long weekend

What a weekend!

On Saturday we left Richfield a few minutes late (2.5 hrs actually) and headed to Provo for the NICU 30 year reunion. We were excited to go and hopefully run into a few people from the NICU. Kurt took Gavin to do some of the activities while I fed Jenna, Gav loved it they had face painting, fishing for prizes, and lots of treats. While I was setting there feeding Jenna I saw one of Jenna's angels walking down towards me. I was surprised that tears started to fill my eyes. Here name was Annie and she was the best thing about the NICU. She helped us daily try to feed Jenna. She was so sweet to Jenna and such an advocate for her. I remember her telling me before we left, "many people are going to try and count her out and say she cant do things, you treat her like a normal baby and she will do anything!" And that is exactly how I treat Jenna. We also ran into one of the receptionists that works at the NICU, with all those late nights you find anybody to talk to. She was a really cute girl named Bonnie, she came back to the reunion twice to see if we came! What special people you meet there!

Then on Sunday we drove to Spanish Fork to meet with the Hallow's family about their sweet daughter who has a cochlear implant. We received a lot of information about the implants and it was wonderful to see how well their daughter is doing. She also invited a friend of hers whose daughter has an implant and it was good to hear her story as well. God just continues to bless us all with miracles and she is one of them. I am so thankful to them for opening up their home for us!

Monday started off with an eye appointment at the Moran Eye Center in Riverton. We met with a new Doctor, Dr. Larsen. He was wonderful. He was so good with Jenna. He amazingly enough said that Jenna has equal vision in both eyes. Remember when Jenna was 5 days old they told us she was blind in one eye and missing the optic nerve. Well thankfully that doctor was WAY wrong. I call him Dr. Meaniepants. :) Have to have humor when you go to so many appointments! She does still cross her eyes, mainly her right one, so we scheduled a surgery to correct that towards the end of July. They will also open up her tear ducts so that her eyes wont be so runny.

Tuesday was her ABR, hearing test. I was hoping for a miracle that it would have different results than last time, but it didn't. It still showed profound hearing loss in both ears. I will meet with the ear doctor on Tuesday and we are hoping to start progress on getting her an implant.

Jenna continues to be such a wonderful baby, I couldn't ask for more! You would never know that anything was wrong with her, she has such a sweet spirit about her. I feel so lucky to even have her here in my home that it makes things like her hearing and ears seem like nothing to deal with. I never realized how much we take for granted. The lady we met at the Hallow's likened the hearing loss to a death. You mourn these things and it takes time to get over the thought of your child having an "imperfection." With Jenna I always say God gave her a body and earthly life, the rest is a luxury we can deal with not having. I know she communicates with me in her own way. Her and Gavin have a bond that seems unbreakable, I know they were friends in Heaven, you can just see it.

And of course after having a long weekend away and busy, we are all sick! So now I will work on getting us all better! And in 1 week we are headed to DISNEYLAND!! I have never been so excited, this family needs a vacation!

7 months and finally growing!

It is so crazy how fast time goes by, I can't believe Jenna is 7 months old! She is still small enough that it seems like I just had her! She is doing really well even with everything stacked against her. She just amazes me. Jenna started rolling over about 2 months ago and has yet to quit. You can not leave her alone anymore, because she will roll right onto her stomach, she hasn't quite figured out how to get back over. She is doing really well holding her head up, lots better just the last week or so. I have started to put her in her bumbo chair and she is doing fairly well with it. Her physical therapist was really impressed with all that she is able to do. She has already surpassed Gav, he didn't move until he was 9 months old. So anything Jenna does is amazing to me:) Jenna loves her thumb, fist, finger..whatever she can get in her mouth to chew on! She is starting to eat more and loves the oatmeal cereal. She is 13 pounds and growing right on the curve on the growth chart. She is such a cute snugly baby. She has become really vocal lately too, especially during church;) She loves to talk and play with Gavin, he is such a sweet older brother, they are lucky to have each other.

