July 17, 2011 - 134 Days Old

Today has been a pretty good day. I sang in my ward's Sacrament Meeting this morning, so Amaraa didn't go to the hospital at 6:30 AM as she usually does. We all got ready and went to church. My parents came up to hear me sing, so they met us there. We have lived in that ward for six and a half years and we can probably count on one hand the times we have made it to church on time. But we did today! I felt like my song went really well and Kandice Gardner played the piano beautifully.

The doctors decided to pull Aiden's feeding tube out today. One fewer tube...yay! Now, he either nurses or gets a bottle. He is doing well with both now, so he doesn't need that feeding tube anymore. The only disadvantage is that he has to take his medicines by mouth now, and he doesn't like the taste of them. He has a little baby swing in his room. He loves swinging back and forth, watching his mobile and listening to the music it plays. He is still receiving breathing treatments several times a day. The treatments calm him down and help him to breathe much better.

We will be so glad when Aiden comes home. Amaraa spends most of every day at the hospital. It wears her out and she doesn't get to see Skylar and Jasmine as much as she would like. A couple of weeks ago, Amaraa had to do three "12-hour requests" where she had to be at the hospital for three twelve hour periods and feed Aiden whenever he indicated that he was hungry. They are going to have her do a "24-hour request" soon, too (maybe more than one). The "requests" are long marathon sessions where she just has to stay by Aiden's bedside all day. Before Aiden comes home, we both have to go and stay overnight at the hospital with him to get used to all of the monitors and administering all of his medications and treatments, etc. That's called "rooming in". We are lucky to have Amaraa's mom with us to help out with the kids, but it is still hard for Amaraa to have to be away from home so much. Either Amaraa or Aiden or both have been in the hospital for almost seven months now. Sky and Jazzy miss their mom and dad. It has been a long ordeal and we won't be too sad to have everyone home at last.

February 20, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 5 days

This week has been fun. A lot of good friends have been to visit Amaraa -- some of which we hardly get to see anymore. We have been blessed with so many good friends. People seem to come out of the woodwork to give us their support during our times of need. We have amazing ward members and amazing friends. Thank you all.

Amaraa is doing well. They finally took out her IV this week and she and the baby have been doing so well that they didn't make her wear the baby monitor last night. She was finally able to get a good night's sleep. The baby's heart rate has been pretty consistent, but they said that he still sometimes has some irregularity. Tomorrow she goes in for another appointment with the perinatalogist at Maternal Fetal Medicine. They'll measure her fluid levels and also measure the baby. They don't like to measure the baby every week, so they only measure every couple of weeks. They say it gives them a better idea of actual growth that way. Two weeks ago, he weighed just over two pounds, so we are hoping for three this week.

The nurse weighed Amaraa today. She lost two pounds this week!  Yay!  Without the IV in, she isn't gaining so much water weight. She is definitely eating for two lately. They'll bring her meals in and she'll eat those, and then her Mongolian friends will bring Mongolian food and she'll eat that too, and then she'll ask me to stop at the store and get her a pint of Haagen Dazs! They let her order the food she wants at the hospital now and yesterday she ordered so much they had to bring it in on two trays! So, she feels pretty good about losing two pounds. I think it's hilarious.

I brought the kids in on Friday. Amaraa misses them so much, so it was good for her to see them. We spent quite a while at the hospital and the kids had fun spending time with their mom. They danced for Amaraa, and Jasmine cuddled up with her mom in the bed and had some mommy-daughter bonding time. They had a great time.

February 17th, 2011 - 28 Weeks, 2 Days

Today has been relatively uneventful, which is not a bad thing in our situation. Amaraa has been bleeding a little more than usual, but so far it hasn't been enough to cause concern. We had a visit the other day from a lady who is part of a group called "Parent to Parent." It is a group of mothers who were on bed rest in the hospital with their pregnancies. She gave Amaraa a bag of things to keep her entertained. It included some scrapbook pages, construction paper, and scissors for scrapbooking, notepads and pens, a puzzle, a word-search book, a sudoku book, colored pencils, and the book "Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul". The group brings pizza in for the patients and their families on Tuesdays and they have a scrapbooking night every Thursday for patients with wheelchair privileges (unfortunately, Amaraa is only allowed up to the bathroom and for a quick shower, so she can't go). Anyway, it is a really cool group who obviously understands what it's like to be stuck in the hospital for an extended period of time.
The nurses here have been great. Amaraa has seen most of them multiple times, so she has developed friendships with a lot of them. The doctors have been great too.
Amaraa misses the kids a lot. I bring them to the hospital as much as possible, but since we live so far away from the hospital, it's only possible for me to bring them twice a week or so. It's not a very exciting place to be, but the kids really love hanging out with their mom when I bring them. I don't know what we would do without Amaraa's mom staying with us. She has really helped out with the kids -- cooking and cleaning and babysitting. I probably would have had to drop out of school this semester if it weren't for her. My parents help out on the weekends when I travel to Price to work also. That gives Amaraa's mom a rest and is a lot of fun for the kids. They love going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Well, one more day behind us. We appreciate the outpouring of support and love from our friends and family. We love you all. Thank you!