Prudentia Sit

Our little baby has a tube coming out of her stomach through the esophagus to help her burp.  I offered her a Coke but the nurse said no.  Can you imagine a Thiel not being allowed to drink a coke?!?  Well, she seemed pretty sure about the proper way to let the baby get air up, so poor little Savannah will just have to wait to taste the heavenly nectar.  I thought maybe a Mountain Dew, but no, she was a real stickler.

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Woo-hoo!  1 pound, 13 ½ ounces!  Ben and Isabel can hold the baby for one full hour a day.  She is so stable; they are considering moving her from the NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) to a different hospital.  That sounded a little premature (pun intended) to me.  I do not know what that is all about, yet.

They are also going to step up on her feedings a little bit.

We are, I think, I hope, over with being sick, so we won't be carrying a bunch of germs up with us, so we will go and see her more again.  I hate doing pics on film or other people's cameras because it takes longer to get them on the computer.

Took the girls to the Chapel Hills Mall, mostly to window shop, but there is a store there where you can custom-make teddy bears "While U Wait" and Tabitha bought the baby a dress there.  Even that is going to be too big for her, but it will make for pretty Christmas pictures.

I slept in this morning until almost 5 and tried to answer some e-mails before I did this, so I am behind the time curve again.

Sorry,  just remember, the Good Book says, "Be patient with me and I will write more gooder later."

I'm trying to catch up here, but so much has been going on it has been wild.  Beside being sick I have been waking Ben up at 1:30 a.m. so he can get up for his U.P.S. job.  This is their busiest season.  That throws me off and having been sick I have been sleeping in until 4:30 and sometimes even 5:00.

I have to upload the newest pics as well as make sure the other grandparents get e-mails of the photos and try to remember all that has gone on in the last few days.  Isabel is a photographer and her pics are great.  I'll put them in a separate folder.  I also have a plan, which is probably too ambitious, to write a daily story about Christmas.  I grew up in a religion that didn't believe in it and it is all so (forgive the use of the word, but it really fits) magical.  But first, we have to update the baby news.  Sooner or later I'll get to doing the poll.

I just can't afford to get sick anymore.  That's all.

Saturday, 12/04/04:  Savannah is taken off the respirator and breathing on her own.  She is put on a "C-PAP" which blows oxygen into the baby's nostrils with a measured amount of force.  There are two styles, one with a canula (nosepiece) that has 2 prongs that go into the nose and the other covers the nose.  They have to switch every 4 hours and rub the skin on the nose where it was sitting so it doesn't leave a permanent mark.

Sunday, 12/05/04:  The baby's weight is 1 lb 11 oz.  1 week (7 days) old.  The loss of weight in preemies is pretty normal, even though for her it is a significant amount.

Margaret watched as they suctioned Savannah's nose, they have a small tube they use to suction and when she realized it was there, she grabbed it and tried to pull it out.

Monday, 12/06/04:  I got to see her again.  Woo-hoo!  She has a tube down her esophagus into her stomach which allows her to "burp" up bile and whatever else because the forced air from the C-PAP puts air into her stomach.  While I watched the nurse unwrap the blanket to change her diaper, as soon as her arm was free she started pulling at this tube.  She is a feisty one, and since it is my blog I will say with impunity that she really has a Thiel spirit.  Feisty, trouble-causing, roustabouts and ne'er-do-wells.  Oh, that's just the grandpa, never mind.  She really is a fighter, though.

Cool, way cool news!  Isabel got to hold the baby for the first time!!!  The pictures from that are on Isabel's camera and will be posted when available.  This was awesome.

Tuesday, 12/07/04:  Ben got to hold her.  He also was allowed to try to change the diaper, but little Savannah Melody overpowered him and he had to have the nurse help.  She also grabbed hold of the suction tube and tried to pull it out with both hands!

Keep praying for her.  Ben said that some of the nurses do not like when he talks like this, but we are trusting God.  God has a purpose and a plan for every life and every person, and that includes Savannah Melody Thiel.

Her name, Savannah Melody, is a type of hybrid flower in the day-lily family.  There is not a lot of info that we could find other than that, but if anyone out there knows flowers or anything that might be cool or interesting, please e-mail me or leave a link in the comments so we can find out some more.

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I had typed this up on the way out the door to the hospital before Margaret's evening clients.  When we got to the hospital a couple was visiting the nurse's station and the nurse's asked them to visit Isabel because they had their baby with them.  The baby had been born their 6 months ago and was delivered at 23 weeks!  1 lb 3 oz!  You couldn't tell it to look at her.  That was very encouraging.

She is also off the C-PAP!  She is on 2.5 to 3 liters of oxygen, but that is normal, not the forced blows of oxygen.

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I had that paragraph typed up when we decided we had better take Grandma Pike to the doctor, since she was acting sick and so we wound up going to the E.R. and they admitted her.  She was dehydrated, among other things.  They always admit her as a matter of routine, so I was up at the hospital when it was time to wake up Ben at 1:30.  We got there at about 11:30 and I just sat and watched Savannah sleep for a couple of hours and talked to the nurse.  It's 3:00 now and Margaret has to get up at 5:30 because if she calls in to work (the E.R. offered her a note) she has clients that won't get care they need.  That's the kind of gal she is, that's why.

