Ryker's first Christmas!

We have made it through all the holiday parties and trips to Idaho. Finally some peace until surgery in three weeks.  Ryker got to experience lots of family events and friends the last week. He even got to check out his house in Idaho and finally see his room that will never be his. Sad! But overall it was fun in Idaho and we sure do love the Thrailkill family. The parties were a little overwhelming for him. He has slept so much this past week due to all the excitement of christmas, parties, and santa. Thanks to his amazing Aunt Jen we were able to attend all the family gatherings without exposing little man to other little humans. Hopefully he stays well for surgery. The last week Ryker has improved his head turning. He was struggling with turning his head to the right side, but with a long week of exercises we accomplished it. We are also working on supporting his head, which he is doing great on. He is now able to sit in a bumbo chair with out any help from me. He is not sure if he likes the chair, but little man is getting use to it. Ryker has found that his left hand is so much better to suck on then his binkie. I am a little worried he will find his thumb and that will be another thing we will have to overcome.  We went up on milk milliliter intake by the bottle. He is now able to eat 15mls which is almost a 1/2 ounce. Ryker has been struggle with the bottle the last couple of days. The milk has found it's way into his nose when he breaths and sucks, so I am just praying surgery will help with this situation. We also had his little baby blessing on Sunday. It was such a nice blessing to have before surgery. Now that all the parties and holidays are over, we are getting nervous for surgery. I know it will be worth it. It's going to help so much. I just pray there is no complications during it. Here are a few pictures to keep you busy. Here's to another great week! Have a great new year!

Ryker is loving home!!!

WOW! it's been a while since I have updated this blog. Well since I have been living with my brother in law I have to play by his rules. He turned off the internet so I have been unable to post anything, but my loving husband got me in touch with internet powers now so we are back in business. Where do I start. There has been a lot happening lately. Ryker has had many follow up appointments with speciality doctors. The first was the ENT doc for his nose. We were informed that his nose has gone worse so we will be doing surgery next year on January 15th. Yes, more hospital time. But hopefully no complications this time. So the heart doctor told us she wants to do another Echo on his heart during surgery. I guess he has Pulmonary Hypertension. Pretty much high blood pressure. They want to make sure his PDA heart issue was completely closed up. Another fun, but not so fun event happened. Ryker is two months behind in vision. He needs baby glasses. We got him sized and fitted for them last week. We are just waiting for his prescription lenses to be place to he can have them ready to go. Hopefully by Christmas he will have his specks!
Last weekend was a scary weekend. We made a trip back to the hospital. Ryker couldn't breath and was turning purple and limp. I was a worried mama thinking he might have to stay in the hospital for much longer, but after an emergency room visit, ambulance ride to Primary Children's, and more doctors found out he had a block nasal passage. After heavy duty suctioning we were good to go home. Thank goodness it wasn't a long stay.
We also had family pictures this week with the Allen side of the family. Baby looks pretty cute in his awesome outfit. We also had some fun visitors this week. Grandma and Grandpa Allen came up and Aunt Jen and Uncle Godfrey. Ryker loved his uncle Godfrey. Snuggled right into him. It was pretty dang cute!
The last couple of weeks we been working on muscle tone and exercises. Ryker is able to move his head side to side now and is learning to hold his head up. We also have been working on sucking. Occupational therapy has had him suck on a tootsie roll and drink 10 ml of banana milk. He enjoys every minute of it. He kicks his legs and just wants every bit of the tootsie roll. It's pretty funny,
Bailey has finally understood that Ryker is here to stay. He loved trying to be close to him. I am not too worried about Ryker being over powered by the dog because a couple of nights ago Bailey wouldn't let anyone near Ryker. He would just growl at everyone even me. Very protective puppy. I knew Bailey would be good pet therapy for Ryker Man. Well Christmas is next week. I can't wait to share Ryker's first Christmas with you all. Until next week. Thanks for all the love and support from everyone. We appreciate it!.  Oh PS since we totalled the truck, we got another family member. Check out the new and improved PJ Allen Vehicle. Yes it might be very mommy, but that's what you get when you have a baby in the household. Ha

One week home!

