The Swearingen Family

The things we take for granted...

2009-03-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Boy, I guess I have been spoiled lately because my family has for the most part been in good health.. that is until last week, It all started last Wednesday when I came down with the stomach flu.. yUcK!!! I seriously gelt soooo lousy, then in spite all of my attempts at handwashing and such on friday morning JJ got it.. he started throwing up like every 10-15 minutes and could barely even stand up, with JJ, there is no messing around... this kid has NO room to spare in losing any weight or any water in his little body so I took him to his doctor. One look at him and she said, "looks like he needs to go upstairs and will be spending the night with us" ExaCtly what i hoped she wOulD NOT say... Of course then while we were in her office, Emma says mommy I dont feel good my tummy hurts.. and she too began to vomit!!! Thank goodness for husbands and daddys though... I called him at work and said "you HAVE to come, I CANNOT do this by myself with both of them being sick... " Emma needed to go home and rest.

Daddy got to the doctors,... took Emma home and JJ and I began the dreaded hospital admission.. seemed like it took FOREVER... but finally we got up to our room in the pediatric unit at St. Lukes Magic Valley Regional medical center.. all JJ wanted to do was just lay there. He was such a brave big boy! The nurse came in and put in his IV and he didnt even cRy! he didnt Flinch, he just layed there and let them do what needed to be done.... the nurses could hardly believe it! I was so proud of him... He did however, Cry when they made me take off all of his clothes and put him on the scale.. lol

a few hours later, they had to draw blood... this time he still did'nt move but he did cry just a little.. his vein blew and he had quite the bump and bruise. still he was very brave... the next few hours he just slept and felt miserable..

If any of you have stayed the night at the hospital, you know that sleeping is pretty much out of the question.. most of the night I sat in a chair watching over him.. and then part of it , i cuddled up next to him on his uncomfortable bed... then of course the IV alarm went off just as I fell asleep,... they came in to fix that... then an hour or so later, JJ pulled his IV out while he slept... he was holding it in his hand while it dripped blood! I knew this meant that he would have to be stuck again with a new IV... uggggg!!!

I was so mad... just before bedtime I told the nurse,... dont you think we should put something over that so that it doesnt come out while he sleeps... but she said NOPE it should be fine!! well she was wRoNg!!.. they had put his IV in and then put it on an arm board to hold it still but didnt put anything over that... uggggg.... anyhow, they got the new IV into his other hand this time, and then put the arm board on and put a washcloth OVER it so that he couldnt pull it out this time... my poor baby!!!

the next day, he still felt pretty lousy... he still couldnt eat or hold anything down.... we stayed the entire next day and then FINALLY at around ten o'clock that night we got to go home.... Emma was also still feeling pretty sick and daddy had been up all night with her as well so needless to say, we were a pretty exausted family... Sunday we all slept off and on the entire day! Monday, dad went back to work, and the kids slowly started feeling a little bit better... all of us still have a little grumbly in our tummies and arent eating well as of yet, and JJ through the whole ordeal lost 2 and a half pounds.. he was holding strong at 24 pounds for quite sometime but now is down to 21.8 pounds so we need to get him eating again...

through all of this I have realized that for the most part, we have been a very lucky family! and i will never take our health for granted again!! I am so thankful for EvEry day that we wake up healthy and happy... it has been one mIseRaBle week for us! It also makes me dread even more, the impending upcoming hospital stay that we will have for JJ's surgery... It makes me so sad to see my baby sick, or in any pain....

In this last picture, i wanted to show JJ's security tag lol... they put it on him like he was under some sort of "house arrest"... it's so nobody can steal the kids... neat idea huh? you'd think so, however every time that we tried to take a walk or anything on saturday it would go off and everyone would start freaking out!! anyways, I am just so happy he is feeling better! and Emma too!

And then there's Dawson....

2009-02-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hmmm where to begin here... again I am reminded of how quickly life passes by,.. Dawson turned..........

"14"

On February 11th. The day after Emma turned 5... This year was a little more difficult because it was the first year EVER that he has spent his Birthday away from us.. But, since he is now living with his dad and Carrie he was there for his Birthday.. It seemed sort of surreal but since he is older, he doesn't really like a big fuss made anymore for his Birthday, he prefers just the presents lol..