Last week we went to Primary Children's in Riverton and Jenna got her hearing aids. They are SO cute! Of course I got them pink with sparkles!! They are a hassle to keep on however! Her ear is so small and the piece that goes behind her ear is heavy so I have to Velcro it to her headband! She hasn't had much improvement hearing, but they didn't think she would. She has to wear them for 6 months in order to be a candidate for cochlear implants. The other problem is that her ear canal is so extremely small, the piece that goes in her ear can't go down very far to transmit the sound to her inner ear. So one more obstacle she has to overcome, what a strong baby she is!

We have appointments in May for her eyes. We are praying that she can have sight in both eyes, the Dr. said she mainly needs to get bigger to be able to tell. She seems to see the whole world if you ask me!

We love our little angel and I feel so extremely blessed to be her parent. I have had many people lately tell me that they read my blog and it makes me feel so happy to know that Jenna's story is reaching others. (please leave a comment so I know who you are:)) I know she was sent to this earth for that purpose. I hope her story helps anybody going through this or a similar situation. Please know that if you have questions please ask them, I will answer anything! I put everything on this blog, even those things that are emotionally hard for me. But I feel that I need to, it is somewhat therapeutic for me....strange huh!

Here are a few pictures of Jenna Baby even one with her new Hearing Aids!!

Easter

We had such a great Easter weekend! We started Saturday with my Dad's 50th birthday party! We all got together for steaks at Krista's house followed by a great party for Dad. We all told him our top 5 memmories from the past years, it was really fun to see what we all had picked out. Then on Sunday we woke Gavin up to see what the bunny brought him. He was so excited. He had asked for suckers and Woody and Buzz. The Easter Bunny brought him, Toy Story, suckers and a new spring outfit. Jenna got a new outfit and lots of treats that I have been eating:) and some new hair bows. I asked Gavin if he wanted to wear his new outfit and he said "No thanks mom." That is his response to everything lately. He is funny! We had lunch and an egg hunt at Sally's and dinner and another egg hunt at Amy's. It was a fun busy weekend. I love getting together with everyone!

Last week we took Jenna up to Primary's for an eye appointment. Overall it went pretty good. We really liked the Doctor! Primary Children's is in a league of its own when it comes to doctors. They are angels sent to help kids. They want nothing more than to help them!

He said that Jenna definitely has an abnormality in her left eye called excavated disc anomaly. Pretty much means that her optic nerve is in a cup shape instead of round. He said that she could very well have vision in that eye. He said that he could tell that electricity was definitely going into the eye because the Iris would open and shut. She also would follow really well when he moved his finger sideways and up and down. So that is GREAT! He wants to see her back in 6 weeks to make sure that she is still following, it is important to make sure that the left eye will follow on its own (when the other eye is covered up).

We were supposed to do an MRI the next day and that got moved to this past Wednesday. We got there at 9:30 that morning and waited for an hour and a half!! I tell ya I am really sick of waiting! They had to sedate her for the MRI, which meant a needle poke. She does not have the best veins, but the lady got it on the first try! Props to her! The MRI lasted for 45 minutes and then they were supposed to do an ABR hearing test. Well...the nurse did not give her enough anesthesia so she woke up immediately after the MRI and she was less than happy! So we get to drive back to Primarys in another month and she will have to be sedated again! I tell ya!

We met with Dr. Park (wonderful doctor) and he said that the MRI showed that the ear structure is there and she also has the cord that connects to the brain. YEAH!! She still has profound hearing loss, but this means that she could get cochlear implants. Without the structure and that cord, nothing would help her hear. They took ear molds to get her hearing aids ordered (which will be pink and silver sparkles) and they will try those for 6 months. In order to get implants you have to try hearing aids first. Hopefully she will get some hearing with them:)

Jenna continues to amaze me! She is 12 pounds and wearing 6 month clothing. She is rolling over now, which amazes lots of doctors. Jenna will defy all odds, I know she will! Whatever they say she can't do, she will prove them wrong! She is here isn't she!

