Abby is finally feeling better

What's happenin' my friends,

I hope all of you out there in Abby Land are doing well. I'm happy to report that our little munchkin is doing a lot better. She doesn't have much mucus build up anymore and is sleeping a lot better lately. Kelly did have to give her that breathing treatment some more though and at first we were worried that having a mask on her face would freak her out. But momma just held the mask over her mouth and sang her songs for 10 minutes while she gave Abby the breathing treatment. Surprisingly, our wiggle worm actually sat still. Not only that, she was absolutely consumed by her momma and just stared at her. Below is a picture of this scene....except for the fact that Abby is looking at me, but that's only because I called her name...



Abby has also been eating a lot better. And by that I mean that she actually takes consistent bites of her food while she is in her high chair. Before, she wouldn't take a bit of ANYTHING. It was pretty bad there for a while. Now she eats little bites of her food one after the other, which is GREAT! However, she does "chipmunk" her food a lot. That's the term Kelly and I give to Abby when she stores her bites in her left cheek. It's hilarious because she whines and hits her high chair tray for another bite and then another and another, but all she does with it is put the bite in her mouth, chew it for a bit, and then push it over to the side with the other bites. The first time we noticed this was only after bite number 1 million or so, because she had a HUGE bulge coming from her left cheek! Kelly forced her to open her mouth and sure enough, out came a whole winters worth of food. It's really funny. I'll try to get a picture of this soon. Some of it must be going down though because she has gained some good weight. And let's not forget about her faithful J Tube. (Stay tuned for why it's called the "J Tube") This is the REAL reason she's gaining weight. The J tube as you know, shoots the formula directly into the first part of Abby's small intestine, which is called the Jejunum. (That's why!) The J Tube has to be pretty small to do this, which means that it will most likely get clogged. We were told we'd get 6 to 8 weeks out of the J Tube before it would get clogged but it's been just under 3 months since Abby had her J Tube put in, and it is still working. Not bad huh? We are extremely grateful for this because she is now 18 lbs, 10 oz! She is actually getting a little meat on her bones. I love it. We need her to get to 20 lbs ASAP so we can turn her car car seat around and let her face forward. She's getting pretty tall and her poor legs don't have much room, but the car seat regulations say you have to be 20 lbs. We'll get there soon I hope.

We put Abby's feeding pump back pack on again to see if she would warm up to it, but she still doesn't like it. Last time she couldn't even move with it on, but this time she had a bit more success. Still though, she was bothered by it so we took it off. I pulled all my tricks out to get her to smile for me for this picture but she wasn't havin' it....AT ALL.




I do hope she'll get used to this thing though because if she does wear it, that's just more formula she's getting which means even more weight gain. And that's pretty much it for our Abby Girl. She is a bit of pistol these days with momma. Lot's of screaming, throwing her food off of the high chair and some serious strong willed personality stuff. Kelly's mom is loving it because apparently...thats EXACTLY how Kelly was!

As for Eddie, he's a happy little guy. He has a great smile and he LOVES his ExerSaucer. Check out these shots of my little bowling ball...





He has found his screaming voice....which I'm super dooper excited about. Kelly is too. She loves it when both Abby and Eddie are screaming like crazy in an attempt to get her attention. It's tons of fun. You all should come over some time to experience it. Eddie is also rolling around a lot. He prefers to roll to one side though, so instead of doing one or two rolls one way and then heading back the other other direction, he insists on continuing his path in the same direction and is now finding himself lodged up under the ottoman, or his cradle swing, or by the couch or under the rocker chair. Wherever he ends up, he's sure to twist himself in some fashion that only leads to more of that screaming I was talking about. I have to admit though, it's funny to watch. He just rolls and rolls and rolls... I think I might push the furniture out of the way and just let him roll forever and see how far he goes!

That's all for now you crazy, whacky Abbyaddicts. I love you deeply.

Here are few more to enjoy....

Abby is home!

Hola Friends,

Abby is home. She came home Friday. She is still sick though. Yesterday the Pediatrician noticed that she was still wheezy so she got a Nebulizer (sp?). Anywho, the Nebulizer gives Abby the same breathing treatment that you saw on the video, only with this deal she has to actually wear the mask for 10 minutes. No bueno. She is NOT going to like that. What baby would?

So I'll keep you posted on that one. No pics today. Working on a new Eddie video though. Should be good. Have to use a wide angle lens though...the kid is a chunker!

Have a smashing week friends. Live it up.

