James turns 2

Friday February 10th James turned 2!

I still can't believe he is already 2. Not because he isn't acting like a 2 yr old, because he is ALL about being a 2 yr old. It just doesn't seem like it was 2 years ago he was born, Bill and I at the hospital, Ethan at the Thomas' and both moms ready to head on up.





At 2 he:

climbs on, over and under everything.
thinks he is tall enough to see over the counter no matter what he brings to stand on.
loves mac and cheese, quesadillas, chips, popcorn, grapes, apples, bananas, juice and ice cream.
hates any kind of orange, meat, vegetables and pretty much anything we make for dinner.
is the sweetest thing, constantly giving everyone hugs and kisses. If you get hurt or upset, he is the first one there to comfort you.
has the best pouty face ever. He doesn't like to see you when he pouts so he will hide his head or leave the room.
loves to wrestle and play with Ethan and Papa
loves to draw on anything he can. Including walls, couches, recliners, tables...
is getting better and better at speaking every day
favorite words: Juice, Eat, Papa, Mama, Ethan, Adam, Buzz, Woody, Banana
can't go a day without playing with Buzz, Woody, Mater or Lightening McQueen and basketballs
loves playing and being next to Ethan
loves kissing and hugging Adam


(29 lbs)


(35 inches tall)

James, you are such a delight and joy to have in our family. You are the epitimy of boy and always on the go. You already keep us on our toes and we love everry moment we have with you.
We Love You!

Our precious blessing

Monday we had Adams 3 week follow up with Dr. Skarda.

I was hoping Adam would be upwards of 12 lbs or more. He was eating well but he had lost so much from the surgery. He weighed in at 11 1/2 lbs. Dr Skarda was pleased with his weight and explained with that major of surgery it would take 3-4 weeks to get back on track. I still wasn't happy but content that things were progressing.

Dr Skarda said his incisions looked wonderful and lungs sounded great but wanted to check the fluid to make sure it wasn't building.
As long as the chest X-ray looked good then we wouldn't need to come back and see him.

On the way home he called letting us know the X-ray looked great. The fluid pocket had actually receded and he was extremely happy with everything. What a blessing. There has been so many the past 6 months I can't count them.

Thank you Dr Skarda for taking Adam into your heart, loving him and wanting what was best for him. It was such a mercy that you happened to always be the Dr in when we needed help.
Forever, thank you.

Adams surgery

For two weeks I've been mulling over what to post about Adams surgery and still come up with a blur of 7 days. Here is my attempt to put days into words.

We were at Primary Childrens Hospital at 6:30 on Tuesday (Jan 10, 2012) morning. Adam was more than wonderful. He could not feed after 4 a.m. and even though he was awake and should have been wanting to eat, he was smiling and talking.

He was adorable in his little gown.


The anesthesiologist came in and gave us the run down on what to expect. Then we gathered everything up and headed out of pre-op. We walked down to the end of the hall and stopped. Then we handed over our little sleeping Adam to anesthesiologist and went seperate ways.
I have no words to describe how heart wrenching it was to turn around and walk away from him.
.

.

.
Dr Skarda had told us to expect at least 4 - 5 hours, so we took over a corner of the waiting room and began the waiting. Grandma Fritsch and Grandpa Ellett waited in the waiting room with us.
About 2 1/2 hours later one of the ladies at the desk came over and informed us that she had just spoke to Dr Skarda, they were finished with the surgery and he would be out in a couple minutes to speak with us.
We were all very shocked that they were finished already. Dr Skarda brought us all in one of the conference rooms and gave us a breakdown of how the surgery went.
Adam went under the anistetics great and they had no problem getting both pic lines and the IV in. They got in his chest and found the growth was only about 1/3 the size it showed on the original CT scan taken the day he was born. They were able to remove it without any complications and in half the time.
That morning we had asked him if it would be possible to see the growth once it was removed and he said he would be happy to bring it out. After he told us how the surgery went, he brought out the container with the growth.


We couldn't believe how big it was, and to think it was only 1/3 its original size. The best way we found to describe its size was to compare it to a 6oz uncooked steak.

They let us into the PICU a little while after we spoke with Dr. Skarda.
It was hard seeing Adam so swollen and pale.



