First Trip To The Ranch

Christian and Gramma Sharon with Quinn

Me getting back in the saddle!

Christian awe struck by all of the  "big doggies"

Kisses for Quinny!

Christian and I went with Gramma Sharon to visit her horse Quinn. It was 80 degrees and perfect for riding! It was a bit too hot for Christian at first, so he go to lounge around in his diaper while Gramma and I took turns riding. We all had a blast! The weather cooled a bit and the wind picked up, so we called it a day and Quinn back to groom him and let him back out in the field. Christian had sooooo much fun! He loved petting the horses and even gave Quinny a kiss! It was adorable! After a warm day at the ranch, we decided to grab some dinner at Applebees and then settle down for the night. 

Grammy Whee left for her cruise yesterday, and Great Grandpa Rex is in town. I think that I'm going to go visit Bryan in Denver this Friday and come back Sunday. Christian can't fly for another 4 weeks. But after that, we plan on doing a lot of traveling this summer. We're planning on visiting at least Hawaii and D.C. Free airline tickets are great! 

Christian is trying to pop his first tooth through... and he's been such a gem as you can imagine! He may only have half of a heart, but boy his lungs sure work great! He is eating solid foods a couple times a day now and is doing so well with it! What a big boy! We'll talk to you guys soon! 

Mmmmm...Cookie!

My little cookie monster!

We have been home for five days, and have enjoyed each one of them. Bryan is in Denver for another three weeks of training. Christian is doing so well! He is eating some fruits and has rice cereal in the mornings. He had his first cookie experience tonight at Grammy Whee's. It was adorable! Well, anything he does is adorable, but you catch my drift. His incision is healing well and all stitches are gone. We'll et some more pictures up soon... have a GREAT weekend!

Nicole

 

WE ARE HOME!!!!!

Well, with all of us cracking the whip over some heads today we were finally discharged about noon. We went to lunch and then hit the road. We pulled into our (Grandma Whee and Pappy's) house at 5:15 and then Christian and fan club had another 25 minutes driving till they got home. It sure is nice to be back. I know we have more pics but will post them later. Lot's to do to get ready for work tomorrow.

Thanks for checking on us!

Grandma Whee

Still here

Pappy and Kady playing with Christian.
Grandma Whee playing with Christian
It's tough being so stinkin' cute!
Plum tuckered out!

The view of Portland from the hospital


Well, we ended up staying another night. Christians doctors got a bit side tracked and forgot to lay out the discharge orders for us. SOOOOO hopefully tomorrow will be the big day. There is a ton of snow on the pass and of course we do not have our snow tires on any more. I am sure it is going to be a long drive home. I will let you all know what happens tomorrow...

Grandma Whee

Like It Never Happened!

Christian is doing wonderful! Only three days after surgery, his is almost back to his normal self; smiles and all! We took a trip with Gramma Whee to the 3rd floor cafe this afternoon and it was so much fun to have him with us! We were supposed to be heading home today, but due to some very minor fluid retention, he has to stay at least one more night. They did a chest x-ray, an echo and a blood test to see if anything was wrong, but all came back negative! We think that it was just a way for the nurses to keep him here. They have all fallen in love with Christian. Please leave a comment to say you stopped in! We'll update again either tonight or tomorrow.
Nicole

(Pictures aren't uploading at the moment, but I will add them as soon as I can)

Thursday 11:30 am

Christian had a rough night. Not always him though. His IV monitor keep alarming and waking him up. He kept bending his arm and it would slow the flow setting off the alarm. So I got about 30 minutes of sleep. I am pooped.

Christian was able to get off the supplemental oxygen at midnight last night. Whoo Hoo! Now, this morning they have taken him off of the IV drip. They still have a small IV port on him but that is just to give him his meds when he needs them. He is still hooked up to the heart monitor but that is to be expected. He still has not pooped but he has tooted ALOT and boy are they killer ones!

This morning he was having a hard time and crying non-stop so I decided that he needed to be held. The nurse helped get him and all his wires and as soon as I picked him up he stopped crying and went to sleep. It was so sweet!

We went for chest x-rays a bit ago. He even sat upright for those and did not cry as long as he could see me. Another sweet time!

Nicole and Bryan came back at 11:00 well rested and ready for a day with the boy. Bryan is holding him right now and enjoying every minute.

So, that's it for now. I will do pictures later and post more news...

Hugs!

Grandma Whee

And we have moved again!

We are now on the recovery floor of Doernbecher's. Christian is doing so good! Everyone is amazed at how fast he is recovering. His color is totally different from before. He is now a nice pink baby as opposed to a blue baby. It is so nice to see.

Be sure to leave your comments so we can know who all popped in to see us!

Grandma Whee

Look what I found this morning...

