Happy Birthday Charlotte!

In the very early morning of November 1st I woke up to find myself lying in a puddle of blood on the bed. My first thought was that I must be losing the baby at just a little over 23 weeks gestation there was no way I could be bleeding this much and not be miscarrying. Panicked, I woke Ned up and had him call my parents to come watch the boys while I called my doctor. The bleeding had stopped so we made our way to Reston Hospital praying all the way that what we expected would not be the case. My doctor was on vacation and Dr Alfreda Jones was on call for him. By the time we got to the hospital everything seemed completely normal. They did a couple tests on me to see if my water had broken and immediately hooked me up to monitors for the baby. Charlotte seemed to be doing great...her heart rate and respiratory rate were completely normal but I was having very small contractions. They took me downstairs for an ultrasound which determined my water had not broken but they saw something of concern on my uterus. After two more ultrasounds they told me what they saw on the ultrasound were blood clots on my uterus; this is what had caused the sudden bleeding. I had what they call a placenta abruption (where the placenta tears away from the uterine lining) and in some cases this heals on it's own but because of the huge concern they had for me with the large blood clots they wanted to keep me at the hospital on strict bed rest and monitoring. Later that afternoon after a ultrasound done by a high risk doctor they saw that my water would most likely rupture in the next 24 to 48 hours and talked to us about our "options." If we decided to work to save our little girl I would have to be taken to Fairfax Hospital since Reston Hospital is not prepared to care for a baby under 26 weeks. Of course we wanted to do everything we could to save little Charlotte and as soon as we caught on to what this doctor was asking, we quickly told him we wanted to talk to our doctor and take the next steps to ensure that Lottie was taken care of.

Off we went by ambulance to Fairfax Hospital and up to the high risk floor I went to remain on bed rest until Charlotte was born. After I was settled in I sent Ned home to be with the boys thinking it could be days or weeks before I actually had her. Not more than two hours after he left, I started hemorrhaging again. I lost quite a bit of blood and they felt it was necessary to take me to labor and delivery. I called Ned to come back but knew it would take him a while so I called his sister Heather who lived down the road from the hospital and she came and stayed with me until Ned got there. Charlotte still seemed fine but the growing concern were the clots that were dislodging and the loss of blood. We went all day on the 2nd like this (bleeding on and off and multiple ultrasounds and shots to stop labor) and most of the day on the 3rd the same. On the afternoon of November 3rd the ultrasound they did found that my water had ruptured but they still thought the best thing for Lottie was to stay in the womb. Early on the morning 4th we were met in our room by Dr Jones, the neonatologist, and the high risk doctor. They were all helping prepare us for Charlotte's delivery. They told us that the ultrasound they did earlier that morning showed that the blood clots on my uterus were getting bigger and causing lots of risk for me, they were also concerned that keeping Charlotte in the womb much longer would increase her risk of infection and make it harder for her in the long run. They wanted to deliver her as soon as possible. Ned and I hardly had time to take it all in before they were wheeling me into surgery! Ahhh...the joy I felt seeing Charlotte for the first time right before they took her to the NICU. What a sweet and perfect baby girl!

I had some trouble after the delivery. I lost alot of blood and had to have a transfusion. The worst part was I wasn't able to see my little girl again for 2 days! When I finally did make it down to the NICU what I saw was amazing! I remember thinking of Psalm 139, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." I had no idea really what to expect and I'm kinda glad...He promises never to give us more than we can handle. It would be six incredibly long weeks before I could even hold her for the first time. It was over 8 weeks before I heard her cry for the first time (the things we take for granted) I remember hearing other babies in the NICU cry and having to hold back tears . What I wouldn't give to just hear her sweet cry. We are so thankful for the most amazing doctors and nurses! We got the three best nurses Fairfax Hospital has to offer!! They really loved on our little Charlotte when we weren't there to do it.

Charlotte is 1 year old today and we've been so busy celebrating that I'm just now updating the blog! God is so good! He continues to show His mercies are new every morning! She is such a joy and blessing to us. She's such a happy baby laughing and "talking" to us! We are working on her birthday video and will post it as soon as it's finished. Thanks to all who have loved our little girl and prayed so faithfully!

Looking Back...

Holding Charlotte tonight, listening to her laugh and watching her smile, I can't help but think about a year ago tonight and how close we were to loosing her. Tomorrow Charlotte will be one year old and we are truly celebrating what a year it has been! This time one year ago, I was at Fairfax Hospital praying (after finding out through ultrasound that my water had broken) that we'd be able to hold off delivering our sweet baby Charlotte for another week at least. At 23 weeks and 6 days gestation, every day she could stay in the womb increased her chances of survival. There was also some concern for me since I had a placenta abruption (where the placenta pulls away from the uterine lining) and I was hemorrhaging on and off. Blood clots were forming inside of me and periodically dislodging, causing significant bleeding...this had started around 2:30am on November 1st, and continued on and off up until the delivered her on the 4th.

We have witnessed first hand the miracle of little Charlotte! We are so grateful to everyone who prayed for her and for us! I will post pictures and another update tomorrow on her birthday.:)

The picture above is of me going in for my last ultrasound where they determined they needed to go ahead and deliver Charlotte as quickly as possible.

