Video of Declan

Found this super cute video as I was looking through pictures to post, and just had to add it!  You can here Paige in the background trying to be such a good big sister to Declan, copying everything Mommy says... Only about a few months old in this video :)

Just fun pics!

I promised a fun update... so here it is!  We had the busiest summer.  Between all the craziness of having two surgeries we really did have a wonderful summer filled with family, friends and fun!  

As I was looking back at the past months’ posts, I realized... I have got some serious updating to do!  There aren’t even pictures of when Declan was home and doing well.  So this post is dedicated to just random, wonderful pictures of our life with Declan so far.  I will post in a few days with more pictures of our summer; Paige’s Birthday, family visits, vacation,  his blessing (BLESSING... WOW!  I’m so behind!) and more!  So watch for them to be coming, I PROMISE they are :)

Here we go...

LOTS and I mean LOTS of pictures, but we all like those :)

Mommy and Declan

Big sister!  Still brand new, just a few days old :)

After we brought Declan home, she loved to help feed him.

  She loved trying to feed her own baby too!

Paige holding her new baby brother!

               

                        We went to the library for a fun carnival day and Paige had her face painted.  She loved it!

Crazy Tower!  And CRAZY face :)

Cuddling with Daddy!

So sweet... I love these shots!

So funny!  I was cleaning in the kitchen and turned around and this is how I found Declan sleeping.
 His arms were out like that for a good 5 min.  HaHa!

Paige loves drawing on the tramp with chalk... And yes, she has wings on.
She is always dressed up.  We have to convince her that she needs to leave her dress-up stuff at home.  We don't wear it out, she sure has tried though!

Paige and Daddy drew this picture on the trampoline of our family...
She even has Grandpa and Grandma in there.  They were visiting at the time!

Close-up!

Awww... He was so tiny!  Not so tiny now...
:(
I don't like it when they grow, makes me sad. 

So alert

    Declan... So sweet, SMILING in his sleep!

Paige loves the bunny ears that she got for Easter and wears them all the time.

Paige was eating some carrots for a snack... she disappeared and reentered the kitchen with bunny ears on, exclaiming that she is the Easter Bunny all the while munching on carrots.

Crazy Eyes!  She has got some of the funniest faces!

Paige tryin' to get in the shot 

First time we caught a smile on camera!

So tiny

I love this picture... Just caught him sucking on his fingers.  He did that alot, not so much anymore.
Paige never sucked her fingers or thumb.

My two cuties!

Silly girl!

Paige painted a shirt for Daddy for Fathers Day...
Our fun little tradition that we do every year.  And Scott really wears them.
And cute baby Declan in the back. 

And Paige has a blast making them every year, she especially loves to see Daddy wearing them.
She always says, "Hey Dad, I painted that for you!"

Tummy time... Oh my, sooooo cute!

Declan loves the jumping chair/swingy thingy... Don't know what is called, it hangs from the door opening.   LOVE, LOVE, LOVES it!  He gets going pretty high in there.  Kinda crazy sometimes!

Out for a walk in the wagon.
Paige absolutely LOVES Declan!
She constantly wants to touch him... Notice she is holding his hand, so sweet!  She is such an awesome big sister.  She is very helpful and wants to be by Declan any moment she can get 

Story time in the tent with Daddy

Paige LOVES books, and loves to read them in her tent :)

Doin' some tummy time. 

Another one... feeding Declan

My sister thought it would be fun to put her sunglasses on me.
I look pretty darn cute! 

Rice cereal for the first time. 

Didn't get much in his mouth, his bib was covered.

Just had to throw this one in for fun!  If you look closely, that is Paige in there!
She came in the kitchen and covered herself up with one of the drawers that holds some of her toys and she stayed like that for almost an hour!  You heard me, AN HOUR!!!!  Silly girl!  She has such a great imagination!

Ok, so that's it for now... More pictures to come!
I have some pretty great pictures from Halloween, can't wait to show those off!  And our family pictures that we had done recently!

