Baby boy!

It's only been 3 days and already we have had a few adventures since the last time I posted anything. Aidan discovered his feet! 2 days ago he kicked his legs up and realized he had feet that he could grab and stick in his mouth so every time I change his diaper he grabs his feet. Last night he was sitting in his saucer playing for quite a while. When I pulled him out he was soaked. His button had popped open and he lost all of his milk. Needless to say he needed a bath so I quickly put him in the bathroom sink to rinse him off and it was actually the first bath he enjoyed! He is so much fun.

He's a little shy...


Well not really :)

Tim Tam Slams!!

Yum, Yum, Yum! Tonight Rich and I treated ourselves to the most delicious treat in Australia. So sad we don't have these scrumptious cookies here in the states:( I was first introduced to Tim Tams on my mission. My first companion, Sister Jungfleish, was from Australia and she told me about them. A few months later I had a roommate from New Zealand and she taught me how to do a Tim Tam slam. Ok so it's like these 2 cookies with a layer of silky smooth chocolate between them and then the whole thing is dipped in chocolate. What you do is you bite off both ends of the cookie and then you put one end in hot chocolate and suck on the other end. In Australia they use "Milo" but we don't have that here. I hear it's a
million times better than hot chocolate. So you are sucking on the end of it and the hot chocolate melts the inside of it and the goal is to catch the whole thing in your mouth before it all falls into the hot chocolate. Wow what an experience! Thank you Amy!! My sister-in-law just got back from Samoa and bought me 2 packs of Tim Tams. She is awesome!

The NICU (week 1)

Aidan's first week in the NICU was the beginning of an incredibly hard time in all of our lives. After having gone through all of the craziness of his birth I was a complete mess. I had to stay in the hospital one day and then Dr. Afshar discharged me so that I could go see my baby. Rich and I drove straight from the hospital to the NICU. At that time we were actually living in Branson with plans to move to Springfield in a few weeks. Thank goodness my sister had just moved to Springfield so we were able to stay with her for about a week and then we decided we needed to go ahead and move so that we could have our own place and we could be close to Aidan. Just 2 days after Aidan was born I was up and about, walking through the St. John's hospital to go see my little boy. I guess there is a funny side to
what was happening to me. I still had a pooch and I was walking funny so people thought I was pregnant. The guy that gave us a ride from the parking lot to the front door of the hospital said to me, "Well you look like you're due any day now!" I just smiled at him and said, "Actually I already had him." He was really embarrassed and didn't say a word after that. Then in the elevator a lady patted Rich on his back and said "Congratulations!". I didn't even bother trying to explain.
When we finally got to the NICU it was a bitter-sweet moment. I was so happy to be with Aidan but it was so hard to see him in his condition. He was on a ventilator but the next day he was taken off of it. In these pictures he is under an oxygen hood. I can't say that the first week was the hardest because our entire time there was hard but it was painful not knowing what to do. I felt so helpless. I couldn't help but think that I am his mother and it is my responsibility to take care of him and yet I couldn't even really touch him! My heart ached. Aidan had been intubated and extubated about 3 times in his 1st week of life. They didn't know what the problem was and thought that because when he was on the ventilator he was on room air he would be fine if he was extubated. I remember the second time he was reintubate Rich and I were on our way to church and we got a call from the hospital and they told us that he had to go back on the ventilator and that they found blood in his stomach. I was so scared and completely broke down. Rich and I said a prayer in the car and both felt so strongly that we needed to go to sacrament meeting. Prayers were said for Aidan and the sacrament hymns seemed to be chosen especially for us. We both felt our Heavenly Father's love for us and for Aidan so strongly. It was a very special time. We went to see Aidan right after church. That was Aidan's first week. What a beautiful blessing he is in our lives. I love him more than anything.

Aidan's first hair cut!

This is Aidan at 5 months

Before his first hair cut...

During...

and after!

Isn't he so handsome?

Ouch!

