ONE YEAR IN PICTURES

March 2007
Newborn

April 2007
1 month

May 2007
2 months

June 2007
3 months

July 2007
4 months

August 2007
5 months

September 2007
6 months

October 2007
7 months

November 2007
8 months

December 2007
9 months

January 2008

10 months

February 2008
11 months

March 2008
12 months





HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KAI!!
You are truly loved! The LORD blessed us greatly by entrusting you to us, and your Father and I are truly thankful! We will do our best to raise you to love and serve the Lord!
You are truly an amazing, spirited child!!
<3

Kai's First Birthday

Kai just celebrated his first birthday yesterday. He's ONE! We had a small family get together for his birthday, and Mommy baked Kai his very own "special" birthday cake. The cake ended up looking more like an oversized brownie, and tasted something strange, but hey, all that matters is that Kai loved it! Kai got some pretty cool toys too. He got an awesome ball popper toy, that he loves, as well as a giant stuffed tree frog that's bigger than him! Mommy and Daddy got him his very first Tonka Truck. How cool is that?

Richard and I just can't believe how quickly one year has passed. What an awesome little bug! Richard and I are truly blessed!

Happy Birthday Little Bug

I'm One!

Daddy, Kai, and Kai's GIANT frog

Kai's Non-Dairy/Non-Soy Birthday Cake Brownie Thing

Digging into his cake

His right hand is full of cake

yum

little piggy

A buttered nose makes it easier to slide into next year.

Kaleb Pictures

Sorry it's been a while since I've done anything on this blog. I know you all understand though, this past month has been a very long, very busy one for us here in the Wilson household. Kaleb has been doing exceptionally well since his release from the hospital on the 15th. He's quite the little guy! He's a great little eater too! When Kaleb left the hospital on the 15th he weighed about 7lbs 4-5oz. Five days later he weighed in at 8lbs. 4oz. when we took him into the Doctor's to be circumcised. Then this past Monday, another 5 days from the last weigh in Kaleb weighed 9lbs 4 oz! So in 10 days Kaleb has gained almost 2 pounds! Needless to say, I'm not worried about whether he's getting enough to eat! What a little CHUNK!

Anyway here's some pictures from our most recent outing. Richard and I took all of the kids to Seal Beach so the girls could fly kites, for the first time ever! We all had a blast. I think Kai the most though. He sure loved the sand! He liked to crawl in it, roll in it, walk on it, and most of all I think he like to eat it! Enjoy the pics, and I promise I'll try and update this more often!

Look at those hands!

He's a copper head! (Hair)

He's holding his ear in his sleep.



Big Brother Love

Don't do it Kai!

He did it...





Mr. Helpful

He's always taking brother's pacifier

M. I. A.

Sorry we have been M I A lately. Soon, VERY soon I will have a new post with LOTS of pictures of baby Kaleb. We just haven't had the time and energy to post lately. I will do so soon, so bear with me.

Love you all!

Thanks for all of your prayers.

He's OFF oxygen!!

Sorry it’s been so long since the last Kaleb update. I really didn’t mean to leave you all hanging on pins and needles! It’s just that these last 8 days have been EXHAUSTING!! Not only physically, but emotionally, and mentally as well... Not to mention, hectic. Going to and from the hospital visiting Kaleb, and then trying to continue with our regular schedules with the girls and everything. It’s been very trying to say the least!

On to the good news...

Today is day 8 that Kaleb has been in the NICU at Miller’s Children’s Hospital. Everything was still pretty much how I last mentioned until Tuesday. Tuesday is the day that I got to breastfeed Kaleb for the first time, with the much needed assistance of Giselle, one of the hospital’s lactation consultants. Kaleb did really well the first time. He immediately latched on properly, and nursed for about 30 minutes... like a little champ!! Wednesday I also got to nurse, and nursed Kaleb twice. Again, he nursed like a champ! Tuesday and Wednesday, however, Kaleb was still needing oxygen. He was between 25-30% oxygen and still on 1liter per minute.

Today is a whole DIFFERENT story though! Kaleb’s feeding schedule is 8-11-2-5 day and night. I breastfed for the 11-2-5 feedings, and he did beautifully! Up until today Kaleb remained on oxygen, and every time he took a bottle his oxygen saturation levels would drop, so the nurses would have to increase both the % of oxygen as well as the flow. BUT when Kaleb breastfed his oxygen saturation levels did NOT drop, and remained stable. So I decided last night to nurse as much as I could. The 11am feeding went very well. Again with the assistance of Giselle, Kaleb latched on the first time, and nursed very well. At the 2pm feeding, the respiratory therapist removed Kaleb from oxygen all together! (PRAISE GOD!) So for the 2 and 5pm feedings Kaleb was completely OFF of oxygen, and not only did his saturation levels remain steady, but they INCREASED throughout the ENTIRE FEEDING!! Needless to say I will be at ALL of the other feedings to breastfeed, and make sure that he doesn’t get another bottle. I don’t want him to have to go back on oxygen for one second if it’s within my power to do so. Which it is since I’m breastfeeding, and he is doing SO much better with the breast than the bottle!

YAY!!

So today was the best day we’ve had so far. Still no day as to when he will come home, but if he keeps this up, it will definitely be sooner than later! Not only was today a really good day for Kaleb, but for me as well! With the help of Jodi and Giselle, the lactation consultant’s, I was successful in getting Kaleb latched on properly the first attempt at his 5pm feeding, and also found out why I had such a hard and painful time nursing my three others. They have helped me SO much, and I already feel MUCH better, and more confident about breastfeeding with this baby than I ever have before. YAY! I might actually make it to 12 months this time around! That’s my goal. 12 months.