Day 2
6:00am chest x-ray
They were only able to keep him awake long enough to eat about .5 an oz through the night. So in the morning they were hoping he would latch and breastfeed instead.
Luckily he was a little more alert and latched for a little while.
The rest of the day he was awake on and off but not enough to eat more than 2 oz.
He was still really swollen and really pale, but moving more as the day went on.



Day 3
6:00 am chest x-ray
Adam was eating better, moving more and opened his eyes.
Every day he was getting better and better.



The incision and chest tube.


Day 4
6:00 am chest xray
More and more improvements, until around 4:30 pm. In the usual vital checks the nurse heard a different noise in his right side. She called in the respitory therapists and they were baffeled as well.
5:00 pm chest x-ray
There is a leak in his lung. It isn't large, but still a leak.
Vitals every hour, different drs, therapists, nurses come and go.
2:00 am chest x-ray
no change, air and fluid pockets are still there.



Day 5
6:00 am chest x-ray
fluid and air pockets are smaller, one more x-ray later in the day and maybe the chest tube will come out.
2:00 pm chest x-ray
no change. chest tube will stay for another day. The sound in his lung is quieter now so they are not as worried as they previously were.



Day 6
6:00 am chest x-ray
X-ray looks better, they pulled the chest tube out and find one of the little holes in the tube had moved outside the skin. Which means when Adam sucked in a breath as the tube dressing was pulled off, air went into the tube and into his chest.
4:00 pm chest x-ray
the x-ray showed an air pocket in his right lung so he needed to be watched and have one more x-ray the next morning.

Day 7
6:00 am chest x-ray
The x-ray looked better so we were discharged but we were not allowed to leave the valley until the xray on tuesday morning.

It was great to be out of the hospital, even if I wasn't at home.

Tuesday we went in for a chest x-ray about 9 am and then met with Dr. Skarda.
We got the okay to head home with a follow up in 2 weeks. My sister-in-law drove us up to Inkom to meet Bill.

It was so wonderful to be home, together and not have to worry (as much).

We go back on the 6th. Hopefully I will be able to update that post sooner than this one.

When Ethan came up to visit Adam I took him down to the play area they have at Primarys. He had a blast playing with all the toys.

Adams Blessing

Since Adams surgery was going to be now instead of in 6 months we decided to have his blessing the night before. That way all our family was able to be there to participate.
I didn't want to worry about getting pictures so I handed over my camera to my niece (still feels weird to say that because she is not that much younger than me) and let her take pictures as she pleased.

He was blessed in the same outfit James was, so it was a little big. Cathy Thomas offered the beautiful Bethlehem Blanket for Adam to use.
Thanks Cathy! The whole family loved it.

This is probably the last time that Grandpa Great will be able to participate. It was neat being able to have 4 generations of Fritsch's in the circle.

Sledding

After Christmas Bill's sister Leslie and her two girls, Sara and Shelby, and Mom came up to visit us and see Adam. Leslie lives in AZ so it was killing her that she couldn't be here for Adams birth.
While they were here we took them sledding.























This picture is significant. If you look just above the windshield wiper you can see Ethan's head as he is headed straight for the car.
Yup, he went right under the car.
Bill was at the top of the hill and I was sitting in the RUNNING car nursing Adam when he went under the car.
It was mercy he only suffered a bruised elbow. We are not sure what stopped him from going further under the car, or how he managed to not get hurt or have any of his snow suit burned. I think it scared all of us, Ethan most of all. However he was back up on the hill within a couple minutes.
*Note to self: Don't park so close to the sled hill.

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was a great time to finally be together as a family.
James and Ethan were overjoyed by all the gifts given by their family.
Bill completely out did me this year with a set of recliners, which are heaven in case you were wondering.

For the most part we were just grateful to have Adam with us and doing as well as he was. (he was sleeping when we took these)

Trying to process..

[Once again I thought I had posted this and I saved it instead.]

We headed down to Salt Lake this past weekend to meet with Adams surgeon. Overall the appointment went great. Dr Skarda was really happy with how well he is thriving and his weight gain. Weighing in at 9lbs 3oz.
He was a little surprised he was on oxygen, and balked at the 1/8th of a liter he is on. He showed all of his colleagues the CT scans and they have agreed this is the largest growth they have seen.
I even got to see the CT scan from when he was born. I could not believe how big this growth really is. It takes up at least 1/3rd of his chest.

