Pics from the last little while

It's hard to remember that life was pretty normal a few weeks ago before Isaac got sick, but here are some pictures from Jarom's birthday. This is at his parents' house. Since it was right before St. Patrick's Day, his mom made a yummy corned beef dinner (one of Jarom's favorite!). I'm glad she made it because I've never made corned beef before and he was asking for it. Eventually I'll have to learn, but I'm happy putting it off a little longer. Look at Isaac's facial expression - he gets so excited for birthdays he can hardly stand it!
Of course, the best part of birthdays is the CAKE! And making a big mess with the cake.
Here is Isaac on one of his first days in the hospital doing his Albuterol treatment with the nebulizer mask. It has a dragon on it and we called it "Dragon Breathing" because steam would come out with the medicine and he would inhale it. He tolerated it really well, even though you can see how tired he was. Sometimes it would just put him to sleep all together.Isaac spent a lot of his days in the hospital resting. He was happy when he didn't need to wear the mask any more because then he could suck his thumb again, and if you know Isaac, you know how much he loves his thumb. We brought him his bear and blankets from home so that he could have some kind of connection to his familiar things.Here's Isaac Easter morning exploring the fun chocolate goodies in his Easter basket. He ate so much candy that day and made such a mess with chocolate melting all over the place, but it helped cheer him up and that's what matters. (Plus, I'm not the one doing the hospital laundry!)
Going Home!!! This is the biggest smile I saw Isaac make in over a week and I think he knew that something good was finally happening to him. He came home on oxygen, although we discovered later that the hospital forgot to turn the tank on, so he was actually on room air for a few hours. We kept checking his stats though and he was doing fine, so we've hardly had to turn on the oxygen since we've been home. I think he's just so happy to be home that he's breathing a lot easier now.

We've been home more than 24 hours now and Isaac is just about his normal, spunky self! He's laughing and playing (and trying to lick me - he likes to pretend he's a cat - drives mommy crazy!). We have a follow-up visit with his pediatrician tomorrow morning and will have more of an idea what his long-term plan will be like and what we can expect in the future. I'm so grateful that my little guy is feeling so much better!

Hospital Day 4

These last few days have been kind of crazy and I've been trying to update when possible. Isaac was admitted to Primary Children's Hospital on Friday because he wasn't improving with the breathing treatments we were doing at home, and Friday night into Saturday morning was his lowest point. Since then he has made slow and steady progress and we are hoping that he will be able to come home tomorrow. He continues to need supplemental oxygen and gets regular breathing treatments and percussion treatments to break up all the excess mucus in his lungs, but we are hoping that he will continue to improve so that we can then manage his treatments at home for the next few weeks and possibly months. Even over night last night he has made progress and is needing less oxygen.

We are so grateful for all the prayers and well-wishes on Isaac's behalf and we will continue to update as we can. It has been a very tiring and emotion weekend for our little family but we feel blessed for the excellent care Isaac is receiving and for the circumstances that allow us to spend our time by his side.

It's RSV

Shortly after posting the last message, the nurse called back and I described Isaac's worsening condition and she said to bring him right in. Poor guy just wanted to sleep, but we went in and they listened to his breathing and checked his oxygen saturation which was very low. His heart rate was high and his breathing was so shallow, so they did a breathing treatment with a nebulizer and afterwards checked his stats again. Within minutes his sat levels were normal and he was breathing a lot easier, thank goodness. If it would have stayed low, we would have had to take him to the hospital! But since he responded well, we can continue the breathing treatments at home with an inhaler every few hours as well as give him some pills that will help open his airways. This will also help reduce his coughing fits too and help him get over this nasty illness. When Isaac was first brought home from the hospital, we were so concerned about him getting RSV since it can be so awful for preemies especially, so I am so grateful that he is older now and can handle it so much better. And thank goodness that Jarom got a new job when he did and we have insurance to handle all these extra medical expenses! :) The blessings keep pouring down on us.

