Monday, December 29, 2008
Back in Boise
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Finally home....sorta
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Letter 2008
This year has been a year of change,
For this Brunson crew,
Some things were good, others strange,
But almost everything is new.
First off, of course, we moved away,
We’re Idahoans now,
We’re near a farm, but it’s okay,
We LOVE the smell of cow!
We’re enjoying our house and backyard too,
The boys’ just love it so,
There are parks real close, and a pool,
Lots of places for us to go.
We went on a cruise back in the spring,
Don’t worry, company paid,
Our little boys, who we didn’t bring,
Were at Grandma’s where they played.
And those sweet boys whom we love and need,
Are amazing you will see,
Corbin’s is four and can already read,
Next comes geometry!
Dexter’s a monkey, crazy and loud,
In March he just turned one,
On top of a table he stands so proud,
‘Til he falls and bites his tongue.
And I’m sure you know, just weeks ago,
We had a baby girl,
Beautiful Ivy has put on quite a show,
And taken us for a whirl.
Her heart needs work, but she’s doing fine,
In her hospital bed,
Whenever we see her, her eyes just shine,
As we kiss her cute little head.
We’re thankful for the gospel, we’ve been so blessed,
Our families and friends helped too,
Without you we’d be a lot more stressed,
So thanks to all of you!
And Merry Christmas everyone,
Find reason to be of good cheer,
We hope you have a lot of fun,
But we can’t wait until next year!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sweet Stacy
This weekend we were saddened by the sudden loss of Scott's sister, Stacy. She was so dear to us, as we have had the pleasure of having her stay with us on several occasions while we were still living in Utah. She was certainly one of our Heavenly Fathers most special beings and we are blessed to have known her. It makes me sad to think that our kids probably will not remember her, but we know that they will get the chance to meet her again in heaven. We will miss you Stacy, we can't wait to see, speak and run with you in heaven. We love you!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Nice to meet you!!
Now that Ivy is in the Children's surgical unit, she has her own room and can allow visitors other than us and grandparents. So, since Dex hadn't met Ivy yet and it has been several weeks since Corbin saw her we decided to bring them in. It got a little loud and crazy (when we are in a quiet environment the boys feel it is necessary to run around screaming), but it was fun to have the family together for the first time. Dexter was really sweet with Ivy, patting her blanket and rubbing her hair, and then right when scott snapped the photo he poked her in the eye. It was sad, but funny too!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Look how far we've come
Today marks the 40th day of her hospital stay and it amazes me how far we've come. I thought back on her previous two surgeries and how I felt those days and I almost started to cry. There were many days before and after she was born when we wondered if she would survive this long. We feel so blessed to still have her in our lives, and to be doing so well. Thank you so much for all the prayers and support, we couldn't have come so far along without all of you. We love you.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Ivy IV-less
Big Yawn
She's So Cute
Sleepy Smile
Good day everybody. Scott here with the latest update on Ivy Maxine! Our little baby girl is doing so well! Today we saw her without ANY IV's. This is the first time since the day she was born that she has not had an IV somewhere. You can tell that she is so relieved to have all of her limbs back in full use. But, The greatest news of all, is that she is now starting to smile at us! She smiles every few minutes in her sleep and when she is awake, she smiles almost every time you talk to her. She is so adorable and so pleasant. On thursday of last week, we heard from the surgery team that she should have her abdominal surgery this coming tuesday. This might change, but we are hoping that it does happen soon, so that Ivy can be out of the hospital by Christmas. A few other fun things that we wanted to mention are that she had her one month birthday last sunday. She was visited by Jerry Sloan and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz and she got a cool autographed mini basketball. She was moved from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to the Childrens Surgical Unit. This means she is doing so well that she doesn't need her own nurse all the time now, so that is way good. Also, it looks like her hair may be turning red. Now that we have a room with a window, we have better light and it looks red. Rochelle is very jealous. After her surgery on tuesday, she will be moved back to the PICU but it's okay, we are friends with all the nurses by now and they are all missing Ivy. Thanks for all your support, See ya!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Finally an encouraging day
Also, while we were there a genetics expert came and asked us to take part in a study, I won't go into detail but he needed to take a DNA sample from both Scott and I and Ivy as well. In case you don't already know, Scott is terrified of needles (even though he has never had his blood drawn) and he wanted nothing to do with the study. I talked him into since it would help people in the future, and forced him to get his blood drawn. He took it like a trooper and didn't cry, puke, or pass out. What a man!!