This morning Christian has made a remarkable move to being better! After taking out the breathing tube last night, they took out the drain tubes this morning along with the IV they had in his neck. He was crying and as soon as Nicole came in he quit. Now he is enjoying being held by mommy. I am planning on spending the night with him to make sure he has someone familiar with him. But he sure looks good! He will be moved up to the 9th floor later today for the remainder of his recovery. I cannot tell you how excellent he is doing and looking! Everyone is amazed! I will post later today when we move and give you all the new room number...

Grandma Whee

Extubated!

Christian was extubated tonight at 8:30! He is doing great! He even let out a nice toot! (That is a very important thing in the medical community.) He is still crying a lot as you can imagine. At first there was no sound, just tears, but now that the breathing tube is out, he makes little hoarse cries. It is the saddest thing EVER! He is waking up more and more, but they keep him pretty drugged up so that he doesn't get carried away and pulls out tubes. His little face is so swollen, it doesn't even look like him. They said that the swelling will most likely be worse tomorrow as will the pain level, but after that, things should be getting better. We'll post more pictures and updates tomorrow. Good night!
Nicole and Bryan

We are in our room now

Christian is starting to wake up a bit now. He looks so tiny in this big boy crib! He is puffy and a bit snotty and drooly but still super cute. They are going to see about extubating him later this afternoon or evening. That would be nice. Nicole and Bryan are doing very well. Bryans mom showed up at noon and we have had a great time oogeling the boy. I think I am going to be staying tonight here with Christian while everyone else goes and gets a good nights sleep. I will post through out the day...

Grandma Whee

He is done!

We are going to get to go and see Christian in 30 minutes! He made it through surgery just fine. He will be on the breathing machine for today and tonight and should be able to go home in a week. I will take pictures and post them soon... Grandma Whee

11:01 update

The nurse just called and said that they were done with the repair. They are just doing another echo to make sure they done before they take him off of the bypass machine. Hopefully he will be in his room in an hour or two. I will post with more news as we get it...

Grandma Whee

9:21 am

The nurse just called and let us know they had just opened Christians chest. Now the work begins... send those good thoughts!

Surgery day!

Well, here we are in Portland again. Christian is back with the surgical prep team and should go into surgery at 8:30ish or so. He is supposed to be done at noonish. I will post as news comes in. Please leave comments so we can know who all popped in... Grandma Whee

Back in Portland (Urrrrrrrg!)

We left for Portland yesterday at 6 in the morning. Christian's first appointment was at 11:30 and we were out of there by three. Everything is looking wonderful for his next surgery. We drove around Portland until we found Washington Square where we just HAD to stop at Build A Bear and make Christian a triceratops! We have lovingly named it Hegleck...yes, Hegleck. (That was one of Christian's first sounds.) He LOVES his dino! We got our room at Ronald McDonald, took a nap and Auntie Ashy and uncle Joshy (My friends from high school) picked us up and we all had a great dinner. We had so much fun last night and Christian was such a good boy. We didn't get back to our room until 10:30, so little one was very sleepy. Unfortunately, with babies, being really tired doesn't always mean that they will sleep! He was up a lot last night! Mostly because he was hungry, but he couldn't eat anything because of his heart cath today! Poor guy! He has been starving all morning! I feel so bad. He is in the operating room right now having a pretty simple procedure done. They are threading a camera to his heart through his femoral artery. He should be done in a couple of hours. Surgery is Tuesday and we're hoping to be back home by the 21st. Keep your fingers crossed! Please keep our little trooper in your thoughts. We'll keep you updated!
Nicole


Enjoying his exersaucer!



Taking his first drink of the good stuff!

Daddy, Christian and Hegleck


Keeping his eye on Whitney (the echo tech)


Getting an EKG


Busy day, but still big smiles!

Sportin' the "gown"

Just realized that he's going to get poked...again!

Much better after some special medicine!

Wow! It has been a while!

Grandma Whee squeezing my guts out!
Pouty face!
Baby's first Easter
YO! I am so cool and hip!
Check out my new furniture!

Well, a lot of you have been asking when Christians next surgery is. The date is going to be April 15th! He should be in the hospital for just a week this time. So I will have the computer with me again and will update throughout the surgery. Be sure to let us know when you pop in to check!

Christian had his Dr.'s appointment today. That little stinker is 10 pounds 11 ounces and 24 inches long!

He is getting quite the personality. He can be moody. But as you can see by the pictures he is still getting cuter every day!

He celebrated his first Easter surrounded by family. All together there were 19 of us in Nicole and Bryan's new home (which is adorable). We all had a great time and visiting with family is always something to treasure.

I hope that Spring is wonderful for you. We are not too sure what season we are in here. This morning it was sunny, then it snowed, then we had a small tornado hit my work building and do some damage to things left out and shook the building, then it snowed again and got sunny. Right now it is windy and spitting snow. I think I am ready for some nice sunshine and warmer temps.

Anyhow, please comment and let us know how you are doing. Thanks for dropping in!

Grandma Whee