Pyper Birth Story Part 2

Sorry it has been a little longer in getting to this then I planned but life with 3 babies at home can be a little crazy...well maybe more than a little, but we couldn't imagine being without any one of them!:-)  Pyper is doing wonderful.  Still struggles with some secretions and still feeding from her G-Tube, but she is calming down and settling into our family and we couldn't be more happy and blessed to have her here.  I am sorry if this is pretty long, I am using it as my journal so I am going to put here all I did on facebook so we can get the whole story plus pics... feel free so not read the whole thing if you don't desire.  LOVE YOU ALL!!!

So as I said before, instead of writing something totally new I am going to just cut and paste from my facebook updates, since I kept it updated about every day during her 5 week NICU stay.  So this post wont necessarily flow writing wise (although since I am terrible at writing I'm sure none of my posts are too wonderful that way:), but it will be much easier in documenting all that happened.  So with no further adieu, here we go...

May 23rd 9PM

We have a baby girl but prayers are needed. She is being transferred to a NICU. Too much meconium in her lungs, she hasn't breathed on her own yet, she is intubated. Prayers are so greatly appreciated at this time.

May 24th 9AM

Update on our Pyper girl: She is in the NICU and will be for probably a couple weeks...BUT...the Dr in charge says she is doing incredible for where she came from last night. She is still on the ventilator as of now, but there is even a chance that that will come out sometime today. She has a very long road in front of her, and even some of the residual mental effects from being without oxygen for a time will not be known, but all major signs right now are very positive. I also am doing incredible, I was truly blessed. I was up and showered 3 hours after giving birth and was discharged 4 hours after the birth. This process has been horrible, but we have truly seen many blessings thru it all and will continue to I'm sure. We want to thank everyone for the prayers and thoughts that have been our way and will still be coming. We have a long road ahead, but all signs are looking good:-)

May 24th 2PM

Next Update: She is showing some signs of neurological damage, but the extent of which is still very far off from being known. She is showing some signs of seizures but they aren't for sure about that either and will be doing an MRI and EEG later today to try and begin to figure that out. Good news is that she is off the ventilator and breathing on her own:-) This is going to be a long hard process (maybe even lifetime long) in figuring it all out and helping her, but we still feel blessed we have a beautiful baby girl who is breathing. She has a fighting spirit and we are blessed to have her in our family!

May 25th 9AM

Update: Not too much to report as of now, but let's just say I am definitely one happy momma cuz I now can do all the snuggling I want! First time holding my Pyper girl! My heart is happy:-) 

May 25th 2PM

Latest Update, and its a GOOD one finally!:-) Well we still have a long way to go, BUT...the MRI was PERFECT. It showed absolutely no significant brain damage. Also the EEG (which was done for 12 hours) had ZERO seizure activity. The brain activity was still a little slow but they think it is just related to her recovery process, but that is yet to be completely determined. All of the nurses (plus our observation) though say she has made amazing improvement is a VERY short amount of time. She is still not swallowing on her her own, and has many more milestones to reach but all indications are pointing more positive instead of negative now!:-) PLUS, she is a HUGE daddy's girl. She will swing her head in a second to find him anytime she hears his voice. She was awake and alert talking to him for a good 45 min tonight and all the nurses couldn't help but comment how in love with him she was, don't blame her though!:-) Keep the prayers coming because they are working slowly but surely!

Nana and Papa were amazing and came to stay with our 2 kiddos at home while all this was going on, so we made sure they got a couple good visits with Pyper:-)

May 26th

Today's Update: Yesterday evening they tried to give her her first feeding (though it is done thru her belly button) but she didn't handle it very well. What that means is that her intestines (which is the first thing to shut down when you die, which she did for about 3 minutes at birth) aren't ready to fully function and they need more time to turn back on. So today they have decided it is a rest day for her. They are not really going to try anything and just let her rest and be cuddled, which we don't mind at all. So definitely still a long road of recovery, but she is still moving in the right direction slowly but surely:-)

 
May 27th

Update: She had a great night and they say she is starting to show more signs of gagging and sucking so that is good...they will try another feeding today thru a tube down her throat so we'll see how that goes. 