Friday, November 28, 2008
extubation is tomorrow.....maybe.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Reason for Thanks
Monday, November 24, 2008
A Big Setback
When we made it to the hospital at about 11:30am, Ivy's room was full of doctors all running around frantically. One nurse told us that Ivy had been having some trouble breathing earlier so they had decided to take an x-ray of her chest to see if she had some fluid in her lungs. On the x-ray they noticed a dark spot in the piece of tube they had added during her surgery a week and a half ago. They did an Echo scan to verify and they believed it was a blood clot. The tube basically allows blood to get from the heart to the lungs and if the clot were to get any bigger or break free, it would be catastrophic. So they told us that they needed to take her into emergency surgery and remove the clot. They said she would get all the tubes, wires, and IV's that she has worked so hard to get out, all put back in. It was very devastating to us. They put the breathing tube back in and prepared her to go back to the operating room. The surgeons told us that this operation was a lot more risky than the first one, because her body is still trying to recover. They did not know how her little body was going to handle it. They put her on blood thinners to try to prevent the clot from getting worse. They said if the clot were to break free during the operation, it could cause cardiac arrest or massive bleeding.
After a few hours of her being in the OR, the surgeons informed us that they were able to re-open the chest, re-open the ribcage, and take a look at the tube. To everyone's relief, it was not a clot! There was just a peice of the tube folding over onto itself. This was still something that needed to be fixed so it was good that they did the surgery. They told us that she was having a bleeding problem though (I believe it was because of the blood thinners) so they still had to get that under controll. After the bleeding was taken care of, they let us see her. She was very swollen again, she had the jugular IV back in, she had the heart IV's and heart pacemaker wires back in. She only had 2 drainage tubes instead of 4 this time, and they were able to close up her chest immediatley this time, so it is a little better. Basically she is back to where she was last monday and she is going to have to go through all that healing again. Please pray for our baby Ivy to have the strength to do it all again. Pray for our boys to be strong too. Thank you all for your love and support.
Ivy Pics
Friday, November 21, 2008
2 Weeks Old
We also realized today that we never really said exactly what conditions Ivy has. We have found when we are vague about what she has (i.e. heterotaxy) everyone says, "I know someone who has that and they lived to be 80 years old!" It gets a little irritating. Ivy actually has five different defects and the odds of anyone knowing someone else with the same exact five defects is very rare, especially since some aren't even related to each other. Okay, so here are her conditions, the first 2 are heart related, although unrelated to each other, and the last three have to do with the heterotaxy, which is unrelated to both heart defects.
1)partial hypoplastic left heart syndrome (this is when the left pumping chamber, the one that pumps blood to the entire body, is under-developed.)
2)Coartation of the aortic arch (which is a significant narrowing in the aorta, causing blood flow blockage)
3)asplenia (no spleen)
4)liver is on the wrong side
5)malrotation of the intestines
So she has already had open heart surgery to re-route the way blood is pumped by her heart, but she will need two more surgeries to complete the reconstruction. One when she is about 6 months and one between 2 and 3 years old. At the same time as the first surgery they also fixed the coartation of the aortic arch, and that shouldn't require any future procedures. Before she gets to come home she will have to have one more surgery to fix the malrotation of the intestines. The liver being on the wrong side doesn't really pose a problem and the asplenia means she will be more susceptible to illness and infection and will have to be on some medication for the rest of her life.
So now you know, I hope you feel more educated. Have a good day!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A Good Day
Monday, November 17, 2008
Wolverine Baby!
