Updates

For those of you who haven't given up on me and keep checking the blog for new updates on Davin, I promise I am working on it slowly. I have been getting caught up from the hospital last fall and have been posting things on the dates that they happened. So if you haven't checked in a while scroll down and you will find new posts. I will try and post when I have done a few new posts just so you don't miss anything. Thanks!

Baby Sarina

We had two photo shoots with Sarina after we brought her home. The first one my friend Carli did and Sarina wasn't very cooperative. She kept waking up and crying and it took us over two hours to get about 15 min of photo taking time. But Carli was able to get a lot of cute pics. The second time Uncle Tyson was able to take some and she was a fairly good baby that time. I loved all of the pics and wanted to share some of my favorites!

Sarina's Birth Story

On the morning of April 1st I had my doctor visit. Before he checked me he asked if I wanted him to strip my membranes. I couldn't decided, because if it did help but not soon enough my doctor would be out of town. He was leaving in a week and would be gone for a week. But I decided to go for it and said yes. When he checked me he said I was 3cm and 60%! With my boys I hadn't ever been bigger then 1.5cm. I was really excited and thought that I might actually have this baby without having to be induced. And I really wasn't looking forward to being pregnant for two more weeks.

 

All that day I was feeling a little crampy and by 9pm I started to have contractions. It also started to rain just at that same time. The contractions weren't bad at first and I started writing how far apart they were after it had been 30 min and they hadn't gone away. The times were all over the place but after a while they started to get more painful and I started paying more attention to them. Finally they were about 9 min when I was laying down and relaxing (or trying to relax) and 4 min when I was up walking around. I didn't know if I should call the hospital or not and Chad and I finally decided to get ready for bed and if they started to get really bad or really close together we would call. But right before I got into bed they started to hurt really bad and I was almost crying they started to hurt. So we called the hospital and they said to come in and get checked to see if I was progressing. We called Chad's parents and decided to have his dad come sleep at our house and watch the boys. I was really really ready to go by the time he got here and the 10 min drive to the hospital was horrible.

 

Chad kept asking me if my water had broken and the answer was always no. And finally I was so frustrated with the question I was like I will be standing in a puddle of water if my water has broken. Well at that moment we were walking into the hospital in the rain and Chad told me "You are standing in a puddle of water" ha ha ha at the time it wasn't very funny and I was just very intent on getting in so that I could get my epidural.

 

When we got into the hospital and they checked me I was at 5cm and 90%! I was so happy that I had been progressing and then the nurse said that they needed to see that I was progressing and that because it was a new day April 2nd at 1:30am they couldn't just use the measurements from my apt the day before. So I had to wait for an hour to be checked again all while I was having horrible contractions every three min.

 

 

 

An hour later she checked again and I was 6cm so she said that she could admit me to the hospital. I was very happy but very grumpy because I was in lots of pain and I really just wanted my epidural as fast as possible. We changed rooms and I got my IV and she started pumping lots of liquid in me fast so that I could get my epidural. It was so fast that I started shivering and shaking and I couldn't stop. It was a really weird feeling. Thankfully it wore off just before the anesthesiologist came in so that I could be still. After I had my epidural I felt a lot better. I even started falling asleep. Chad was working on a paper he had due that day and he kept getting mad when I would fall asleep because my contractions would stop also. The next time my nurse checked me she said that my water had broken and that she could feel a lot of hair. By this time I was 9cm and she said that she was going to go call my doctor because it wasn't going to be much longer.

 





 

Pushing with this baby was really weird because my contractions had slowed down a lot and they were really far apart. So I would push and then I felt like we were just sitting there waiting and waiting for the next contraction. After three contractions she was out. Baby Sarina was born at 5:42am. The doctor held her for a min. and sucked her mouth out and said that she was bigger then they were thinking. From my ultrasound a week earlier she was measuring 6lb 11oz and when we weighed her she was 8lb 15oz! I would say that is a lot bigger then they were thinking. The funny part it that I was measuring perfectly with my weeks and so they really didn't think she was big at all. Plus she was two weeks early according to my revised due date. My original due date was April 4th so she was only two days early according to that.

 



 

The next morning the boys woke up with Grandpa and did their normal routine. Grandpa didn't tell them why mom and dad weren't there and when Chad called he was able to tell them over the phone that they had their baby sister. Davin was very excited and you could hear him yelling and jumping for joy, but Liam wasn't very happy and started to cry. I still don't think he really understood what was going on and he just knew that mom wasn't there and was scared about that.

