Thursday, April 30, 2009

silly goose

Lets see what is new.

Gabriel is getting stronger by the day. We are trying to get him to keep his legs straight so that he can stand with support. The silly goose likes to lock his knees and then do the splits as you try to hold him up, or he will bend his knees and giggle at you for trying to stand him up. He is trying very hard to crawl. He has mastered the roll to whatever he wants. Daddy can leave the room and Gabriel rolls after him.

Gabriel now knows there is a thing called a cat. It has soft fur that is fun to pull and eat. If there is a cat laying in Gabriel's sight, Gabriel is quickly rolling to it for a taste. The cats are quickly learning and lay facing Gabriel so that they can take off when he gets close enough.

Today was a weird day for Gabriel. He took a few naps at over a hour each. He rarely takes naps that last that long. He also went to bed tonight at 7pm. I am worried about when he will be back up. He hasn't been sleeping very well through the night. He normally goes to bed around 8:30pm and gets up at 5am with me. We have been so off schedule since the hospital last week. We will get there soon.

There are so many amazing people in the world. So many of you have helped us out so much! I want to say thank you!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

we've got poo

lots and lots of poo. Who would have thought we would be excited for poopie diapers?

Gabriel is doing better. He is eating more and appears to be filling out! He is also too cute for his own good! He is still on hospital hours which is rough when getting up for work but I would rather he was on hospital hours than in the hospital.

We are worried, both the county I work in and the county I live in have had swine flu confirmed. We have a lot of families who are in and out of Mexico. Many of our students also go to school no matter what because often it is the only food they get and/or home isn't safe. I hope they are all safe and I also hope they do not bring the flu around!

My car is in the shop. I will find out tomorrow how much the lady did to it when she backed into me and how long it will have to stay. Lucky the dealership rocks and I have a loaner for as long as it takes to fix my car.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Gabriel is daddy's boy!

Gabriel is completely Daddy's boy!
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Gabriel smiling at Gabe... he sure loves his daddy:)

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Look at these two. Too cute! Wish they would share their secrets with Mommy!

Smiles

Gabriel is so full of smiles almost all of the time. The morning is always amazing when I walk into his room and there he is with a huge grin on his face. Before long he will be standing there in his bed waiting for me to come get him.

I wonder if he sleeps much. I can hear him playing at weird hours of the night. He will giggle and play with the few toys I let him have in his bed. He doesnt cry unless there is something wrong.

I cant wait for him to get off some of his medication. It always makes him go to the restroom at night. Gabriel does not like his diaper wet at night. He has stopped crying every time it happens but I know he would rather not have a wet diaper.

Back to work tomorrow. I don't want to be away for that long but it must happen.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

might be on the upside

Things are going okay here. Gabriel has been running a 101.2 temperature for the last two days. I have been giving him some Tylenol to help him be less cranky and to get his temperature down.

He still has not pooed. The last time he had a good poo was Sunday last week before we had to go to the hospital.

He is keeping his bottles down today. He is not able to eat his quota but he is getting more fluids down and keeping it down which is a good sign.

It looks like we may be on the upside of all of this!

Friday, April 24, 2009

to the hospital and back

I called the pediatricians office, the nurse there spoke with our doctor and who told us to go to the ER. Another 45 minute drive there.

The doctor there wanted to try to not keep him over night. That is fine but I don't want another night like last night where he is in so much pain that he can't sleep and I would like to not have to change his clothing and shower him 3 times in a hour on no sleep.

They gave him some medication to settle his stomach. After waiting for it to kick in (20 minutes) we fed him to see what happened. He ate his bottle and did not throw up (thank goodness). So they sent us home. No more medication to settle his stomach (hope that stuff lasts forever or he gets over this before it wears off). He did have a slight fever which they told us to give him Tylenol for it (great idea if he can keep it down).

So here we are more than 24 hours after getting home yesterday. Gabriel has only had and kept down 3, 4oz bottles when he is to have 7 in a day. He will eat a oz or two and be done right now because his stomach is still a little upset.

He also is constipated. You can feel it when pushing lightly on his stomach. The suppositories are not working. They gave him 2 at the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday. We gave him one last night. I am taking the day away from home when he blows;)

We are home!

I hope I am wrong

Well if last night and this morning are any indication we will be back in the hospital tonight. Gabriel cried all night last night. He could not get comfortable. He was so uncomfortable. I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room with him on my chest for a few hours. That is the only way I could get him to sleep.

He has been crying all morning this morning. He drank 2 bottles (only 3 bottles total since being released from the hospital). He coughed and choked on both even though he had the thickener in them. Before long he gagged, coughed and thew them up.

I am calling pediatrician right now to see what i should do.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Going Home

We will be heading home shortly! Will let you know more if there is any more when we are home and settled a little bit.

more news to come

I am just writing a short message for the moment. I will update more later. We are still at the hospital, hoping to come home today.