I cannot BELIEVE that "I" am old enough to have a teenager!!! again, when did that happen???

Dawson has always been a little ball of fire! He is very stubborn and very sMaRt!!.. He makes me very proud and I miss having him around here all the time to joke around with! He is a great kid and is doing well in school,. He takes Kick Boxing classes at a gym ran by a UFC fighter and is actually getting really good from what I hear.. so, Maybe someday we will all see him fighting in the Octagon ha ha...

Lately i have been going through alot of old photos and it brings back so many memories.. Dawson being the oldest, always felt that he needed to "protect" me and take care of me after his dad and I split up.. He grew up way to fast and way too young!.. I am happy that he is finally relaxing a bit and enjoying life, even if that means that he has to live away from me in order to do it!! so in the event that he ever decides to finally read my blog, I feel the strong need to embarass him here lol j/k.. seriously though

Dawson, I love you SOOOO very much... More than you will ever know, You are growing into such a wonderful young man. You have brought so much Joy into my life over the past 14 years.. being my firstborn, i can honestly say that i didnt understand unconditional love until I had you.. You helped me to mature and grow up myself!! I love and miss you so much and you are welcome to come here ANYTIME!!!! we ALL love you.. thanks for being a good big brother too!!

"Happy 14th Birthday Dawson"

~Time Flies~

2009-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

WeLL, It seems like the past few weeks I have found myself asking "wHeRe has all the TiMe gone"??? on several occassions. On February 10th my BaBy girl turned......

!!!! 5 !!!!

It seems like in a blink of an eye, we went from me being pregnant with her, to her being a whopping 5 years old... how did that HaPpEn????

it feels like just YeStErDaY that I was holding my tiny girl in my arms.. she was soooo small weighing in at only 4 lbs 10.6 ounces and 17 inches long.. her tiny head fit in the palm of my hand!! And did i mention that she was STUNNINGLY BeAuTiFuL!!!!!

I know, EVERYONE thinks that their little baby is the CUTEST baby ever born, but seriously Emma was and IS a BEAUTIFUL little girl.. She is the kindest little girl I have ever known, she has the biggest heart and would do anything just to help anyone out!!.. She will give her brother her very LAST piece of candy, (even though she REALLY wanted to have it herself) and she gives the BeSt HoLdS in the whole wOrLd..

we are so lucky to have her be a part of our lives.... I always wanted a little girl, to do her hair, dress up with, and play barbies... and she has exceeded those expectations by FAR! She does my hair and makeup on a regular basis (good thing we only stay at home ha ha) and she is my little model for my photography.

right now she says that she will stay our little girl forever, that she never wants to grow up and the only guy she still wants to marry is her daddy, HOWEVER, i know this time wont last and that someday she wil lwant to spend her time doing more "important" things then hang out with us, that she will someday find her very own Prince Charming, get married and have kids of her own.. and i WISH those days would NeVeR come!!!!

She tells us

Love ya mommy, and Love ya daddy! a Million times a day, and i could never get enough of hearing it!! SO,......

to my little

BaBy angel, I LoVe you to the mOoN and bAcK,

more than you will Ever kNoW...

you have brought More LOVE And haPpInesS

to my LiFe than i even cOuld have imagined and I am SO

PROUD to not only be your MommY

but your very best FrIeNd foReVer!!!!

HaPpY BiRthDaY Princess...

and many more to come,

you are loved more than you will ever know!!!

Almost caught up...

2009-02-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i think we are getting close to caught up!! HOORAY!!.. So, we moved here, rented a house and the kids went to school.. the boys visited their dad and his family in Salt Lake city about one weekend a month and then we rotated holidays and split the summer.. This worked for a LONG time but as the boys got older and Dawson into his teenage years, he sorta got tired of the small town.. we will get back to that in a minute..

Once We moved back here to Twin, I got involved with a national group called MOMS club.. it stands for Moms Offering Moms Support... it was SUCH a great idea and has been fantastic for the little ones.. we do playdates, gymnastics, moms night out, arts and crafts, parties etc etc... Emma is SO shy so it helps out alot... Emma also too dance class over the summer and she REALLY enjoyed that, so we will get her back into that this summer.

