Awake and doing well

Ethan is doing well. He is opening his eyes and looking at us! He wiggles his little body around and grabs our fingers. However, we cannot hold him yet. He is still on the ventilator. He has been slowly but surely getting fluids (swelling) off his little body. There is still some fluid around his lungs so he was not tolerating getting weaned from the ventilator very well. He is initiating his own breathing, but needs extra support and oxygen still. The fluid has been going down steadily and we are hoping to try again tomorrow.

It just melts your heart to see him looking right at you and not be able to pick him up and cuddle him. But soon that will change! It is also hard to see the before and after photos. His skin is more "dusky". His oxygen saturation will be much lower than normal until after the third surgery. The beautiful reddish tan baby skin disappeared the day of surgery. However, he is still as cute as ever!

Thanks for all the support. .

Love-

Greg and Heidi

Hanging in there

Ethan has had a good day. The surgeon closed his chest today and he seems to be tolerating it well. Tomorrow they will start weaning down some of the meds and sedation. If he is tolerating that they will also start to wean him off the ventilator. Hopefully by Sunday or Monday we will be able to hold him again. Keep the prayers coming. He has a lot of challenges to overcome in the next few weeks.
Love and Thanks-
Greg and Heidi

Doing Good

Just a quick post. Still stable. The doctors are pleased and his kidney function is picking up. Definately headed in the right direction.
Love-
Heidi

Stable

So far Ethan has been stable and following a normal post op course. He is in the "sag" period where he needs a little extra support, but everything that is happening is typical. We are very grateful! I can't believe the miracles of modern medicine. The goals are to stay stable and get his sternum closed tomorrow. Then to wean him off the ventilator the days following that. They have told us a few bumps were going to have to overcome related to the vascular ring dissection. Some nerves were cut in that area that will take some time to rejuvinate. That might slow down his learning to feed and possibly affect his vocal chords for awhile. But they are next weeks concerns. Right now it is a day at a time and we are very pleased with the progress!

Thanks for the love-
Greg and Heidi

Post Surgery

We could not be happier right now. He is quite stable. They tell us that tonight will probably not go as smooth. They say it takes the body 6-12 hours before the organs start manifesting distress from everything they have undergone today. And I have to take back the no surprises comment we made the day of birth. There was a big one in surgery today.

After opening his chest they realized he had a right sided vascular ring. That means the aorta was wrapped around the esophogus. So not only did they have to do rebuild his underdevelopped aortic arch, but they had to dissect his aorta and arteries that brach off the aorta to pull them in front of the esophogus. The team of surgeons and doctors here have personally never seen a vascular ring with HLHS. The ring is most commonly a defect all by itself and is not discovered until the child gets a little older and starts to have eating or breathing issues because the ring is beginning to put pressure on the esophogus or trachea. Wow! That was definately a surprise. They feel the surgery went really well considering the added details.

They also used a different shunt called the Sano Shunt. It shunts some blood from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. The pressures on his pulmonary valve are high right now and they feel it might suffer some significant damage if they do not relieve the pressure some before the next surgery. The next surgery, the Glenn, will relieve it even more. This was discussed as an option yesterday, and they decided in surgery to go with it. It will help relieve the pressure on his pulmonary valve. I know this might be too much info for some, but others want to know! I also have a picture of him in our room post op below. I kneeled down as to minimize the shot of Ethan. Some may not want to see him close up right now, but I wanted to show all the medications and machines that are helping him along! His is a fighter.

Again love and thanks to all!

Greg and Heidi

Surgery Eve

I did an update on carepages. But I wanted to touch base to all that just check the blog. Tomorrow is the day, he will be receiving the Norwood Procedure. It is a doozy! As my emotions run high I have a new appreciation for the connection I have heard 'heart moms' have. Thank you to all who have offered your support and prayers. I will try to update often. He will probably take a few days to become stable. They tell us to expect many ups and downs. Please keep the prayers coming! They carry us. Now I just have to turn things to the Lord and pray for the surgeons and doctors to be guided through the process. Greg's aunt Francie said it the best when she told Greg's mom it would be nice if you could just give the all the doctors blessings before the surgery. Prayers will do :)
We love you all-
Greg and Heidi

wide awake

My sweet mother-n-law and I were talking about the article in the Ensign: Walking by Faith, Not by Sight. It is about a faithful woman who has gone blind. The article reminds us of the passage in the book of John chapter nine. . . "Master who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" The Savior replied, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" This beautiful face is teaching me much already about the works of my Heavenly Father.

No news is good news

Just an update that all is well. He is still stable. Just when one test comes back a little out of line. . . the follow up one comes back more in line. He is a fighter. However don't unwrap him! He likes being wrapped liked a burrito. He gets an assessment every two hours by the nurse. As soon as one side gets unwrapped he is squawking at the nurse until he is wrapped up again. Same goes for mom and dad. He loves us to hold him and pat his head, but DO NOT unwrap him!
We gave Ethan and blessing last night. It was beautiful. Greg did a wonderful job. Thanks to all who came all the way out and participated. Missy, my sister showed up with a Texas Sheet Cake. Our families favorite! She said what is a blesssing without a Texas Sheet Cake. We all went to the family waiting area and ate it afterwards. . . good call Miss!