After her 4 day recovery, (swelling already gone down, you didn't want to see that) chest still open, notice the gauze tuxedo (November 17 morning)
After chest was closed (November 17 afternoon)
Ivy had a good day today. She finally had her chest closed so now the healing can begin. We arrived at the hospital very early because the doctors said she would likely be the first case of the day, but when we got there they informed us she wouldn't be anymore. They bumped her to the afternoon, so we hung out with her all day. Getting out of bed so early wasn't a total loss because while we were waiting, she woke up! It was the first time we have really seen her eyes open in over a week. We were so excited to get to talk to her and touch her while she looked back at us. Finally at about 2:00 the operating staff showed up to turn her little room into a mini operating room by making it sterile, taping it off, and of course, kicking us out. We returned about two hours later and she was done. Her little gauze tuxedo was gone and replaced with just a small layer of regular gauze, and we felt like we could see her again. The doctor and nurses said that everything went according to plan and they didn't have any problems, thank goodness. Scott joked that she was like wolverine because she has an amazing healing time (she had some sores from a blood pressure cuff a few days ago that healed very quickly). He thinks the doctors put Adamantium in her body during surgery, thus wolverine baby. He's kind of a dork, in case you didn't already know. Anyway, they also removed the IV from her jugular vein in her neck, which had been grossing us out for days, so we were happy to see it gone! Now she has a week or two of recovery until her next surgery, we should see medications deminish from now on. Thanks for the support, we look forward to a quick recovery. Thanks to the X-men!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Recovery Begins
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Operation Ivy
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Day we've been waiting for
Thanks everyone for respecting our wishes to be left alone during such a difficult and busy time. We will try our best to keep you all updated. Tomorrow is a huge day for us and we are lucky to have so many people in our corner. Please pray for our precious baby girl.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
News of Surgery
Ivy's latest update
P.S. If you send us a text or try to call us, please don't be offended if you don't receive a response. We don't want to repeat the same update multiple times. Just keep checking the blog! Thanks.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Piggies don't eat people, they eat sticks!
The title really doesn't have anything to do with this post, it was just something funny that Corbin said.
We haven't been posting a lot lately because there hasn't been anything new happening for a while. Ivy is just slowly getting better as the days go on. Our family had been sick for a few days and had to stay away from the hospital. We finally got to go back yesterday and our sweet baby is looking great! We are waiting for her to completely heal and then she will have her next surgery, hopefully next week. We are still hoping she will at least be out of the hospital by Christmas.
Introducing....
Ivy joined our little family on Friday, November 7 at 2:13pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and was just 18 inches long. Our biggest baby so far. I was able to stick out the relatively short labor without any pain medication (although I regretted it in the last few moments of her delivery). She came out screaming, but looked great with lots of dark curly hair. The NICU nurses instantly took her through a window in the wall into another room to check all that high-risk newborn stuff and I was only able to see her for about 7 seconds. Scott was able to see her a little more while I was being stitched up and all that other fun stuff that happens after the baby is born.
I was finally able to see Ivy and kiss her cute little head a few hours later in the NICU, she was so beautiful. I didn't want to leave her there, but I knew she was in good hands. I returned a few hours later to visit again and was finally able to hold my baby in my arms. I can't describe the overwhelming joy that I felt at the time, but it is an amazing feeling. Scott was able to hold her after me, and it made the last three months of uncertainty worth it for both of us.
On Saturday the doctors told us that the ultrasound on her abdominal area showed that she most likely does not have a spleen and that her liver is on the wrong side. Later that day they did another test that included feeding her a dyed substance to show them if her intestines were twisted, they were, its known as mal-rotation of the intestines. Although they are twisted she still has a clear path from mouth to bottom so she is not in need of immediate surgery to fix it (more on that at a later date). Since she has the clear path, the doctors gave the okay for me to try to nurse her. I cried a little because it was such great news. I tried to feed her at that time, however she was too sleepy and wouldn't try. A few hours later we tried again, and this time she took a few swallows before falling asleep for the second time. So it didn't really work out, but it was nice to try. The nurse told me to come back on Sunday morning to try again.
On Sunday morning Scott and I arrived in the NICU right as the doctors were removing an oxygen tube from her nose. They told us that overnight she had begun breathing too rapidly so they were trying to calm it down with oxygen. It didn't really work so they removed the tube. She is still breathing on her own, but every once and a while she will breath really fast. All this means that I no longer get to nurse her because of the risk of her choking. I am still pumping though, and saving my milk for a later time.
