Wow!

It's been a while since I've been here. Those pictures make me want to cry. Since my last post, Darrell has passed away. He died on June 20, 2008. We miss him so much!

Nadia is now 18 months old and is walking....well running sort of.

My brother and his wife are divorcing. Final court date is this Friday. It is for the best. We see Nadia so much more than before. My brother has found a wonderful girlfriend who adores Nadia and treats her like she would her own.

I am divorcing. 1st court date is next Monday, or at least I hope so. It has been continued 3 times so far! I just want it done, but I want it done right. No going back all the time. If he would just realize I'm right and go with it, we'd be so much happier!

I work a lot of hours and am hanging in as best I can. I love my life!

Darrell and Nadia

Nadia Cole

Nadia is up to almost 5lbs. She has been home for 2 weeks. However, on Thursday of this week she is going back in for more surgery. She isn't gaining weight so they are going to take the colostomy out and resection her intestines together. No more ostomy bag!


Darrell Abbott


Darrell is up to almost 7lbs now! He is having some breathing problems since he has pulmonary edema. They are adjusting his medications to help him out. He probably won't go home without some sort of oxygen.

This Sunday, April 27th, is the March for babies for the March of Dimes. Please consider making a donation, located on the side bar of this blog. If you can't donate, consider walking this Sunday or whatever the date is in your area.

Darrell and Nadia

Darrell, is doing really well. He is up to 1lb 9oz (2 oz above birthweight and up 8 1/2 oz since the first week of life). He has also gained 1/2 inch! He is such a chillin little man. Everytime I go see him, he has his left arm behind his head and one or both legs out of the cozy! His vent keeps going down and is now in the 30% range. They can do kangaroo care with Darrell whenever and my brother did it for the first time yesterday! His feeding tube is back in and he is getting breast milk again (he so loves the booby milk!).

Nadia had to have a procedure last weekend to drain ookies from her tummy. She has 2 perforations in her bowel. The tube should help her intestines heal themselves without surgery. She got to do kangaroo care with mom yesterday! Her kidneys are functioning again (they shut down briefly when the trauma in her tummy happened) and they've stopped the dopamine and replacement fluids. She still isn't recieving breast milk due to the perforations.

We received a call this morning that they are taking Nadia to surgery either at University or Children's. They went to move her and the ookies started draining from her tummy again. The perforations aren't healing themselves so they have to do it surgically. It is very hard on the micropreemies to be under anesthesia since they are so small. Please keep her in your prayers!

Please pray for Nadia

Little Miss Nadia has some internal bleeding. The doctors and nurses believe it may be around her liver. She is not clotting properly and that is the only way to fix the bleed. She is doing good, though, and they are keeping her comfortable until they can get it fixed.

Darrell is doing well. He is getting continuous breast milk through a feeding tube and is fattening up. He is such a mellow little guy! He is up 2oz after he lost 6 1/2oz. Keep on growing, little man!

My brother and sister-in-law are on edge and worried right now. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as well!

Introducing.......

Nadia Cole 1lb 3.5oz 12" long born 1-4-08 10:39am

AND


Darrell Abbott 1lb 7oz 12 1/2" long born 1-4-08 10:40am

I am an aunt!

So much is going on.....

But more on that later. Right now, I wanted to put a little note about who I am backing for president. I've researched Senetor Fred Thompson and feel he is the right guy I want to vote into presidency. Check him out at !

Westroads Mall

Brianna and I went to Westroads today. They had a station right outside Von Maur where you could make snowflakes for the victims. We ate lunch first and viewed the Christmas tree with some snowflakes on it also.

Brianna wanted to make her own. So if you see a dark blue 8x11 fringed paper snowflake, it is hers. She couldn't cut through the folded paper so I let her cut her own. She had a blast but didn't want to give up the scissors.

I wanted her to be able to tie what she saw/heard on TV to reality. She was a bit fearful of the security guards, but I assured her she was fine and safe. We prayed for the victims as we entered the parking lot and saw Von Maur's store front.

There were a ton of people and I was so glad to see the support that everyone was showing. Quite impressive!

My brother and sister-in-law

They found out that the twins they are carrying are a boy and a girl. We will be welcoming Nadia and Darrell in the spring sometime, she's do in April.

Children's Hospital Stay

We went to her doc appt on Monday. They did a breathing treatment on her and then did another chest x-ray (oh so fun....not). Then he delivers the news. Her O2 levels are barely hanging at 90 and her heart is having to work extra hard to pump blood. The breathing treatment did nothing to ease her breathing, so off to children's hospital we go.

She was admitted Monday at 2pm. By 5pm she is having an IV placed in her arm to aleviate some of the dehydration. Later that evening we go down for another chest xray since the doc office didn't send ours with us.

They are giving her nothing through the IV except normal solution, no meds. They come and check her at midnight and find she is running a fever of 103.6. They give her some motrin and recheck her at 1am, 100.3. They come and check her again at 4am and all is good and she is up for the day .

Tuesday she is starting to perk up as the day wears on. I can't keep her in the bed and the IV is hindering her. She is playing with the toys they brought in and the toys my mom brought. She can't leave the room because we are in isolation. If she leaves for a test, she has to be masked.

Tuesday morning she has a sputum test. They stick a tube up each nostril and vaccuum out the contents. They send that to the lab for test results. I still don't have a diagnosis or a time when we are going to be discharged.

4pm Tuesday, they take the tubing off the IV and Brie is free to roam the room. She kept asking me, "I sit here?" I told her, "You can sit anywhere you want. You can sit on your bed..." "I NOT sit on my bed!" apparently she is tired of her bed!

5pm comes and I am told we are going home. I've still not seen a doctor only the residents and the students (a teaching hospital). They remove the IV which is traumatic! I begin to call all the relatives who've said they are coming to visit to stop them. I call my mom and tell her to boogie up, she needs clothes and we need the extra pass to give back (security card to let you in on off hours).

The doctor finally came in. He states she has viral pneumonia. There is no antibiotic to fix it. He then looks at her ears. He has to clean out the wax to see the drums. Again, traumatic. The child looked like she was possessed and if she could have cussed she would have!

She has the beginnings of a double ear infection. He writes a script for Omnicef ($$$ drugs, but it works). By 7pm, we are out the door and she is happy about that! She declines the wheel chair and we are home free.

I got her meds filled, with the generic of Omnicef (yippee!) and we were home by 8:15pm (stupid pharmacy was slow as molases). She got to sleep in her own bed. She's been coughing since around 5am but is sleeping. I had to call into work. They've been understanding, but I'm way over my time alotment and could be written up when I get back. So be it!

It has been awhile

Well hello again! I've made some changes here and hope you like them!