Starting to feel better

Okay,

So it's looking like Abby will be able to come home Friday. Yahooooo! We can't wait for that but I am also anxious to get MY baby home. Poor Kelly has been there this entire time and is running on MAYBE 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night and is exhausted, so we need to get her home too. Last night I guess Abby decided to have another party in her crib from 2 to 5AM. What makes it so hard for Abby to stay asleep is all the junk that builds up in her throat. As it it sits there and accumulates she starts to choke on it. She gets nauseous too because all she has in her tummy is all that junk and it doesn't set well. The good part about being at the hospital is that they have an electrical pump kind of gizmo that goes into her throat and suctions everything out. She feels so much better after this happens, but it's no picnic. Kelly said that the first time they did it, they had to go in through her nose and poor Abby screamed her head off at a level that Kelly had never heard before. Although each time there after, the nurses have only gone in through her mouth and down her throat instead of through her nose. She wasn't too excited about those suction episodes either but they weren't as bad as the other way.

So ANYWAY...my point is that we can't bring her home until all the junk and gunk clears up because we don't have a fancy shmancy gunk and spit sucker upper gizmo at home. And if she doesn't get the gunk out, she is miserable. If she is miserable, she isn't sleeping, and if she isn't sleeping, she isn't resting and getting better. Instead she is bouncing around and guess who is entertaining her? Momma! So that means momma ain't sleepin' either...!

Some good news is that the J Tube is still hanging in there and they have been feeding her 24/7 basically, which means she has actually had some good weight gain since she's been there. Some more good news is that Eddie seems to be doing much better with his RSV and is pretty much back to normal. He has been so great during all this. It's pretty easy to figure him out. He is either tired, hungry, or has to go poop. It's funny because I have the same grumpy list....well...I actually have one more to add to my list but other than that, he and I are exactly the same! I'm sure he'll add this one later too...!

While we're looking good, it ain't over 'til it's over so keep the positive thoughts, well wishes, prayers and all that good stuff coming until the little thing actually comes home.

Many thanks to Grandma Cindy who took time off of work to help out and Great Grandma Bette who dropped everything out in Sunny La Quinta to come out here and help as well. This would have been a very difficult situation without you guys and we can't thank you enough.

Below is a short video I made up from some footage I got using my old school digital camera so please excuse the grainy appearance. We had to wake Abby up to give her the "breathing treatment." The breathing treatment is given by a nurse that holds this tube that blows air in her face. The air is cool and full of stuff that helps Abby's lungs expand and take in air easier. She has really gotten to like this stuff. Kinda makes you wonder what's in it!

Enjoy and thanks for checking in.

Ryan

Welll...she FINALLY got it...

Friends,

Abby is in the hospital. We admitted her last night and the tests came back positive for RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus...or...REALLY STUPID VIRUS! It's not the worst case they have seen but her Blood Saturation Levels are pretty low. It's like this...when we breathe we put oxygen in our blood stream and that level of oxygen is called your blood saturation level. This is usually in the high 90's (97 to 100). When your "blood Sat's" are below 93 or so, it's not a good sign. At urgent care last night Abby's dropped down below 93 and with all the vomiting and the crackling sound in her lungs...we weren't comin'home. Once she was in the Pediatric Ward, her sats went into the 80's and so they gave her some oxygen to breathe and they went back up. The goal here is to get her off the oxygen and her blood sat's to be in the upper 90's on her own...and not with the oxygen. Until that happens we will be in the hospital for the duration.

Eddie has it too, but for a full term baby, it usually isn't as worrisome. That little tank is going to be just fine. And he was GREAT for daddy last night. I'm telling you, God definitely gave him a pep talk before he came to us and said, "now Eddie, you're going to have to be very understanding during your first few years and just go with the flow. You're going to have to be an easy baby that doesn't fuss around and smiles and brings joy to your parents worried faces. Your job is to make them relax when they see you." AND THAT'S WHAT HE DOES. He is so laid back during these things. It's like he knows something serious is going on and not to bother us. He is our new burnin' hunk o love and I do love him very very much.

Okay then. You guys know what to do. Prayer time. Knees and all. The whole 9.

Hit it.

All my love and visions of a white sandy beach.

Ryan

The Strike is FINALLY Over!

I have GREAT NEWS! The Abby Blog Writer Strike is officially over. I have finally reached an agreement with my crazy life and we have come to a conclusion. The deal is that I will no longer sleep....ever. Seriously though, I think I just needed to adjust to my new job, let the holidays come and go, and give myself a little rest for some much needed energy to recharge my blogging battery. I'm pumped for 2008. A lot is going to happen with Abby and I'll get back to the every 2 week update. I may even go crazier than that, but let's not count on this just yet.

