Halloween

The cold and flu season has completely invaded our house. Started with Tara and then everyone else including Nik came down with it. It is on its way out finally, although Nik is still fighting the occasional stuffy nose during the night. Thankfully the worst part was over by Halloween so it was enjoyable. I had a very pretty witch and a handsome spider if I do say so myself!

This is Nik's girlfriend, Riley. She is our bestest friends little girl, the ones that were with us through everything with Andrew. She is exactly 2 months older than him, although she should be 4, but Nik couldnt wait to come out and see her! Nobody is going to mess with her man, just look at that face! Thanks for checking in!

Late Post/Update

Long overdue update in the Burdette houseold. Nikolas got to come home from the hospital on June 2nd, 2009. It was the best feeling in the world. He was brought home on a sleeping and eating schedule that helped out alot with the transition from 1 kid to 2. He quickly changed his schedule and began eating on demand which was more often, but thankfully was not like that through the night. I got to be off all summer with him and Tara and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! He did have a gradeII intraventricular hemorrhage in his head while in the NICU that we have had to have several follow-up ultrasounds for and will for quite sometime to see that it does not get any bigger. It should resolve itself, but is a stressor for me. Other than that he has been doing well. He is so big. At his 4 month checkup at the beginning of September he weighed 13lbs and was 24 1/2 inches long. I know he is even bigger than that now. It is hard for me to keep in mind sometimes that he was 2 months early and that I need to adjust his age for this, but because he is so big I assume he should be doing the things a 5 month old should. He laughs all the time and has recently found his voice and just talks away. He has no desire to roll over or sit up though. He holds himself up very well, he is just not interested in the two. He has always been a stomach sleeper so why would he want to roll onto his back anyways. The doctor is not concerned with him developmentally so I guess I am not either.

We did take Nikolas to see his brother for the first time during the summer. I also took Tara and Nik to the aquarium in Baltimore one afternoon. The family has been to Philadelphia a couple times to visit my family and Nikolas even went to his first major league baseball game. The phillies even won that day. We went to Myrtle Beach in August.

I had to come back to work at the end of August. We started interviewing daycare providers and then Joe's aunt volunteered at the last minute, which is awesome. It was very hard to have to leave him with somebody we didnt know. Tara started Kindergarten in August and likes it alot. We continue to be very busy and it are adjusting to life with two kids.

In January it will be two years since we found out about Andrew's CDH. Since then it is amazing how many people you meet with this defect. My brother is taking a biology class at the community college. He has to give a report on a disease and why he picked it. I am so happy that he picked CDH. He will also be able to spread some word and make people aware of this defect that I am sure nobody in his class has even heard of, not even his teacher.

Please remember all the CDH babies out their fighting everyday! Even though I don't post often I do keep up with the updates of the others listed on my blog!

In closing here are some new pictures. Enjoy!

