Sick Day

Today Audrey stayed home sick. She came home last night crying that she didn't feel good, and when she woke up this morning, she was hot and had a hot, red, blotchy rash all over her face and arms. I figured day care would be really mad if I sent her since they are all worried about the swine flu.
Anyway, I think Audrey was pretty excited to stay home. She did a good job, though I let her watch an awful lot of T.V. She even asked if she could cuddle with me on the couch. I waited and waited for the doctor to call me back and finally they did and they asked us to bring her in.

In the meantime, Audrey decided to play baby. She got out her baby Hugo Cabbage Patch Doll, which used to be her daddy's, and we wrapped him up in her hospital blanket. Then she told me, "I'm going to take Baby Ben to the hospital," at which point she hopped into a basket and drove like crazy to get there! Then, she would take him to Drew's room, put him in the bed and say, "Night night, Ben!" It was very important to have him swaddled like the babies at the hospital!

Too cute! Audrey knows that baby Ben has arrived and is in the hospital. She tells me, "I was born in a hospital when I was a baby. Drew was born in a hospital when he was a baby. We went to see Drew in the hospital when he was a baby, but we can't see Baby Ben because he was born in a different hospital and kids aren't allowed to go there!" You can see what we've been telling her about Ben! :) She also knows he has a boo boo on his heart, but that's the extent of it!

Tonight, Drew was being cute and saying "more," so I took his picture and a video (see eight month post). Don't you love him in pink?!? :)
Heart Update: Today, Ben received a new central access line (the actual name I can't remember). They removed his umbilical line and spent two hours putting in his new line. This line can stay in for a very long time so they won't have to keep giving him new IVs, yay! They did it under ultrasound to make sure it went smoothly and it did. He's still doing great! We {heart} you Ben!

Proud Big Sis

Tonight I ran down to the hospital to see Ben and found that my parents had the same idea! I only had about 20 minutes with him, but it was enough to give him kisses, see his new adorable feeding tube (who knew feeding tubes could be adorable!?) and take some pictures once Karen and Greg brought Sophie and Meg to visit. Sophie was SO excited to hold her baby brother!

Ben is holding his own. He is receiving breast milk via his tube and is getting about 1 cc per hour. Please don't ask me what that converts to! :)

I'm getting a lot of questions about whether Ben is awake much so I should mention that he is currently not under any sedation. He is sleeping as much as any other newborn. The only difference is that with most newborns, you have to wake them ever three hours to eat. However, since Ben is receiving his feeds through a feeding tube, he doesn't have to be woken up, which is good because feeding could be a bit strenuous for his heart.

Karen has been discharged so she and Greg have been going home in the evenings to be with the girls and are sleeping there as well, knowing that bed is sleeping like a newborn under the watchful eyes of his nursing staff. He is in good hands down at Children's. That place is amazing!!!

Anyway, it was nice to be able to see him and see that he is still doing well. Right now, we are just in a holding pattern until Karen and Greg get the call that there is a heart. Keep praying!!! And believe me, ANY time my phone rings, I jump to answer it, just in case because you never know!

Afterwards, my parents came for dinner and the Wards were going to join us. However, right before they got to our house, Tim came home with a sick Audrey who kept saying, "I don't feel good mommy!" so we told them to stay away! We don't want them or Ben getting sick right now! The hardest part was that Sophie wanted to badly to play with Audrey! I felt awful! Oh well, better safe than sorry!