Gabriel is aspirating silently into his lungs. We are taking steps to stop this. He is up to 12lbs 6oz, up a pound and 4 oz from Monday:)

He does not have anything wrong with his thyroids at this point.

We still do not know why his arms and legs are blue. We do not know why his temperature is low.

That is all we know and may be all we know for this hospital visit.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

always an adventure

Some days we would have no luck at all if it wasn't for bad luck. Oh well at least everyone can have a little humor sometimes. Gabriel helps us stay on our toes. He could care less that he is not gaining weight, that his right arm is unusable due to having his IV in the crook of his arm and his hands and feet are so cold they put little heaters on them. All of that is just another obstacle to over come and new toys to play with. He grins and laughs at and with everyone who comes in to visit.

Thank goodness for that IV, he was very lethargic when we got him here yesterday. He still wanted to see everything around him but he was not able to watch as closely as he would have had he been feeling better.

He is still getting IV fluids and will until rounds tomorrow. He is now taking 27 calorie formula (up from his 24 calorie). He has not thrown up since early morning yesterday. Tomorrow they will take his blood and run some tests, one of which will be the thyroid test. He may have another x-ray due to his lungs looking "wet" in the last one. He will have a swallow study done to see if he is aspirating into his lungs. Once all of the results are back we will go over another plan of action with our new knowledge. That will decide when we get to go home.

Gabriel is such a ham. He is looking out the door "talking" to everyone as they go by. He should have been asleep a hour and a half ago. Good luck to me trying to get him back on schedule when we get home.
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Who needs sleep?
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mom, take this darn thing off of my arm
Gabriel with a little water weight today. He almost looks chunky:)

We will be here another day at least

Where to start?

Gabriel appears to be doing much better after getting IV fluids. He was pretty dehydrated when he was admitted. I had been worried about this from the start. That is why I took him to Hackley on Sunday. It kind of made me feel like a bad mother even though I had been trying to do everything I could to get and keep fluids in him.

A pediatric cardiologist came in this morning. He is from the same practice as our cardiologist. From his stand point things are looking great. He thinks the medication is doing what it needs to be doing. He is not sure why Gabriel is not gaining weight.

Gabriel is unable to maintain his body temperature. His hands and feet are turning blue and his skin is marbling. Some of this is new. He has had cold hands and feet ever since surgery, the rest of it is pretty new. They want to check his thyroid numbers. They think that may have something to do with his body temperature, his hands and feet and the marbling of his skin.

They are also going to call in a nutritionist. Gabriel should be gaining weight with the quantity he is eating and the fact that it is 24 calorie formula.

They are taking about ordering another swallow study. Gabriel had a chest x-ray last night. They thought he may have pneumonia due to his lungs looking wet. They have come to the conclusion upon taking a closer look that they are thinking he is aspirating into his lungs. He hasn't been able to eat correctly after surgery so they may be onto something.

Gabe is on his way home now. We were warned by our pediatrician's office that we may need to stay the night. We grabbed toothbrushes and that is about all. Hopefully we will get to go home tomorrow but who knows. I sent him home for a set of clean clothing!

Good news is that Gabriel has not thrown up in over 24 hours. He will be starting on formula slowly anytime now.

We will get somewhere. One day at a time:)

Admitted

We have been admitted to Devos. Gabriel is in isolation. They want to watch him through the night. His heart rate was dropping while he was sleeping down in the ER. He is so cold that his hands and feet were blue. We will see what they decide in the morning. The will be calling the cardiologist.

I will update you more when we can.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Devos Childrens Hospital

We just got a call from the doctors office. They want us to go to the ER ASAP because of gabriel's being sick and his weight loss. So, off to devos we go. Will update when we have a second!

weigh in

The nurse just left. Gabriel weighed 12lbs 7oz two weeks ago. Today he weighs 11lbs 2oz. I am hoping to start him back on his formula tonight if his stomach can handle it. I took today off of work to take care of him and have taken tomorrow off as well. Hopefully this will give him some time to feel better.

Today Gabriel turned 8 months old. It has been a crazy 8 months! I am looking forward to the next 8 months.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

FLU

Gabriel has the flu. He wasn't able to keep anything down before going to the ER this morning. At the ER they gave him some medication to help him keep food down. We are finally at home. He is able to keep small amounts of food down at a time. He is down to 11 lbs and 5 oz. He is scary thin right now.

I have tomorrow off to take care of him. I doubt I am going to get much sleep tonight. Things are going to be up for us soon!

Friday, April 17, 2009

ah drama

So, things here in the Purdy house have been pretty calm. That was until yesterday...

Gabriel has not been feeling good. He is having trouble with really bad constipation. The doctor doesn't want to see him for it unless he hasn't pooed in a week. You try to tell your baby that there is nothing you can do as he is in tears and looking at you for help. He has lost his voice from crying so hard. We finally got some things flowing by midnight last night... Who needs sleep.