JJ has continued to slowly grow, and is now 2 years old.. he is just like any other 2 year old running around getting into everything lol.. tourmenting his big sister ha ha... We finally made a trip this past November up to Seattle to see Dr. Hatch (the amazing surgeon that we found in New Mexico)... it was quite a drive for us but well worth it!... Dr. Hatch said that JJ is doing AMAZINGLY WELL.. and that he is very pleased with his progress.. HOWEVER, he still wasnt quite ready for the closure surgery.. SO, we plan to do that this coming summer. We want JJ's body to be big enough and READY for everything to go back inside. JJ was also born with bilateral inguinal hernias, so his intestines pop out into his testicles.. (i know sounds painful huh)... they hope to fix that at the same time, but so far, when we push the Omphalocele in, it pushes the hernias further out and vice versa.. so, for now we just continue to wait!! and we are MORE than okay with that.. if i had my choice he would never have the surgery but OBVIOUSLY that is NOT an option..

So, back to the boys, Dawson and Cody decided after spending half the summer with their dad, that they wanted to try out living there for a school year.. it was a TOUGH decision on all of us, but we decided to give it a shot.. They really wanted the opportunity to get to know that side of their family better, plus they were expecting a baby boy who was born this past December, so their family went from a family of 4 to a family of 7 and ours from a family of 6 to 4 so that has been pretty interesting! They are doing well there though and are very very happy,... so , i dont know if they will want to come back!.. and while that makes me so very sad, (they will never understand how sad), I want them to be happy and so i will do what is best for them..

So, now I think I can get on to telling you all about our boring every day lives and little things that happen in it HOORAY!! .. last April we took JJ and Emma to Disneyland so that was A blast.. they both LOVED the plane rides and seeing all of their favorite characters.. boy it was EXHAUSTING!!!!!!! below in my slide show you can see some of our favorite pics from that trip.. Then lets see what else, oh this past Nov when we took JJ to the dr in Seattle, we came back by way of the Oregon Coast and were able to see Seaside Oregon which we absolutely adore.. there are lots of pics of that trip too! I will continue to add pics and updates as things happen.. Below is a picture that miss Emma drew of our family this evening that i thought i would share..

Moving forward..

2009-02-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

o.k. where was I?? so, we went home after 25 days, and came home with Oxygen and a feeding tube.. that was pretty interesting to say the least.. as if it is'nt enough to carry around a baby in a car seat, we had a backpack oxygen tank with tubes hooked to the baby.. The first few months were pretty HeCTic. we had visits with the Pediatrician like once every other week to monitor JJ's weight gain (or in his case LacK thereof) and we had an occupational therapist that would come once a week to do play therap to try to make sure that he was on track for his age..

JJ's Omphalocele grew completely covered in skin by about the time he was 3 months old so we were able to stop putting the cream on it,. it also got smaller as he grew which was the whole idea of waiting.. some of it, fell back into his insides like it was suppose to and some did not.. It sort of looked like a huge hernia..

JJ had a hard time learning to hold his head up.. I guess i never really thought of it much, but we all use our abdominal muscles more than you would think, when holding our head up.. he had a hard time with that because his abdominal muscles werent there.. He had a tough time learning to sit up, and obviously could NOT lay on his tummy.... Those boppy pillows that they make now were a Godsend for us.. He also got visits once a month from a home health nurse that gave him shots to prevent RSV.

JJ gained weight VERY slowly and was tiny for a long time.. He did however finally start nursing only AFTER being released from the hospital!! The reason he has always had such a tough time with weight gain is that he breathes faster than a typical child.. due to the fact that his lungs grew long and skinny,.. and since he was always breathing so fast he would burn off all of his calories just with breathing.. (boy wouldnt that be nice for any of us who WisH we could lose weight lol)

When JJ turned 9 months old, we decided to move back to Twin Falls IDAHO.. With that move, we decided to see how well he would do off of the feeding tube.. up until that point he was having it placed mostly just at night and it would then be hooked to a pump that would slowly dispense food all night long.. I know what you are thinking.. "boy that would be lucky for when he was a newborn, since the pump would feed him during the night i would'nt have to get up right??" WRONG...he still woke up every 3 hours to eat just like any other baby.. Plus I was having to stick the feeding tube down his nose and into his stomach almost every night at that age because he would pull it out all the time (little stinker!).. it became a process that we both dreaded so it was time to see how he would hold his own without it ... and HE DID!! after the feeding tube was out, he never lost any weight.. He continued to steadily SLOWLY gain weight!.. Plus he was right on target at that time with all of his skills.. he was Crawling and trying to stand even..