Sickness

I have some pics I was going to post, but I guess Jarom took the video card out of the computer I usually use to organize my pictures, so I'll post them later. That's all he needs, a reason to buy more computer components.... :)

Meanwhile, my poor little Isaac has been so sick this week I've hardly had time to worry about much else! He's had a lingering cough for a while, but on Monday night it got worse, so we took him to the doctor and got him some prescription cough syrup, then the fever started, and today we are starting him on antibiotics for either an ear or sinus infection. Isaac was feeling so lethargic yesterday that he stayed in bed most of the day (which as most of you know, is NOT like my little fire ball!). The weather was so nice yesterday, so for an hour or so while his fever broke, I let him play outside with his big black truck for a little while and he seemed to really enjoy that. Today he's been in bed most of the day and his fever is still lingering. Jarom thinks he might have RSV, and if that's the case, thank goodness he's getting it now, and not while he was a tiny baby and not in a month or two after the baby is born and possibly passing it on to her. We'll talk to the doctor about that in a little bit when she calls back.

I just got back from my 33 week visit and things are still looking good. Baby had a good NST - she was very active and had actually flipped around. Her head has been down for weeks and weeks now, but today it was up, which explains why her kicks have been so low this morning instead of higher up... As long as she flips back down in the next few weeks, we'll be fine. For all I know, she could have already moved down, she's been so busy today! I'm still dilated about a cm and my contractions are increasing in frequency, but it doesn't seem to be affecting my cervix very much. If they keep up at this rate, the doctor may take the stitch out in two weeks instead of three so that it doesn't cause any tearing or damage. It's hard to believe that we're almost to the point where they will remove the stitch and not because of pre-term labor! What a blessing!

One of those days!

Do you ever have those days where it seems like a dozen things are all happening at the same time? Not bad things necessarily, but just lots of little things that start to feel like one really big thing? Today has been like that for me. It all started with waking up at 4:30am for a potty break and not being able to go back to sleep, so after an hour of listening to Jarom snore (not loudly, but nonetheless), I gave up and started working for a couple hours. Then my friends and I tried to figure out what to do for playgroup and try to contact everyone, so add on a bunch of calls and call backs, and we finally decided to go to Arctic Circle and let the kids play on the playground there. On my way out the door, I get a call from Chris, my brother and realtor, about a possible offer on the house that requires a great deal of compromise and negotiation, so I have that to stew over now. Then Charlotte can't find her car keys, but luckily I have a mini-van that is good for hauling people, so I picked her and her boys up on our way over to the AC.

But that's not crazy enough. While there, we had two potty accidents, one more severe than the other, but messy still the same, but luckily my van was a bit messy and I had some spare pants in there (go figure!) and we were able to get everyone dressed again and cleaned up. I think I need a bath though because I can still smell the lingering odors... might be a pregnancy nose thing... But in the end, the kids had a great time, we were able to get everyone home safely, and now I can hopefully get Isaac to go take a nap so I can finish my work.

Jarom is really enjoying his new job at Novell and they seem to really appreciate having him there. He's already the senior go-to guy on his team when there are problems (he doesn't even have a phone yet), and stumped the Linux Guru on his first day, so he's making a name for himself. The company has so many more benefits than LNXI had and it sounds like a really fun place to work, so we are very, very grateful for him to be able to work there and be so happy there.

And Jarom had a birthday yesterday! Big 32! I didn't make a cake though because 1. I was too tired, 2. I'm gong to make a cake on Sunday to share with his family, and 3. I got a call that the couple that is interested in the house wanted to come by to take another look last night as I was finishing up making dinner and I needed to make beds. So he'll get to have his cake and blow out his candle (Isaac said he could only have one - at first he said two, but then said only one - very cheeky!) on Sunday. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Potty candy

