Nathan is sick

Please pray for Nathan. He is really sick. He almost had a trip back to the hospital last night and has a short list of stuff that will land him back in the hospital tonight. Since surgery he has had an elevated heart rate and breathing trouble from time to time. Today he started running a fever, which will spike up to 104. We spent a couple hours at the pediatrician today and some test were run. He has a really low white blood cell count and a really high some other number. He also tested positive for flu a and b (yes, he had a flu shot) which is usually the masking of some other virus (I forgot the name). They could test for that particular virus but it takes a week for the results. So, we are treating for it. We have a follow-up tomorrow at the pediatrician and Nathan is on a heart/lung monitor tonight. God is in complete control of Nathan and his body. Please pray for healing. His surgery site is tender but looks really good.

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Home

We are now home. Nathan did move to Special Care last night. He was taken off oxygen at 3 a.m. but still maintained an elevated heart rate. We were discharged around 11:30 this morning. Nathan is glad to be resting at home now.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend at my sister Ranae's house in Enterprise. We travelled down Wednesday afternoon. All four boys had a wonderful time playing together. They loved jumping on the trampoline, swinging, sliding, playing ball, playing/watching Wii, watching football, shopping and eating lots of yummy food. Ranae did a great job with the dinner. After getting a few good deals at Wal-mart Friday morning, Philip and I gave blood at the LifeSouth Mobile. As a treat my Mom took all the girls to get pedicures Friday afternoon. We all played "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader" and watched the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". We are looking forward to Thanksgiving at The Watts next year.

Nathan's CI Surgery

This morning we arrived at Children's Hospital at 7. In record time, about 20 minutes, we were already back in our pre-op room. After weight check, lots of questions, a visit from the nurse anesthetist, anesthesiologist, and the ENT resident he was headed back to surgery about 8:30 and they began surgery at 9. About 10:30 Dr Woolley came and told us everything went well. About 11:30 Preston and I were sent to a room in the one day surgery floor and at 12:15 Nathan joined us. About 1:30 Nathan started having lots of breathing problems and he was put on an oxygen cannula and had to receive oxygen by face mask twice. There has been talk about sending Nathan to the special care unit, but they are full so they are trying to transfer someone out to open a room. I'll update as things progress.

Last Days at The Bell Center

After 1 1/2 years the boys are finishing their time at The Bell Center. They are instead attending preschool in our local public school system. We have enjoyed our time at The Bell Center and have received some great therapy services and met lots of great kids and parents. This is a good transition for the boys to be making because it means they are growing up. We are very pleased with the teaching and therapy they receive at school.

Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my youngest precious babies, Nathan, Mia and Owen. It's hard to believe it has been three years since we said goodbye to Mia after only 9 hours of life. This is my favorite day of the year because this is the day I got to hold my precious baby girl. I can't wait until I can see her everyday in heaven.

Today Nathan and Owen started preschool. Their day went really well.. They loved their class and their teachers. They already started speech therapy today and have their occupational therapy and physical therapy evaluations on Friday. They are in class M/W/F.

Saturday the boys had a great birthday party. They shared their special day with their friend, Mason. Lots of friends from the Bell Center, friends from church and family attended. The theme was Mickey Mouse Road Rally. Kids used roller skates, scooters, gait trainers, wheel chairs and push bikes to compete in the road rally. There were a few activities with rubber ducks and mini-beach balls. We also painted little wooden cars.

We held our 3rd annual Mia Celebration Brunch. We love setting aside a specific day to remember our precious little girl with close loved ones.

Enjoy all the pictures

2nd Cochlear Implant

When the doctor came in our room after Nathan's 1st cochlear implant surgery he said the surgery went so well that he would be ready to do the 2nd one any time. Some times both implants are done at the same time but if the person has any delays or special needs they like to do them one at a time. Several months ago we went back for a check-up and our doctor again mentioned wanting to do the second implant on Nathan. There is a certain window of opportunity to place the second implant. Once the brain is used to just hearing from one ear it does not adapt well to listening with the second ear, making the second implant not very beneficial. I brought this suggestion to the therapist for discussion (the therapy and audiology team need to discuss it too since they track his progress much more closely). We decided to wait a little while until we all felt Nathan had a better mapping of his implant and was hearing and responding better. A few weeks ago we decided Nathan was at that point and we would go ahead and schedule the surgery. It is usually several months wait for a surgery date. Nathan's surgery date is November 26. We are very excited to give Nathan this opportunity.

Prayer Request:
-Nathan to remain healthy for the surgery.
-No complications during the surgery.
-Dr Woolley - ENT surgeon
-Insurance payment- we have a letter from our insurance deeming the procedure medically necessary but will not confirm or deny payment until after the surgery. In all our experience thus far this letter has been followed with payment, so this is what we are praying for this time.

IEP

The pictures on the bottom are the boys listening to Preston read Pete the Cat. They love being read to and love Pete the Cat.

One more week until the big 3. It seems unbelievable for them to be turning 3. We are celebrating this weekend with lots of friends and family for a Mickey Mouse Road Rally party.

Today we had our IEP meeting. It went wonderfully! For the initial IEP educational and speech goals are set in place. Physical and Occupational therapies are considered related services and evaluations occur once the boys have started class. We were able to set up their evaluations for their first day of school, so we will get the ball rolling right away. The boys will be in separate classes. At first I was a little taken back by that decision but once we talked about it, I quickly got on board. Nathan will receive speech therapy 2 days a week at school and 1 day at the HEAR Center. Owen will receive speech therapy 2 days a week at school. The boys will go to school 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. I am sad that they will be away from me more but excited for them. I think they are ready for this next step.

Trick or Treat

Wednesday was full of costumes and candy. After dropping Logan off at school Nathan, Owen and I went to Hand in Hand, one of their therapy centers that also has a school with it, and passed out lots and lots of candy to all the classes as they paraded around the facility.

That evening we went to CiCi and PawPaw Bill's house for trick or treating. Preston was in Orlando all last week. It was fun to go to a neighborhood full of sidewalks and small yards, especially with my broken foot. It was nice to celebrate trick or treating with family.

Therapy with Mrs Kristi

Kristi is the boys longest running therapist. She started treating the boys in May of 2010. Sadly we have one more visit with her next week and then the on November 14th the boys transition from early intervention to preschool. Kristi has taught is so much an we will miss seeing her on a regular basis. Here are a few photos I snapped at our session this week.