Dawson's Blessing

Dawson received a name and a blessing on Sunday. We had a big celebration with all of our family and friends.

No strings attatched!

I just have to say that I feel so free... I want to jump up and down and shout for joy... WOW, that sounds a little dramatic, but I am a happy mother today and so comforted that Dawson is no longer attached to anything. Tuesday, they did a blood culture to make sure that nothing was still growing and the results came back negative. YAY!

Today he had his picc line removed and it is so wonderful to hold my baby without any cords hanging off him. I want to thank everyone that kept us in their thoughts and prayers over the last 2 1/2 weeks. I think they were the longest weeks of my life. I believe in the power of prayer and know that prayers are answered. I hope that Dawson can continue to be healthy and happy. We love him so much and admire the little guy for enduring all of this. Although I still have 15 lbs. to loose, I definitely feel 15 lbs lighter knowing that we are done with this chapter in our lives and that there are no strings attached!

New Pics of Dawson

Here are some pictures of my sweet boy. In spite of all the poking, prodding, injecting, etc. he still finds time to smile:)

Here is Dawson right before he had his dressing changed. So happy that he had forgotten what was coming...

I think he started having flash backs of the previous days...

Yup, he completely remembered...

Great grandma Hansen brought us dinner and enjoyed holding Dawson. Dawson kept looking at grandma and loving her!

My days are so busy that I seriously don't get ready. Its been days since I've put on make-up. Who am I kidding- its been days since I've even gotten dressed. Its pj's all day long!

Dawson and the weekend

I look this good for a reason!!!

We are finally home and doing good. Dawson seems very alert and back to himself again. That makes me so happy and is such a relief. The home health care nurse comes every day to change his dressings, check vitals and to help administer his meds. Dawson is on a very strict schedule and his meds have to be infused every 6 hours and the line has to be flushed in between everything. I was so overwhelmed the first night the nurse explained everything we had to do. Derek was so stressed out and was ready to admit Dawson in the hospital again. He had to leave for the weekend for work, so I was on my own. He didn't want me to have to have all the responsibility. I have no medical background, so I was a little unsure of myself, especially cause the antibiotics weren't pre-mixed. I was going to have to deal with needles, little viles of meds, mixing, flushing, making sure there weren't any air bubbles in anything, gloves, sterilization, the iv, cords, the little machine, his picc line and who knows what else. A little over whelming. Luckily, I have the best mom in the entire world and she came down to stay and help while Derek was gone. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, dishes and even got up with me in the middle of the night to help with the meds. She was a life savor and Derek was a lot more comfortable with her being here with me. I made it through the weekend and now I'm a pro.!!! Anyway, I'm so grateful for all the support I have in my life. My family is the best ever. Between my mom, dad, Michelle and Jake, I didn't have to worry about Dylan and Ella once. They were up in cedar til today. I missed them like crazy, but was glad I had time to learn and focus on Dawson. More updates and pictures to come...

Going Home

Today is Thursday and it has been a crazy day. We were supposed to leave the hospital this morning...its 8:32 pm and we are still here. Dawson had his picc line placed this morning and what was supposed to be a quick procedure, ended up being two hours. They tried to place it not 1, not 2, but 3 times. They just couldn't get the line threaded all the way to his heart. They took xrays and discovered it was placed to far, so they had to pull it out a little. We finally got everything in place, but his arm wouldn't stop bleeding. They had to re-dress it 4 different times during the day. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but they use so much tape that his poor arm has been red and irritated all day. During one of the dressing changes the nurse noticed that the line had gone in further than it was supposed to, due to all the bleeding, thus making the line easy to slide into the arm. That meant more xrays. YAY!! We are going to have to keep a good eye on it. The last thing we want is for the line to be inside his heart. There are little dots on the line to indicate where it is supposed to be, so it shouldn't be to difficult to monitor. Dawson will be hooked up to an iv bag and pump for 14 days and I will have to administer the antibiotics every six hours through the iv. My little Dawson has been such a trooper. He is such a sweet boy and has been so good through this whole experience. I'm so glad today is almost over...snooze snooze...ya right!!

sick sick dawson

Well, last night, Monday July 20th, Dawson was admitted to the hospital. He seemed fine all day. In fact, Michelle and I had ventured on an outing with all 5 kids. I will never do that again! Anyway, we ran a couple of errands and our last stop was Old Navy. What a nightmare... need I say more. So, by the time I got home it was around 6:30. From the time I got Dawson out of his car seat he acted like a different child. He was so fussy and wouldn't stop whimpering. I thought that maybe he was tired so between Derek and I, we were rocking him for hours. The later it got, the worse he became. Every time we touched or moved him, you could tell he was in agonizing pain. It was so horrible. I knew something was wrong. We finally took his temp which was 100'. I called the night clinic and they told us that if it was that high with an ear thermometer, it would definitely be higher with a rectal thermometer. We took him in and his temp was 103'. We had to immediately admit him. When newborns have a temp that high, Doctors are very concerned. When we arrived to the hospital, they immediately took him, started an iv with anti biotics, took his blood and did a spinal tap. They really had no idea what was wrong so there has been a lot of testing while we wait and wonder whats wrong with our little Dawson. By morning, all tests had come back negative. So, it was more waiting and wondering.
Today is Wednesday morning. The Doctor just left and informed me that Dawson has GROUP B STREP. Now, I tested positive for group B strep while I was pregnant, I was treated properly with antibiotics before delivery and thought that was the last we'd here of it. I was wrong. Group B lives on the skin and can be transferred to the baby while delivering. A person can get group B at anytime. I didn't have it with Dylan or Ella, so it seemed weird that I got it. Group B on an adult is no big deal at all, but can be life threatening in a newborn if not treated. Obviously, we are treating it, but there are some side affects of one of the three anti biotics. Those include hearing loss and/or kidney problems. Dawson has to have a pic line put into him, which will feed the antibiotics closer to the heart. He will have the pic line and be on the anti biotics for 14 days. We wont have to be in the Hospital, but we will have to have home health care come several times a day. The Doctors don't think that Dawson got the group b from me. They think the late on set was transferred to Dawson by someone else that is a carrier. We will probably never know exactly how he got it. Please keep us in your prayers. I know we have lots of wonderful support.

Dawson's First Swim!!

I went outside to swim with Dylan and Ella today and 10 min later out came Derek and Dawson in their bathing suits. Dawson loved the water much to my surprise and he chilled with us for hours. Derek was so excited that Dawson finally got to swim for the first time!

photos with the cousins

We spent last weekend at my parents and took some cute pictures of the kids. My sister-in-law was there with her two kids Madeline and Grey.

Ella and Maddy

Ella and Dawson

Funny Faces


Grey and Dylan

Dylan, me, Sony and Grey

Dawson and Mommy

California in July

Every 4th of July we pack the car and head to Cali. I was debating on whether to go this year because Dawson was only 3 weeks old, but I went anyway because I'm crazy! We had a full schedule and we packed as much into 10 days as possible. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, I was pre-occupied with the baby, but I did get some. During our stay we hit San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Monterey, and last but not least, Pine Mountain Lake (Derek's favorite place on earth)!

Six Flags/Marine World

Six Flags

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

San Jose

PML/Rainbow Falls

San Jose

The end of our journey!

Professional pics

Here are some fabulous pictures of my sweet Dawson, thanks to my good friend Dion. Check out her blog at dionsenecaphotography.blogspot.com. She had to come twice to get some good photos, but for me it was well worth it!! So now I have some really great photos.