 

After we got all settled into our recovery room Chad went home to shower and help his dad with they boys. While he was gone Sarina had her first visitor Uncle Greg. He got to hold her and she was just a little angle for him. A little while later Grandma Cloward showed up and got to see her. Then finally Daddy arrived with the boys. Liam was very hesitant as he came into the room and just wanted to be held. He didn't want anything to do with his baby sister. Davin wanted to hold her and we finally talked Liam into sitting next to his brother with Sarina. After a min. he was touching her and started to warm up. He got to hold her and fell in love just like everyone else. :)

Taking out the port!

We are taking out the port! The MRI results have been good and so the oncologists said that he shouldn't need to have his port any more, yay! Davin started to complain about it hurting around his port and so I called the doctors and they said there isn't any reason why it shouldn't come out so that is what we did. We went in for another surgery before the end of the year. Davin is still a great little guy and wasn't scared at all. But this time he really didn't want the mask that makes him go to sleep. The doctor talked him into it and he decided to do peppermint smell instead of strawberries like before. As we were waiting before surgery we realized we hadn't gotten any pictures of Davin's port so we tried to take some but Davin wasn't happy about smiling for pictures so he gave us a very good frown.

 

 



Everything went well and we were able to go home just a little while after he woke up. It was nice to not have to stay at the hospital again! The next day though the place where the port was started to get really warm and red and swollen and Davin got a fever, yikes! The next day we went back up to the hospital and were going to see another doctor but as we were waiting Davin's surgeon came into the office and said that he would see us :) It was really nice of him to take the time to see us. He said that sometimes the area around the port can get bruised when they take it out, but he gave Davin some medicine to make sure that he didn't have an infection. And after a few days the swelling and redness went away and all was good. Goodbye Port!

May the force be with you

"There has been a disturbance in the force. The Jedi heard you were in the need of some assistance. The Jedi council got together with your ward members and made little light sabers to aid you in your fight. Each light represents a prayer said for you. Prayers are the most powerful force that we have to use and it will help you. The force is strong with you. May the force be with you!"

The people in our neighborhood got together and put light sabers (glow sticks) in our yard. There were a lot of people that came out to help and it was a suprise for Davin as he opened the door and had jedi standing on his doorstep giving him this message from the Jedi.

 

Davin and Liam got their snow clothes on and went and played in the snow and looked at all the glow sticks. At the church after they had wookie cookies and yoda soda for everyone who came to help with the glow sticks and our neighbors even brought the boys some. We have some great neighbors and it has made this whole situation a lot easier with all of their love and support!

 



One of our neighbors even wrote an article about it and it was in the paper. If you want to go read the story here is the link http://www.southvalleyjournal.com/pages/full_story/13581/May-the-Force-be-with-young-Davin /#.UOy7xh6Fauc.email

Halloween

This year for Halloween we decided to go pick pumpkins from a pumpkin patch. It was lots of fun but a little overwhelming because there were sooooooo many pumpkins to choose from, plus it was freezing cold.

 

The night after we went to the pumpkin patch Holly and Tyson came over and we all carved pumpkins. It was lots of fun and a lot of work. Tyson helped Liam who couldn't decide what to carve on his pumpkin. After a while they decided to do a dino and Tyson drew a dino for him and carved it into the pumkin. He really liked it and it was so perfect for him. We ran out of time for Chad to carve his and he ended up carving his a couple of nights later. He wanted to do something cool because they were having a contest at work. The picture he chose was a hand coming out of the ground in a graveyard and we also put dry ice in the pumpkins which made them look really cool.

 

On Halloween Derek and Andi came and went trick or treating with us. It was lots of fun and we had a lot more houses to go to this year. Our neighborhood is growing really fast. Both boys had a lot of fun and after we went up and down two streets they were done and ready to go home. Davin was dressed up like Captain Rex from Clone Wars, Liam was Pooh Bear and I dressed up as Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Update after Surgery

Over the last few days we have gone through a lot getting Davin home and trying to take care of him while he is still unable to walk very well and healing from surgery. We have been doing the catheters every morning and evening. We soon realized that three times a day is hard to fit in especially when Chad is at work and I can't do it all by myself. But the good news is that most of the time Davin doesn't have anything coming out, which means that he is emptying his bladder all by himself.

After about 10 days we stopped doing the catheter and the doctor said that he didn't need to be seen and that everything should be good. Yay!