Gavin loves Jenna more than anything and is really upset when he is away from her. I believe he is her angel on earth. I love my kids and have been ever so blessed to have them!

Visit from Grandma Johnson

Grandma Johnson has been in Utah for the past couple weeks, and we were so glad that she came to Salina for the weekend! We all went bowling and had so much fun! Gavin loved throwing the ball and watching the pins go down. Grandma made the mistake of giving him a treat, after he had one he sat and starred at her until she surrendered all the candy to him! Later that day we all went to El Mex, my favorite!!! Then on Sunday we all got together for dinner! We all miss Grandma so much and LOVE when she comes to visit! I had to get a 4 generation picture with her, Dad, Jenn and me. Thanks Vance so much for letting Grandma come visit for such a long time, we are sure you miss her:)

What a week!

If I could remove last week from our lives I think I would:)

Monday Gavin and I woke up very sick, I marched us into the doctor immediately. I was so lucky to have a sinus infection AND bronchitis and poor Gav had a sinus infection also. Monday was horrible we both just cried all day wanting to feel better. By about Thursday we were doing pretty good. Gavin and I went to a few of the 2A games, we were ready to get out of the house. I kept praying that Jenna baby would stay healthy, but really how was she supposed to? We were all sick and there was no way we could stay away from her. She had a little cough but really that was about it. I really didnt think she was sick. Friday she started throwing up a little bit and so Saturday morning we decided to take her to the ER just incase. Well of course she had RSV and Pneumonia. They admitted her to the hospital. They tried getting and IV in so that she wouldn't get dehydrated. Well after three tries and a lot of screaming they stopped to give her a rest. I was able to get some pedialyte in her so they did not try again. I felt so bad for her! She was really good while in the hospital, mainly sleepy. They did breathing treatments and also treated her with an antibiotic.

I stayed with Jenna at the hospital and Gavin got passed around. He took it really hard, he wanted to be with his whole family! He is such a tender hearted little boy, I just love him! I miss him when I have to be away from him. He couldn't see Jenna because they dont allow kids under 14 back. That was really hard for him.

We finally came home today and Jenna has been doing really well. Her oxygen is up to 1/8 of a liter and I am still giving her breathing treatments. She is eating much better and is happy to be home!

Being in the hospital is not the funnest, but I am able to enjoy some things.

I LOVE hospital food, I think because I dont have to cook it or clean up afterwards.
I LOVE hospital ice and coke, the only down fall is I drink 3 a day instead of 1.
I LOVE that I had a room with a view. We made fun of that the first day, but I watched lifeflight land twice and that was pretty cool. I have never seen it that close.
I LOVE watching the nurses. There still are some really great people in the world. Most of them treated Jenna as if she were their own. It really helps knowing that they want to help her get better and they really care for her!

I HATE that it is Jenna who is sick. I would do anything to take that from her. There is nothing harder than seeing your kids in pain.

Thanks so much for everyone who was worried about Jenna, we recieved many well wishes and treats:) Thanks Ash and Maradee for the yummy ice cream and a much needed visit!! I am so greatful for wonderful in-laws and a wonderful mom to help with Gavin! We are very blessed!

Jenna's Blessing

We finally were able to bless Jenna on February 7th. She looked so beautiful in her white dress. Kurt blessed her and it was such a great blessing, he did great. I kept saying I wasn't going to get up and give my testimony, because that scares me to death! But I did and so did Kurt, I was so happy he got up! I actually thought he was going to the bathroom, but then he went up and his testimony was wonderful. I am so lucky to be his wife! The priesthood is a wonderful thing and blessings are so amazing to me! They make the spirit just come right in and comfort you! I had many blessings while pregnant with Jenna and I am thankful for so many priesthood holders in my family who are prepared and ready to give blessings! The whole day was great, we had so much yummy food and then to end the day we watched the Super Bowl! It is always fun having family over! Especially when it is to celebrate the blessing of such a sweet miracle! We love you Jenna!