Sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MOMS 1ST KISS!!! 1st picture without machines on Melanies face !!!! Daddy with his baby girl


Its been a long time...Im SORRY!!! What a fabulous weekend. If my memory serves me correctly, I told you no news was good news if you didnt hear from us....however, I had no idea it would take this long....so, where to begin....Im sitting in Melanies nursery watching Nicki and Melanie do SKIN TO SKIN!!!!! If you remember our last post, Melanie was done with her surgery on Wednesday for her opened PDA, and now, she's back of CPAP. What an amazing kid. Fiesty little feller....She has been doing very well since surgery. On Thursday, she kinda hung around with not a lot of changes. Her chest xrays continued to look better, and we were thinking 4 to 6 days and she might be off her jet ventilator. On Friday, her CO2 numbers were looking good, and on saturday, the doctor came in and asked Nurse Anne (I know that name sounds new, you might remember her as the 'other nurse' :) I need to start specifying whats going on in this nursery....apparently Miss Melanie is Miss Popular, and all the nurses fight over her...Today, Jane and Anne have been having staredowns because they are in each others territory. (ok, it might have something to do with ther nurses really liking Melanies dad and mom as well :) KIDDING ) Anyway, back to saturday morning...all these nurses make posting a blog very complicated. Dr came in and asked Nurse Anne if she was feeling brave....in her moment of weekness, while she was doubting herself, I answered the doctor for her and said YES, Absolutely, shes feeling brave....ok, the answer to his question didnt quite go like that, but it was close... At that point, they took her off the jet ventilator and put her on CPAP. She is doing great with it...Nicki has been holding Melanie for about 3 hours, and still going....I might not get my holding time if things continue like they are. Some pictures to look for over the next few days was all the visitors we had this weekend. Josh and Glenda, Cambrie and Madison, Steve and Tonia, Marissa, Carter, and ???? (baby #8 of the family) and uncle Kyle all came over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was so nice having family over...yes, it was busy, but so worth it. I was sitting in church this morning looking down the pew at all those that came to visit, and thinking about the Uncle Brett, Aunt Janelle, Uncle Bruce, and Grandpa and Grandma Westra who werent here this time, and was amazed at how blest our family is. Ive talked to many about our family here at the hospital, and they are just impressed because we all get along so well... A couple adventures while they were out 1) The 3 dads, uncle Kyle and the 6 kids go bowling.....yup, quite the experience, but very fun...Im suprised there were no bowling balls dropped on 3 year olds toes....2) THE WHOLE CREW GOING TO OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE! Yup, you heard it right....13 people with the average age of around 12....and it went great as well. A bit loud at times, but hello, 1 5 yr old, 3 3yr olds, and 2 1.5 yrs olds....its supposed to get loud. :) We loved it! 3) And last but not least, swimming for the kids at the hotel. I dont know if there are any pictures of that coming, but I know they loved that too. So what to expect over the next while with Melanie....Grow Grow Grow...They are going to watch her eating, and in a couple weeks will be monitoring her eyes and digestion, and making sure her lungs continue to improve....if thats not right, there are going to be a couple nurses who are very curious about what Im writing...namely the baby shaker and the other nurse, so if anything is wrong...they'll tell me.... BY THE WAY! HERE IS A PICTURE OF HER IN HER 1ST ARTICLE OF CLOTHING, and for those whom Ive forgot to respond to about her size... 2#12oz and 15 inches long. Talk to you soon...Thank you for the continued prayers!!!!