The bad news is that Davin's foot is hurting a lot. We have given him some nerve medicine to help with the pain but it doesn't always work. When it starts to hurt he just screams and crys and we don't really know how to help him. The best thing we have found with the help of Grandma Cloward was to put a hot pad on it. That seems to help it feel better and he can get some relief until we can give him more med.

Another bad thing is that the med. for his foot is making him restless. He can't sleep and he is constantly moving. He can't hold still even for a few min. He also has twitches in his leg every once in a while that don't help him when he is trying to calm down and go to bed.

Davin got his brace for his foot and wore it for two days and then he noticed a huge blister on his ankle. We went to the doctor and they tested it to make sure it wasn't an infection from the hospital. The test came back negative so that was good and we decided it was from his brace rubbing on his ankle. The doctor told us not to wear the brace until it got better which took forever!

 

Davin also started physical therapy to help him learn how to walk with his hurt foot and help him get his muscle strength back from surgery. We go once a week and it has really helped him to get better at walking. We also ordered a new brace that is molded to his foot and not just a standard one. It is a lot nicer and Davin even got to choose the color and pattern on the velcro straps. Now the hard part is finding a shoe that will fit his brace. We finally found some shoes at Shoe Carnival and we bought him two sizes of shoe. One for his normal foot and the other for his brace. It is a little funny to look at them side by side but at least now he can wear his brace when we go out.

 

From the physical therapy we have learned that Davin can't push his foot down or side to side or lift it up. He can move his toes just slightly (you have to really watch for it) but that is it. We don't know if his nerve in his foot is damaged or just pinched or swollen from the surgery. The doctors told us that it might take 6 months to a year to see any improvement in his foot. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see somthing. :)

Coming home

Davin has had a hard time walking so they decided to have a physical therapist come visit him and see what they thought was wrong and what to do about it. Monday morning Stephanie came and played some games with him and had him walk a long ways to watch what he was doing while he was walking. His right foot is still really swollen and sore and he isn't able to move his ankle. She said that it looks like he will need to wear a brace until he gets movement back in his foot so that he stops tripping over it.

 

When we went down to fit his brace he was also able to be unhooked from his IV fluid. The nurse told him that he was doing a good job drinking his water and that if he continued drinking enough that she wouldn't have to hook up the tubes again. That was really exciting for Davin and he was able to go without his fluids the rest of the time we were at the hospital.

 

We were able to go down to the playroom and Davin had a ton of fun. He painted a few wooden cars and dinos and he got to play with doctor stuff. He also crawled around on the floor and made picnics for us to eat. It was really nice to watch him play after all the days of him just sitting in bed.

 

 

 A lady from music therapy also came and hung out with Davin for a while. She was really nice and Davin had a lot of fun playing all of the drums and shaking the instraments. He was even able to play the guitar a little bit with a big pick. It was also fun because she asked Davin what his favorite song was and he told her it was Josh Groban You Raise Me Up. It took a min to think of the words but she played a little for him. 

 

 

Tuesday morning Chad came up to the hospital and was taught how to do the catheter and was surprised at how much easier it was then he was expecting. Davin doesn't like it but he is a brave little boy and understands that there are some things we have to do to help him get better. He also got to go down and play with Stephanie again and they did some fun things. They built towers with cardboard boxes and swung on a big swing and knocked them over. Davin's favorite part was building the towers and it was hard to talk him into doing other things.

 

I think Davin's favorite part of the stay at the hospital was playing plants vs zombies with his dad. That was one of the biggest motivators in getting him out of bed and walking a little bit. Davin liked sitting next to Chad and watched as he completed all the levels. I think they even beat the whole game while they were there.

 

In the middle of the day we got the ok from the surgeon that we could go home if we felt comfortable taking care of Davin at home. Chad and I were really excited about this and did all we could to get out of there. We were all packed and ready to leave and just waiting on the nurses when it looked like we weren't going to be able to go. We were really mad and assured the nurses that we had done everything that we needed to do and that everyone had said we could go. They finally figured it all out and we finished all the paperwork and were able to leave.

On the way home we met Grandpa Cloward, Tyson and Holly at the fish store. Grandpa, Tyson, and Dallin had worked all weekend on a surprise for Davin. Grandpa found someone who had a saltwater fish tank setup that they were getting rid of. It was a lot of hard work cleaning it up but they worked hard and set it up in our front room for Davin. When we got to the fish store Grandpa told Davin that he needed help picking out a new fish to put in his fish tank. Little did Davin know that this fish was actually going to stay at his house in his new tank. When we got home Chad brought Davin in the front door and showed him the tank. He had fun looking at it and watching Grandpa and Daddy put the fish in.

