Full Diet on day 4

Ian appears to have turned a corner with his new liver picking up functions so that is a huge relief. He still has a long road still ahead of him but some of the bigger hurdles at the front are slowly being hurdled.

He got to eat today and what did he choose--chicken nuggets of course but he didn't eat one after they arrived. He had about 1/2 a blueberry muffin, pretzels, and a chocolate milk. He can also walk to the big boy potty if he wants to now.

I got a nap this afternoon and feel better for the rest in general. My sister brought food to my mom and I today so we can have something other than fast food which is most exciting--never thought I would be excited about green veggies :)

Livy is not taking the bottle still so I am running back and forth between the two kids and it is killing me right now. I have asked our social worker if there is anyway that livia could visit once Ian is out of PICU. Livy in general is just a momma's girl and I am struggling (emotionally and physcially) splittign my time between the two kids.

Continue to pray for our family! We appreciate all the prayers and those who are helping us.

Back in Atlanta -- Day 3

I am back in Atlanta (as of yesterday afternoon) and I must say the drive here this time wasn't nearly as speed laden as the first time. My mom, livia, family friend, AJ, and I got ourselves into the Mason Guest house last night after a very fun yogurt explosion accident. Please do not ask.

I was here when Ian had a bowel movement the first time on Friday afternoon which was great. He is doing well--his labs are showing steady improvement but a little slower than we had hoped. The doctors are monitoring things very closely and are positive by the trending that Ian is showing.

This morning I shifted out with Brett as he had two hours of sleep--I think I got about 3 between feeding livy, worrying about Ian, and the size and "comfort" of my pull out chair that was my bed. While I was here Ian had his catheder (sp?) removed and one of his arterial blood pressure IV lines removed which is great. Taking the tape off him is not fun for Ian at all. He had tape on one of his wrist IVs fail and bled on his ball blanket so I am trying to find a place to wash that for him. When he has tubes/lines/tape removed, I try to distract him as much as possible by playing our engine guessing game, singing songs or other things. Ian keeps asking to go potty in the big potty but that is just not possible right now. We think he may be able to have clear liquids tonight.

I thought I was prepared for the transplant call but no so at all. In three years, I've kept our bags with my sister who lives in metro ATL. Just two weeks ago when we were here for clinic, I decided to take them back to SC to repack/reassess and didn't get to do that yet. Thank goodness I hadn't unpacked anything so could just put them right into the trunk but they hadn't been updated for over a year. Brett and I are having to "live" apart right now and that is one of the kinks in the plan as I had thought we would be together and we are not. The other major kink is that Livia cannot come back to Ian's PICU room so I am having to go back and forth between Ian's PICU room and a family waiting area to feed Livy or from his PICU room to a transplant housing facility about 2 miles away to feed Livy. It is rough--very very rough. As I said on an earlier post, it would be such a stress relief if Livy were to take a bottle as I can pump milk for her where ever and my mom who is here helping me (THANK YOU MOM!) can feed her from the bottle. We are trying a new type of bottle for her later today.

Brett and I have different hurdles with our "divide and conquer" jobs and who has the bigger hurdles--I don't know. He has been amazing and wonderful and awesome and I am so glad we are doing this together and that we can bear our burdens together to make them light.

Please keep the prayers coming!

Recovery Day 1 and Clean up crew

I'm home in Charleston for a few hours to get the house in "leaving" order as I won't be back for a while. I feel like I'm running a marathon that just doesn't stop....laundry, return library books, take down the christmas tree, pack clothes, hold the mail, etc. One of my key jobs is to get Mr. Puppy--Ian's lovey for him as well as Harold the Helicopter. I totally bolted without either of these items on Tuesday. My parents are here helping me get a few tasks done and then I am driving back to ATL tomorrow morning.

Ian is my hero. He has been a champ through everything. He has only said his tummy hurts once so far which is amazing to me. I've had two c-sections nothing close to what he has gone through and for those I was saying I hurt a lot more than just once. He will have lots of physical therapy to help him get back to the running and jumping, etc. The day before the call we had gone outside for a walk and chalk and running in the back yard and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that we did that; so glad.