Nikolas Andrew

I guess it is time I update the blog...it is long overdue. I went into preterm labor on the weekend of April 18th. I was put on bedrest and on terbutiline to stop contractions. It seemed to work for the most part, although I would still have them just not as consistent. My high risk doctor put me on procardia because terbutiline makes you feel all funny and I didnt like it. The procardia didnt do anything. I was in and out of the hospital those two and a half weeks getting different types of things to make my contractions stop. On top of all of this I was spotting which I kept being told was normal. On May 1st I woke up with a lot more than spotting and went directly to labor and delivery. I was not dilating anymore but the contractions were consistent and hurt like heck! I was placed on magnesium sulfate around 630 that morning and had to be on there for 48 hours. My contractions immediately stopped. Magnesium sulfate is not a fun drug either! I was pulled off the magnesium sulfate around 830 on sunday morning and my contractions immediately registered on the monitor but I wasnt feeling much. I was discharged from the hospital on May 3rd a little after lunch and 1.5cm dilated. As soon as we got in the car and on our way home they started to be a little painful but still not very consistent. I was told on discharge to call if they got consistent and I could start to feel them. I called around 3:00 in the morning after an awful attempt at trying to sleep. I was told to take 2 terbutaline and a procardia all at the same time and call back if it didnt work. I think they got a little more spaced out cause I fell asleep for about two hours but woke up again to some very painful consistent contractions, like 4 minutes apart! I waited until the doctors office opened at 8 called in and I was sent back to the hospital. They checked me and I was 5.5cm dilated. There was no stopping him cause a half hour later they checked again and I was 6.5cm. I was in for the long haul at this point. I was not given an epidural until I was almost 8cm because the doctor had given me three shots of terbutaline to try and get the contrations to stop. All that did was make them a little inconsistent but they still hurt really bad! I was given two doses of stadal to take the edge off which is stupid and doesnt work except make you dizzy and completely out of it. I finally got an epidural and felt relief. I pushed three easy times and he was out crying! Everyone was so impressed. On May 4th at 6:17 pm, just 32 weeks, Nikolas Andrew was born weighing 4 lbs 15oz and was 17 inches long. He is doing very good except there was a minor setback last weekend when he got an infection and was having some blood in his stool. They put him on antibiotics and he started to get better, but they stopped his feeds which seems to be the biggest issue at this point. That has since stopped and he is doing much better. They started his feeds back up yesterday and he seemed to tolerate them pretty well, it is just a slow process. Patience are not my best quality and I just want him home now! I am tired a living the NICU life and I have only been there for 2 weeks. By no means is he very sick I just want to take him home. I feel like I have to ask permission to hold my own child and do anything with him and it sucks! I will stop complaining now!

CDH Awareness Day

Hope everyone is wearing turqoise today in memory of Andrew and all of the other CDH babies, whether they are earthly or heavenly. I have on the shirt that we made last year for the blood drive. It still fits, even though I am 7 months pregnant!! Tara has her shirt on too. Daddy has his braclet on, but he always has it on. Andrew will send us a sign today to let us know who really participated in wearing turqoise, he will be watching!

Congratulations!!!!!

Just wanted to post that our bestest friends, Emily and Mark, had their first baby yesterday, March 3 (2 weeks early). Riley Nicole was born at 5:20 pm. She was 5 lbs. 13 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. I was very excited to be on the other end of the delivery room. Emily did great. Her and Riley are doing well, Mark is surviving too!

Andrew's Birthday Pictures

Tara holding her brother's birthday balloons


Andrew's Birthday

Needless to say, Tara didnt want to let the balloons go (as you can see from the picture). She wanted to keep them there. We tied them to one of the flower vases on the stone. We also couldnt find a balloon that said "I Love You" so we ended up with just the birthday one. I thought it turned out pretty good though. Andrew's "aunt" Emily and "unlce" Mark took him a block for his birthday to "play" with. You can see it in the picture on the left toward the light. Tara sang happy birthday to her brother last night before she got into bed. It was so sweet. We are going to go back out tonight and pick the balloon up, deflate it and put it in the basket full of his momentos we have sitting in the living room. We thought that would be a good idea since Tara didnt want to let it go.

Happy Birthday to my Angel!!!!!

It is hard to believe that it has been a year (at 5:10 pm) since I gave birth to him. I still wish that he was here with us today, but know that I would not be blessed with having Nik on the way and that this all happened the way it did for a reason. My angel was watching down on us when we conceived his brother cause he knew that is what daddy always wanted! Tara wants to take her brother 2 balloons, 1 that says "I Love You" and the other "Happy Birthday." We are going to release them at the cemetary today after her daddy and I get home from work. Hopefully I remember the camera so I can post pictures. I can not believe that she thinks of this stuff and boy did she know that today was his birhtday. She also told us that she is going to sing happy birthday to heaven because that is where her baby brother is! I couldnt believe that either. I am so proud at how she has handled the whole situation and hope and pray that she continues to do this well.