Octo 1

So it's been awhile since the last post, as a co-worker pointed out to me so here is some new information.

Aven has been home for about 3 weeks and is doing great. She is eating about 4 ounces every 4 hours. She appears to be developing at a normal rate and she was seen by a therapist yesterday and everything seemed to be progressing excellent.

Isis is now in the 85th percentile in his height and weight. He still drinks juice all day and loves to drive his power wheels truck. He is very protective of baby sister and loves to tell everybody that it is HIS baby sister and to be careful with her.

Ethan just got his PADI scuba diver certification and is helping with the service desk of student computers for UNC as well as faculty/staff service calls as well.

Brandy has been working from home the past 3 weeks and has enjoyed her time with the kids.

Hope this helps quench some curiosity about the family. Thanks for visiting.

The latest..

Aven has had two room-air oxygen tests so far. This is a test designed to see if she can maintain her oxygen saturation above 80 percent for a period of 40 minutes. They will consider letting her go home with a monitor if she makes it to 30-35 minutes. So far she has only held out for 2 and 3 minutes respectively. Other then her breathing, she is eating the correct amount and has gained enough weigh to come home. It's hard to be patient when today she is 4 months old already and still not home.

Ethan is excited to be going back to school starting next Monday, the 24th. He is taking a lot of classes but still only 12 credit-hours to try and boost his GPA up so he can make it into the business school to start taking classes more specialized for his Computer Information Systems degree. He also has a kidney stone!! Currently he has had it for almost 48 hours. The docs say that the largest stone you can pass is 5 mm and right now his is 4.5mm, lucky huh? He is anxiously awaiting passing it to get on with living w/o being in constant, agonizing pain. No, really it's awful..

Brandy is still working from home on Mondays and Fridays and Isis is loving to go see baby sister with mom whenever the opportunity arises. He sings her songs and loves to hold her. Aven has smiled for everybody but dad btw. We appreciate every body's support and prayers through this long and trying time to get Aven back home with us. Your continued support is a blessing and we appreciate it every day. Thanks again and we'll try to keep this dang thing updated a little bit more frequently!

Update desperatly needed

So we have not updated in a while. Aven is 6lb 9 oz and should be home next week. Ethan is going back to school on the 24th. And I am looking forward to time at home with both kids

Aven is 5 lbs 14 oz

Sad day

Well today has been full of up's and downs. We had fairly recently acquired a dog from friends that Ethan works with. Well over the last two weeks he has quit eating and had gotten really sick. I went and talked to the vet today and we put him down. I cried for 3 hours and am totally wiped.

Aven is doing great we are at 5 lb 6 oz and she is working on coming off the high oyxgen flow so that we can get her home soon.

Isis is sad that megabyte is gone but we will get him a new puppy this week.

Big Girl

4lbs 4oz

Baldy-boy

Just a quick update, here is a picture of Isis with his new do.

Aven's condition

Yesterday, Avendesora had her eye surgery and it went great. The doctors said she'll need close supervision for the next few weeks and the probably every month afterwards until she's a few years old. The head ultrasound doctor wanted to talk to Brandy and I as we were on our way out of the waiting room to go home. We told him we had some time and he had us meet him in a consultation room. He told us that there is two parts of brain matter, white and gray. The gray matter is used for thinking and high thought processes and the white is for muscle movement and control. Aven's latest ultrasound shows several cysts on her white matter. The doctor told us that this usually leads to cerebral palsy. He told us with the way the ultrasound looked it was a good chance that Aven will have this disease. We were told that the best case scenario would be that she would only be effected in her legs and not have any learning problems. Worst case is that she would not be able to learn in a meaningful way and her whole body would be effected. We have already had numerous miracles with our daughter and we are praying for another one, that our baby girl can grow up and have a productive life and be able to accomplish amazing things. Brandy is going down tomorrow and I'll try to remember to post anything new that she discovers. Thanks for everything everybody has done, we really appreciate it.

The Mondys

p.s. Isis decided to give himself a haircut this morning and is now almost completely bald. Mom wasn't happy.

So Aven has a condition called ROP - Reinopathy of Premeies. Here is a link to learn a bit on that. This is treatable and she will have corrective lazer eye surgery on Friday. Please pray that she rest well and heals well, and that the doctors have the right mindset on Friday.
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/winter98/rop.htm

Isis is doing good. If any of you remember he smashed his left big toe in the door a month or so ago. Well the nail has finally fallen off and he is growning the new one. Could take months according to the doctor.

