Showing posts with label Daily O'Collegian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily O'Collegian. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2012

All Babies Cry


Some babies cry A LOT!  FRW would trend toward the latter category, I would say.  Wikipedia defines infantile colic as a condition of a healthy baby in which it shows periods of intense, unexplained fussing/crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 week.  I’m not sure we’ve been dealing with it for 3 weeks yet, but 3 hours 3 days a week qualifies.  Some days less, but it’s still there.  “They” also say it is usually in the early evening, and Finn’s tends to be from about 8pm to about 11pm.  But I’m calling it colic.  Emma has THE WORST COLIC EVER, so I am an experienced mom, and I know what this is.  It’s colic.  And it’s so frustrating for us all!  I also know it will end as abruptly as it as started, so we will survive.  In the meantime, my heart breaks daily as my sweet baby cries and cries for no evident reason.  Poor little dude!

In the meantime, another week has gone by.  Jake’s Power Rangers party was changed to a Star Wars party at the last minute since I couldn’t find party supplies locally, and it was a GREAT time at the Oklahoma Wondertorium!   We had never been there, and it was so fun and the kids and adults all loved it!  Jake got loved on by so many people, and his room is now full of fun new toys to keep him busy.  Also, the RSV shot situation has been resolved.  Last Friday, I got the 2 phone calls that got that ball rolling, then on Monday I was informed the medication was overnighted tome to show up on Tuesday, as well as the name and number of our home health nurse.  The meds arrived at 1:30 on Tuesday, and the nurse got here about 4:00 to administer the shot.  It was about 4 days late, but we are approved for the next few doses so it won’t be so hard next time!  My dog is still gone, and I am still sad about it.  Britt found us the PERFECT puppy on Craigslist earlier this week, but it was spoken for before we could get ahold of them, so the search continues.  And I am still jobless.  I am happy to be here at home for the time being, and I am determined to enjoy it.  I still feel like a puppet on a string in this area of my life, but it is what it is, and God’s plan will prevail.  I just need to be patient and prayerful and the answers will come!

Our big excitement of the week was the follow up article the O’Colly did on Finn and the OBI blood drive.  I was contacted about the possibility late last week, then this week a photographer came to the house on Monday, then a reporter interviewed Britt and I separately (due to the home health nurse and RSV shot) on Tuesday. On Thursday morning, the front page of the Daily O’Collegian featured a HUGE picture of me and sweet Baby Finn! 

CLICK HERE for the link to the article.  I think they did a really good job.  Donating blood is a simple thing to do and it can affect lives on so many levels.  We are so grateful for all the strangers who have helped us out along the way.  Whether praying for us, supporting us financially, and especially those who donate blood regularly to provide for needs of people that need that kind of support.  If it were not for the generosity of other people, Finn might not be here with us today!

As of the nurse visit on Tuesday, Finn weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and was just over 20 inches in length.  He is growing so quickly these days!  He will be 4 months old on Sunday, and his adjusted age is 4 weeks.  It seems like we just came home a few days ago, but he has been home 1 month and 6 days.  In the past week, he has started to sleep a little longer during the night.  We used to feed him 3 times overnight, and we are down to 2 – or just one depending on how the schedule goes during the day, and how early we need to get up the next morning.  THIS is a major milestone for me, as I really need my sleep! LOL!  He still eats every 3 hours during the day, and still sleeps A LOT during the day as well.  My mom and my sister-in-love are thrilled that they have both gotten to see him with his eyes open for more than a few seconds at a time lately!  He finally enjoys his swing, and he likes to lie under his play gym and watch the things hanging above his head.  He is still on supplemental oxygen at ¾ Liter for 24 hours a day, as well as the heart/apnea monitor.  I am REALLY hoping to change some of these statistics when we go for his 4 month visit to the pediatrician on Tuesday. This is my prayer request!  We NEED to start weaning the oxygen as he keeps pulling the cannula out of his nose, and I am SO OVER the heart monitor that only goes off with false alarms.  UGH!

