Apple Orchard

Yesterday before fall hit our lovely state of Minnesota we visited a local apple orchard to pick some apples. I tried to get Evan to sit on one of the pumpkins, but he was too busy watching other kids and being uncooperative as I snapped photos of him:-)

We got to pick some Honey Crisp apples. They are delicious! I made some apple crisp tonight and it is YUMMY!

Evan picks some apples!

He picked up a few apples that had fallen on the ground and put them in the bottom of the stroller. That's Alex's foot you can see just to the right of Evan's head:-) Thank goodness he was napping during the apple picking!

Good thing the apples are low to the ground, so he can easily pick them:-)

At the orchard they had these goats that climbed to the top of their barn. Is this normal? How did they know the goats would like to do that?

They had some little pigs, turkeys and a miniature horse at the orchard. Evan was really fascinated with the horse. The horse gave rides, but we didn't go there. He didn't want to touch the horse, but he didn't want to leave the horse!

A couple videos of the boys

We waited until September to let Evan jump off the platform out at the island. He loved it and kept saying to Eric..."Again, Again, Again"!

I think it might be time to take the mobile off Alex's changing table, before he pulls it down. This video also illustrates how he likes to eat his toes:-) He visited the cardiologist today and got the OK to go back to day care next week. They are excited to have him return!

Alex is back at home again!

Alex returned home again yesterday. He was fever free, so they sent him home. I was supposed to stay at the hospital with him on Wednesday, but I got the stomach flu and so Eric came down to the hospital after taking Evan to swimming lessons and Bob stayed with him so I could head home and rest. Evan ended up getting the stomach flu later that night followed by Eric. Evan recovered pretty quickly, but Eric is still not feeling back to normal yet today. Eric thinks that Alex started it all! It is wonderful to be out of the hospital and back at home!
This picture was taken before Alex went back to the hospital. Evan is pointing to Alex's "owie". He is very gentle with him and gives him hugs.

Back to normal eating dinner together. This was taken Monday before Alex went back to the hospital.

Alex back to normal!

He's not rolling over back to his belly yet, but he is going to his side.

He was having some fun in the exersaucer last night!

This was Alex this morning having fun on his mat!

Alex is just taking Lasix once a day to reduce fluid. The only real restriction with his care is that we cannot lift him under his arms. This is a big adjustment, because that is how you typically lift a baby his age. They say that will last about 6 weeks.

Ooops. Back to the hospital.

Last night, Alex had a high fever. So, I took him back to the hospital. After 3 hours in the ER, he's finally resting back up on 3rd floor. Probably just a virus but their also checking for a bacterial infection or fluid accumulation. Either way, very treatable. Should be home Thursday morning.
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Can I go home now?

Sunday went well. Alex got his central line removed from his neck just in time to catch the Vikings game. Alex watched the Vikings game from mommy's lap. He didn't sleep so well Sunday night, but Daddy took care of me. I had my Monday morning chest x-ray. So, can I go home now?

View from Alex's Room

I watch the Vikings Game. Those guys think they're tough, try heart surgery at 6 months

Mommy and Daddy take self portrait after the game

Look! No wire. No tubes. And, I had my chest x-ray. Can I go home now?

Evan stops by for a visit!

Finally out of the ICU!!! Alex pretty much slept through the night in his private room in the ICU. I checked in on him around 2 and he was doing great. He woke up around 5 and I joined him at 6. He was very content but still wouldn't eat. By 8, the doctors came around and said, "He sure doesn't look like and ICU patient. We'll get you upstairs as soon as we can.". While we waited, Grandpa Bob held him. Then, Dr. Overman took out his pacing wires and Jillian took out his peripheral IV. Then, we moved on up to the Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU) on the 3rd floor by 10:30. Up here, he has a private room with a sofa that folds out into a full-size bed. Grandma Gay showed up and brought Sloppy Joes. Then, mom showed up around noon. Around 1, mom got him to take 4 oz out of his bottle. Then, Grandma Shirley and Evan came up and said hi. Alex took a little nap while Evan played at the Sibling play area and then came up to say goodbye. He's even taken another 3 oz of formula. If we can keep him eating, he'll be on the fast track to going home. Here's a few pictures from today.

I sit up and burp after Daddy feeds me.

My two sons

Evan moves so fast he shows up blurry

I'm out of ICU!

This morning Alex got moved to 3rd floor. He's now in the
Intermediate care center. Where he still has a dedicated nurse, but
requires less care. I held him today and he only has one cord
attached to him.

Evan got a new chair!

Grandpa Dewey got this Elmo chair for Evan today. He had fun trying
all the ways he can try sitting in it and falling out of it.