I went and slept with the kids last night. My first night away from the hospital. Although I missed Ethan, Greg got some one on one time with him. . . and I got some good sleep.

Thanks again for all your love and prayers.
Heidi

Day 2

Another good day! The medications are working on his heart and he is tentatively scheduled for his first surgery next Tuesday. He has been move to the heart unit with his own private room. The grumpy face is because he is hungry. All his nutrition is coming through IV's. All the calories, none of the satisfaction of eating! We had the whole family together for the first time tonight. We felt so blessed having all our children in one room! We want to thank everyone for their love and prayers. They are carrying us and little Ethan through this journey.

Much love-

Greg and Heidi

Baby Ethan!!

He is here and he is beautiful! Greg and Heidi asked me to post some pictures of their sweet little bundle of joy and let all of you know how he is doing. Ethan Greg Skidmore, weighing in at a healthy 6lbs 4oz, was born yesterday, February 18, at 10:29AM. Most importantly, there were NO SURPRISES. That is a blessing in itself. So far, Ethan is doing well, breathing on his own and fussing because he's hungry! He'll start to get more nutrients and fats to satisfy him very soon. Ethan will be in the NICU for a short while longer before he moves to the heart unit.
Greg and Heidi thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers and kind words.

Love, Aunt Brianne

The strength of the heart comes from the soundness of the faith.

- Saudi Arabian Proverb

Faith, prayers, and fasting

We have been anticipating the coming events of the week for a long time. However, I can't believe it is here. Thank you for the many prayers that have been said, and will continue to be said on behalf of our baby Ethan. We would like to invite anyone who would like to join our ward and family in fasting this Wednesday, the 18th. This is the day he will arrive! We are excited to meet this special little guy!

Baby Jake

Last night I could not stop thinking about the Dennison Family. I just wanted to say how amazing they (Liz and Tyler) handled the circumstances of the last 3 weeks. I am sorry Baby Jake's battle had to come to an end, but how nice it is to know he is no longer hurting and in a much better place.

Favorites

As I look at the cute pic of my boys in the post below I can't help but laugh about their different personalities:
Cannon "the rebel" tells me I have a "big fat bum that shakes when I walk". (Hmmm- if I could only blame it completely on being 9 months pregnant.)
Gage "the pleaser" counteracts Cannon's comments with "Mom, you are so skinny for having a baby next week!"
Alexa is my cautious child. She just pleads the fifth when I ask her who is correct.
I don't want to have favorites . . . but I think one is winning over the others right now :)

Love These Kids

Gage and Cannon have been the best of buddies lately. It has been so fun to watch. However, Alexa thinks they gang up on her from time to time. Cannon admires that Gage plays basketball. When Gage is at school, Cannon will put on Gage's basketball uniform and run around the house pretending he is passing and shooting. And when
Gage is home they set up wicker baskets at each end of the family room and play basketball with one of their webkinz pets (since I won't let them bring the basketball in the house. The personalities are soooo different, but they have one thing in common. . . they are both very driven. Love you boys. . . and as Cannon reminds me lately, there are not just two boys in the family. He already talks about the third boy Ethan, or as he says "Efin".
(I don't know why the date on the pic is wrong)

BBG Reunion

The BBG's had a reunion this weekend at the Phoenician in Scottsdale. It was so fun.
As Faith mentioned on her blog. . . When we get together it is like time has not passed. Thanks to Lara and Faith for making this whole weekend happen! Love you all! Its amazing how when you are away from your home (cleaning) and children (chaos)you LAY around and talk just because you can! That's good times. . .

Aches and Pains

So I have decided I am at my breaking point. I am going on strike (not really but I can wish!) I am at that final pregnancy phase where lack of sleep meets with the uncomfortable standing, sitting, or laying down phase. So last night I declared I was done for the day and went to lay down in my room for an hour. . . only to come back out to a tornado. I spent this morning recovering and lo and behold it is a tornado again! Sound familiar? I am sure it does to many and you probably don't care. . . but I needed to gripe to somebody or in this case something. (Greg is no fun to complain to anymore because he is too good at nodding with sympathy while not hearing a thing!)

Let it begin. . .

I have been scheduled for a c-section on the 18th. The time is soon and I figured I better put a few final plans together. I will post some updates on our blog, but for more frequent updates I will be using www.carepages.com. If you register with carepages under www.carepages.com/carepages/EthanSkidmore then you will automatically receive updates to your email when I post them. And yes, his name is going to be Ethan Greg Skidmore. We are very excited to get him here although we know it is going to be a very stressful and emotional roller-coaster ride. But such has been the whole pregnancy!