The doctors have scheduled her heart surgery (to repair her aortic arch) for Tuesday morning. She will not get to eat again until after the surgery, but is receiving nutrition from her IV. Also, She was moved from the NICU to the PICU Sunday afternoon (which only means she is closer to the Cardiologists now). We are very pleased with how well she is doing right now, and are praying for the best possible outcome for her surgery. We will update when more info is available and have time to post. Thank you everyone for your support. We love you Ivy! You are such a sweet angel.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Big Day
It is officially the big day! In about seven hours Scott and I are due at the University Hospital in SLC to be induced to have our sweet baby girl. I should be sleeping, but of course, I can't. I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life. In anticipation of this day, Scott and I have done a lot of praying and fasting with our family and friends (I pray, not fast, I am pregnant after all), and have tried very hard to remain optimistic. On Tuesday we went to the Jordan River Temple, just the two of us, and sat in the celestial room, just hoping for some peace. It was really nice and comforting for us, and I am thankful that we were able to do it. Scott, my dad, and my father-in-law also gave me a blessing tonight, and afterwards the two dads gave Scott a blessing as well. We are very scared about everything tomorrow, but are willing to accept God's will. We just wanted to thank everyone who has helped us in any way over these last few difficult months, even if it was just through prayer. It really means the world to us that so many people really care. We also want to thank everyone for being patient and understanding when we shut everyone out to deal with things on our own, and for respecting our wishes when we didn't want to talk about it. We love you all and appreciate all the support we have been given.
On a different note, since today was my last day being pregnant with this baby we decided to take a few belly photos for posterity. While I was pregnant with Dex we did some pics of Corbin kissing my belly, so we thought it would be fun to do that again. So if you don't like seeing stretch marks, don't look (I am covered with them), but if you don't mind enjoy. I think the pics turned out very cute.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I don't know what to say
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Miracles Do Happen!!
We just want to thank all of you who have fasted and prayed on our behalf, we have felt so much love over these past two months, and feel very blessed. We want everyone to know that MIRACLES DO HAPPEN, and Heavenly Father does answer prayers. It is true that our baby is not perfect and will have hardships, but it could be a lot worse. We feel like we couldn't have recieved better news. As soon as we know when we will be in town to meet the surgeons, we will let all of you Utahns know. Thank you all for your love and support.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
My Anniversary Gift
For our anniversary I managed to talk Scott into giving me the gift of knowing the sex of our new baby. He was pretty hard to convince, but eventually he gave in. I was getting stressed about what to bring with us when we go to have the baby (among other things), and I just wanted to relieve some of it. So today, we had our monthly ultrasound, and found out that our little baby is a girl. I have to admit I shed a tear or two of happiness to finally be getting a girl, but it was bittersweet knowing what she will have to go through in life. And for those of you that are wondering, no, her heart did not fix itself. That would be one heck of a miracle since it isn't even possible, and we weren't expecting it to happen. The ultrasounds are just to make sure the baby is growing like it should in all other areas, which it is. We are thankful for that. Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures for you to see, the first shows her femininity, and the second is of her cute little face. Enjoy.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
My Prego Belly
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Some Bad News
What was supposed to be a short appointment in the morning, turned out to be a marathon day of ultrasounds and specialists. It is one of the hardest days I have ever had to go through since becoming a wife and mother, if not the very hardest. By 5:00pm we had finally left the office of the last specialist, a pediactric cardiologist, who said the condition is not fatal, but will require us to deliver our baby in either Salt Lake City or Oregon, and it will need immediate heart surgery. He also gave us the heart breaking news that this condition almost always means that the baby also has Downs Syndrome. We were offered an amniosyntesis (which takes amniotic fluid and tests it for the 21st chromosome) to see if the baby does in fact have downs syndrome, but we declined. We decided that whatever the circumstances, Heavenly Father gave us this baby, and no disease will change the fact that it is ours and meant to be with our family. We will mentally prepare ourselves for having a child with this condition so that if it does have it, we will be ready.
Scott and his brother Russell, were able to give me a blessing yesterday afternoon, and it really helped to comfort me, but of course it is still difficult news. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers in this difficult time, and you are welcome to leave your comments, but please do not call to comfort us. We are still coming to terms with all of this overwhelming news, and need time to figure things out together as a family.
We know that this baby is special, no matter what, and we feel honored that our Heavenly Father finds us worthy to have such a special spirit in our family.