It's been a great week having little man home with us. He sure is taking to the sleeping all day long and being "normal" baby. He did get shots the other day.  Poor little guy is sore and more fussy. Hopefully it passes soon. Luckily for mom and dad, Ryker sleeps pretty much all through the night. I feel really spoiled that I get all eight hours of sleep. I sure do love being Ryker's mommy! He is finding that not being bugged while he is sleeping is the best thing ever! Also, Ryker is loving his mamaroo that Grandma purchased for him. That is his favorite spot to sleep. Little man still has is ups and downs. We are struggling with his congestion in his little nose. Sometimes he is so congested that he can't breathe and we have to turn up his oxygen to help him out. Hopefully he can get over that sooner than later. Feeds are pretty easy. We have even trained Aunty Tami to help out with his feeds. Sometimes mom needs a break even though she doesn't want to have one. Tami and Tanner have been amazing! We sure do appreciate all they do for our little family. They are so sweet to clean out their basement laundry room for us to use. Freezer and dog space was much needed. Thanks again T's we love you!!!
Ryker had is first Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapist appointments this week. He got his work out. I am not sure if he liked it, but we will get the hang of all the training that will be taking place the next couple of weeks. This week has been busy trying to get all the follow up appointments set up. I sure do need a schedule so we can get Ryker moving along. I was very pleased with his Occupational Therapist and his pediatrician. They are both awesome! Next week the OT will be helping Ryker learn the sucking and swallowing motion with Tootsie Rolls and Slim Jims. That will be interesting to see how Ryker like those two flavors. We are also going start again with bottle feedings. He is going to be back on his yummy banana split milkshakes. Here's to another great week with Ryker roo home for good.

The hospital adventure is finally over....a new life now begins.

Ryker is finally home. He is a little unsure of his surroundings and is loving the fact he can just sleep all the time. Its a little weird to have my family together. But we are loving every minute of it. Bailey doesn't notice much with Ryker home. But he does stare at him sometimes. We have had our firsy home health visitors. We are now setup with home oxygen, lots of tanks, and a home health nurse will come once a week. We also found out physical therapy and occupational therapy will be coming in three to four times a week and early intervention helpers will be stopping by. Ryker already has seven follow up appointments. We will be super busy the next couple of weeks. Life will be even better when ALL my homework is done, Two more projects and it's home free until January. Here are a few pictures of our adventure home yesterday.

Ryker's favorite primary nurse Jenny. We love her and miss her lots.

Our first sleepover with Ryker at the hospital. We sure didn't get much sleep.

Ryker is just hanging out to be released from the hospital

Finally we are off for home. What a great adventure!

Ryker's first bath at home;)

My favorite snugglers. Bailey and Ryker together finally.

Love at first sight. Bailey is such a good babysitter.

Ryker's Coming home!!!

we got a phone call earlier this week from the doctors. I ALWAYS get worries when the doctors call because it could be bad news. Well this call was a good one. She told us Ryker would be coming home on Friday. I started to cry which made Parker worried because he didn't hear the doctor on the phone. She said that Ryker was doing so well that it was time to discharge him this week. It was so surreal at first I didn't believe her. Its been a busy week getting things ready, being trained with all his oxygen, feeding tube, and heart stuff. Its becoming more real. On Tuesday Parker and I were excited to go up to Idaho to get the rest of Ryker's stuff. As we were driving, we hit a patch of black ice and flipped the truck. Its totaled. We are ok and alive. We were very blessed. I truely felt angels around us at that moment. RYKER REALLY NEEDS HIS PARENTS. It was so scary. Luckily, we had our amazing Idaho family the Thrialkills come save us. We sure appreciate them. It has been a very sore couple of day, but we have to keep going with Ryker coming home. Now its TURKEY DAY! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We have alot to be thankful for this year. Parker and I will be staying at the hospital tonight with Ryker to get to know our equipment for home. Then bright and early tomorrow he will be home!!! I am so excited and nervous, but I know Heavenly Father will be there to help us through. He has been there and blessed us the last four months. I know He is aware of us and Loves us even if I get frustrated with him. He is always there. Enjoy your thanksgiving. Loves!!!