Getting closer to moving out of the ICU

Well, things are progressing well towards getting Alex moved upstairs and eventually home. Yesterday afternoon, we were actually able to get Alex off enough "stuff" to be able to pick him up and let him rock with mommy. That certainly helped calm him down. Mom spent the night with him again and Daddy went home and spent the evening with Shirley and Evan.

Mom with Alex Thursday afternoon

Today, we worked to get him off most of his IVs. He did have 9 bags hanging. By tonight, he was down to only 1! He also got his arterial line removed from his right hand. He was very fussy all afternoon long. We could get him to calm down and fall asleep, but the smallest sound would wake him up. So, they were able to move him from the bay to his own room in the ICU. That way, we could close the doors and get could get some rest. And it definitely worked. We got him into mom's lap for a few minutes before she went home to play with Evan and then I held him for 3 hours. He spent the rest of the evening being content or asleep in my lap or in the bed. He should get transferred upstairs tomorrow morning. If they need the room for another patient, he's first on the list to go upstairs sooner. Then, we hope it's a short road to going home. We're just having a hard time to get him to eat right now. Normally, he goes through 5-6 6 oz bottles per day. However, he's just not into eating now. Hopefully, that will change in the morning. More to come.

Alex asleep on Dad's lap

Alex asleep in his bed on his Boppy Pillow

Surgery Update

Well, Alex is doing extraordinarily well. He needed some more sedatives throughout the night and was trying to grab anything he could get his hands on. Denise stayed at the hospital with him while I went home and stayed the night there with Evan and Shirley.

By 5:30 this morning they started backing down on the oxygen level in the respirator and allowed him to start breathing more on his own. The machine would breathe 1 time and then let him breathe the next and repeat.

At 7:30, his hemoglobin was a little low and needed a blood transfusion and his color came right back. This is pretty normal.

At 8:00, I arrived with Evan and Shirley. Evan kept saying "he seepin" and "owie". Evan gave Alex one of his stuffed animals and blew him a kiss goodbye before Shirley brought him back to daycare to see his friends.

At 8:30, they removed his catheter. So, now he's free to pee straight into the diaper. One of the drugs he's on removes fluid from his system. So, he's peeing a lot.

At 9:00, all the doctors came in and said he was doing outstanding. They said the chest tubes and intubation tube would come out today.

At 9:30, they took out the chest tubes. Yeah!

At 10:30, they took him off the sedatives and waited for him to be very awake before they pulled out the intubation tube.

By 11:50, he was opening his eyes and they yanked it out. So, he's breathing completely on his own and doing very well.

Our cardiologist mentioned this morning that he couldn't be more pleased with Alex's progress. Here's some pictures of the morning's progress.

Surgery's Done - He's doing great!

So, here's how the morning went.

9:49 - Surgery started

10:20 - On heart bypass

11:55 - Repair complete and off bypass

12:45 - Cardiac Surgeon visited us and let us know it went very well

1:25 - Got to see him in the ICU.

The pictures look like something out of a movie. However, he's doing extremely well and has his own nurse. He'll be in the ICU until he's off the respirator. He's sedated and is being given pain medicine to keep him comfortable. Hopefully, he'll move upstairs sometime tomorrow or Friday. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and well wishes. It's hard to smile when he's hooked up to everything. However, he has the best care in the world right now.

Surgery Day for Alex

Well, the day began pretty early. We arrived at the hospital at 7. By 8:30, Alex was in the hands of the Nurse Anesthetist and on the way to the OR. It's 9:30 now and Alex's cardiologist just told us that he's under anesthesia and doing well. The cardiac surgeon is just getting ready and he should be on heart bypass by 10:00. It should take the cardiac surgeon another 90-120 minutes to complete the repair. So far, everything looks good. We'll update soon. Until then, enjoy these pictures of him just before surgery. - Eric

Labor Day Weekend!

I can't believe Labor Day weekend has come and gone! Alex is having heart surgery in the morning, so I thought I better get some pictures uploaded. We will update the blog with his progress. The surgery is expected to last about 5 hours and he will be out of it for much of the first day. He had his pre-op appointment today and got the go ahead.

Sunday we visited our friends Craig and Sue that live on the lake.

Evan really liked their golf cart. They took him up the hill a couple times and he thought that was pretty cool. He also got to sit on a jet ski but Eric didn't get a picture of it!

Evan had a great time jumping off the platform dock. He kept wanting to do it over and over again. I'll post a video later when I have more time.

Sleepy Baby!

Beautiful weather the whole weekend!

Saturday Sarah, Jay, Devan and Owen joined us out on the boat. Owen is a couple weeks younger than Alex.

Evan and Devan playing in the sand. Oh what fun!

Notice the sand on Evan's back? He would scoop sand in the shovel and toss it behind himself and it would land on his back:-)