Next , we took off the oxygen.. and again were surprised.. we just slowly weaned him off and he did GREAT.. he had NO breathing problems and again didnt lose any weight.. so, we never looked back!! We got him a good pediatrician here (after throwing a few fits!) and she said that he was good to go without it.. we were ELATED!! JJ found a whole knew freedom in not being attatched and held back with tubes and so did we... like i said we had been using a backpack oxygen tank when we went out, and then around the house we had a bigger thank on wheels that we had to roll around everywhere.. and with the tube in his nose to deliver the oxygen he couldnt really get very far from it so that part SuCkEd!!

John found a job here without any problems (actually before we moved) and the kids started school and all was fantastic!..

Here are pics with the timeline of his recovery.... all of the captions for each picture are located BELOW the pic...

This pic is right after birth.. obviously i have posted it before but i wanted to give you a timeline on his Omphalocele.. see the dark part inside is the liver, and then there was a fluid filled sack sort of thing at the side of it..

This is JJ's Omphalocele at 6 Days old.. the first time i was able to apply the cream and dressing.. Amazing how since birth it went from clear to like this,.. it started hardening up as well, you can see his umbilical cord at the end of it..

This is the Omphalocele at 2 weeks old.. the pink part on the bottom corner is actually new healthy skin growing... he was still in the hospital here..

The above pic is JJ's first REAL bath.. fully in water.. he is home now in this pic and is 1 month old.. up until now he's only had spounge baths.. the umbilical cord was STILL on at this point.. it finally had to be cut off..

This pic is at 1.5 months.. you can see all the skin how it is just gowing up over the Omphalocele

and finally this pic was taken at around 2.5 months, probably closer to 3.. all that is left is a little scab looking part on the bottom, you can also see how it sort of sinks into his body... when he breathes out though it pushes out...

continued some more.....

2009-01-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

OK, bare with me... I want to get this thing all caught up to date so that I can move forward with it. However, between taking care of a 2 and 4 year old, my time is limited as to when I can even "think" let alone sit down and type lol.
SO, JJ was born and sent directly to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I was able to tour the unit before he was born so I knew somewhat of what to expect. I wasnt however prepared for the pain from the C-section, or the sadness that I would have sitting in my hospital room without my baby next to me. I was in the same area as everyone else who had just had babies, only they got to have their babies in little beds in their rooms and my arms were empty, JJ was on a floor below me, and that soon would become my second home away from home. I was released a few days after the c-section back to my motel room, but would spend EVERY possible minute with JJ. John had to go back to work after a few days, and the boys were starting school, thank goodness I had my family and John at home to worry about all of that.
now back to JJ's care.. He was placed on a ventilator a few hours after birth. The reason for this was because he was breathing too fast on his own. In a sense he was hyperventilating so they thought they would help him out.. after 24 hours though, he came off the ventilator and was put on a regular nasal canula (oxygen in his nose) and also an NG (feeding) tube was placed in his nose and down to his tummy... One of the hardest things for me to see while JJ was in the NICU was that hospitals always have volunteers, and they would come in and hold and rock the little babies, but this never happened with JJ,. he was "off limits" because everyone was afraid of squishing his Omphalocele.. his "O".. even alot of the nurses were hesitant with him.. that meant that i needed to spend all the time that I possibly could there, and I did.. I continued to try to get him to breast feed, even though he would'nt take it and would feed and change him just as if he were at home.. I was determined to get my baby home to our family where he belonged.. every day I would wrap his "O" with the cream and the gauze and just be there with him.. what else could I do??
JJ spent 25 LOOOONG days there in the NICU.. during that time I learned to change his dressings, watch his oxygen and learned how to place his feeding tube.. finally after spending a night in the parent room with him and without having any problems we were cleared to GO HOME!!!!
Some of the many things you worry about with "O" babies are "how can he wear regular clothes?" how do we hold him without squishing it?, "what kind of carseat can he go in that will be safe and secure without squishing his "O"..... through trial and error we figured it all out!!