Happy 2nd Birthday James!

Two years ago today, we welcomed our second baby boy into the world. He weighed 7lbs 8 oz and was 21 inches long. James Patrick Ryun is a joy to everyone he meets. His best friend by far is his big brother Nathaniel. He loves looking at books and playing with and talking about tractors. His favorite word is "why" and his favorite song is "Happy Birthday." Often times I'll be doing stuff around the house and hear James in the other room singing softly, "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." that's the only part he knows and it goes on and on.:) He LOVES the drums and constantly has something in his hands that resemble drum sticks, (thanks Evan) it usually ends up being my chop sticks or two unsharpened pencils. The other day we were in the drive-thru at McDonalds and J.J. was waving to the people working there and saying, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" over and over because no one was saying hi back. I finally said, "they say hi back J.J." Nathaniel immediately pipes up in the back, "No they didn't mommy!" Haha...poor James.:) I don't have enough time in the day to say all the wonderful things I love about little James. The best thing about being James' mommy is I get to cuddle with him all day long...he loves this.:)

We love you little buddy! Happy Birthday!!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, Nathaniel, and Char-Char :)

Poor Little James :(

Poor little JJ caught some sort of virus that has pretty much kept him in my lap or in the bed since earlier Thursday morning. He threw up Thursday morning and had a fever, I gave him Motrin for the fever and lots of fluids (which he threw up) and he slept for most of the morning. Ned stayed home from work Thursday, so I could take Lottie to her video swallow, he told me James seemed fine in the afternoon while I was gone. When I got back he looked like he was feeling better but he felt warm again when I put him to bed so I gave him some Tylenol. He woke up at 2:30am Friday and threw up again and was running a temp. Around 11am Friday morning he still had a fever (even though I was giving him medicine) so I decided to be extra cautious and call the doctor. They told me to bring him in that evening so I did. By the time I went to leave for the doc, James was acting totally fine and I almost called to cancel but thought since I had the appt I'd better just keep it (can't be too careful with Lottie in the house). He still felt and acted fine when we got to the doc but as we sat there waiting to be seen he started getting lethargic and feeling really warm. First thing doc did after asking me what his symptoms where was check his temp. He looked at the thermometer with a shocked face and showed it to me and it read 105.8 degrees! He thought maybe his thermometer was broken so he tried another and it read the same! He shot out of the room to get his wife to run a tepid bath, got Tylenol in him and ran him to the back to get his fever down. I stood in the back of the doctor's office for 30 minutes pouring cold water over poor James' head. We were able to get his temp down to 99.0 (thank God). After it was down doc told me that was a record for his office. He was very happy to find that JJ's little body could handle a temp that high! We still need prayer though...we've been fighting this fever all day today and have given him 2 cool baths already when it shot up too high. He hasn't thrown up since yesterday morning so that's good. Right before I started this post I took the picture attached, he was feeling really good, but now he's sitting on my lap and I can tell his fever is back again.:( Thank you all again for your prayers!

Quick update on Charlotte: The speech therapist got back to me late yesterday afternoon and said I did the right thing in putting her back on the nectar. She suggested I keep her on nectar for another week or two and try taking her off again this time more gradually. Thank you for your comments! It's always sweet to see people are reading this.:) Love you all!

Charlotte's Video Swallow Update

This morning I took Charlotte to Fairfax Hospital for her third video swallow since she was born. A video swallow is like a live x-ray to make sure she's not aspirating her food. Since the feeding tube was taken out in the NICU Lottie has been on Nectar (a thickener for her formula). Before she left the NICU in March speech therapy did a video swallow to see if she could go home on regular formula. The study showed she was aspirating thin liquids. It's pretty interesting to watch actually, they mix what they call a barrier in her formula which is like a white powder, this allows them to watch the liquid go down into her stomach through the x-ray machine. In Lottie's case, some of the thin liquid she swallowed was going into her airway. Anyway...she had another one done the middle of May and they said the same thing, she was still aspirating thin liquids. I went back again today hoping and praying we'd be done with nectar forever! They tried her formula in a few different bottles with thin and thick liquids and we watched her swallow it down great! The speech therapist noticed just a little penetration in her airway but no aspiration yay!! They said I could feed her regular formula without the nectar but that I should just watch for signs that she might be aspirating again and to call if I had questions. I made my way home very happy! I had to stop on my way back to feed her (her first full bottle with no nectar) she drank it down like a pro, so I put her in her car seat and made my way back to the car, before I could get outside however she started choking really bad and I frantically tried to get her out of her seat. Just as I was lifting her out she projectile vomited all over herself and her seat! So...I'm going to call the speech therapist tomorrow to see what I should do but until I hear back from her I guess we're back to the nectar. I was pretty discouraged earlier, but after a nice talk with my mom, I feel so much better.:) We have so much to be thankful for when it come to our little girl! Having to put nectar in every bottle is just a reminder to me of where we came from and how blessed we are that nectar is the only thing she is on due to her prematurity. We are still so grateful for your prayers! We can't believe she is going to be one year old in just 3 weeks!

Nathaniel and Charlotte