So it was here that I put on facebook the comparison of our two daughters...I think they are sisters:-)

May 29th

Update: Pyper is our little fighter. From the moment she arrived on this earth, and every moment since she has been fighting for us, to be able to one day come home and be with our family. She is fighting her way back to a complete recovery, something we were told was probably not possible. She is now slowly working on getting her gag reflex back which different things like sucking and swallowing come along with it. We were told she might not ever get that, but it is there and she struggles through every breath, now starting to cough and work everything up, and it is getting stronger every day. She is eating my milk now from a feeding tube and slowly starting to digest better and better. We still have a road to go before she will finally be able to come home and begin her life in our little family, but she will get here. There are no words to truly describe the gratitude we feel every hour of every day, first for our little fighter of a girl, and also for the immense love and support we have felt from so many, many people. Thank you, everyone for your love, prayers and support. I know I will have more thanking to do, because it is still a continuing process, but we just wanted everyone to know we read all the comments and posts and feel all the love and prayers, and it has been a big part of helping us through this whole experience. So thank you, and we will keep the updates coming of our little Pyper girl:-)

May 30th

Me and my little lady cuddling this morning:-)  

June 1st

Pyper Update:-) She is doing really good! They just now took out her IV in her belly button which means she is getting and tolerating all of her nutrition from my milk, through a feeding tube down her nose. Her gag reflex is definitely there now, but she still hasn't really begun to swallow or suck very well. The occupational therapist said her muscle tone and movements are a little slow so they will be working on that here then it will be continued at our house once she is released to help her in her developmental processes. So now we are just in a waiting time for her to begin to suck and swallow better so hopefully she can get rid of a feeding tube, but when that will happen is a ways off and still up in the air. Until then we will continue our trips to and from the hospital and thank again everyone who is helping make that possible! She is definitely a part of me now and I just hate being at home without her, but she's fighting so hard and I know will be home as soon as she can!

June 2nd

Had to post this picture of my handsome husband. He has truly been and continues to be my rock through all of this. I am so glad I get to go through this life with my best friend, and the best dad EVER!!! 

June 4th

Update: She is doing really good, but we are still in a waiting period for her to begin swallowing and sucking. She is definitely trying harder to do them, but still it is very weak, so they feel she just needs some more recovery time. However, they are ordering a ENT specialist to examine her to make sure there isn't something physically wrong with her system. Overall though, we are just grateful the snuggles and loves we get and pray that all this can come back to her soon so she can come home to our family! Mommy needs her girl with her!!

June 5thUpdate!:-) It was an awesome morning for our little family. Pyper decided this morning to begin her sucking reflex and although it is weak, every time she feeds (aka through the tube) and also random other times, she will suck on her pacifier, like really feeling she is getting the milk through it. It was the first time I have seen her root then suck, so we are very happy. She is our "Slow and steady wins the race child" but she is such a fighter and we are so proud of her! She is still quite a ways away from eating on her own, but is definitely showing signs of wanting to start to learn!!:-) We are very happy parents tonight:-)

June 6th

My sleepy little lady:-)

So all the while at our home, don't forget we had 2 other little ones we tried our best to still care for and keep a somewhat steady life for.  They truly were amazing through this whole process, and gave us laughs and love every evening when we got home.  It was thanks to amazing family and an amazing ward that watched them during the daytime that we were able to spend so much time with Pyper in the NICU.  Here are a few pics of the two crazies at home during the process...

 

June 8th

Update:-) Our little lady is doing really good! Her sucking reflex is definitely there and getting stronger every day. It is actually strong enough for her to start bottle feedings but it is now her swallowing that needs to be better first. We've said it from the beginning but she is definitely our "slow and steady wins the race" child but she is working so hard and progressing some every day. We feel so so blessed to have such a special strong spirit in our family and fall in love with her more and more every day.

 
 Grandma and Grandpa Bird came to help with the 2 kiddos at home but got a quick visit with Pyper.