Yesterday Aidan got his synagist shot:( It was so sad. He deals with pain pretty well though. Here's a picture of his little band aid. He had a big day because not only did he get a shot, he got a crib...finally! We were waiting until we found a good deal and it finally happened yesterday morning. Rich found it on Craig's List. Yay for Craig's List! One of our favorite places to shop. Aidan had his first night's sleep in it and he really seemed to like it. It was so fun setting it up. I don't have tons of news but I'm pretty much addicted to blogging so I had to write something. I do have some good news about Rich though. He got an interview with the Pharmacy school in Ft. Lauderdale. We were kinda torn as to whether or not we should spend the money going out there since we have pretty much decided on LECOM in Bradenton, FL but we didn't want to pass up Ft. Lauderdale without being sure of what we wanted and then regret it later. So Rich is flying out to Florida again to enjoy the beautiful sunshine while Aidan and I freeze. We are happy for him. As you can see we have a lot of great news ;)

Roly-poly

On his back getting ready for take off...

And he's off!

Hey mom!

He's so proud of himself :)

Good news...bad news

I'll start with the good news. I think it is so crazy how fast Aidan is growing. Today he woke up and he was a big boy. It happened over night! A couple of times last night I woke up to him fussing a little. When I got up to check on him he was on his belly. Now anytime I put him on his back when I turn around he rolls onto his belly. Then when I put him on his belly for tummy time he rolled over to his back. I can't believe I was worried that he wasn't developing normally. He is so much fun.
Now the not so good news. Today we had an appointment with Dr. Allphin, his trach doctor. Dr. Allphin came in the room with a big smile on his face and said "I am very optimistic that Aidan is going to get his trach out in the Spring." That made me so happy. Then he took a scope and put it down his throat and his expression changed. He said that his vocal cords are not moving as much as he had hoped that they would. It looks like the left vocal cord isn't really moving at all. He said that we need to give him more time to heal and hopefully in a few months he will be better. His next appointment is in April. I am going to be praying like crazy that at his next appointment he is healed and can get his trach out. I love him and will be happy and grateful no matter what happens. I thank my Heavenly Father for sending him to me and giving me the blessing of taking care of him. I was thinking about the love that I have for him and I was trying to describe it to Rich. It is so intense that there aren't words to describe it. I love being a mommy.

He rolled over!

Yes, it's true! My sweetheart rolled over! He was sleeping and I was downstairs with the baby monitor on. I heard him breathing heavier which means he's awake so I just let him chill for a minute and then I ran upstairs to get him. He was on his belly! I wanted to take a picture so bad but my camera was downstairs and I didn't want to just leave him because of the trach. I am so proud of him!

Aidan's Birth

Wow what a crazy day this was. I never wrote any of this down mostly because it was so traumatic for me and for Aidan. That time of our lives also just seemed so hectic. So here he is on August 21, 2007 just minutes after he was born. There is just so much to say I don't even know where to start. I had the perfect pregnancy. I ate healthy, never really got sick and I absolutely loved being pregnant. I never could have imagined anything going wrong. I was in labor for about 13 hours and I pushed for about 20-30 minutes and he was here. There was so much joy that flooded into the room and almost instantly that joy became fear. I remember Dr. Afshar putting him kind of on my belly but all I could see were his legs. Rich cut the umbilical cord and that is when the panic set in. Aidan wasn't crying...
gasping for air. Dr. Afshar immediately rushed him to the weighing table and started working on getting him to breathe. Everything else that happened I heard from Yesenia (my sister) and Rich. Dr. Afshar put him on the table and lifted his arm and dropped it to see if he had any control or reaction. His arm flopped on to the table with no reaction. Then he was given a shot and still there was no reaction. It was then that Dr. Afshar decided to intubate him to clear his airway. During all of this I was just around the corner with my mom asking over and over for somebody to please tell me what was going on and what was happening to my baby. I was so scared. It felt like a nightmare. Aidan was taken into another room where he had 5 or 6 people working on him. I never even got to see him.
After about 30 minutes a nurse came in with her digital camera and showed me pictures she had taken of Aidan. He was so beautiful. Then 15 minutes after that another doctor finally came in to stitch me up. I just cried and cried and cried. After I was taken off of the delivery table they put me in a wheelchair and took me into a room to see Aidan for the first time. It broke my heart to see my perfect baby lying on a table with an oxygen mask on. I was in there with him for about 5 minutes. That is when they told me that they had called for the St. John's NICU in Springfield to come and get him. I wouldn't get to take my baby home. The last picture is the incubator that they transferred him in. They brought him into my room before they left so that I could see him for the last time in a couple of days. That night I felt empty. I ached inside and out. I had lost a lot of blood and had a very traumatic day and it took a toll on me. When I got up to use the bathroom I passed out in the bathroom. Luckily an amazing nurse (Starla) was there with me and she caught me and helped me to the ground while Rich ran to get help. Another nurse ran in with ammonia and brought me out of my daze. Looking back I am so grateful for my mom who was there with me and didn't leave my side for one minute. I'm grateful for my sister who kept reassuring me when I was fearing the worst. I'm grateful for Rich who stayed calm and was my firm foundation through it all. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father who loves his children and watched over us every step of the way.