Emergency Surgery for Declan

After all the serious posts I have posted over the past months I wanted to have something fun and light to post... I promise I will have something in the next few days.  But, alas I am going to put that off until next time because we have been through more than we thought we could ever handle.  But, we are here we have made it so far and I just wanted to share some additional news of the past couple months.

Last month, on September 16th, in the early morning hours Declan woke with violent vomiting.  The weeks prior to this Declan had not been quite himself and we just blamed it on a cold.  I felt terrible that now Declan had come down with a stomach bug, after already having been sick on top of everything else his poor little body has been through in his short life so far.  Scott and I took turns through the night caring for our very sick little boy.  As it was a Sunday morning and had been up all night and all feeling a little under the weather decided not to attend church that morning.  I told Scott to get some sleep because he would be working a 12 hour shift later that evening and knew he needed some rest, I took the kids downstairs.  And tried to calm Declan, but he was restless and would only sleep for moments at a time. I could tell he was starving so I continued to try and nurse him but he wouldn't eat.  I finally prepared him a bottle with only 2 ounces and to my relief he gulped it down!  As I sat him up to burp him there was a terrible sound in his tummy and then he had a very forceful bowel movement.  So, I took him upstairs to change him.  As I pulled down his diaper, it was full of bright red blood.  I immediately yelled for Scott to wake up and told him that we needed to take Declan to the ER.  As Scott ran into the room I sat Declan up and he began vomiting bright green bile.  If the blood wasn't scary enough, the green vomit was a sure sign of trouble.  We had been warned to watch for these signs and to take him immediately to the ER.  We rushed him in and 2 hours later we were in emergency surgery.  

On the way to the ER, I was trying to contact someone to come get Paige.  Thankfully we are lucky enough to have wonderful friends who came within minutes after arriving at the ER to come get her and even assist in giving Declan a blessing.  Thank you Mike and Barb for being there for us when we were in such desperate need.  We cannot say thank you enough!

So, after some testing they discovered that Declan had something called Intussusception.  Basically, it is when your intestines telescope in on themselves.  And apparently, as far as we were told, this was not related to his previous 3 diagnosis'.  


*I've included a detailed description at the end of the post for those that are interested in more information...



Most of the time intussusception can be treated with an air enema.  Unfortunately, Declan's was severe enough that they could not correct it this way and we were told that he would need to go in for surgery to correct the problem.  If we did not act quickly and have emergency surgery he would die.  

What a terrifying day!  We truly thought that we were going to lose him.  At one point I remember asking Scott if Declan was going to be ok, I felt that he knew more of what was going on.  All he did was look at me and didn't respond.  I was so scared, I asked him again, and he told me (not very convincingly) that he would be fine.  We thought that after the last surgery for Declan that we would never have to go back in for surgery.  Little did we know that just a few short months after his first surgery we would be going back in for a second.

Since it was a Sunday, they had to call a surgical team to come in.  With Scott being a nurse and working in the medical field we are very familiar with being on call and Scott needing to go into work when called.  Which I now hate to admit, it was irritating I wanted to keep him at home with us, I was selfish.  I truly had never appreciated in the same capacity as I do now for those who accept a career that involves their lives being interrupted and put on hold for their career until that day.  Wow, what we take for granted!  How grateful we were that Sunday morning that there was a surgical team willing to come away from their own family to save ours!  I cannot say thank you enough.  We told the surgical team multiple times thank you for being there.  I have come away from this experience with a greater appreciation and gratitude for those who are in the medical field and sometimes have to work on Sundays.

I thought that the last time sending my baby in for surgery was hard.  But I wasn't prepared this time.  Watching them take my baby out of my arms and walk down that hall to the surgery room was terrifying.  Not knowing if that was the last time I would ever see Declan, my sweet baby, alive.  I was scared for his life.  How thankful I was that Scott and I were there together and there for each other.  He was my rock and strength through this difficult trial.

Going into surgery the surgeon told us that she was hoping that she could do the surgery laparoscopically.  But once in surgery we were called and she told us that they were unable to reduce the intussusception and needed to open the abdomen and manually massage the intestine to free it.  So Declan now has a nice very visible scar below his belly button.  The count is now at 7 total scars.  Most of which you can barely see.


