The Best Day

45 Days, 90 trips to the hospital & lots of tears and smiles the day came when we got to bring our sweet boy Dillon home. I got a call yesterday morning at 9:00 saying that we could come and get him at 12:00. We were so excited, and a little anxious. Well, 24 hours later I can say that I haven't wiped the smile off my face, except maybe this morning at 3:00AM. :) He has been such an angel, and we are so happy to have him home. Mason has been such a great big brother. He patted Dillon's head all the way home yesterday, and wants to be involved in every part of taking care of him. We are so happy to finally be together as a family. We are so grateful for all of the prayers, phone calls, gifts & concern from everyone. We haven't had to pay for a gallon of gas since the end of June! Everyone has been so thoughful in our time of need. The nurses at PCMC are incredible and I am so thankful for the amazing care that they gave to Dillon. We know that we have had miracles happen in the last couple of months, and prayers answered. Now the fun begins......

So close, I can feel it...

Mason and Mini Baby

My Mom and Dillon

Day 39...Dillon is so close to coming home, I just know it. He has been doing so good the last couple of weeks with everything. Basically, we are just waiting on him to eat the full 2 oz and tolerate it. Sometimes it gets frustrating to think that is the only thing that is holding us back from bringing him home. But, then again I want to bring him home at 100%. I was hoping for this weekend, but it probably won't be until next week now. Slowly but surely!!

On a funnier note, Cameron and I had to complete an infant CPR class, and they gave us a practice blow up doll to take home. They call it the "mini baby", and it's the ugliest thing you have ever seen. Well, we brought it home and it has become Mason's new best friend. He toted it around with him everywhere yesterday. He shared his lunch with it, and gave it a ride on his little push car. I have posted a picture of him and mini baby watching Noggin on the computer. It's so cute, hopefully he will like Dillon as much as mini baby.

A Rollercoaster Ride

The last couple of days have been pretty eventful! Sunday night I was on my way home from the hospital and my car starts to overheat, anyone who knows our Jeep is probably laughing right now. Everything on it has been replaced, and it breaks down on a monthly basis. I guess you could say we bought a lemon because it's only about 6 years old! Anyway, I sat on Foothill Blvd for an hour waiting for a tow truck and for Cameron to come and get me. Luckily the part that needed to be fixed was under warranty so we dodged a bullet! So, Monday comes and I go to the hospital Monday night with my Mom. Dillon had a great week and he had been tolerating his feedings well, and everything seemed to be great. They were even talking about letting us bring Dillon home. We go into his room and the cute nurse looks at me with a distessed look on her face. My stomach immediately dropped and she proceeds to tell they think his infection has come back. I start to cry and the nurse starts to cry because she knows how bad I wanted to bring Dillon home. They were running a bunch of tests and getting x-rays of his belly again. We sat there and waited for the results to come back and sure enough his x-rays showed a little bit of inflammation and free air in the lower right intestine. I was so discouraged and frustrated thinking that we would have to start this whole process all over again with the no eating and 10 days of antibiotics. I called Cameron and he came up with my Dad to give him a blessing. He gave the most amazing blessing I have ever heard. I immediately felt better about it. I stayed at the hospital and held Dillon until about 11:30, then went home to try and get some sleep. 3:30 AM comes and Cameron is waking me up to tell me he is in excrutiating pain and needs to go to the emergency room. He heads to Alta View and they find 2 kidney stones that are trying to pass at the same time!! He comes home around 7:00 and goes straight to bed. I get up and call the nurse and she tells me that Dillon had a great night and they were waiting on results from his last batch of x-rays. I jump in the car and head up to the hospital. The nurse practitioner comes to tell me that his last x-rays showed no signs of free air or inflammation and that all of his blood work came back normal, and that they think it must be just gas and stool trying to pass through. I couldn't believe it! I believe we had a small miracle happen. So, now they are only leaving him on antibiotics for one more day as a precaution and they are going to start feeds again in the next day or two! Whew! It has been a crazy mix of emotions the last couple of days! Great news mixed in with some bad news, but we are hopeful it will continue to be good news from here on out! Oh, and Cameron is still sick and trying to pass his stones. Hopefully he will feel better soon!

A Big Day!

After more than 2 weeks without any food, Dillon finally gets to start eating today! He has been getting electrolytes and lipids through a picc line, but nothing in his tummy. They will start him out really slowly, and work up to regular feedings every 2-3 hours. He has done so well with everything. They moved him into a "big boy bed" as they call it because he has been able to maintain his own body temperature. The nurses all comment on how laid back he is. I only hope he keeps that up when I bring him home! He weighs a whopping 6lbs 6oz, which is really great weight gain for not eating anything! We are so proud of him and the great progress he has made. He is starting to get chubby cheeks. I can't wait until I can bring him home!

My Little Buddy

Things have been so crazy around here! Trying to spend as much time at the hospital with Dillon while trying not to neglect Mason has been a difficult balancing act. So, today I decided to skip my usual morning hospital visit with Dillon to spend some much needed one on one time with Mason. I took him to the Dinosaur Museum and I have never seen someone so excited to see a bunch of bones. He growled like a Dinosaur the entire time and could not get enough of all the stuff to see. He was in dinosaur heaven. I just love hangin out with Mason, he is so much fun right now. When we were leaving he kept saying, "Dye Dye Dodo" he has a hard time with his "B's" so in translation he was saying "Bye Bye Dinosaur". It seems like everyday he is saying new words. It's so fun to see him grow up. Dillon continues to do so well. They took out his draining tube from his stomach and he hs done really well. He will be on antibiotics for 5 more days and then they will start his feedings. As soon as he starts gaining weight and can eat 2-3oz every three hours we can bring him home. Probably not until the end of July, but that was my due date so it makes sense. Here are some cute pictures of Mason in the nude on the bouncy slide and then at the Museum today. I will update again soon!