The other project I am working on now is for the 4th grade STATE NIGHT at Emma and Lara’s school coming up in a few weeks.  Each student is assigned a state, and they have to do a report on the state as a famous person from that state – as well as a report on that person. The person reports were due last week, so now we are working on the STATE part – as well as costumes.  They are supposed to dress up as that person for the presentation on State Night.  Lara has the state of Nebraska, and the famous person she chose was Swoosie Kurtz.   This costume will be pretty easy.  Lara has the perfect looks for this character, so we just need a “red carpet” dress, and perhaps an award to carry.  Emma has the state of New York.  Her “person” she chose is Stefani Germanotta.  Lady Gaga.  Yeah, we had to ask the teacher if that would be acceptable. It was, so now I am on a costume hunt!  I got a dress that I think will work perfectly.  Now for a wig, some shoes and other accessories. WHEW!  I can’t wait to see how this turns out for both of them!  They are pretty excited!

Monday, November 14, 2011

First, the good news


The good news is, Britt and I, as well as the rest of our family, are so incredibly blessed, and we know we owe our Lord all the glory for that!  Over the weekend, we were loved on and showered by some amazing friends.  Finn has a whole new host of new things he needs, things we wanted him to have, and things others wanted him to have – all given with love!  One guest even blessed and surprised Emma, Lara and Jake by bringing some fun trinkets for them as well!  I want to thank the AMAZING ladies of LTC, along with my dear, “old” friends Rachael and Tara for making it a super awesome party, and for everyone who came and made our day special!  (The opening picture is of the cake, the diaper cake, and the painting we were presented with!)  Looks like I will have some thank you notes to write over the next few days…
And the GREAT news is, Finn is doing SO WELL! He now weighs 3 pounds 2 ounces, and he is just over 16 inches long.  (I guess this is an “up” on the roller coaster ride…)  When I walked into my son's room mid-morning today, all the pumps were turned OFF! No IV's (fluids, meds or otherwise) and the PICC line is gone from his arm! Hallelujah!  He looks so FREE!  Like he could just TAKE OFF!  I took advantage of the freedom he must be feeling to partake in some Kangaroo care this afternoon, too.  I held him for almost 3 hours, and he tolerated it SO WELL!  So much better than he ever has.  Plus, during the 3 “hands on” times I was there for, he didn’t ”de-sat” (decreases in his oxygen saturation levels) the way he normally does!  Early this afternoon (while I was holding, in fact) the rate on his respirator was turned down to 31 (from 33 – it was in the 40’s last week), and the oxygen percentage was turned down to 58% (down 65% earlier today, and down from 70% just a few days ago).  SO EXCITING!  They had been weaning him off the phentanyl (opiate sedative) very very slowly, and they introduced oral morphine yesterday to take its place.  He tolerated that well, so that was the last IV medication he was on, so they discontinued that last night, and pulled the PICC line this morning!  He has not had morphine since 5:00pm yesterday, and he is actually doing better OFF the sedation meds!  (Maybe that was holding him back all along?  He was just too comfortable to work hard?  Just a thought… We’ll never know…)   Here’s to a few more days of an up-swing and more weaning from the respirator!  Here is a picture of him sucking his thumb (his new favorite pastime) while I held him this afternoon:
Some more great news?  The Oklahoma Blood Institute is hosting a blood drive at OSU this week!  It is the Bedlam Blood Drive and it is a little friendly competition between Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma to see who can collect the most donated blood.  We are encouraging everyone we know to donate, and you can donate for Finn!! If you are on campus, you can donate between the hours of 10-5 today thru Friday. Kerr Drummond North Dining Room or the OBI bloodmobiles parked on Athletic Street. Get a free t-shirt, get entered into the drawing for Bedlam tickets and tell them you are donating for Finn Weaver!  Finn and Mom even got a little SHOUT OUT in the Daily O’Collegian today.  (Click the link to read it!)  Rumor has it, there will be a full length feature story on Finn Weaver coming up later this week!
And, for some super fun news?  My Oklahoma State University COWBOY Football team is 10 – 0, and is ranked #2 in the nation!  We won our game this past weekend by a margin of 60 points, which led to a 40% discount on all clothing in the Student Store today!  I made the obligatory trip to the Student Union this morning – arrived at 8:02, shopped till about 8:20, finally paid and left about 9:15!!!  WHEW! Britt said he walked over about 4:00pm, and the lines were UNBELIEVABLE, so he left!  It’s a GREAT time to be a COWBOY!  GO POKES!