Blankets

Will is being very well taken care of. Every 12 hours he gets a new nurse. Of course there are ones we love and ones we love less. There are two in particular that we always hope for on the day shift; they are wonderful! They know a lot, have had a lot of experience taking care of pre-preemies (my term, not theirs), call us by our first names instead of "mom and dad," and don't mind all my (dumb and not-so-dumb) questions. They just help me feel like I know what's going on and want me to be apart of it all. These two nurses always let me change his diaper if I'm there and allow me to hold his hands without giving me the evil eye (yes, some of the nurses don't want me to touch him). Last week they both told me that I should bring in some things to decorate his area (make more homey). They suggested I bring in rosary beads or a cross or prayer cards. They also mentioned that I could bring in some receiving blankets to be placed under him and around his little bed. Being the Home Ec. teacher that I am I immediately got excited about making him some blankets. We have held off getting/making anything for his nursery (plus I was on bed rest before he came so we haven't had the time) so I haven't made him anything. I quickly rushed to JoAnns and picked out a green striped, a blue striped, dinosaur, and baseball/bat fabric. Before I went on bed rest I worked at a quilt store and when I stopped by the other day she gave me some polka dot and minky fabric. Using all these I make 4 blankets. I love seeing him on them and just know he loves it too. It amazed me that making these pretty simple blankets really helped me feel more like a mother, that's corny but true. I haven't been able to hold him yet so this is my way of holding him!



PS- the little tan and red hat in the picture was made by my talented knitter of a sister Michelle. It's the smallest one she's made and it's still huge. Thanks Michelle!

Our Little Miracle

As previously mentioned we were pregnant with a little boy, due June 1oth. I have struggled in the past keeping pregnant and this time was no different. I have a fabulous Dr. who because of past problems watched me like a hawk (ultrasounds weekly, etc). At around 16 weeks, Dec. 22ish, I started having contractions. Without going into too many details lets just say I have an incompetent cervix so they went in and sewed it closed and put me on strict bed rest at home, with bathroom privileges. Bed rest is hard. Everyone thinks it'd be so nice just to lay around all day, and it is for about 2 days. It's hard not being able to get up and grab a snack or answer your front door. Anth was amazing! He did sooo much for me! My ward was amazing! They brought over meals and so many came to visit, the highlight of my days. I was on bed rest at home for a month. On Jan. 20th I had a Dr. apt and was admitted into the hospital because my cervix was down to .3 cm. I was on even stricter bed rest, with no bathroom privileges (I'm amazed at the things we take for granted). The plan was for me to be in the hospital for the duration of the pregnancy, 4.5 months! Again Anth and the ward were wonderful in visiting and doing so much to make my time less awful than it was. Throughout my hospital stay they had me on all kinds of meds to help keep this little guy in. About a week into it my water broke but sealed over. On Feb. 2nd, 21 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy, my body had had enough and at 5:08 pm William Anthony Vance was born. He weighed 14.4 oz and was 10.5 in long. Previously to all this the Dr.'s (specialist and neonatal) had talked to us about the chances of babies surviving if born earlier than 23-24 weeks. The survival stats were not good and of those that did survive had severe disabilities. When Will was born Anth was asked if we wanted them to work on him, knowing his less than 1% chance of survival, he said yes.

It's now been two weeks. We still have our little boy! It's definitely been a roller coaster! He's in the NICU but doing amazing well considering how underdeveloped he is. I can't begin to list all the miracles we've been blessed with! But to name a few, his brain has no extra fluid or bleeding, his heart is working great, he needs minimal oxygen (about 30%), his lungs are doing well, etc. In the last two days he has opened his eyes, it's incredible!!! He moves all the time which reminds me of how much he moved when he was inside me. He has so many facial expressions and because of the tubes down his throat we can't hear him cry but we can see it on his face, it breaks my heart. His biggest concern is a yeast infection he's fighting in his lungs. It's about the most aggressive infection he could have gotten but he's a fighter!

We don't know what the outcome of this experience will be but we've felt an amazing peace from the very beginning. We can't say how grateful we are for the Atonement! He's our little boy and will be forever! We've felt the numerous prayers in our behave and are humbled at all the support from family and friends. Thank you to all who have prayed for our little boy, they have sure helped him! Please continue to pray for his development and strength to fight this infection. My goal is to update this blog regularly, but know it my not happen as often as you or I would like :)