Isaiah is home

Elizabeth brought Isaiah home this morning. What a relief. We have missed both of them at home for days now. When she brought him in I was leaving for work, but it was so nice to see him sleeping peacefully without any tubes, probes, or wires. He'll be very happy to sleep at home again.

The Storm

We got an ice storm yesterday that took out power to almost all of Marion and Cedar Rapids. Elizabeth and Isaiah were at the hospital on generators and I had the kids at her parents' house to visit family. We stayed the night at their house, but our house in CR was on one of the only streets in that area with power.

I went out on some generator service calls with Elizabeth's dad Bob, who owns an electrical business. It was fun to go 4WD'ing through the ice and snow and get some people powered up. One of the people was an invalid with in-home care who would've had to have been moved to the already hospitals by ambulance if we didn't get his power on.

Isaiah improving

Isaiah is improving a lot. He got a lot of sleep yesterday and in the evening was smiling and acting pretty normal. It sounds like he may be coming home tomorrow.

Isaiah Goes to NICU

After 36 hours home, Isaiah's congestion was no longer in his nose, but now in his chest. We took him to the doctor and they immediately put him in the NICU. His respiratory rate was high. After a night of nearly constant breathing treatments and steroids he was not much better. Then yesterday he improved a bit with some rest and more breathing treatments. Today he is in a regular room and hopefully he will be home in a couple days. It is much more difficult to have Elizabeth in the hospital with him now that there are two older ones that need to be watched. I took the rest of my available vacation from work this week and also got help from grandparents on both sides of the family. The older boys miss their mom a lot. What a rough week for all of us! Hopefully we will never endure this again.

Isaiah has RSV

We took Isaiah in to Mercy Hospital Sunday night because he was getting pretty congested in his chest and sinuses. We couldn't get anything our of his nose, but he was having trouble breathing. They were able to clear him out pretty well at the hospital and he is fine, but they kept him overnight and also last night. I think they'll be back home today. I have been home with the boys taking vacation from work. It hasn't been much of a vacation, but it could be worse. The kids got their first whiff of spring coming yesterday as they played outside in 35 degree weather. They are starting to talk about bikes and scooters now. I'm thinking a little about mine, too.

Home improvement season approaches....

Here we are at three weeks after Isaiah's birth. Paul's back at work and going like crazy. Extra hours at the fulltime job plus some hours at the sidejob. We are planning our major home improvements for the year now. Gabriel and Asher are adjusting well and life is rolling along again. When the nice weather comes they will start getting outside more and all will be well.

We are hoping to hire some of the work done, but we need a roof-to-cap chimney rebuild right away. We are also considering a backyard overhaul including a retaining wall at the back alley, privacy fence along the back, picket fence along the sides, leveling, running drainage from our downspouts to the alley, and sod. Then we'd have a bigger nicer backyard for playing that wouldn't let them sneak away. Then I have to finish installing basement windows and paint the north side of the house. After that we start discussing main floor bathroom remodeling and basement finishing for the fall or next year. Fun, fun, fun....

Thank-you for prayers, gifts, meals

We would like to thank everyone who prayed for us, brought us meals, or gave Isaiah a gift. The meals really helped us to get through Elizabeth's recovery. We've had a very enjoyable couple weeks since his birth. The only trouble we've had at all was that Asher tested positive last night for RSV. He had some croupe and a fever, but he seems to be recovering quickly. Hopefully Isaiah stays free of it. Now that we know about it we are keeping them apart as much as possible.