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I knew I was forgetting something.  I'm not sure which day it started, but she now has a pacifier!  The end that goes in her mouth is smaller than the nail on my little finger.  Does that make it a pinky-binky?  Hahaha!  Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad for 4:00 a.m.!

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As the good book says, "God will be true though every man is a liar."

 

Addendum

I am horrified at the spelling, grammar and usage in [this] the latest entry.  Please forgive it.  It just goes to show what a combination of no sleep and no proofreading and trying to hurry to get something out can do.  Arrggghhhh!

I was so sick yesterday I didn't even go near the computer or anywhere else.  I will say that I had a very nasty stomach virus and let it go at that.  Thus I didn't get to see the baby at all yesterday and probably won't get to today.

Isabel wound up with blood clots in her lungs and was back in the emergency room.  They have since admitted her to the hospital where the baby is.

This baby is feisty.  One thing the nurses all agree on is that she is a fighter and they are all amazed at how she fights everything, even though she is sedated.

They took her off the ventilator yesterday and her lungs are working on their own pretty much.  They are still giving her oxygen.  She appears to have a good sucking/swallowing reflex, but they are going to leave that tube down her throat for a while yet.  They don't want to do anything too fast.

I apologize to you all for the disjointedness of this mess but I am trying to repeat all of the stuff I heard while I was sick yesterday.  When I wasn't in the bathroom I was sleeping and so I didn't get to hear everything that transpired.

One of the coolest things is that Ben might get to hold her for a few minutes today!!!  Okay, I've got to go.  I'm really still sick, I just wanted to share all the news with you that I could remember.  Now I will go read everyone's blogs and try to answer e-mails and then go back to bed.  I will be working on the poll when I have time, it's not as much of a priority right now.

Remember, as the good book says, "If they can only drink Gatorade and eat Jell-o, don't try to give them chicken soup."

Isabel is out of the hospital and is doing fine.  Fine being a relative term for a person who underwent major surgery and is out of the hospital 2 days later.  She had to get out of Penrose so she could get over to Memorial and be with Savannah.

Savannah had an EKG yesterday and her heart is good.  She is very strong.  I have a good feeling about her.  As I was praying for her last night, I just had this overwhelming feeling of peace come over me.  You know, any of us only have one day at a time and we have to appreciate each day we get, no matter what comes.  Wow!  That sounds pretty upbeat and positive to come out of me.  I guess it's because I trust God.  He knows. We did get one update.  The baby's tube-feeding now includes momma's milk!  Yea!

You guys remember when I did the blog entry about the word "blog"  (10/20/2004)?  Well, apparently I wasn't using the right references, because I found this article on Reuters Odd News page today saying that the word "blog" was one of the most looked-up words.  I hadn't used Merriam-Webster because it was a pay service, but I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one.

Okay, my picture updates have been called Savannah Day 1, Savannah Day 2, etc.  Well, the updated pictures will be slower in coming since, (AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!) my stupid digital camera broke!  They still will come, just a little slower.  Anyway, about the dating of them, I have a question, I think I will put in a poll.  By the way, thanks to all of you who voted in the Carter Blog http://carterking.blogspot.com/ poll.

Savannah was born at 9:22 a.m. on Sunday, November, 28, 2004.  I say she was 1 day old at the same time on the 29th, which would make the 29th Day 1.  Margaret says that that is actually Day 2, because the first 24 hours she was alive was her first day.  I say that was day 0.  Of course, I said that the new millennium started January 1, 2001, not 2000 because the year 1 A.D. would have been after the year 0.  Although I guess the argument could be made that there was no year 0, but I am not really interested in all that.  I just wanted to make an interesting poll and see if anyone answers.  I think the polls are fun and they are part of the same deal that .

While I was trying to get Margaret to her first client, steam started to pour out from under the hood.  I turned off the heater, even though it was -6 with the wind chill.  Pulled into the 7-11 and found a leaky heater hose while Margaret tried the new flavored coffee called "Bananas Foster" which she will rave to you about because it tastes like banana cream pie and coffee.  She adds steamed milk.  I still really like just the plain old black coffee.  7-11 has superior coffee to any of the other C-Store chains around here.  I bypassed the heater core because where the leak in the hose was I couldn't cut it off and put it back on.  I found out later that it is a special elbow hose that also holds the heater control valve in place.  We made our rounds without heat until I could get to a parts store and buy what I thought I needed, a length of 5/8 inch heater hose.  The "Heater Control Valve" in a '93 Dodge Grand Caravan is a special plastic piece that is held in place by the elbow hose.  If you try to put a regular piece of hose on it and the valve falls down it can break.  Why do they use plastic?  Why, oh why?!?  My car is now in the shop and we couldn't get up to take any pictures and I walked home from the shop.

