Duncan's update

Duncan is doing good right now. His infection is cleared up and his breathing is improving. His right lung is giving them some trouble, but they are monitoring it closely. They are trying to figure out all his liquids so they can get him more stable. His blood sugar level gets high and they adjust that and then his blood pressure gets out of whack, then he pees too much, then he doesn't pee enough. The Dr. wants to get it figured out so they can get him stable and get him eating again. They may begin feeding him again today. His weight is up he is now
2lb. 6oz. and looking better each day. They have been taking so much blood from his foot though that his heel looks like it has 20 little holes in it. He is feisty and lets the nurse and Dr. know what he wants. He loves to be on his belly and when we were there yesterday he looked like he was going to crawl away. I think he is tired of being in there. Justin keeps asking me if he was like this in my belly, and I say yes, he was just starting to move a lot and when he did, he would really move.

They are going to be doing another scan of his brain on Thursday to check for any signs that he may have neurological damage. The Dr. said that babies that don't have bleeds don't usually have this problem, so she isn't anticipating to see any problems.

The bad news is that now I have some sort of cold. I went to the Dr. and he put me on penicillin. It must be a cure all because they gave Justin the same thing. So I am very sad right now because I won't be able to go see Duncan today. I'm lucky though that they were able to get me in so quickly to see a Dr. because last week Justin had to wait a whole week to get in. The other problem I am having is sleeping at night. I can't. I am so tired, but when I go to try to sleep, I can't. Any suggestions?

Trying something

I was just playing around and wanted to see if the collage would work.

Precious moments

Cute little feet

The lights are too bright! He squeezes his eyes shut tight. He also likes to hold his ear.

See my chunky body (for me it is chunky)


Duncan had a rough couple of days, but he is on the upswing of things. His infection is clearing up and he has been doing really well with his breathing. His settings went way down today, his oxygen was at 68% yesterday and today he was down as low as 33%. And even better he is 2lb. 4oz!! His nurse Brooke really loves Duncan and is his primary nurse. She said he was so good today that she was actually board. We said better to be board than have too much to do because he is sick. Justin is really excited to go see him tomorrow. He has been sick all week and had to wait to go to the Dr. on Friday to make sure he wasn't contagious. He isn't going to believe how big Duncan got in one week.

Funny Story

I have to tell the story behind the picture below. It is just too good of a story to pass up.

Once upon a time-just kidding. In the '80's we had this elder that served his mission in Phoenix. He became really close to our family, partly because my oldest brother Ben was on his mission at the same time. Elder Greenwood was a good substitute for a little while. When he went home he did the normal thing and got engaged. Well, my mom had to go to his wedding. So she decides that Suzi and I should go with her. We packed up my dads little Toyota station wagon and made our way to Utah. Oh, but don't think that it was an easy trip, oh no. There was adventure and danger.

When we got to Kanab, the car started to have some problems. It was overheating and my mom didn't think that we would make it to Provo. She was right. I don't remember exactly where we were, but in the middle of the night the car broke down. We were able to coast into this abandoned store parking lot and park next to the store. Remember-two women and a girl, alone, in a parked, broken down car at night before cell phones had even been a common thing.

There was a payphone near by so my mom went and called my dad to let him know what had happened and she also called her friend in Utah who we were going to be staying with. Well the friend said she was coming to get us so stay put. No problem. As we are sitting in a dark, broken down car another strange car keeps passing by us. It went by a couple of times. Then it pulled into the parking lot. My mom said to me "hand me the iron." I hand her a curling iron. She tells me "that's not the iron I want, I want the iron for clothes." I couldn't find it, so she said give me the iron. At this point the man in the car has turned around and pulled up next to our car and asked my mom if we needed any help. My mom said no, we were waiting for a friend.

Okay, it doesn't sound so scary, but if you were there you would have been scared. My moms friend did come and pick us up. We made it to the wedding and reception the next day and even enjoyed our stay. My dad and brother drove our van to pick us up and on our way back we picked up the Toyota and towed it home.

