Friday, August 10, 2007

Prayer Request & Update

My sister tells me that people have been asking for an update on the blog so here it is.

First of all, I wanted to ask all of you to pray for my friend Deleste. She has a son at Children's. He was born at RCH when Kyle & Benjamin were there. He is doing ok but she has just been diagnosed with leukemia. She is at Vancouver General undergoing treatment and cannot see her son. Please pray for her as well as the family.

Benjamin is doing very well. He got transferred to Abbotsford NICU last Sunday night. He went up his oxygen (750ccs) due to the transfer and new environment. Yesterday he got transferred to Children's for a day appointment with the neurologist who did his surgery. He had a head ultrasound done and Dr. Singhal talked to me. He said that he is very pleased with Benjamin's progress and that we are to see him in another 3 months. That is great news. When he came back the PCC (patient care coordinator) talked to me about transferring him over to paeds. I expressed some concern since we didn't have a great experience with paeds at RCH. When at RCH the nurses didn't pay much attention to him while I wasn't there (I know this from another mom in paeds as well). He also seemed to go downhill because of this. Since I can't be there 24/7 this was a major concern for us. I talked to the PCC about that and she assured me that things are set up different in Abby. It is not as big of a paediatrics ward and Benjamin will also have primary nurses. So hopefully everything goes alright. Today I talked to the nurses and they said that Benjamin's oxygen has already gone down to 250ccs which is a great improvement from yesterday. So maybe he is liking it there. Right now he is not feeding great but that will come. He is starting to do a bit better so hopefully once he gets off oxygen he will do great. We don't really know when he will be able to come home. It just depends on when he will get off oxygen. We really like the fact that he is much closer and we get to spend more time with him instead of driving.

Kyle is doing great. Smiling lots and starting to coo. A weird twin thing (I'm sure) happened the other day. I could not get Kyle to eat much on Wednesday and he just kept fighting me. When I went to the hospital at night, I asked how Benjamin's feeding went. The nurse said that he didn't do that great. I told her that Kyle didn't do that great that day either. I told her that he only took 175 mls by the time Gary got home. He usually takes about 300-400 by then. She then calculated Benjamin's and he had only taken 176 mls by that time. We thought that was just freaky. But now Kyle is just being a little piggy again. He went to the doctor for a checkup this week and the doctor was pleased with his weight gain. He now weighs 9lbs, 4 oz. You may not think this is big but to us this is huge. Our little guy is getting so big.


Kyle sucking his thumb.


Benjamin getting his foot and hand prints done. He wasn't too happy that I was doing that but it got done. And it came off in the bath- don't worry.


Kyle getting his foot and hand prints done. It is much easier to do at home than at the hospital. My own environment, ya know:)


Kyle's feet after having footprints done.


Benjamin in the Abby NICU. After bath.


Kyle & his cool shades.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you're okay with the transfre to peds Greta! They take really great care of the NICU babies we send there, and they will actually have more time for him than we do. It's their slow time right now (summer, winter gets a bit busier). I used to work there and most of the nurse's are really great! Have you thought about rooming in now and then? I'm sure they'd let you keep Kyle with you too. I want to assure you that I won't share your blog with other staff. If you need to vent, please don't worry about me passing on anything I read here! I'm on your side no matter what, and if you need to ask anything I'm here for you! I think things will go well. Sounds like the nurses at RCH peds have an unrealistic patient ratio! Again if you need anything at all let me know, my email is tjvane@shaw.ca, and Evelyn has my phone number.

Anonymous said...

Hi Greta, I will pray for your friend....I also wanted to let you know that what you went through with being ignored by the nurses, it is not uncommon....There may be various reasons for it....I am glad that you are now closer to home and I am praying for you....If you ever need to talk to someone please feel free to email me....shadow_26_cat@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hello Gary and Greta,
First of all a thankyou for being so diligent in keeping us up to date on the progress of your two little miracles! I love the picture of the young man in his cool shades!!
Praying you may have a restful Sunday and that all may go well in the weeks to come. "What a mighty God we serve. Looking down in love, from his throne above, what a mighty God we serve."

from Tim and Inge Meinen