Alright then, on to the update. Abby's J tube is still going strong. Because the tube now extends into her small intestines, the tube itself is smaller and tends to get clogged every 4 to 6 weeks. So the fact that Abby is at 2 months and the tube is still working is GREAT because she has gained 2 full lbs! That means she's 18 and a half lbs now. This is by far the best weight gain she's had since we took her home from the NICU. Once it does get clogged, we will have to take it out, and we will absolutely put another one in since it's working so well.

Christmas was fantastic. Abby was more interested in the boxes and the paper than anything else. Eddie didn't know what was going on either. The major downfall has been that Abby is STILL sick. In fact, I'm typing this at 1AM because she threw up again tonight. Imagine having a stuffy / runny nose and having all that gunk get caught in your throat and not having the ability to spit it up or anything. You just have to sit there and deal with it until so much accumulates that your body forces you to throw it up. Well...that's Abby....every single day. The poor think is miserable at night when she sleeps.

In the day time however, Abby is doing great. She is really getting close to walking and getting more and more brave when she finds something to help her stand up. After she's on her feet, she'll let go for a split second. Kelly and I are having so much fun watching Abby progress so well in this regard. Her left arm, hand, leg and foot seem to be doing alright as well. We have a brace for her left hand now which forces her thumb open and allows her to grab on to things better.

Eddie by the way is 17 lbs 4 oz. He is getting quite the personality and is rolling over and everything already! He's doing great and I can't wait for when they're both older so I can watch them interact with each other.

Good night friends. Be sure to check back more often from now on. I promise to do an update more often than every month.

And because of my ultra slackingness, I have really gone crazy with the pics.

Enjoy and we love you! Say some prayers for Abby so she gets over this cold.

Love you all.

The Gaya's


Check out these two of Abby and Eddie sittin' on the couch together






Christmas Pics! Here are a couple of Abby and Eddie with Santa. The best part was when Kelly came to take Abby off of Santa's lap, Abby grabbed onto Santa and refused to get off his lap! Santa was very pleased and said how refreshing that was. We were to promise to bring her back next year!





We couldn't help ourselves... the bow was just begging to be put on Abby's head!



Eddie scored for his first Christmas!



Here is Abby's cousin Caden reading to her. Abby LOVES books



uh.....hmmm....Soooo, THIS is my job when we go shopping?



Check out Abby taking a bath in Grandma's sink. She was loving it!



And of course, here's another shot of the "O" Face



It was FREEZING up north so we really bundled the kids up.



Kelly bought Eddie an awesome beanie!



Here's another one from a different night when Kelly got our Abby all bundled up in that cute hat.

2 AM Smile

It's been a crazy month! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did. Eddie started walking and Abby ate the entire turkey by herself. Just kidding. We did have 22 people here though and it was a blast. With Christmas right around the corner, we're going nuts trying to get everything done.

As for the last month, a lot has happened.

Abby and Eddie got pretty sick. It was terrible actually. They both had this cough and runny nose thing. It was viral so there wasn't anything to do but wait it out. And now that we have one of those video monitors for Abby we were able to watch her toss and turn all night long. Just about every night, she would choke on some of the saliva in the back of her throat and since she has such a sensitive gag reflux, the choking would turn into throw up. Abby is still pretty far behind with learning how to eat, chew and swallow and all that, so hocking loogie's is not something she's mastered quite yet. This means she can't get the junk out of her throat unless she coughs or throws it up. And let's not forget about her poor nose. The little thing was raw by the 4th day and it took a full 2 weeks before she kicked the cold. Eddie didn't have such a bad nose problem but his cough was horrible. It took him about 2 weeks to kick it too.

On a lighter note, Abby got her portable pump this month. It's a much smaller pump and she can actually wear a backpack that holds the pump so when we're out and about or if she's playing she can continue to get fed. This is great because because with the new J Tube, (the one we put in last month that goes into her small intestines) she can't get too much food at once. This in turn means that she needs to have the pump on a lot (roughly 16 hours a day) to get to the level she needs to be at. So anyway, below is a picture of the "Mini Backpack" which as you can see is WAY TOO BIG. So we ordered the "Super Mini Backpack" which by the way Kelly got in a red Hawaiian flower print. (Pics on this to come later) But...it's TOO heavy with the pump and the formula in it. Abby fell backward with it on. I guess we'll keep trying but I have to say I was a bit upset to learn she couldn't wear it while she was playing around the house. That just makes it more difficult to get her to the volume of formula she needs to be at each day. Now that she's mobile and crawling, there is NO way we'd be able have her sit still for any period of time, especially if it's to be hooked up to the pump. The only time we get to do that is if she's in the high chair (we still go through the motions of feeding her so she learns the habit of breakfast, lunch and dinner), the car, or taking a nap. Other than that we're toast without that backpack idea working for us.