This is just one of many vacation adventures. I have so many more I could tell.

Happy Birthday Suzi

(This picture is in 1988, we are in Utah at a wedding- Don't you love our hair!)

Yesterday, was my sister Suzi's birthday. She turned _?_ years old. (I know how old she is, I just don't know if she wants me tell) I have a great sister. She is an amazing person, so I am going to list off just a few things that make her great.
She:
has an amazing heart
has raised two wonderful kids
always giving of her time
always willing to do anything to help her family or friends
very intelligent
the most patient of all the siblings (and that's not an easy thing in this family)
a voice for you when you don't know what to say
a comforter
a great Aunt
A great sister
an advocate for her kids
is her kids biggest fan
is a hard worker
is funny and fun to be around

My sister has been such a huge rock for me the last few weeks. When I went into labor, I knew my parents were at my grandma's house and it would take them some time to get to the hospital. I told Justin to call my sister. I didn't know if she would be able to come, I didn't even know if they would answer the phone. Luckily, Terry, my brother in law, is in the National Guards and will wake to any noise and he answered the phone. When they brought me back to my room after the c-section I opened my eyes and my sister was standing by my bed. It was such a comfort to know that she was there. She stayed with me each day I was in the hospital so Justin could be with Duncan. So when I list off just these few things about my sister, she really is all of them. She is a great and wonderful person and I hope she had a great birthday.

Comforting thought

I went to the hospital today to see Duncan and he was doing much better. He has an infection in his lungs, but they have him on antibiotics and in about 7 days it should clear up.

I had this really great feeling today. As I was sitting by his bed looking at him and just feeling so helpless, I thought "Why do the lungs have to be the last thing to develop?" and this is what came to me: Because the lungs continue to develop and the lungs can be fixed, the brain can not. The heart would be difficult to fix, but the lungs can be helped with machines. And then this was the great feeling I had, that he will be okay. He will have hard days, but you have to be patient and know that he will be okay.

I know that Heavenly Father is watching over him. I know that the Dr.'s and nurses are watching over him and doing every thing they can do for him. It is a day by day process. Each day brings challenge or comfort. I just believe that I have to be patient which is very hard for me because I want to see instant results and it doesn't work that way. Please keep praying for Duncan and his Dr.'s and nurses that care for him.

A little Bump

The roller coaster ride is on a down side right now. Duncan had a really rough day. (This picture is from a few days ago). His little lungs just don't want to cooperate. The Dr. thinks that he has an infection now. It is so hard to sit by and see him struggling. I just feel so helpless and I am so emotional when I see all this happening. The Dr. today was actually very nice. She told me what was going on, they had the oxygen on the highest settings that she felt comfortable with and decided that they needed to go on the oscillator. She said it is much better for his lungs and is much more gentle. She said that infections can be fixed, and she was almost positive it was an infection, and that we have to keep going back to those two brain scans that came back with no bleeds. She said what is going on is fixable, the brain can't be fixed, so we have to be grateful for that. I am so extremely grateful for that. They took him off his feedings until they get this situation under control, so he will loose some weight. They also did an Eco to check and make sure that the hole in his heart didn't open back up. If it did, we will go another round with the medicine and then he may have to have the surgery to close it. The Dr. said that will be a later discussion. Justin and I have to put our trust in the Dr.'s and nurses and most importantly our Heavenly Father. It is so hard though.

I was sitting watching the tech. do the Eco on Duncan today and I had no idea what he was looking at and measuring. I could tell it was the heart, but it was much more complicated than that. It seriously made me realize how grateful I am for Doctors, nurses and techs. who spend thousands of dollars and go to years of school to go into the medical field. I pray for Duncan's nurses and Dr.'s that they will know what to do for him. It is so hard to put your trust in someone who is after all only human.

Thank you for all your prayers, please, please keep praying for him and his lungs and heart.