The Totaled Truck

Ryker's Last Hospital Bath

Grandma Sheila Hanging Out For Us After The Wreck

Ryker Is Showing Off His Go Home Oxygen

Ryker has ups and downs

Since the last post, Ryker has been struggling with high blood pressure. The doctors did an ultrasound of his kidenys to make sure nothing was wrong with them. That went well. They gave it a couple of days to see if his blood pressure would go down and it sure it. He has been soaring along the last couple of days. He went from 5 liters of high flow oxygen to 2 liters in three days. He is currently on 2 liters. Tomorrow they are going to transfer him to regular flow oxygen. Which is something he can go home on. Today Ryker is finally up to full feeds. Now we will be transitioning to bolus feeding over 2 hours. Ryker also was a brave boy today, he got his pickline IV out. He is almost free of all the cords. I am a super happy mama. We are finally on a transition step of going home. YEA!!!!

Yesterday,  Parker and I were sitting in our new ward for church. We both felt at the same time that this is where we are suppose to be. It was a very overwhelming, very powerful experience. It was like something I haven't felt since my mission. Heavenly Father is truly blessing us.

Parker's last day of work was on Friday. That was a great feeling for both of us. He has had some problems with his ex boss. There was a big blow up on Friday and Parker had to leave his job early. So because of that, poor little Ryker doesn't have health insurance in December. That was a major stress in my life. Luckily, I talked to a social worker and an insurance broker. I got it taken care of just in case he has to stay until the end of December. I guess small businesses don't have to offer cobra. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us so everything will work out.

Well friends and family here are your updated pictures. He is so stinkin' cute!

Ryker getting his pickline out!

Ryker is Pickline Free! And so much more happy!

Finally on High Flow!

well Ryker finally made it on high flow oxygen. Thank goodness! Its on high settings of high flow but at least we can start weaning him more. That was a long three weeks of intubation and CPAP. He is being fed continuously right now but only like 3ml of milk an hour. We are working up to more but poor baby and his reflux he just doesn't like the acid feel. I am still hopeful in two week he can come home. At least that would be a mom's wish.
For those of you that don't know, my dear husband found a new job. We will be moving back to Utah. I am super sad to leave behind our amazing Idaho family, friends, ward, and house. It is sad for me, but Parker is excited to finally be with Ryker and I. And he is very excited about his new job and the opportunities he will have in a bigger company. And our adventure moves forward. I believe Heavenly Father likes to pile not just one trial load, but several. I am not sure what we are suppose to learn from the last four months and the few months to come, but I sure hope we learn it. I have had spiritual confirmation we need to move to Utah, but I am super sad about it. Exciting for the grandparents I am sure. They all wanted us to come back. Here's to hopefully a great adventure and many blessings.

Ryker is so cute these days!!!

Well we had our esophagram today. It went well. So his esophagus doesn't have a hole anymore, but it's not completely healed. There are still signs of injury. So he won't be able to be feed orally for a while. Swallowing will be hard a challenge. But he can be fed through the gtube so we started that tonight. He was having a great day today. Smiling and playing with the nurse and I. It was very fun to see him back to his normal self. I even caught a cute Ryker smile on camera. Yea!!! Hopefully he tolerates feeding. It will take a while to get up to the normal amount of feeds. They are also concerned about his digestive system not working properly because he hasn't been feed for a while. So let's pray all goes well this week. We are still working on oxygen, still on the CPAP machine. Hopefully we can start weaning him off soon. But I think feeding him is the goal this week. Pray all goes well.

Ryker is finally a Rockstar again!

Well Little man is moving forward. He is still on a cpap machine, but it's getting a little easier to breath. He is getting a esophogram tomorrow morning to make sure everything is doing great. Afterwards, hopefully he will start eating again soon. His bowels are finally waking up. He did a massive poop yesterday for the nurse.  I am now able to snuggle him like it was. I stayed at the hospital for a long time last night just because I love to cuddle him. He was his cute little self last night. Smiling and playing with his little tongue. A happy kid again is always nice. YEA! I did do some video of the little man doing his tongue thing. It's pretty cute. Hopefully you enjoy it. We are still praying he comes home for thanksgiving. That would be the best thanksgiving gift ever!

Finally a step forward!

Tuesday was Ryker's surgery day to remove the stent. Parker thankfully was able to be there. The surgeon told us his esophagus is healed. No more hole. So they extubated him. Ryker is now on a cpap machine. It might take a while to get on track for high flow. He is off morphine and not sedated anymore. His esophagus and nose is inflamed and sore, but everyday he is improving. Finally a step forward. Hopefully no more steps back.