So there’s the long overdue update people! Thank you so much for ALL of your prayers, good wishes, and support! We really couldn’t have done this by ourselves, and in our own strength, and for that we are ever so grateful! Not only do we have an AWESOME GOD, but we have awesome friends and family!

THANK YOU!!!!!

Kaleb Update

Ok, here's an update on the latest news of our little baby boy.

Kaleb is still in the NICU at Millers Children's Hospital at LB Memorial. He is still having respiratory distress. He is NOT however CRITICAL in ANY way! (The best news of all! Praise Jesus!) His turns for the worse are NOT a matter of life or death, but a matter of more days in the hospital. Kaleb is still receiving 4 liters of oxygen but is down from 100% oxygen to 50% oxygen. (For now. He keeps going back and forth between 100% and less) He's still having rapid breathing patterns with chest retractions, which basically means that he's having to work twice as hard for every breath. He is now starting to have a hard time under any sort of stress. (Which means touch essentially...) When he is touched, moved, or held he starts to stress, which puts him in more respiratory distress. So our contact with Kaleb right now is very minimal. He was given ADVAN (sp?) over the night to calm him, because apparently he became so agitated that he was unable to calm down and was in a lot of distress. He is still on IV fluids, and has not had any milk yet. (The hospital has my colostrum and milk stored for when the time comes.) We have not been given a time frame as to when Kaleb will be coming home since there are so many variables involved. His breathing must be completely unassisted and stable for a specific amount of time before they will introduce milk. Then, they must monitor his milk intake, and tolerance closely to see how well he does. Then and only then will they consider releasing him. However we don't know how long it will take for him to gain control of his breathing, and for it to become stable. The good news is that he IS breathing voluntarily and is not intubated. The other good news is that there are no signs of any type of infections, and his chest x-rays have been coming back clear. All in all he is doing well, is healthy, and the best news of all is that he is in the Lord's hands! Who better than THE GREAT HEALER?

Additional Update:
Richard and I went to the hospital this afternoon around 4:00. Kaleb was doing okay, no big upsets throughout the day really. However shortly after we got there his Jaundice results came back and per the doctor's orders Kaleb was started on light therapy. When we got to the hospital Kaleb was still receiving 4 liters of oxygen per minute but it was down to 40%. By the time we left it was back up to 65%. He wasn't too happy about the eye mask he had to wear for the light therapy. We were also finally given a name for what has been going on with Kaleb. It's called Respiratory Distress Syndrome. (aka RDS) It is most common with preemies, but apparently it can also affect full term babies. The short of it all is that his lungs were premature at birth (even though he was a full term baby....) There is no time frame for when they get better, and leave the hospital. However his symptoms all seem to fall in line with Moderate-Severe RDS... which usually means a longer recovery, which means a longer NICU stay. But who's to say he won't be better in a few days? It's all in the Lord's hands....

Pray that the LORD would guide the doctor's actions and decisions, and that the LORD's healing hand be upon Kaleb. That starting from birth, Kaleb will be a testament of GOD's power, healing, and love! That Richard and I would NOT lose focus, or take our eyes off of GOD during this hard emotional time, which is NOT easy, let me tell you!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! Richard and I could definitely go this alone!

He's Here!!

KALEB SETH WILSON

March 9th 2008

7:45 PM

7lbs 7oz 19 1/2 inches

Proud Mommy and Daddy!

Desperation at it's Greatest!

Taking the castor oil yesterday didn't really work at all for me. Mainly because I took the recommended dosage off of the bottle, too afraid to take the 3 Tbsp. that was recommended by all the home birthing websites. I started having strong contractions shortly after taking the castor oil yesterday that lasted all day and evening, but by nighttime they were gone, and I was too chicken to take more... After walking today again, still with no major changes, (the contractions are there, but not getting stronger or closer) I'm desperate enough to do ANYTHING to get this labor into full swing! So Richard and I stopped by the drug store and picked up more castor oil. When we got home I tried to take 3 Tbsp Castor Oil with OJ and 1 tsp baking soda to NO AVAIL! I couldn't get the stuff down! Richard just stood there watching me gag and spit up the nasty concoction, and it got him thinking. (This is one of the reasons why I LOVE THIS MAN SO MUCH!!!) He came up with a BRILLIANT idea! You see I have a really hard time swallowing ANY liquid that is foul tasting, and always have. But I've never had a problem swallowing pills, even big 'ole horse pills. So he had me try to swallow a cherry tomato whole. SUCCESS! Then he made me what we're dubbing TOMATO BOMBS to swallow whole. Basically he emptied out a cherry tomato with a straw, filled it with castor oil, and I swallowed it whole with a lot of water. The whole making process took a while, and swallowing smaller, easier to swallow whole cherry tomatoes definitely took a while. But we got results! I was able to get down 3 Tbsp of castor oil with NO problems!! (Did I mention how much I LOVE this man!?) He's so creative! Indeed my knight in shining armor!!! Here's some pictures to better amuse you....

First the Cherry Tomato

Insert straw

Suck out the insides

Fill with Castor Oil

Voila! A Tomato Bomb

Not For Lack of Trying!!

So today at 12:00pm I took roughly 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Castor Oil. (YUCK!!) Early Sunday morning I woke up with an insane amount of pressure on my pelvic bones internally... That pressure only continued to increase throughout the day, to the point of it becoming almost unbearable!! I've had continuous contractions since Tuesday of last week, but am feeling them less and less, because of the increase in pressure. Today, I am definitely dilated to at least 2 possibly 3 cm. (And Richard was able to feel the baby's head at the cervix!!) So after working up the will power I finally took the castor oil, and am PRAYING that it works!! Hopefully we'll have a baby tonight or tomorrow! I will keep you all updated for sure!