I have rededicated myself to help Isaac become potty trained, especially with his birthday coming up right around the corner. I've been asking him on and off if he wanted to wear briefs or diapers, and his preference has overwhelmingly been diapers, so I had a little chat with him and found out the reason he didn't want to wear briefs any more was because he didn't want to have any more accidents. I can understand that, so we talked about how it was ok to have an accident but to try hard not to have any. Then I did what most parents do, I started bribing him. At first it was with whatever little candies were stashed in the pantry, then while at Costco we got a huge bag of tootsie rolls, which Isaac calls "potty candy" because he now gets one every time he goes potty. And you know, that little piece of candy is really working miracles! So much so that he didn't even want to wear a diaper to go to sleep last night, so we compromised by putting his briefs over his diaper and let him wear both to bed. He was satisfied. We've been doing this for 3 days now and in those three days, he only had one little accident on day one. We have even been to some stores and he's been very good! We still need to remind him to go potty, so we're working on getting him to let us know when he needs to go, but he's definitely making some very good progress. At this rate, he may even be out of diapers before the baby is born! I wouldn't mind only having one kid in diapers.

Jarom was supposed to start his new job on Monday, but it turns out the HR department was slow to process his new hire papers, so he will report for his first day on Wednesday instead. I don't mind, since it will give him time to finish up the tile in the downstairs bathroom! :) And if he gets bored when that's done, I can find a whole list of things for him to work on. We're just so grateful that he'll have a job to go to next week!

It's a litlte more official now....

Jarom got a WONDERFUL phone call this afternoon from Novell with the verbal job offer! They'll send the paperwork to him in the next few days and he'll start work on Monday, I'm so happy! What's funny is they haven't gotten the results from his background check yet (they seemed to really make a big deal about that), but as long as that comes back clean (why wouldn't it?), then he's got the job! So needless to say, there is much rejoicing going on in the Hatch house today! We'll even have health insurance on Monday, so as long as Baby can stay put at least that long, we won't have to worry about paying for her delivery (and I won't have to consider not getting an epidural to save some cash - I like epidurals).

Isaac's having a good day wearing briefs today too. We haven't been pushing the potty training too much with all that's going on around here, but having a good day with it helps to keep it in his mind that it's good to use the potty once in a while.

Chris just called, we have another house showing tonight, what a great day! Time to get cleaning.

It's not official, but....

Jarom just got back from his second interview with Novell in Provo, and while they don't have an official job offer yet, it's looking REALLY good that he will have one within a week. They do background checks on people they plan on giving job offers to, and they told him that they are waiting for the background check right now. They definitely need him and will want him to start as soon as possible - as soon as they offer him the job. :) So hopefully next week some time, Jarom will be able to get back to work, our family will be insured, and life can go on as normal! And then all that severance money can go into the new house! Yipee! I'll post again when we hear back for sure, and then we can really celebrate!

The zoo, and other things

We just had our first house showings this morning - two groups came by. I guess we'll hear feedback in the next few days how things went. It's pretty nerve racking knowing complete strangers are looking through your home and you just hope that nothing happens while you're gone. We did a lot of work (especially Jarom!) cleaning and getting everything in order, and I must say, it's very nice having such a clean home. I wish it were like this more often! The biggest problem area was the office, but we got things organized and cleared out and it looks pretty good.

While we were gone this morning, we went out to breakfast at the Belgian Waffle. That will be the LAST time I ever eat there again. We waited for our food for about 45 minutes, and when you're starving and just waiting for some pancakes, it seemed pretty ridiculous. Isaac's pancakes were so hard and dry that I sent them back and had them bring him some new ones. My toast and hash browns were also very cold and dry, but at least my eggs and sausage were warm (not hot though). Jarom didn't get his food for another 10 minutes after we got our food, but his was hot. I don't get it. And yes, I'm still bitter.

For playgroup yesterday (and to celebrate leap day!), we took the kids to the zoo. They had some special activities with frogs and Isaac had fun leaping like a frog and playing some frog games. The weather was so nice outside and the animals were so lively! The zebras were dancing around, I couldn't tell if they were fighting or about to mate.... Even the tiger was walking around and putting on quite the show. Isaac loved seeing all the animals! Here is is in front of the alligator.


Here's a pic from dinner the other night at the Mayan. Isaac spent most of the time propped against the little wall and watching the divers "splash!" Doesn't my little guy look so sharp with his hair cut?