And the bill is...

We've been receiving the bills for our journey to Primary Childrens Medical Center since we've been home. The Life Flight was a shade under $21,000. And insurance picked up all but $100.00. Really good. We've been receiving the bills for the surgery, broncoscopy, and other procedures. The other day we got the bill from PCMC. It was $146,000. They charged us $11.00 bucks everytime for sterile water. It starts adding up.

Now I'm not complaining. There were families there a lot longer than us. Sometimes it seemed inappropriate to even talk about home when their journey was so much more trying. But to each their own. It's money well spent.

We read some great news that Jonah got to go home. That is huge. Jonah was in the hospital for about 9 months. I don't know how the Laynes did it. God bless them!

Bryant had his first session today with the development therapist. She thought he was doing good and wasn't sure if he needed but thinks we should get on the wait list to see if a case presents itself. We agreed.

So much has been said about Bryant that we haven't been updating on Aspen's news. When we came back from Salt Lake Aspen moved to the Pre K class at her school. This has been a move Aspen has wanted pretty much since moving up to the 3/4 classroom a year ago. She got reunited with her best friend Laynee. Aspen missed her so much while we were away. Aspen has also kept the family entertained with private dance shows. She has been a breath of fresh air.

She always wants to be involved with Bryant. She hasn't shown a single sign of jealousy when it comes to her brother. If he could, she would probably say he would crawl on water.

Weigh In

So last week Jen took Bryant in to get weighed and he weighed in at 7lbs 6oz. We took him today to see our regular pediatrician, Dr. Agnew. Bryant weighed in at a hefty 8lb 6oz. I can tell you he has been packing in the food. He has been eating 4 oz every 2 1/2 hours. He is making up for missed time.

Next Friday we are heading back to Salt Lake for a follow up appointment with the surgeons. Aspen is excited to hang out with Papa Lonnie again. And I know what my dad is thinking. Yeah, more Hotel for Dogs!!!

We don't have much more for news. Just that we are sleep deprived. More Jen than me. But it is all worth it.

Oh..one more thing. We started getting our bills from Primary Childrens Medical Center, Life Flight, and the U. I saw a lot of interesting things we got billed for, and for the most part I can't complain, but the funniest was sterile water. It cost us $11.36 every time. If I knew it was going to be that expensive I would have brought my own water. Just kidding. But come on, we're in a recession.

There's No Place Like Home

We are home! Actually we got home on Sunday at 2:30pm. We got out of the hospital on Thursday and stayed the night with my dad. On Friday we drove to Jen's folk's place in Hudson Wyoming. We had a good dinner at one of my favorite steak houses. Bryant slept the entire drive except to eat. We stayed a few a couple of days. Bryant again slept the entire trip except to eat. It was a cold Sunday. We ran into snow in Wyoming. Not a little snow. It was really coming down. It didn't stick.

When we left the hospital Bryant weighed 6lbs 15oz. They told us he had to eat 50ml every 3 hours. That is a tad under 2oz. And they added calories to his milk to gain weight. Well since leaving the hospital Bryant has been putting it down. He eats 3, 4, or 5 oz every two hours. We try to stretch it out to as close to 3 hours as we can but when the kids hungry, he's hungry. So you can imagine what sleeping was like our first night home.

He's getting better though. He falls asleep when he's eating at night, and it's slowly stretching to every 3 hours, but the volume is high.

On Monday Bryant had his Dr.'s appointment with a pedatrician. It wasn't our regular pedatrician because she was out of town, but the Dr. that helped us was at the hospital when Bryant was born and explained T.E.F to us in the NICU. Cool story. Anyways...the appointment was just to weigh Bryant. He weighed in at 7lbs 6oz. The Dr. took him off the additional calories. We also asked about circumcision. The pedatrician can't do the procedure because the anastesia they use isn't effective for newborns older that two weeks. We have to call another doctor.

So Jen goes to make the appoinment and they can't get us in til July 22nd. Amazing.

Now the important part. Aspen adores her little bro. When they first met they just stared at each other. Bryant couldn't take his eyes off her. She talks about all of the stuff she is going to teach him. The list is getting big.

The dogs and cat love Bryant.

I will post some pictures here soon.

Free At Last....

WE ARE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!! As of 3:30 pm today Bryant is no longer a patient at Primary Childrens Medical Center. It was so surreal and kind of weird. Almost everyone that was on staff the night we arrived was there. His nurse practioner, Carin Smith, and our favorite nurse Melissa. It was great. He slept through his first car ride. It was pretty boring compared to the flight he took to get down here.

When we got back to my dad's place Bryant got to meet his sister. Aspen was all smiles. And Bryant was smitten when he saw her. He couldn't take his eyes off the princess.

I will post some pictures from the week later.

Thank you all for all the support and prayers.

Slowly but Surely.

The past couple of days have been slow moving. Bryant continues to progress. He is officially past his withdrawals. They have taken away the morphine and ativan. The ativan is a sedative to help calm babies down. So Bryant is drug free til maybe his college years....I hope I'm joking.

We did get some good news today. They are going to increase Bryants calorie intake so he will grow and add weight so they can send us on our field trip (a.k.a-home). He hasn't put on weight this week. In fact he has lost weight. This is great news.

He also has another swallow study setup for tomorrow. The study is to see if Bryant is protecting his airway when he eats. He has a paralyzed vocal chord and might not be able to protect his airway. We believe he is since he hasn't choked.

In the meantime, this past weekend we wanted to keep Aspen busy. On Friday night we took her to California Pizza Kitchen, and took her to Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. The movie was hilarious and the pizza was fantastic. Then on Sunday we took in an afternoon game with some new friends and parents that have a baby at Primary Childrens Medical Center. Grandpa really hooked Aspen up. Midway through the second inning she got to stand with the announcer has he presented a dog for adoption. It was bring your dog to the ballpark. She had a great time. The game was fun. Thanks Mike and Melissa for joining us. We had a great time.