 

When we got home we have a very excited little brother. Liam had been waiting for his brother and was so excited. He was bouncing all over the place and running around. He loves his brother so much and had missed Davin so much. He was very concerned about Davin and helped take care of him anyway he could. Liam grabbed blankets and toys for Davin and did it all with a huge smile on his face. We were all very excited to be home and together!

The weekend

Over the weekend Davin had a lot of changes. He started to be awake more, which meant that the nurses wanted him to get up and walk more. He really didn't like getting up and moving and still wasn't wearing anything but the hospital gown top. He still had his cathater and didn't feel like getting dressed at all. Chad was the one who got Davin to move the most. I don't know how he did it but he would talk to him and motivate him to move when no one else could get him to do anything. He had a hard time walking and wasn't putting much weight on one of his legs. We ended up getting an ultrasound of his leg to make sure there weren't any blood clots and drainage in his hip that would make it hard for him to walk.

 

Davin's tummy also started to get really distended and he had a lot of gas build up after the surgery which wasn't going away very well because he wasn't moving very much. So after they had given him the ok to eat whatever he wanted on friday night the surgical team decided to put him back on the no liquid no food diet again. He didn't have much of an appetite so it wasn't that big of a deal for him but it is hard not to be able to give him a drink of water when he wants one.

 

On Friday Liam was able to come up to the hospital to see his brother for the first time. He was really happy to see Davin and loved running around the hospital looking at all the fish on the walls and floors and riding in the cars. He even got to eat some mac and cheese in the cafe while he was there. He also got to come up on Sunday when Davin was feeling a little better and moving around more. The boys both got cars and we went for walks up and down the halls and they even went outside on the balcony for a little bit. The boys loved being able to play with each other for a little and Davin ended up being really tired after all of his visitors left and slept most of the evening. 

 

 

On Sunday Davin was able to accomplish a lot of goals. They were able to remove his cathater and he was able to go potty by himself. Because of the enlarged bladder they did ultrasounds of his bladder after he would go to see how well he was emptying it. The first time they did it he had emptied everything and we were really hopefull that he wouldn't have any problems with his bladder. The next few times weren't as good and the urologist was thinking that we were going to have to give Davin a cathater at home three times a day to make sure he was emptying all the way. If he was emptying then we could start dropping it down to two times a day and then one. And hopefully his bladder would just return to the normal size and work how it should.

 

Davin was starting to move a lot more and was acting a lot better and we are hoping that we will be able to go home Tuesday or Wednesday. Yay!

The day after the surgery

The next few day after the surgery we had a lot of people come to visit Davin. One of the first people to stop by was our home health nurse Cheryl. She is really nice and Davin really likes her. She is really good with him and he has gotten really comfortable with her accessing his port and he even helps her put the blood in the tube and mix it up and down. Davin always plays games with Cheryl and hides in his forts that he builds in the front room so when she came to see him he couldn't go hide so he decided to pretend to be asleep. Silly kid!

 

The next visitor we had was Dr. Bean. She was really nice and brought both the boys books. She always gives out book at their well check up and so she said she had to run and get books for the boys that morning. She didn't get to see Davin awake at all but said that he was looking good. Davin slept most of the day and was only awake for a little while. Grandparents and Tyson and Holly came to see him but again he was asleep for most of it.

Chad and I were able to talk to the oncologists today about the tumor a little more and find out answers to more of our questions. We are still worried about the part that is still there and wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be a problem. There are still cases that are abnormal and weird but they said they don't think it will spread anywhere else in the body. It is what it is and it isn't going to go from being benign to cancerous or a different type of cancer. They said it is mostly benign so it really shouldn't grow very fast if it grows at all. So they are expecting it to stay around the same size and Davin will have it at the bottom of his spine for the rest of his life. We will get the full pathology reports in a few days but they really aren't expecting it to be any different then the biopsy.

Davin doesn't like to move much and is sleeping most of the day but the nurses still want him to try and move as much as possible. We don't want him to get pnemonia or anything. He sat up a few times and sat at the edge of the bed but didn't do much. They started him on a liquid diet in the afternoon and soon moved it to a solid diet but he didn't really feel like eating much. He had lots of water and a bite or two of pudding but that was it. He even took some med. oraly which is good so that we can get him off the morphine drip.