They were able to get a few good pictures of the surgery that show the extreme blockage:

In the lower right of this picture you can see part of the intestines at regular size, the smaller pink tubular shape.  The purplish pink mass in the center left is the portion of his intestine that was telescoped.  As you can see: it was at least double, if not more, than the size that it should have been.  And very inflamed and bulging.  They were worried at the sight of it that he might lose some of his bowel from lack of blood flow, but thankfully we were lucky that it pinked right up within minutes of reducing the intussusception and they did not have to remove any of the strangulated bowel.

Another really good picture of the strangulated bowel.

In recovery waking up.  After all the stress and worry this was a moment that lifted our spirits... with his binkie just hanging out.  Sure made us smile :)

Here is a picture of Declan hooked up to the monitoring equipment and IV.  He kept trying to pull everything out so we had to tape his hand really well so that he couldn't tear out his IV.

He was pretty swollen from all the fluid.  Sure didn't look like Declan, but still cute :)

Video I sent to Scott.  He had to go home and work on some school assignments.  We were excited to see him acting a little more like himself and responding to us.

We had called my parents when we arrived at the Emergency Room to let them know what was going on and within a few hours they were there to help care and support us.  My mom stayed with us for a few weeks to help out and stay with Paige while we were going to and from the hospital that week, allowing us to lay by our sweet baby boy day and night, every moment while he was recovering.  Thank you Mom and Dad!  I am so grateful to have you as parents, you have come to our aid in the very desperate of times and we are so thankful!  Thank you for always being there for us.  We are so very grateful for all the many friends and ward members who brought us meals, visited, and prayed for us.  We have felt them!  THANK YOU!!!

I am happy to report that we are all doing well, and hoping that life stays that way for a while.  We are aware that we will experience many more moments in our lives that are difficult and we know that we will make it through as long as we rely on the strength of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He not only suffered for our sins, but our pain and sorrows as well!  And with his help we can overcome all things.  We have learned from strong faith in the gospel that this is true and we need only lean on our loving Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ.   

Again... Thank you all for your love and support!



*Additional information:


DESCRIPTION:
An intussusception is a medical condition in which a part of the intestine has invaginated into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another.^[1] This can often result in an obstruction. The part that prolapses into the other is called the intussusceptum, and the part that receives it is called the intussuscipiens.

Early symptoms can include nausea, vomiting (sometimes bile stained (green color)), pulling legs to the chest area, and intermittent moderate to severe cramping abdominal pain. Pain is intermittent not because the intussusception temporarily resolves, but because the intussuscepted bowel segment transiently stops contracting. Later signs include rectal bleeding, often with "red currant jelly" stool (stool mixed with blood and mucus), and lethargy. Physical examination may reveal a "sausage-shaped" mass felt upon palpation of the abdomen.

In children or those too young to communicate their symptoms verbally, they may cry, draw their knees up to their chest or experience dyspnea (difficult or painful breathing) with paroxysms of pain.

Fever is not a symptom of intussusception. However, intussusception can cause a loop of bowel to becomenecrotic, secondary to ischemia due to compression to arterial blood supply. This leads to perforation and sepsis, which causes fever.

In some institutions, air enema is used for diagnosis as the same procedure can be used for treatment. (THIS IS HOW THEY DIAGNOSED DECLAN)  An air enema is 

TREATMENT:

The condition is not usually immediately life-threatening. The intussusception can be treated with either a barium or water-soluble contrast enema or an air-contrast enema, which both confirms the diagnosis of intussusception, and in most cases successfully reduces it. The success rate is over 80%. However, approximately 5–10% of these recur within 24 hours.^{[citation needed]}

If it cannot be reduced by an enema or if the intestine is damaged, then a surgical reduction is necessary. In a surgical reduction, the abdomen is opened and the part that has telescoped in is squeezed out (rather than pulled out) manually by the surgeon or if the surgeon is unable to successfully reduce it or the bowel is damaged, the affected section will be resected. More often, the intussusception can be reduced by laparoscopy, whereby the segments of intestine are pulled apart by forceps.^{[citation needed]}

