READ ME.....

Whoever reads this...please please say a prayer for another heart family. We met them during our stay in PICU. Pray for their son Ben who is having a rough time right now and pray for his family who may have a tough decision to make soon in the future. Ben is 10 months old and has been in the PICU and Primary Childrens his entire (although short) life. Also, please pray for our other heart friend Bridger. He has also been in PICU for a very long time and is doing his best to stay stong. Thank you.

Whats new....

Well, not much. Bethany is doing great. Some of the medical tape has come off and the scar is not nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. I honestly believe as she gets older it will be harder to see. We are all getting frustrated with the oxygen tube though. We will make it through. We made a couple of friends at the hospital who have a child there for heart problems much worse than Bethany's. They have spent their whole short lives there. Please keep them in your prayers. Ben and Bridger are tough little guys and their moms are tougher!
Hailey is starting competition season for dance. FYI------she will be dancing at half time at the Jazz game March 30th against the New York Knicks. We won't have to drive so far this year for competitions. Most of them are right here around us. WOO HOO!

WE ARE HOME!!!

We got home yesterday but we were so exhausted I didn't blog...sorry. She is doing Great and playing like nothing ever happened! She has to be hooked up to oxygen for 6 weeks but that is it. We go back for a follow up on the 28th. She gets tired fast but that will go away soon i am sure. Thanks for all your prayers!

Sunday

SHE IS OUT OF PICU!!!!! WOO HOO. We are in a normal room now. She is disconnected from everything except oxygen. She is playing and standing up in her crib walking around the thing and trying desparately to get out. We get to stay in the hospital with her now on a really small couch/bed thing but at least we are here with her. The Dr's are saying we may be able to o home tomorrow if all is well. CRAZY! Not even a week after major heart surgery and they are talking about going home! We will keep up the updating.

Saturday

Not much has changed since yesterday. She is becoming more and more Bethany again and more and more frustrated. She is hating being hooked up to everything and doesn't understand what is going on. She is eating and drinking more. Of course she is the loudest one there happy or mad! You can tell from the pictures below, she is having a good time with some of her favorite toys from home. We want to thank you all for your concern and prayers. And to our wonderful neighbors...thanks for the snacks, they are perfect!!!

Bethany Pictures

Friday

Bethany is doing very well. She is going to be in PICU until Monday. The only reason she is still there is because of some of the medicine she is on but other than that she is great. It i getting harder and harder to believe she actually had open heart surgery. She is eating better than she ever has. Trying to do things she was doing before the surgery but we have to keep her calm. The best hing today was we finally got to hold her today!!! She loved it. she just kept looking at us and giving us the look like FINALLY YOU JERKS! Grandmas were happy to get to hold her too. We have been so lucky to have the nurses and Dr.s that we have had. They have been GREAT, WONDERFUL, AMAZING!!!!!

Thursday...

Man are we tired. We still haven't been able to hold her yet but probably tomorrow. Today they took out the chest tube, 3 of the 4 IVs, and did an echo cardiogram. They ended up putting in an iv again though. The echo showed her heart is still enlarged because it is trying to learn how to work the new way. It is so used to working the old way that it will take some time for it to adjust. She is doing really well and should be able to move out of the PICU tomorrow. We are hoping.

Wednesday Update

When we saw Bethany this morning she was looking good. They had taken her off oxygen and her levels were great...better than before! Later on they took her off the temporaory pacemaker and removed the catheder because she was drinking and figured she would pee on her own. After they took her off the pace maker she started to lose coloring and turing pale again so they put her back on and she is doing great. She hadn't pee'd for hours so they put the catheder back in. Because she is still being paced they will not let her move out of PICU. Other than all of that she is doing really well. She has been slightly active by waving a little bit(only because I think she is hallucinating). She still gets mad at us because wewon't pick her up.....we can't yet and that is the hardest part for now.

Bethany Update....

The surgery went very well. Everything is in the correct place and blood flow is going the way it needs to go. The yput in the pacemaker leads for later on when she needs the pace maker. We got to see her for just a minute but she looked good. She was pretty pissed because we couldn't pick her up yet though. I think we were most relieved when they told us she was off the machine and her heart was doing what it is supposed to be doing. We will kepp the updating. Thank you for the prayers!

Bethany...

Ok, we found out today she will have the lead put into her for a pace maker but she will end up having a pacemaker put in eventually. We will go in at 7am tomorrow to start and they say it will take all morning. When they are all done she will be in PICU and we will be able to visit her. The nurse will be checking in with us every hour to give us updates. We will do our best to keep posting on here.

Jan. 2, 2009

Ok, so it is almost upon us but first let me tell you about the Holidays......

Bethany turned 1 on the 19th! WOO HOO! I can't belive she is getting so big. She had a Nemo Party and we had a house full of people. She wouldn't eat the cak ethough...I think she was getting too tired but she just wanted to walk all over the place. Santa showed up and gave everyone a present.

Christmas was a blast. Tyson video taped the action while i tried to help Bethany open gifts. She wasn't really interested in them. Hailey got everything she wanted...Hannah Montana, Littlest Pet Shop, DS and WII games. SPOILED!!! We ate breakfast with the whole family. Again, we had a house full. It is so worth it though.

Ok, so Tyson and Bethany have have been very sick lately. They are getting better but it couldn't be worse timing. My belly has been hurting but I think mine is just stress and nerves. We are just a few days away. We will try to keep you updated on this blog on how things are going.