Wednesday, July 29, 2009

July 29, 2009
















Today was a BIG day for Shannon and I. First I will give you the update on were he sits and then we will get to the good stuff. The food that they have been giving Gabe didn't agree with his stomach and he gave it back to them, if you know what I mean. His stomach also distended from the feedings, so they have discontinued the feedings for now until they figure out what is going on. They mentioned that sometimes they just take a little while for their gut to start moving the food through. I know that he will get through this, he just needs a little time. On the morning x-ray his left lung was still collapsed but did show what they say looked like a little improvement, but I couldn't see it. They did schedule a bronchoscopy for tomorrow afternoon if there is still no improvement tomorrow morning. On that same x-ray they saw that there is no more re-accumulation of fluid on his right lung after they removed that chest tube, which is awesome. Gabe has been working extremely hard to breathe with the ventilator and just never seems to cooperate with it. Today they had an idea about changing the mode of the ventilator, which ended up working excellent. It basically lets him initiate the breath and then supports his inhalation and if he misses a breath or stops breathing it will detect it and give him the breathe. They rarely use this setting but it is actually working well for Gabe and he is looking very comfortable breathing for a change. Ok on to the big news.

The big news of the day was that SHANNON GOT TO HOLD GABE FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!
Our WONDERFUL AND INCREDIBLE NURSE "B" had to change his isolette, which is his little spaceship bed. This requires moving him out of his bed and that means someone has to hold him during the change. Shannon came back over to LCPH with Kayla and we had an incredible moment that changed us both. It was amazing, it only took 30 days to finally hold him. We thought it would be much longer. Nurse "B" had to untangle and move about a hundred things, basically moving the entire bed onto Shannon. Shannon was so excited to finally hold our little man! It brought tears to her eyes as she finally got to hold him and sing to him. In all she got to hold him for about forty minutes. We look forward to being able to do this again very soon. Thank you nurse "B" for everything! You made our day!
Also, Kayla didn't get too jealous as Shannon held Gabe. Of course we had to bribe her with two lollipops, a handful of tick-tacks and a new toy horse. But it was worth it.
What a day!!!

5 comments:

Little Bluebell (Adrianne) said...

I am sitting here crying tears of joy seeing you hold Gabe. What a special day to finally, FINALLY get to hold him in your arms. Congratulations!!!!

Super G, keep up the good work little man!!!

Jeanne Marie said...

Ditto on the tears of joy! What an awesome day. Keep fighting little Gabe, we all love you so much.

Palsgrove Family said...

Yep, I got the water-works going too. I'm so happy for you guys! This is such an amazing day!
Always keeping you guys in our thoughts!!

Anonymous said...

tears and more tears...how indescrible must be your joy! We are so happy for you, and Kayla, and especially little Gabe...being held was for him the best medicine!
xoxoxox, G&S

HJoy said...

Yup...tears flowing here too. So amazing. What a good big sister Kayla is already. Hang in there guys!

Heidi, Doug and AJ