OK, mommy and Grandma has kind of dropped the ball on updating this blog. ( I would have done it myself but I was busy too.)  They have missed several appointments so here it goes. On May 8, 2014 my mommy saw Dr. Lindblade the Cardiologist, he said that everything was about the same even though it was a little harder to see the hole were the two bloods mixed.  He also told my mommy that I only had a 25% chance of survival at most. Let's just say that didn't make my mommy feel to good.

May 9, 2014 she went to see Dr. Solomom and Dr. Blumrick. They did another ultrasound. I am still as cute as ever. They too said not much change to report.

On May 12, 2014 My mommy met with Dr. Hervey.  He was my mommies new OBGYN.  He is the Dr. that will be delivering me when the time comes. Everyone in the office made my mommy feel comfortable. They measured her belly and did a stress test.  I reacted just the way they wanted me to.

May 16, 2014 She saw Dr. Solomon & Dr. Blumrick again. They did another ultrasound. This time she said my mommy had a little more amniotic fluid but not enough to worry about. That they were going to just keep an eye on it.

May 20, 2014 Mommy met with Dr. Graziano's team (the surgeons) they explained everything that needed to done regarding my diaphragmatic hernia surgery. They also showed her some pictures of other babies who had the same thing. It helped her understand a little more and to know what to expect. They said my chest would be bigger than my belly because of my liver being up in my chest cavity, that it was normal. She left the doctor's office feeling very hopeful.

May 23, 2014 Again she saw Dr. Solomon, again another ultrasound and lots of pictures. Not much has changed since the last visit.

May 27, 2014 Mommy went to Dr. Hervey's office. They measured her belly again and did another stress test to make sure I reacted normally.....and I did. She will come again in a week.

May 30, 2014 Dr. Solomon did another ultrasound. Fluid was still a little more than it should be but still not to worry about it at this point.  That I have gained a little bit more weight which is really good.

On Monday, June 2, 2014 My mommy had an appointment with Dr. Hervey. My Grandma and Aunt Dayna went with her. The doctor had to check her uterus and my mommy didn't want to go by herself.  I don't blame her, being violated is no fun. Anyway, he told her that she was dilated about 2-3 cm and was 50% effaced. He also hooked her up to a monitor for a stress test. While she was on that it showed that she had a couple of contractions.  He asked her if she had felt anything and she said no. So he scheduled her C-Section for June 23, at 10:00 am.  My Grandma said I know she will not make it to the 23rd, I just have a feeling. The doctor asked if they had seen were she would deliver and were I would be.  They both said no, so the doctor said lets go take a tour.  So we all walked over to the Labor & Delivery floor.  As they walked through the NICU they saw so many little tiny babies and wondered if I was going to be that little.  They then talked with one of the doctors who work with those tiny babies.  He explained the whole process and what to expect. Everyone seemed to be so nice and caring.  This made my mommy feel good and comfortable. On the way home, my grandma said again I really have a strong feeling that your not going to make it to the 23rd. So you need to be extra careful in everything you do.  If you start feeling any contractions you need to keep track of them and if they start getting more frequent then you need to go to the hospital, Mommy said OK.

Friday, June 6, 2014, My mommy had another appointment with Dr. Hervey.  He asked how she was feeling, measured her belly and did another stress test.  Again, while on the monitor she had another contraction. This time she just felt a little pressure. She asked my Grandma if a contraction showed up on the paper that comes out of the machine.  She looked and said yes that was a contraction. So my mommy then kind of knew what they felt like.  They asked the doctor what the game plan would be if she went into labor early. (Grandma asked because she still had the feeling). He gave my mommy his personal cell phone number and said you will call me and I will call everyone else. She said OK, sounds like a plan. Mommy left feeling comforted that they had a plan in place.

On Sunday, June 8, 2014, at about 1:30 in the morning my mommy was laying in bed when she had a strong urge to go potty. As she was sitting up it felt like she had peed her pants. She quickly got out of the bed because she didn't want my daddy to get wet or even know that she had peed the bed. She didn't want to be embarrassed. So she grabbed some dry clothes and quickly went in to the bathroom. She changed and went to get back into bed and she (peed) again...so she thought.  So again, she grabbed some dry clothes and went to change. She went back to bed and ,you got it, AGAIN she peed. This time she decided to get her phone and do some research what it meant to pee so many times in such a short period of time. The results said her water broke.  So she called Grandma at 2:00 am to ask her (because she knows everything).  After explaining to Grandma everything that had happened she said yep it sounds like your water broke. Mommy said what do I do now? Grandma said call Dr. Hervey. So she did and he said get to the hospital now and I will meet you there. Mommy text Grandma and said lets go, please bring my bags.  Grandma was already getting dressed because she already knew it was time to go. (she knows everything). Daddy and Grandma drove to the hospital as fast as they can...illegally.