Fun with Lukey!

We have had a couple of pretty eventful days and I'm just now getting a chance to write about them. On Sunday we went to Rich's parents house to visit and had a fun time. Grandma Daisy was there too! We had dinner and then just kinda hung out. Aidan got to spend quality time with his cousin Luke. Luke and Aidan have a lot in common. They both spent some time in the NICU. It's so nice to talk to Julie about her experience and know that we understand each other. We were comparing our babies scars and it kinda made me giggle at the thought that they will probably do the same when they get older.
Yesterday my mom came over and spent the day with us. Aidan sure loves his grandma. They spent the day just loving on each other. At around 4p.m.
my power went out and I called city utilities and they said that nobody was available...BIG PROBLEM! If I can't see Aidan I can't suction him! Well it started getting dark around 5:30 and by 6:00 I couldn't see anything. I decided to go over to my sister's apartment and just hang out there until Rich got home to fix the problem. We entertained ourselves with Josalynn and Aidan. I think we almost had too much fun. This picture of Aidan with the pigtails is a one time thing. Rich almost killed me but I just had to put it on here because there is a picture of me when I was his age and my hair is in pigtails and he looks exactly like me! My mom couldn't believe it. Aidan will probably not like it much when he gets older either but what can I say!

Discovering Baby Einstein

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day. It was one of those days that I just break down and cry as soon as Rich walks in the door. Aidan cried all day long! Even though he can't actually make a crying sound it is still very frustrating. I would put him on the ground to play with toys and he would cry. I would sit and play with him and as soon as I walked away he would cry. He cried during all 5 of his feedings and he cried when I put him down to nap. I felt so incredibly inadequate. I am constantly feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. Now I understand why people always say that babies should come with an instruction manual. Yesterday ended on a very good and humbling note. I was checking my g-mail and I saw that a while back Marianne (mom) forwarded a video called 99 balloons. Rich and I watched it and by the time it was over we were both in tears. It made me remember how blessed I am to have Aidan home after all that he has been through. It reminded me that I need to cherish every day that I get to share with him. Well today is a much better day:) He woke up happy and only cried during half of his feeding. Then I put him in his saucer that "Santa" brought him for
Christmas and put on Baby Einstein. He would play for a while and then
just stare at the TV. He loves Baby Einstein! Thank goodness because now I can keep him entertained while I eat breakfast. These are some pictures of my big boy in his saucer mesmerized by Baby Einstein.

Aidan kisses

Gosh I feel like I am so far behind but I really just need to start where life is right now. Ok so the loves of my life are Rich and Aidan and there is so much going on with both of them right now. Rich just got into Pharmacy school in Bradenton, Florida!! Yay! So we are moving to Florida in August. We can't wait. Rich starts his last 2 classes on the 14 which is in just 4 days! I am so not excited about that but what can you do? Then there is Aidan...so much to say. We just got over a really rough week with him. He caught something and was really sick. For a normal baby this might not be a big deal but because of his trach he worked us to death. We are so happy he is better and are going to work extra hard to keep him healthy. He has just started giving kisses. Well at least that's what I call it. He reaches up and grabs my face and then tries to stick the whole thing in his mouth. It is so cute. Here are some pictures of him kissing his daddy.