We are Family!

A few weeks back we went to Perry for the Carlton family reunion (Mom's side of the family). It was good food and good seeing all the family I hadn't seen in ages. We're all holding up pretty good, I must say! The biggest surprise was when Katie announced that she's PREGNANT! So glad we were there for that moment.
After the reunion, all the cousins chilled at Grandpa's house and I caught a few of them in some pretty cute and silly poses.

Belly Flashing!

Camden is healing up quite nicely and we've had 3 successful (one not so successful) nights of tube-feeding. The other night Camden somehow managed to take the attachment off and his bed got soaked w/ Pediasure. While I cleaned Camden up, Daddy threw the linens in the washer. For the rest of the night our little vanilla-scented guy got to sleep in the bed w/ us! He's also back at school and DLC and took the bus home for the first time today. He does his usual dramatic "DON'T LEAVE ME!" cry, but doesn't seem to be in any major pain. If we had to guess we'd say his pain level has dropped down to about a 4.
Here are some shots of our bellies, with a close-up of the tube area. Daddy and I got a peek at baby brother Luke today during the 32 week sonogram. I think he looks a lot like Camden did in my tummy. His face is towards the right of the picture and the fuzzy words on the image say "NOSE/LIPS". The Dr. estimates Luke to already be 5 lb 1 oz! He's going to be one big fella! Yikes!

HOME SWEET HOME

Hey all--we're home!!
We got home around 11:20 and have already done our Sunday grocery shopping. Camden is doing well, so far not in too much pain and we're seriously contemplating going out to Mudville to catch the end of the 1:00 games! Camden is napping and the Rx for his pain meds is in should he need it. Wish us luck w/ the first feeding tonight in his own bed!

Totally Tubular!

Well, it is day 3 of being in the hospital. Camden was supposed to be home by now, sleeping in his own bed. But his discharge was put back to tomorrow. I'll explain below, but first a quick recap. I stayed with him on Thursday night, the worst night. He slept for about 6 hours total, waking every 2 hours in crying pain but got morphine and lortab. Once the pain meds kicked in, he drifted back to sleep, with his legs bent up in the air (his little way of relieving some of the tension from his abdomen). Friday morning he awoke at about 7:15 am, without crying. I went over to his bed and after saying good morning to him, got a beautiful smile out of him. That's when I knew things were going to be okay and felt the power of so many prayers. Since we noticed him feeling better, Daddy took him for a wagon-ride around the unit and he seemed to really like getting out of his room for a while. Camden started taking clear liquids but continued w/ the IV food. He had ice cream, juice, tried jello but some of this he threw up. Cousin Jake and Aunt JoJo came back with gramps in the afternoon and Jake brought Camden a "sticker" he'd made for him. Daddy spent the night with Camden on Friday night. Camden slept better this night, but it started out roughly, as he had to get another IV started which was hard for Daddy and I to watch (lots of blood got everywhere). This night was also his first trial of the tube feeding. The Dr. wants Camden to go home using 45 ml/hr of Pediasure. The nurse got a little too ambitious (probably just wanted to see us meet our discharge deadline) and after an hour of 25 ml, bumped it up to 45. Camden finally drifted off to sleep at around 12:30 but awoke an hour later, having thrown up all the Pediasure that was given him. Daddy helped the nurse change Camden's gown and sheets and afterwards he slept for 5 straight hours. This morning Camden was onto solids, keeping down his grits and cereal bar. He also tried (in no particular order) pineapple tidbits, strawberries, broccoli and cheese, sweet tea, oatmeal cream pie, biscuit, and had a better time holding down food towards the end of the day. He was feeling even more adventurous today--I could tell he wanted some excersize when he was on my lap and started marching on air (his signal that he wants to walk). So I took him for a little walk that ended up being around the whole unit! I joked w/ his nurse that he is now an elopement risk. Of course after the end of this lap Mommy's back was killing her so we had to stop. He didn't like that one bit and started fussing. The home medical equipment guy came just in time and offered a good distraction. We now have the feeding tube pump and all the needed supplies to go home with and he gave us a tutorial on how to use it. Camden took a brief nap, just long enough for us to watch the rest of the FSU game. At 10:00 I gave Camden his tube feeding (this time 30 ml/hr). Both of us had tried it before w/ medication but this was the first time flying solo w/ the Pediasure. The nurse looked over my shoulder and Kevin and I did everything from memory. It really is going to be very easy. We just have to find out how to do it without waking CamCAm up. So Daddy and Camden are there now and hopefully everything is going well with the tube feeding. I think he'll sleep great tonight. We're not sure of the exact discharge criteria, but one of them was getting the equipment...check! I think the Dr. wants Camden to tolerate one good night of tube feeding. Hopefully that's tonight. Thanks again for your love and support. We've just felt the presence of God all around us through this difficult time and it's carried us through. The nurses and techs at Wolfson's have been incredible and the facility itself is so much fun. But we're so ready to be home--especially CamCam!!

Tube Talk

Camden now has 2 bellybuttons!! Mommy is home now to shower and get ready to spend the night with Camden in the hospital. Things went pretty good. The first thing they did when we got to the hospital was get him in the supercute gown. We left his braces on so he could walk around a while in his walker to kill the time and distract him from the fact that he hadn't had breakfast! At 10:45, he was brought in for the anesthesia and after I started singing "YOu are my sunshine" to him, the anesthesiologist and a few techs joined in so he was serenaded. He was out in about 20 seconds. After about a 2 hour wait, we were finally able to join Camden in the recovery room but it would be another 3.5 hours until he was moved into his room in the main hospital. Thank God for pain meds! He started w/ Motrin, then 2 doses of Morphine and finally some Loritab. If he stays still he doesn't seem to be in a ton of pain. But when his legs get restless and he moves them, it brings pain to his abdominal area, where the new G-tube is. The tube itself looks pretty good--not draining too much but the clamps will have to stay on for a few days. When I left, Camden had finally passed out and was in such a deep sleep he laughed a few times (Daddy thinks he's dreaming of him--I think he was seeing me in the silly "bunny suit" I had to wear in the OR). He is still NPO for now, but may be able to start w/ clear liquids tomorrow and move up to solid foods. Tube feedings will also start tomorrow. Pediasure is what they'll use for that.

Anyways, just wanted to update all of you, especially you who have had him on your mind today and have sent up prayers. Don't have time and didn't bring the camera home to post pics. Look for stoned Camden pics later in a seperate post! Love you all. :)