~The Speth Family~: A shower, a Little Bit of Faith, and Progress

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A shower, a Little Bit of Faith, and Progress

This week has been absolutely crazy. I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week :) First, I had a HORRIBLE sinus cold, but the main reason was because nothing too exciting happened and I thought you might be bored of reading the same thing every day.

Yesterday my mom and SIL, Tara gave me a really nice baby shower. John's family also came down to support us. I have to admit I didn't have a super great attitude about it at first because everybody has already done so much for our family and I didn't think they should do any more, but it turned out to be a lot of fun to talk with family members and friends that I haven't seen in ages. It also reminded me that one day Ammon will actually come home and that got me VERY excited! Plus, now he actually has something to wear besides the three things he got for Christmas!

John and I came home after the shower and moved the girls into the same bedroom, put up the crib and changing table (thank you for letting me borrow that Tara!) and made everything as cute as we could. That was my leap of faith. I have been telling everyone not to buy us any baby stuff because what if he doesn't come home - I would be stuck with a baby's room full of stuff I don't need and won't use - that would be too sad. And even though I have been comforted and have felt strongly that everything will be ok, I have still had it in the back of my head that there is a possibility that he won't come home. So putting his room together was a leap of faith. I'm sticking with the comforting feelings and ignoring the doubts. As a bonus, I don't have to sit in the bathroom to pump in the middle of the night (trying not to wake anyone else up). Instead, I get to sit in the comfy recliner, stare at his sweet new baby things, and be excited for when I get to use them! That DEFINITELY renewed my motivation to keep pumping :)

Ammon's progress during the past week was slow. They had to stop his feedings AGAIN and they tried to extubate him a few days ago (mostly because they had to change the tube for a larger one). The extubation was a disaster. He got extremly mad when they pulled the tube out, held his breath, and crashed. John got to watch that little bit of fun. (Oddly, I got to watch Allie do the same thing. She hurt herself the same day and cried so hard she slowly turned blue and despite my rubbing and patting her back to stimulate her breathing she started to stumble and fell on her bum before she could actually squeeze in a tiny breath.)

This morning, however, Ammon is doing well. Yesterday they started his feeds again and it looks good so far. They pulled out one of his chest tubes and might pull the other out soon. They have also been doing spontaneous trials (they turn the ventilator off and make him breathe on his own for a little bit) and he has actually passed a couple of them! Instead of making him go cold turkey, they are going to try "exercising his lungs" a few times each day so he can build strength. If the feeds continue to go well they will also try to fatten him up a bit so he has more energy to put towards breathing. Things are looking good :)

1 comment:

The Bitter FamilyJanuary 6, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Thank you for your inspiring updates. We have prayed for little Ammon as a family, and I put his name in the Temple last night. It's so moving to see your sweet family go forward, trusting in the Lord, whatever path that might lead to. Thank you for your good examples to us all. We love you!
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