June 10th

Pyper Update: She is doing wonderful, working so hard and improving every day. The last 2 days she has been able to handle about 8ml of milk from a bottle before she gets too tired of sucking and swallowing, but she does so well with that little bit!:-) The plan is to give her that little bit for 2 feedings a day for the next couple days and then on Wednesday she will have a "Swallow Study" to make sure that everything is working correctly, but if that comes back good then we can slowly start increasing the amounts that she will take from a bottle and the amounts of times she gets offered the bottle for feeds:-) 52ml is a full feed for her, so she has a long way to go until she is taking a full bottle, but 8ml is an awesome, and we couldn't be happier. Can't wait to get this little lady home, whenever that is!!!!!

June 13th

Well things didn't really go as we hoped. She is definitely aspirating (meaning getting fluid in her lungs) as she swallows, so no more feeds for a while. Instead she will be having surgery to place a feeding tub directly in her stomach (it's called a G Tube) that she will have and be fed by for an unknown amount of time until she can safely swallow. Could be a month, or a year, we don't know. The good thing about it is that she should be able to come home about a week after surgery if all goes well so we might have her home in a couple weeks, although obviously we still have a long road ahead of us. Today we are just trying to focus on the positive of how far she has come already:-)

  Beautiful blanket made by Auntie Erika:-)

June 14th

So today was a very special day for us. Today was the first meeting of sisters. 3 year olds are allowed one visit in the NICU and it worked out for us to do it today. Ryan was able to capture this picture that just melted my heart. The love that both of them seem to emanate is so adorable. I know from my experience a sister is one of the most special bond anyone can have (Lynette Bird Williams). Lorillyn was so adorable with her, kissing her head, making sure her blanket stayed on, and Pyper gave her more smiles than we have seen her whole life:-) I love my 2 girls so much and can't wait to watch their relationship grow through the years.

June 16th

So I definitely feel like this needs to be posted, especially since tomorrow is father's day. I could never truly express the gratitude and love I have for the father of my children. They say trials either bring you closer together or father apart. This trial in our lives has definitely brought us together, but really because of the man he is. Even as we watched our child struggle for her life at the very beginning, he was my rock, and he just continues to be every day. He has taken on rolls that he never had to before, because he wants me to be at the hospital as much as possible. My love for this man has just grown every day and I couldn't imagine going through anything in this life without him. Thank you for being the father of my children and my best friend...I love you!

 

June 17th

G-Tube surgery tomorrow at 1PM...Prayers for our little lady:-)

June 18th

Surgery went wonderful! She is such a trouper:-) She was actually off the ventilator before they even brought her back to the NICU, which usually doesn't happen until a few hours later. So her little G-Tube button is in place and we will start some feeds starting tomorrow and begin learning about this new contraption. If all goes well we should have her home in about a week!!:-)  

June 19th

Today was a good day:-) She started feeds through her G-Tube and did really well! She still has a couple days before she gets up to the full feed but so far everything is still looking toward her coming home in about a week:-) 

June 23rd

All I posted was a pic but that was because all that was going on was her continuing to recover from her G-Tube surgery and getting more through the feed working toward coming home.

 June 25th

Guess what she's doing in this picture?! She's just waiting for her official discharge in a couple hours and then she'll be on her way home!!! Can't believe we have finally made it! Definitely couldn't have done it without the awesome help of family and friends. We are so blessed!!  

Jamie, Pyper's primary nurse, wasn't even working on the day she came home, but she came in to say goodbye to us, even though we ended up having her over to hang out later:-) (Pic to come)

This is Jamie Dunn, our wonderful amazing nurse that gave Pyper all the loves she needed when mommy wasn't available. We became good friends with her and can't wait to be able to spend more time together and have her and her husband get to know the rest of the family. Thank you Jamie for all you did!!!  

So this was the day she came home and here are some more pics from it...

Since that marvelous day we have had some wonderful visitors and those visits will be documented soon (hopefully:) But overall, I know this was a VERY long post, but it is the story of her NICU stay and I knew I needed it documented and wanted to remember it all.  So if you have made it to here reading, thank you, and thank you for everyone for helping us get here also!!!