We are trying to decide how to handle the whole Christmas in the hospital thing--Ian knows that Santa is very aware that he is at the hospital and to bring some of his presents there but Santa will likely make another visit to our home after we are back and settled.

The surgical team, doctors, nurses and staff have been wonderful. Just wanted to express our gratitude to everyone who has prayed for us and helped us in anyway. Many many thanks for helping us as we cross hurdles everyday with Ian's recovery.

Brett and Ian both have blog sites with information so check the side bar for those sites....

Transplant Day

We got the call for Ian's transplant yesterday morning about 9:15. Brett was out of town on business in Philly so I was solo with both kids. It was too foggy to fly so I had to drive to Atlanta to get here by 4pm. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders for certain. It was all hurry up and wait--we waited all night and into the next morning. I am waiting in the OR area as Ian is just now going to start the transplant--he's been in the OR for 2+ hours already. Things have been crazy with trying to get Livy taken care of--she isn't taking a bottle which is causing huge problems. She also cannot be in the room with Ian at all in PICU or when he is on the regular floor which is causing a new set of variations in our plan. Anyone reading this wondering what they can do to help--prayers for all of our family would be a huge help; prayers for Ian's health and recovery--Livy to take a bottle and be a good girl for those watching her--Elaine and Brett to have the stamina to make it through this. I will try to post more when I get a chance.

Spilt Milk

So today in our errand running we had an experience...well let's say I had an experience. At our last stop, I was loading the kids when I realized our bread was being squished so I moved it only realizing too late that the bag with the milk also moved and tumbled out of the car. It was one of those moments that seemed in slow motion but yet I couldn't stop it from happening. Milk gushed out of the spilt gallon and I was trying to sprout at least two more sets of arms to console Ian who was melting down over the spilt milk he had no responsibility for, Livy who needed put in the car, and containment issues for the milk I had just purchased. One nice man asked if I had things under control or if I needed a hand. I think most people would have just left the milk and call it a learning experience but oh no not me. I double bagged it and set it on it's side and put in the car to drive 5mph home. We made it home without further spills and I managed to save more milk than I had thought. I snapped a picture of the jug with the nice whole in the side just for a memory!

Holiday Season

So now that Thanksgiving has past and Christmas is right around the corner I figured that I would update my blog on the subject of holidays. Thanksgiving itself was wonderful however the traffic coming home was less than desirable....a 5.5 hour journey took 10 hours. The kids were actually very good considering. Ian loved the tukey and had his first piece of pumpkin pie. I got up on black friday to hot the sales at 5am. I was able to get what I wanted only b/c I sprinted through the stores. My strategy of no cart serves me well.

Christmas time is my favorite but this year I am feeling a bit motr like the grinch for some reason. We got our tree up last night--lights were again tangled despite efforts last year to avoid that. Ian has found the magic of the season this year which is great. He asks about Santa a lot and is a bit weray of our chimney. I managed to get everyone in Santa hats for a quick picture although I want a redo when we are all dressed nicely in front of a decorated tree next round.

Ian is learning Christmas songs and his favorites are Jolly Old St. Nick; We wish you a merry Christmas (complete with figgy pudding verse), and Up on the housetop. He had his first ever roasted marshmellow and didn't like the "fire" on it at all. We'll work on developing that taste.

We've made a countdown chain with various activities on it to help the days and today we are to do a holiday craft so wish us luck and think of us as we glue shiny pom poms on craftsticks, etc.

Voting

So I voted for my first time ever this past Tuesday in the presidential election. It was an experience....tried to go in the AM and the wait time was 3 hours which was impossible for me to do alone with two small children--one who was only a few weeks old. I went back with Brett that night for an hour wait and cast my electronic vote. So nifty! I got my "I voted" sticker which was great. I had a nice lady behind me snap a photo of me at the registration booth and am posting it here. Democracy is wonderful!