The shop is 8 miles away from the house and it was getting dark and cold.  Fortunately, I have a nice goose-down jacket that Margaret got for me last year.  The route is along 2 busy highways and the bridges have no shoulder and Fort Carson is getting off work and some of those people drive like...like...a bunch of GI's.  I just marched myself home, singing old Army cadences and making up new verses for them.

Anyway, I am really sorry there are no new pics.  We will be using disposable cameras and have to put a few days on each one until I can either get my digital working or replaced.  I hope to have more info for you all though in a few days.

We had some dipping veggies left over from Thanksgiving that needed to be used, so I had them chop them up and I made omelettes.  Cheese, Black Olives, Peppers, Green Onions, Tomatoes, Mushrooms and, for those who wanted, broccoli and celery.  I make them to order and they are delicious.  Now I am really tired from having the belly full.  I guess that will end this convoluted little blurb.

Remember, as the good book says, "If quitters never win, and winners never quit, who came up with, "Quit while you're ahead"?"

My stupid camera broke and i have to use film cameras, so it may take a little extra time.

Isabel is in one hospital and the baby is in another so we are taking the daily pix for her.  We may cut back and my blog get back to as normal as it ever is in a short time.  I don't know.

I may also wind up having to delete Professor Googleheimer's pix if storage space gets short, but I don't know.

By the time she was 48 hours old, she had lost only half an ounce of weight.  She has developed a slight case of jaundice which is common at these altitudes and is being treated in the standard way, with the Black Lights.

So far she is doing well, thanks to the prayers of so many people in so many places praying for her.  Thank you all.

Sorry I haven't written any e-mails back or haven't blogged the last couple of days but we have a new member of the family, Savannah Melody Thiel, 1 pound, 12 ounces, 13 inches long delivered at 29 weeks gestation!

Ben and Isabel had been at our house on Thanksgiving, Ben Making the turkey and Isabel making her wonderful, glorious, delicious, tasty, (did i say wonderful?) spinach dip.  Ben has been making the turkey since he was a little boy and it is so moist and delicious i started salivating like Pavlov's dog just thinking about it.  Of course I salivate like Pavlov's dog without...oops, too much info...sorry.  Seriously, if you have ever had Ben's turkey, you would never want to have turkey anywhere else.  I doubt that even deep-fried Texas would compare, and I don't say that lightly, knowing how many Texans read this.  You add Isabel's spinach dip to the table, and, well, I had planned to try my hand at making up a "Grampaw Jones" type of poem, but don't have the time now.

Anyway, they came over Saturday evening to graze leftovers and Isabel didn't feel good and hadn't felt the baby move for about 24 hours.  This was unusual in itself because the baby had been constantly moving around and almost generally making her sick.  We called the hospital and they said she should drink some orange juice and if they still didn't feel any movement, bring her in.  Twenty minutes went by and we all decided that it couldn't hurt anything for Ben to take her and have her checked out.  That was about, oh, maybe 7 O'clock.  I'm not sure.  Someone will correct me if I have the times wrong.  We got a call almost immediately saying that they had heard the baby's heartbeat and it sounded healthy, but Isabel was having other problems that they couldn't figure out for sure and they decided they would keep her there.

The symptoms were sounding like preeclampsia and by 6 O'clock in the morning, it was decided that the baby would have to be taken by Caesarian.  They would move her from the hospital she was at, Penrose Community Birthing Center here in Colorado Springs, which is an excellent facility for any kind of birth that is even close to using the word "normal" in it, but the baby was 29 weeks gestation and only 26 weeks in size.  The doctors thought the best place for this birth would be at Memorial Hospital, also in The Springs.  Memorial has a reputation for having the finest Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the state, rivaling even Denver's Children's Hospital and in the top such care units in the nation!  Before they could get her moved, however, more problems arose and Ben got a call saying they were going to operate at 9 O'clock right there at Penrose.  Apparently, conditions had worsened.  Well, Ben raced over there and we dropped off Grandma and the girls at church and drove at speeds that were, I admit, somewhat in excess of the limit.  In fact, I probably would have made Susan B proud and probably would have beaten even her.

We got there and met the rest of Isabel's family that we hadn't met before and we waited.  Penrose had called in a team from Memorial to assist.  At 9:22 the baby was born.  Ben said she came out fighting and fussing like crazy.  It took them all day to get her condition stabilized with a couple of dramatic, potentially sad moments, but they stabilized her.  Without the C-Section, neither mom nor baby stood a chance of surviving, and now they had raised their chances to above 70%.  When they got the baby stabilized, they moved her to Memorial in a mobile ICU!  A full ICU crew staffs this ambulance.  The baby was so stable by now (now being around 2 O'clock) that when they left they didn't even use sirens or lights.  Therefore, the baby is at Memorial, the mom is at Penrose, and both are doing wonderfully.

Savannah Melody Thiel.  1 lb, 12 oz, 13 in.  She's a beauty, what you can see of her beyond the tubes and wires and such.  I am going to try to take some digital pics with some sort of frame of reference for her size.