmer's Market, and the bouquet was so big it filled two vases! Then we dropped Nicholas off at my parents' house and drove to the first restaurant we had ever eaten at together-over five years ago-Red Robin, which was nothing fancy, but yummy all the same. After dinner we saw Inception at the movie theatre and we both agreed it was the best movie we had seen in quite a long time. It was a great night that we both enjoyed!
I cannot say enough good things about Nicholas's wrist splints. They have really helped him in the last couple of months! He wears them most of the day now and loves having them on. They help him drive the powerchair, turn pages in books, play with his cars, wave hello & goodbye, push his toys...I could go on and on, but basically, his wrists had become so floppy that these give him the support he needs to do things he wasn't able to do anymore. He is suppose to get another pair soon that are not as bulky and will allow him more freedom of his fingers so he can grasp items better. It will be so nice to have both kinds for him to use. 
Nicholas has now had his new twin bed for about a week and he's loving it! My co-worker, Lisa, was so generous to give us this bed that was collecting dust in their spare room, complete with a foam topper that's been great with absorbing Nicholas's weight and making it comfortable for him to sleep at night since he cannot reposition himself as he sleeps. He's sleeping wonderfully-up to 12 hours at a time-which means that mom and dad sleep wonderfully too! I bought him some transportation bedding to go with his new room theme and he loves it...he makes truck sounds and car beeps every time we walk in. I will post some photos of his finished room very soon, but just wanted to share a couple of our big two-year-old boy in his new bed.
My youngest brother, Eric, is getting a lot better at wakeboarding this summer, partly because of his new board that he's riding. My other brother, Brett, works for Ronix wakeboards and Radar waterskis and Eric and Jeff don't mind trying out new products Brett sends them.
Jeff and I haven't taken too many photos together lately so Eric snapped a quick one of us right before Jeff was about to wakeboard. I am now 32 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good...a little tired again and am dealing with swollen feet on really hot days, but all in all, feeling great!
Brett now lives in Florida and has been in town for a few days visiting us before he has to head up to Seattle for annual Ronix meetings. He loves being home to see his family and his girlfriend, Lisa. Lisa and Brett have had a long distance relationship for about seven months now, but that will all change when she moves to Florida in October. Aren't they a cute couple?
Below are a couple of photos of Nicholas taken in the last few weeks...
Nicholas loves Jami & Kris's new husky puppy, Nakita. She's only 9 weeks old and so cute! She licked Nicholas's face and he loved petting her. He kept saying, "Woof!" which is his word for dog.
Nicholas is checking out the huge stuffed bear and moose at Shriners. His OT, April, took us on the elevator to a floor Nicholas had never been on to find these huge, furry creatures. He was amazed by their size at a little afraid at first, but then warmed up to them and made "Grrr" noises. 