This is the Mini Backpack...empty.



Here's another cute one of Abby



Abby is hanging out in her walker outside while Daddy hung the Christmas Lights.



Eddie wasn't nearly as interested in Daddy hanging the Christmas lights. He must have thought it was bright out though because when I checked on him, he managed to pull his beanie down over his eyes!



Eddie is getting close to rolling over! I had to help him in this picture, but he's ALMOST there.




Here's Abby with Uncle Steve




I get in trouble when I spike her hair but I think it's hilarious!



Well, that's all for now friends. Thanks for your patience. Keep Abby in your prayers because we think she actually got sick again. The last two days her nose has turned back into that running faucet we thought we were rid of. Last night we enjoyed another throw up situation too. My heart aches for her when she's like this. Although once we grab her and get the snot out of her nose, change her jammies, get her sheets changed and get her comfortable again, she actually gets in a good mood. And I have to tell you, no matter how tired Kelly and I are, I would be lying if I didn't say that her smile lights us up and we actually enjoy this part of our 2AM rendezvous. Its funny, she's the one with all the issues, and yet, she still cracks a smile and gives us kisses at 2AM. She's the one that just threw up, she's the one with a shunt in her head, and a j tube in her stomach and a left leg and arm that don't work very well, yet with that smile, she's the one telling me that it's all good. With that 2 AM smile she says, "Don't worry daddy. If I can handle it....so can you."

Man she is one tough cookie. I love you Abby.

It went well

All is good over here,

The procedure itself was very quick. The doc simply took out the G Tube and replaced it with the J Tube. Since the J tube extends into her small intestines we have to give Abby her food over a slow but consistent pace. She's asleep now and the pump is going so we will see how everything goes.

Pray for success and lots of weight gain!

Take care everyone.

Ryan

Today is surgery day

Today is the day that Abby gets her J Tube. This the tube that goes into her small intestine and bypasses her stomach. As we all know Abby is volume intolerant and throws up if we give her too much food. Our hope is that this J Tube will put some weight on her.

The surgery is around 10AM or so and if all goes well she should be able to come home today. I will update again tonight.

In the mean time keep Abby Girl in your thoughts and prayers!

Thanks,

Ryan and Kelly


Here are some fun pics

This one is from Abby's first birthday. I know Abby and Eddie don't really look alike but take a look at how they both look when they have a big grin on their face!




Halloween Pics! Abby was a Lady Bug and Eddie was a plump little pumpkin







Here's Eddie on the couch enjoying a sit com with Daddy.

Golf, Weight Gain, Sickness, Fires....woowee!

Abby's golf tournament was last Friday. It was fantastic. I can't thank everybody enough that donated and participated. It was so great to see all that support.

As far as Abby's weight is concerned, we still have a lot of ground to cover. She did pass the 16 lb mark finally and is officially weighing in at 16 lbs, 4 oz. The J tube is going in on the 6th of November so mark your calendars. As I mentioned before (which was over two weeks ago....sorry!), Abby will undergo twilight anesthesia and be able to go home the same day. Once the J Tube is in, it only lasts about 6 to 8 weeks before it gets "yucky." That was the technical term by the way. Apparently it gets this way from all the formula that passes through it. Anyway, once the tube reaches full capacity on the yuck o meter, Abby will go back in and they will replace the J Tube with a new, yuck free tube. The goal is to get roughly 16 weeks or 4 months (check out those math skills) out of this. The docs didn't give us their hopes for weight gain for Abby, just that she needs to gain "as much as she can."

Kelly got really sick on Monday and I dragged her into urgent care. She had cold sweats, a fever, body aches and was extremely fatigued. Abby had also been pulling on her ear a lot lately and it had been 6 days since my boy had gone good old numero dos. (That's 2 you gringo's). The doc told Kelly it sounded like she had some kind of flu, which was confusing because according to the doc, the flu doesn't show up until January or so in California. Either way, there wasn't much she could do for Kelly except advise her to drink lots of water and get some rest. We took Abby and Eddie to their pediatrician on Tuesday. Luckily Abby's ear tugging was from the pain of her molars coming in, not an ear infection. And Eddie cleared out with a little help from a glycerin chip. So all is good there. As of today, Kelly is feeling a lot better.