When they arrived to the hospital the staff immediately started getting my mommy prepared.  They hooked her up to monitors and asked a whole bunch of questions.  Because there were so many people that needed to be there they gave her a medication to stop the contractions to give the specialist time to get there.

After they all arrived, they all came into the room to talk to my mommy, daddy and grandma.  They explained that with all the issues with my heart and the diaphragmatic hernia, not expect a great outcome. They had given me a 3-5% chance of survival. They closed the meeting by promising that they would do everything possible to save my life. Ten minutes later they said it is time to go to the Operating Room. Daddy and Grandma had to put on these white jumpsuits, blue hats and booties and a face mask.  I think they looked silly.....like giant marshmallows.

   

After they were all dressed they took them into the OR were they had already prepped my mommy. My daddy went up by her head so he can comfort her.(Which mommy said he did a GREAT job doing just that.) They made Grandma stay back by the corner.  She was OK with that because mommy wanted her to take pictures of everything. At 5:35 am they took me out of my mommies belly. They quickly put me on this little table were they quickly started working on me.  I was having a hard time breathing.  They stuck this tube down my throat into my lungs attached to this big balloon looking thing that they squeezed to give my air. It took several minutes to stabilize me long enough to move me to a transporting bed.  They rushed me to the NICU were they continued to work on me for a quite some time.  While they were working on me they were stitching my mommy up.  They had to make my daddy and grandma leave the room while they finished sewing her up.  While they were waiting for my mommy they both walked over to see me.  They had to wait for a while but soon were able to come officially meet me.  They took pictures...of course, and talked to the doctor.
                                     

He said they had to hook me up to a machine that is breathing for me.  They had already taken several x-rays and ran several tests.  They would only let them stay for a few minutes. So they went back to wait for my mommy in the waiting room. Soon the nurse came out to get them. While they were all together in the recovery room...talking about me, of course, the heart surgeon came in and said I have good news and some not so good news. He started off with the good news. He said we have taken several x-rays and ultrasounds of the heart and can't find anything wrong with it.  He said there is NOTHING wrong with your baby's heart.  We will NOT be doing any surgery on it. My mommy, daddy and grandma even the nurse started crying with joy. My heart had healed its self. This was truly a miracle. Then the Dr. said and now for the not so good news, he doesn't have an anus. Meaning there is no exit hole for my bowel movements. So they are going to have to put a colostomy bag on my lower tummy area until surgery can be done to repair my rear.  At least it's not a life threatening thing.

The next several (5 1/2) hours seemed to be forever as I was waiting to finally meet my mommy in person.  I knew what she looked like from the inside now I wanted to see how pretty she was on the outside.  I missed hearing her voice too. Because my moms legs were still numb from the medication, she couldn't stand up on her own so they wheeled her whole bed into the NICU to see me....that was a tricky task. There is not a whole lot of extra room in there. Kind of like when I was in my mommy's tummy.              

Just like I thought, as soon as she saw me she started crying....yes, I am that cute....just ask my grandma. She was only able to touch my foot and leg but that was ok. At least I was able to feel her love through her warm hand. I can't wait for her to be able to pick me up and snuggle with me. She was only able to stay for just a short while. Really long enough to get a run down on my condition and to take a few pictures.                                                         

                                          

My Great-grandpa was able to come give me a priesthood blessing. My mommy got one too.  She said it gave her comfort.  She is so grateful for the priesthood and for Grandpa Keeling and the love he has for her and now me.
                                    

A little while after I got to meet my mommy, the doctors said they are going to have to put me on the ECMO
 machine.  That my lungs are not able to properly function on there own. This involves put these tubes in my main vain and artery in my neck. The machine will take the blood out of my body, clean it and put it back. Basically, do what my lungs would normally do. This was going to take about an hour to do.

Later that evening, the doctors came in and told my mommy that they are going to perform the diaphragmatic hernia surgery tomorrow.  That they needed to hurry and repair and put my organs were they belong so they can make room for my lungs to heal, repair and grow since they were to squished. They also need to get me off the ECMO machine so my lungs can learn to work on there own. It's going to be a long several days.

They decided to do surgery at 5:00pm on Monday, June 9, 2014. My mommy wanted me to have another blessing for the surgery. So Bishop Lance Smith and Mike Crawford came to the hospital to give me that special blessing.  It was a beautiful blessing.  I again am so grateful to have the priesthood.  My parents and grandma are so grateful for them and their willingness to travel the distance and take time out of their busy schedules to give me this blessing.

The surgery took about three and a half hours.  The surgeons came into talk to my parents and grandma again.  They said the surgery went well.  That the next few days are going to be critical.  They have to watch him extra close for internal bleeding and that it will be possible to have to drain blood from my abdominal cavity and chest cavity.