Intussusception may become a medical emergency (in our case it was) if not treated early, as it will eventually cause death if not reduced. In developing countries where medical hospitals are not easily accessible, especially when the occurrence of intussusception is complicated with other problems, death becomes almost inevitable. When intussusception or any other severe medical problem is suspected, the person must be taken to a hospital immediately.^{[citation needed]}

The outlook for intussusception is excellent when treated quickly, but when untreated it can lead to death within 2–5 days. Fast treatment is a necessity, because the longer the intestine segment is prolapsed the longer it goes without bloodflow, and the less effective a non-surgical reduction will be. Prolonged intussusception also increases the likelihood of bowel ischemia and necrosis, requiring surgical resection.

BLESSINGS

We have had many amazing things happen this summer... and some really horrible things happened.  It has been a roller coaster from the moment we got the news almost a year ago that something was wrong with our sweet little Declan.  We have been through so much the past months and with a recent emergency surgery for Declan a few weeks ago, another post for another day.  Today I wanted to share something spiritually uplifting.  With all these experiences I have had lots of things to ponder; The outpouring of love, sacrifice and service in our behalf has been amazing!  Family and friends praying for us, concerned friends bringing us food, watching Paige so that we could care for Declan.  The Christlike love that has been shone to our family has been amazing, Thank you!

I have been in deep thought today of the amazing blessings that we have received through such difficult trials.  No, they were definitely not easy... But, I do have to say if there is anything that I learned from these past experiences it is that God has a plan for all of us.  There are things that we are sent here on earth to learn and sometimes it takes something really devastating for us to realize what it is and why we are here.

I sit before you an even more changed person than I was yesterday.  This year has been a year of change for us as a family and I am different now than the person I was a year ago.  I'm still me, just more thankful than I ever thought possible!  I will never again take for granted good health, supportive  and loving family and friends, or life!!!  I have said it before and I will say it again, WHAT A BLESSING LIFE IS! What a glorious gift that we have ALL been given.  I understand it on a deeper level than I ever had before.


I just wanted to share a moment that I had today when I was sitting in church today as the sacrament was being past....


I love the moments that you have when it is silent.  All you have are your thoughts racing through your head, or as mine where today in slow motion.  I was pondering about the savior and everything that he has done for us (with only the most pondering one can have when they have children, a million interruptions, but as brief as that moment was I am forever changed!)   I will always carry with me the image that I saw today and it is truly imprinted upon my heart.  As I sat next to my beautiful, (oh so big) little girl (Oh Paige, how she has grown!) I gazed up and saw my husband holding our sweet little miracle.  I stared at them all in amazement... This is it!  This is perfection... The feeling of seeing them sitting there and just realizing how very much I loved them was so overwhelming for me!  It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced.

I realized even more today then I had before how thankful I am for all of them!  I just sat there smiling and thinking "I am so lucky, so blessed"... Eternal Family!  Is there anything more wonderful than that?  Believe me there have been so many horrible moments in the past 10 months.  But I would experience them all again for that moment that I had today!  It is all worth it, everything is worth it!  Looking over and seeing my beautiful children and husband sitting next to me, I tried to absorb every detail that I can remember of that moment.  Studied their faces, their expressions, everything!  Watching my amazing husband, who has been my rock, my support through everything, and loves me despite of my many short comings.  My children that love me unconditionally and are perfect in every way.  Oh, how much I love them!  I realized this is what our Father in Heaven must feel for each and everyone of us!  God is good, he lives, he loves us, and blesses us in ways that we never even realize!  I am changed.  And I want to stay changed.   Never to forget that feeling that I had today.  I thank God for everyday that I have with my beautiful children and am so thankful!

Preview of some amazing pictures that one of our wonderful friends took for us!  Thanks Liz!!!!

Home from Surgery

Sorry that I was unable to post until now.  We tried multiple attempts to get an update on here the past few days, but we were unsuccessful at getting blog access from the hospital computers and were unable to update via phone.  So we are just now able to update all of you.  