The fires have been crazy. We could see the flames of the fire in Irvine off in the distance from the end of our street last night. Ash is falling all over the Irvine area. The smoke has been really bad as well. Many of our friends from San Diego and in Orange County have been evacuated. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone especially those in San Diego as those have been hit the hardest. I still can't believe that Rancho Bernardo has been hit so hard. That is where Abby's tournament was.

Enjoy the pictures friends.

We love you all.

Here we are at the start of the golf tournament



Check out how big Eddie is getting! He's 13 lbs 12 oz already.




We took my mom to see Emma and Maddy and she took this great family photo. Look at Abby! Love her...



Here's a close up of the head stone. I don't think I've posted this yet. It's beautiful isn't it? Kelly did a great job designing it.



Ummmmm....yeah. Kinda cute right?



And just in case it wasn't clear, we made sure to spell it out....on her bum!



Note the stain on my shirt. I can honestly say that I do not own one T Shirt that doesn't have some kind of stain on it. I love it!

Abby needs to gain weight

Hi Abby Addicts,

Our little girl needs to gain weight. Her docs are growing VERY concerned that she is 17 months old and still hasn't passed the 16 lb mark. They have told us that if she isn't growing and gaining a sufficient amount of weight, that her brain cannot grow and develop correctly, thus the increased concern. Abby has a very sensitive stomach and we have tried so many different formulas but each one seems to be worse than the previous one. Not to mention, these were no "over the counter" kind of formulas. These were the super dooper, only use it on extreme patients because it's so expensive and hard to make kind of formulas. Most of which are "pre-digested", so they are super easy on the tummy...but for one reason or another, our little baby girl doesn't tolerate them. (She throws most of her feedings up.) She has her GI docs baffled. So, the next step is a J Tube. Yep...there's another kind of feeding tube my friends. The J tube bypasses her stomach all together and goes straight into her small intestines which keeps her from throwing her food up. It's a short fix to get some weight on our little angel. After 6 to 8 weeks we would go back to the G Tube. I am told the procedure to put the J Tube in is not that big of a deal. It would be an out patient procedure and she would be under "twilight" anesthesia.
Abby and Kelly (and Eddie for moral support) will be headed to the GI Doc(gastrointestinal for those of you just tuning in) tomorrow for a consultation. So it looks like we're at that time again. It's prayer time everybody. Abby is very well known for her magic and pulling some wild Abby Cadabra kind of tricks out of her proverbial hat, but we all know those tricks rest on the shoulders of many prayers and well wishes.

As for Eddie, he is doing pretty good. He's 12.2 lbs and cute as ever. He is smiling and cooing and laughing a bit now which I love! Actually, the first time I got him to smile and coo I didn't even mean to. I was giving him kisses and just smiling when I realized a piece of peach was in the middle of my front teeth. So, like a lizard, I tried to push it out with my tongue. Well, the face I made while sticking out my tongue made Eddie smile bigger than I had seen yet! And you know me by evidence of my Abby laughing video, when I get my kids laughing on something, I'll continue to do it, regardless of what it is. So there I am, sticking my tongue in and out like a lizard and loving each and every smile I got from it. Ironically, he's not into that anymore. Just like his sister. What's funny today is most certain to be boring tomorrow. That just means daddy has to get more and more creative and I am up for the challenge.
Eddie is refluxing really bad still though. The doc said that his sphincter, or circular muscle at the bottom of his esophagus isn't contracting or closing up as much as your and mine do. It's wide open and stays open instead of closing up a bit to keep milk from coming back up. We have tried two medications which haven't done anything so he's off of those. Eddie is scheduled for an "Upper GI" Test where he drinks some fluid and they will x ray him to see what happens with the fluid. This will tell us for sure whether or not it's reflux and if in fact the sphincter is open. The good news is that he is ahead of the curve developmentally and kids usually grow out of this reflux problem over time, and since he's ahead of the game he will most likely grow out of it quicker.

There's a lot happening over here! Daddy's new job is going fantastic and Kelly is doing a great job at keeping these kids on track. Her mom, Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Cliff continue to come over and help out A TON, which is fabulous. Thank you so much mom and dad!

And now...the moment we've all been waiting for....picture time!



Here are Abby and Eddie...Now you can REALLY see how small Abby is because Eddie is almost just as big as her!

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Check out Momma and Abby!



Family Photo



Eddie all snug and ready for a night on the town.



Here is Abby with her cousins! Tristan is holding Abby and Caden is to the right! They're the coolest nephews EVER by the way!



Here is an older pic of the three of them from their visit down here



Here's Abby and Auntie Jocelyn (Tristan and Caden's mom)



Here's Abby when we were out to lunch. She doesn't eat much be she LOVES to go out and sit in her high chair at the table



Check Eddie's little smile!