Taevin's medical procedures / surgery

Taevin has been having a lot of medical stuff going on in the last several months.

* In September he had a sleep study to find out if he has sleep apnea. He was hooked up to about 20 different tubes or wires. It was a very long night with very little sleep for either of us.

9/1/11

Test results show that he does have obstructive sleep apnea which causes him to stop breathing.

* The next test he had was to measure the severity of his reflux. They put a probe down his nose and monitored him for 23 hours. It was another very long day with very little sleep and lots of pushing him in the stroller to keep him happy.

Results showed an increased amount of non acid reflux. Next step will be to see if it is causing damage to his throat or vocal cords.

* The next procedure was a catheterization for his heart. His pulmonary arteries are not growing well and he needed two stents placed to expand them. It's amazing to me that they can do this procedure without opening him up.

10/3/11

By doing this procedure it increased his blood flow by 40%. This should help postpone open heart surgery for a while longer.

* The next thing was surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids along with looking at his airway, vocal cords, throat and stomach. The tonsils and adenoids were removed to help/stop his sleep apnea. They also did a biopsy to check for damage from the reflux.

11/7/11

They did not find any damage from the reflux, thank goodness, but they did find that his airway has not grown much and is narrowed by 65%. They also found another problem that might require surgery in the next 6 months to 1 year. As for the sleep apnea we will have to wait and see if the surgery helped.

He did start to bleed a week later from his incision site and they needed to go back in to stop the bleeding so it might be a while before we know much.

I'm praying this is all for a while. It has been a very long and stressful 3 months and I think we are all due for a break, especially Taevin.

Areya's 8th Birthday!

September 23, 2003

Happy 8th Birthday Areya!!!

It's amazing how fast they grow. It feels like just a few years ago my sweet baby girl was placed in my arms. Now she is my crazy, non stop, sweet, helpful, loving little monster.

Here are a few things she loves:

* Her brother and sister

* School

* Playing with friends

* Pop corn

* Watching movies

* Make up

* Vanilla ice cream with sprinkles

* Waffels

1 day old

4 months old

Lake Michigan

Before the weather turned cold we took the girls to Lake Michigan for a little picnic. The girls loved playing in the water I and enjoyed spending some much needed down time reading on the beach.

Taevin's first hair cut and tooth

I finally took Taevin in for a hair cut. The poor kids hair was butchered, I tried to fix it but there wasn't much I could do. Thank goodness his hair grows fast.

He also finally, at 17 months, got his first tooth. He now has 6!

First day of school 2011

Areya started 2nd grade and Aniela started preschool at the community preschool. They both love school and look forward to going each day. Aniela goes Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:00 to 11:00. She has a little boyfriend named Brennen who gives her hugs and kisses. She tells me that he is not her boyfriend but the teacher told me that they sit by each other and talk non stop.