What a stressful couple of days we have had!  

But, we are happy to report that all went well with surgery and we are now home and doing good.  

We were discharged from the hospital Friday evening, May 4th, about 10 pm.

Waiting to go in for surgery. 

The hospital gown was a little large, but Declan looked so cute swimming in it.

I had no idea how nervous and emotional I would be when they took him from my arms to go into surgery.  What a scary moment for me.  I just love him so much and I could hardly stand to let him go!

Morning of Surgery...

Here is a little run-down of how everything went with surgery and some pictures.

Ladd's Band Surgery with Appendectomy

Our wonderful surgeon, Dr. Reynolds, was able to do the surgery laparoscopically.  

Declan has three very small incisions in his lower abdomen.  

They successfully removed his appendix and were able to re-situate his intestines by cutting his Ladd's Bands and spreading them out more evenly.

(There is a really great photo later that you can see of how his intestines looked before surgery and the bands)  

They also did a little exploratory surgery while they were in there... 

Dr. Reynolds had been concerned that he might not have a gallbladder, which thankfully she found.  She was also concerned about the health of his liver, which she was happy to report looked healthy and normal (other than the placement: which is centrally located in his upper abdomen).  She also took a look at his spleens and told us that after looking at them, she could see that they were fairly small in size which meant that they might not be fully functioning.  She chose not to remove the spleen, because she felt that some function was better than none.  Which means that for health purposes he will be treated throughout his life as if he did not have one.  You can live without a spleen, but it is very important during your developing years for your immune system.  So he will be given extra vaccines as a child that most children don't usually get because your spleen helps fight against certain diseases that are going to be a concern for him.  We were also told that if his temperature ever reaches 103 or above we are to take him to the Emergency Room immediately.  Just a few precautions like that.

The surgeon was able to take some really neat pictures of the surgery and some of the problems that were corrected.  These are going to be pretty cool for Declan to have when he gets older, since his anatomy is so unique.

***Warning*** 

If you are squeamish when it comes to blood, you might want to bypass the following photos.  We felt that they were very informative and really quite neat, so we wanted to share them with all of you.

SURGERY PICTURES:

Picture of Declan's Intestines before any re-situating was done.  

You can see how they are all bunched up and off to the side.

 This is a picture of the LADDS Bands... 

(Ladd's bands, sometimes called bands of Ladd is a fibrous stalk of peritoneal tissue that attaches the cecum to the abdominal wall, and creates an obstruction of the duodenum. This condition is found in malrotation of the intestine.

A surgical operation called a Ladd procedure is performed to alleviate intestinal malrotation. This procedure involves surgical division of Ladd's bands, widening of the small intestine's mesentery, performing an appendectomy and correctional placement of the cecum and colon.)

Cutting the Ladd's bands

 This is a picture of his centrally located liver 

(reddish pink mass in the upper middle part of the picture, surrounding the white tube looking thing) 

You can even see his gallbladder just under the liver 

(the round purple colored thing in the middle of the picture) 

 Cluster of spleens

You can see that they are all quite small in size

POST SURGERY:

Caught this sweet picture of Declan holding hands with Daddy while in recovery after surgery. 

 He still hadn't fully woken up yet.  His O2 (oxygen) levels were not very consistent, so we were in recovery for over 2 hours.  But thankfully they finally stabilized and we were able to go to our room in pediatrics with no complications.  

Trying to get some rest after surgery.  Not feeling too good :(
Isn't that a cute little tiger!  Some friends of ours gave it to Declan the day before surgery to help him feel better.  So sweet!

Finally feeling a little better and getting ready to come home.  YAY!

We are so thankful that our little boy is finally home and that his surgery is over and that it all went so well.  We feel truly blessed and know that he was watched over by our Loving Father in Heaven.

  

We are so blessed to have him in our lives!  What a sweet spirit he is :) He is so awesome and so strong.  I prayed for that for so long, that he would be strong, and he definitely is!  He is a fighter. 

He has completely won my heart and I am truly IN LOVE!

We are thankful for the many prayers in our behalf.

WE LOVE YOU DECLAN!