When I first visited the hospital while pregnant, the dr's there told me that they don't know why but they will see this condition a handful of times and then not again for several years... JJ's was the first there in 7 i think it was. but after JJ, there were 3 more babies born with it and 1 of those unfortunately did not survive.. I was able to use what we had gone through and talk to the mothers of those babies while they were pregnant and try to re-assure them.. they were able to meet our little man and see what a miracle he was!! All of the dr's and nurses had fallen in love with JJ and we still keep in touch!
We were so blessed to have gone to the hospital we did, because just a few years earlier, one of the founding doctors odf the paint and wait method had moved from Seattle Washington to Albuquerque New Mexico!! (and has since gone back to Seattle... I truly believe it all happened for a reason and he was the answer to our prayers!)

continued....

2009-01-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ok so, where was I? So we were pregnant with JJ and at 10 weeks along, I went to the dr for a regular checkup and they did an ultra sound because I had some cramping, John was at home watching Emma and the Dr sat there for a few minutes and then called in another dr. and then told me that they thought that there was something wrong with the baby. They decided to send me right away to a maternal fetal medicine specialist in Boise. Of course I was so worried and went home crying and told John. He told me to just relax and not be stressed out and we will figure it out.. (easier said than done of course). A week later I went to the doctor in Boise, He told me just relax, the dr's in Twin Falls are always sending patients up here and it is usually a false alarm, I could tell however by the look on his face when the ultra sound started that in our case that wasnt true. It was no false alarm. Our baby was growing with part of his insides on the outside. It is an abdominal wall defect called an Omphalocele and up until that time I had never heard of it before but I was about to begin the biggest journey of my life and by the end would be far more educated on the condition than I could ever imagine.

Omphalocele (pronounced um-FAL-uh-seel) is a hole in the muscles and skin at the belly button (called the umbilical ring).
As a baby grows inside the mother’s womb, some of the baby’s organs start to develop outside of the baby’s belly. Later in development, these organs are supposed to move inside the baby’s belly. In omphalocele, they do not move inside the belly. Instead, there’s a hernia, or abnormal hole, through the baby’s umbilical cord. The organs stay outside the baby’s belly, and the umbilical cord forms a sac around them. There may be only a small bulge of organs, such as a part of the intestines, on the outside. Or there may be a large bulge with several organs, like the intestines and liver.

This condition affects 1 to 2 in 10,000 children. It’s more common in babies of mothers over age 35. In our case however, I was 31 almost 32 when JJ was born.

About half of babies with omphalocele have other birth defects, such as problems with their heart, spine, digestive tract, lungs, and urinary tract. Some babies have chromosome abnormalities. We were told that the larger the Omphalocele the better for JJ and the less of a chance of him having other abnormalities. Alot of babies born with this condition are also born with Down Syndrome (trisomy 21) or Trisomy 18, which means too little or too many chromosomes. Children with Trisomy 18 RARELY survive. There was no real reason as to WHY our baby had this defect so we needed to have genetic studies done as well as an amniocentesis so that we would know what we were facing.

At that time we were told that the better option for us would to be to terminate our pregnancy and try again. Obviously we left in tears. I was scheduled to return to the specialists every 3 weeks. Boise is aproximately 2 hours from Twin Falls and with 3 other kids that would prove to be a difficult task.

After several more visists to the specialist, we found out that JJ's Omphalocele contained all of his liver and a little bit of his intestines. It was so scary because at every ultrasound it seemed bigger and bigger, it was equivalant to the size of his head. We went ahead and had the amnio even though the outcome would NOT change regardless of the problems that we were facing termination was just NOT AN OPTION FOR US!! Every time i left the doctor they would tell me again, that "termination is the best choice here"... HOWEVER, the amnio results came back and we were told that we were having a baby boy, and that there were NO CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES.. needless to say, we were ECSTATIC!!!