Then we got blind sided when he said they have also decided to do the surgery within the next month.
........ (Bill and I trying to process)
With how well he has grown and the risk of Adam getting sick they want to take it out sooner than later.

Right now we have an appointment on the 4th to get a chest x-ray and to finalize the details on the surgery.

Updates to come...

1 month!

[sorry I forgot to post this when I wrote it.]

We (James and I) took Adam in for his weight check last week.
At 1 month he finally passed his birth weight and weighed in at 8lbs 6 oz.

He is growing and doing great. We go back in to see the surgeon in a month, hopefully he will be right where they want him to be.

Adam Bradley Fritsch

Adam made his appearance on November 8th at 10:17 am. He was born at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City by Dr. Janice Byrne.

When they pulled him out, Bill only saw a flash of him because he had not taken a breath yet. But as they passed him through the window into the NICU he gave a soft little cry that put everyone a little more at ease.

Once the assessment was finished by the NICU team, Bill was able to go back into the NICU to be with Adam and get the run down on how he was doing.

I on the other hand got sewn up and headed back to the recovery room where both moms and grandma Jackman were waiting for news. I don't remember much about the recovery room but here is what I do remember:
Feeling the medicine go up my arm every time they took my blood pressure (apparently it was a little too low)
Laying there, listening to what was going on and wondering why the monitor alarms were going off. Then the nurse would come shake me and tell me to breathe.
Scratching at everything especially my nose. I hate the medication wearing off.
Mindi came in and joined us.
Asking how Adam was and the nurses not knowing. Then finally one came in and said he was doing well. On oxygen but breathing on his own.
Finding out he was 8lbs and being delightfully surprised.
Being wheeled down to the NICU with Mindi so I could see Bill and Adam.

It was hard to see him with the oxygen tubes, the monitor wires and the IV in his head, but I knew it could have been so much worse.
What was funny to see was how big he was, especially for the NICU. He dwarfed the other babies.

There is a lot more to this story, but for right now I have run out of computer time. I will post more a little later.

School pics

Ethan's Kindergarten pictures turned out great. Love this kid!



I love the cheesy smile years.

Soon I promise!

I know I've been horrible at keeping this updated the last little bit. I promise I will update with pictures of Adam as soon as I can make time for the computer.

Update...

I have to first start by apologizing about not keeping this up to date like I said I would.
I send the texts, post on Facebook, and forget to update the blog.

As you can imagine, Adam is still cooking despite his attempts to make an early appearance.

Yesterdays appointments were interesting. But let me back up.

Let's just say it has been a week and leave it at that. 
Adam is still doing great and getting bigger. They moved measurements to next week so it will be closer to the delivery on the 8th. 

We were monitored on thursday for most of the day with (again) a possible outlook of delivery since the contractions were so close and erratic. However they got slammed with patients and since my contractions don't make me dilate they sent me home with restrictions and to be uncomfortable there instead. 

So I'm still here with consistent contractions, pain and the urge to throw up. As long as I keep up on the meds things are a little better. 
I'm good with him coming any other day but today so I won't be doing anything but laying on the couch. 

Happy Halloween! 

This last week it was Harvest Break in Idaho. That meant Ethan was out of school for the entire week and got to spend it down here with James and me.

Luckily I was feeling really good this week so we were able to do a couple things throughout the week.

On Tuesday I took him to the barns that my sisters friend keeps her horses so he could finally ride one.  He had a great time and talked all the way home about how much fun it was.

34 weeks and still counting

Appointments went great yesterday.

NST showed a great heart beat and consistent contractions.

Ultrasounds showed the C-Pam still measuring the same as before, which is still good news and no hydrops anywhere.  It also showed how big Adam (yup, we decided on a name) is getting. Right now he is measuring between 35w2d and 38w (Yes the 38w is his head size). His average measurements showed him at 36 weeks. His estimated weight is 6lbs 8oz with a 1 lb variance.

Needless to say he is growing and is healthy.

We have now passed the pediatric surgeons goal of 5lbs and only have a few more days to hit their goal of 35 weeks.
As for me, same ol' same ol'. Watch contractions and take it easy.

Thank you again to all those who keep us in your prayers. We have been so blessed.