Because of being backed up Gabriel threw up all over Gabe yesterday. Gabriel has only thrown up a couple times on his own. He has thrown up several times when getting tube fed. Gabe called me at work to ask if I had any idea why Gabriel would be throwing up. Poor boys.

So while worrying about my boys I headed to lunch. I had training yesterday and got to go out for lunch. I pulled into the restaurant parking lot. I was about to pull into a parking space on the right when the back end of my car was crashed into. Not exactly the back end the drivers side back door, the corner panel and the bumper. A lady wasn't looking as she backed up and BAM off to the car doctor we now must go. We called the cops and they wouldn't write a report because we 1. weren't fighting and 2. nobody was hurt. Thank goodness, nobody was hurt!

I will write more later, Gabriel is demanding my full and undivided attention.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Purdy Song

We heard this song all of the time while Gabriel was in the hospital for his heart surgery. We fell in love with it. We hope you enjoy it as well!

Im Yours - Jason Mraz

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter ~Love Erin

Happy Easter everyone. We had a good Easter at the Purdy house. Both of the boys got awesome Easter baskets and I got myself some chocolate. We had a pretty quiet day today. I am back to work tomorrow. I have had an amazing week off with the boys! It is so nice to get to spend time with them!
Gabe already added his favorite pictures from today. I am now adding mine. I hope everyone had time to reflect today. Love you all!
Erin
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Gabriel wearing a nice outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Purdy
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Mommy guess what I just did in my diaper... It is going to get on my white outfit if you aren't fast enough...
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Here is Gabriel all cleaned up. He LOVES those rabbit ears!
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Airing out the feet. They are going to smell like daddy's if I don't air them out!
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Gabriel's Easter outfit. He took his shoes off as soon as I put them on.

HAPPY EASTER!

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There's a naked baby on the loose!

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Dinner time!

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I have this shoe thing figured out no problem!

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Thursday, April 9, 2009

Booooooogaa

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Kisses for YYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!

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Slinky, Slinky, such a wonderful toy!

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Oh my gosh, have you heard the news? There is a bunny on the loose!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

cleaning

It is time to dust and vacuum the Purdy house! It is deep cleaning time in hope that summer will be here SOON! Gabriel gets to avoid cleaning time by spending a few hours at Grandma and Grandpa Purdy's. I want to get some good pictures today if I have energy after our few hours of deep cleaning;)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Gabriel Gained Weight

Gabriel gained weight this week! He is back over 12lbs, in fact he is 12lbs 5oz!!! Time for a happy dance!

We will enjoy our happy dance so we wont talk about the first half of the state game. ;)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Going to the champoinship!

GO STATE
Gabriel was so sure state would win he decided to take a little nap. That was until mom started to cheer too loud;)

my children
Lazy sundays around the Purdy house. Kitten and Gabriel have to share space on Gabe's lap.


Gabriel loves to roll to Ernie, knock him over and attack him. Sadly I did not get the knock down on camera but I do have the attack;)

spring break

We have been enjoying ourselves here in the Purdy house. Gabe is having to work Friday nights (his Saturday). It is nice because it tells us that his work is doing well even though they are in the car parts business. It also stinks because he only has one night off a week. It looks like he will be working 6 days a week all through the summer.

Friday we caught up on a LOT of doctor appointments. Gabriel had Speech therapy, his first after surgery. He is having a lot of trouble with his tongue and eating. When he was on so many pain medications at the hospital his poor tongue was sticking out 24 hours a day, I had put ointment on it to keep it moist. Now that he is off pain medication he is having trouble moving it like he use to. His sucking reflex is off. He is still able to eat but he drools his bottle a lot. He is just starting back on rice cereal and 1st foods. He is not able to have a lot because they are empty calories and he needs to gain weight above all else right now. He has to have a little solid food each day to work his tongue out. He is pushing food out of his mouth like he was when he was first on solid food before surgery. It is kind of frustrating but I know that with work we will make progress.

Gabriel is now under 12lbs. GGRR. We are pushing food all of the time. It is looking like we are going to have to tube feed him again just to help him get his weight up. I don't understand how he is still losing weight when he is eating so much food. I do honestly understand but it is so frustrating. It doesn't seem like he is working that hard to eat but if he is not gaining weight he must be. He is eating food with extra calories and eating way more than should be required for him to gain weight. We will figure it out. Having him back under 12lbs is very worrisome! He has been hanging out at 12lbs since January.

Besides losing weight and having troubles with his tongue Gabriel is doing amazing. He is getting stronger and stronger each day. He is working on sitting completely on his own. He has decided he can roll to grab whatever he wants to. The cats have learned that they are not off limits. Gabriel has no idea that he is having problems of any kind. It is always so wonderful to see his little smile and hear his giggle. It can make my entire day bright!

I am looking forward to spending a whole week with my little man! Only a few more months and I will get to spend a whole summer with him!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

weight

Gabriel did not lose weight this week. He is the same as he was last week. He seems to be doing well getting more and more formula which is exciting. Hopefully he will start gaining soon!