We were told in boise that our only option would be to have him delivered by C-section (if he stayed in the womb that long) and that after birth they would be doing surgery immediatly to try to "fit" his liver back in.. That these babies typically are born with severe lung problems because their lungs grow long and skinny because of the extra room but that they usually do not function well.. and that at that point either the surgery would kill him or it wouldnt.. That for us was UNACCEPTABLE.. we did alot of research and found that in several other hospitals in the nation, they practiced a method called "Paint and Wait" in this method they take a cream called sylvadine (typically used for burn patients) and apply it to the Omphalocele several times a day to promote skin growth and ward off bacteria. So essentially they would "paint" the defect with the cream, the skin would grow up over it, and we would "wait" until he was big enough for his body to accept having everything shoved back in.. for us this was FANTASTIC news.. and the ONLY option.. we knew we needed to go somewhere that this could be done.. So, we packed up our family, sold our house and moved to New Mexico where this would be an option and where my family already was!.. Fast forward through the middle of the pregnancy, now we get to the last trimester.. I now was traveling 3 hours to a Doctor in Albuquerque for my visits.. I was told there that i needed to MOVE to a motel right next to the hospital and wait for our baby boys arrival. SO, that is what i did.. I moved there on July 23 and my C section was scheduled for August 1st.. WE were very excited and scared all at the same time.

I had my c section on the morning of August 1st, and that was by far the scariest day of my life., no parent should ever have to be faced with the reality that your child may not survive. That morning we heard the very very best thing that a parent can hear! our baby cried.. which meant that he was BREATHING ON HIS OWN.. we were told that he probably wouldnt and would need to be on a ventilator... they showed us his little face and took him away IMMEDIATELY.. i didnt see him for several hours but when i did.. it was the best feeling ever.. he was BEAUTIFUL.. i will add the rest of our story shortly.. here are some pics though ...just to give you and idea....

Here it is all in a nutshell..

2009-01-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so first of all let me tell you all about what has been going on with us.. I will start wayyyyy back... So, after high school WAY back in 1993 many of you know, I married Garritt Wilkey.. WEll we had two boys together.. Dawson who was born in 1995 and Cody in 1997.. We were together until 2000. Up until that point i had been a stay at home mom.. Well, of course i had to get a job, so i was lucky enough to find one doing something I really enjoyed. I got hired on as a 911/Police/Fire/Medical dispatcher.. It was an AMAZING job which i actually enjoyed going to every day. I worked there during the Olympics and would'nt have changed anything about it, other than the shift work of course. I had full custody of the boys and Garritt had visitation. He went on to get married to a girl that had a daughter and then they had a little girl together and just recently a baby boy.. Anyways back to me ha ha.. WELL, while working at VECC I was set up by a friend with a Police officer/corporal that worked in South Jordan. We hit it off right away and have been together ever since. John and I got married in April of 2003, He didnt have any children so we decided to have one together, when I got pregnant with Emma I had alot of problems with the pregnancy and stopped working again. She was born in February of 2004. Up until that point John had been a police officer for almost 10 years and together we decided that it wasnt the best profession to raise kids in or SLC the best location either, we longed for a smaller community to raise the kids in. His parents were living in Twin Falls Idaho at the time so we came for a visit and decided we LOVED it and needed to move.. so we did in the summer of 2004 John hung up his police badge, belt, gun and we moved on over...

A few years later, after having the boys spending half the summers and holidays with their dad in SLC we decided that Emma being so much younger could really use another sibling that would be around all the time (she was getting pretty spoiled during the time they were gone, it was like she was an only child. She was also the first Girl on Johns side of the family EVER so spoiled that way too!) We got pregnant with our baby boy in December of 2005. Now here is where the story gets long and difficult..

Something new..

2009-01-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Ok so here's the deal... I have recently found sooo many old friends and family through facebook and blogging and I read your blogs daily. As you all know I have another blog that showcases mainly my photography but I feel weird posting on it about my day to day happenings because other people look at it. SO I have decided to make this one! I read all of your witty posts in all of your blogs and I am not nearly as funny or creative as most of you but at least this way, everyone can keep an eye on the kids and how they are doing and I can use this as a journal of sorts!