Brandy is stressing about her leave at work, more cause she is a control freak and worries about the person that will do her duties while she is out.

Ethan is working full time at the University - and preping for next semester.

Chunky Monkey

3lbs 15oz

YEAH

Life continues to move forward

Ethan is still working at the University IT department and enjoying it. The IT guys have joined a disc golf league, they had their first "match" or game the other day and Ethan ended up 5 over par.

Our house finally has a partial yard.

I am trying to see Aven as much as possible and have a thing of the jealous bug for all the mommies in the last month that have had their baby after me and already have their babies home.

Aven is continuing to get bigger and has had a lot of changes in her life since Sunday. She is now 3 pounds 1 oz, she is starting to wear clothes, and they have introduce her to a pacifier. She will use the pacifier to learn to suck. All the clothes are to large for her and she really hates her CPAP. The CPAP is your normal Oxygen tube with the prongs, but it irritates her nose, and helps to open her lungs, she also does not like the physical therapist that comes in twice a week. The physical therapist helps her to keep her tone, and Aven thinks that they need to take a flying leap.

New addition

So another new addition to the Mondy household

We got dog - half american bull dog half mastiff - very sweet

Megabyte

So just a quick up date - Aven is 3 lbs. !!!!!!!!

Isis played in the mud yesterday - and other than that life is the same.

My sister Toni and her husband Doug had their baby boy today! His name is Lincoln Nicholas Nelson. He weighs 7 lbs. 12 ounces. Compared to our 2 lb, 12 oz baby he is a monster. Mom and Lincoln are doing great.


Way to go Toni, he looks just like Jack

So Aven is up to 2 lbs and 12 oz. She is conitinuing to get bigger and now we can actually see the difference. She is going to be mointored weekly for ROP - which is detached retinas, she is highly suseptable due to her agen and the amount of oxygen that she is on. Right now there are no concerns, if this does become a concern, she will have lazer eye surgery to help in the correction. Isis made a trip to the ER on Sunday. Two weeks ago he got his big left toe smashed in the door, and Sunday he snagged it and ripped it mostly off. The doctors want us to keep it on as long as possible to "teach" the new nail where to grow so we are trying to keep it clean, dry and protected.

A quickie...

Aven has had her breathing tube changed with a bigger one because, believe it or not, she outgrew her old one. This will help with her oxygen saturation and hopefully help to get her home soon. The docs found some traces of bacteria in her lungs so they put her back on some anti-biotics to make sure that nothing comes back to harm her at all. She weighs about 2 pounds 4 ounces. PEACE!

More of the same

Aven is doing very similar to how she was last week. She is not on any medications and we are still able to hold her. She is still on the ventilator with an oxygen saturation of about 37-44%. That doesn't make me too happy because they have been trying to ween her for awhile now with basically no change. Brandy says that they told her that if she doesn't start getting better in the next few weeks that they will consider giving her another set of steroids and then go from there. I don't know, I just wish that she could get better all by herself. Still no word on a change of date to get her home, around her due date of July 28th, maybe later depending on her weight, breathing, and everything else thrown in as well. Brandy is up in Denver right now, so if there is anything to add I'll have her do it when she gets back.

Kanga Care

So we have not updated in a while so I will try to make this very informative. We will back date a tad as well so that everyone gets a full months update.

Isis -

We took Isis to the zoo on the 9th so that we could spend a little more time in Denver to be close to Aven. He was so very excited to see all of the animals and talk to the elephants. While we were there we got to see a ton of baby geese, as that they hatched everywhere, and there were some still nesting. Lots of pictures. On the 15 we got to take Isis to Ringling Brothers Circus. He again loved the animals and wanted to hold the tigers. What a goof. We bought him the smallest tshirt that there was ( a child medium) and it is his circus pajamas and was a bit upset with me when he could not wear them cause they needed to be washed. In other news, Isis has been afraid to touch his sister, not really digging all the extra tubing. Now that that is all off and we can hold her, he did touch her for the first time last night, and was super excited that she looked at him with her eyes open.


Ethan -

He is enjoying work and is done with classes for the summer. Nice to not have that to deal with for a little. And of course he is up set with me cause I got to hold the baby first. HAHA


Brandy -

As always staying busy at work, and taking care of house work, kids, and trying to be in Denver as much as possible.


Aven -

So in BIG news - Aven has been gaining weight all month - 1 pound 14 oz on mothers day - 2 pounds on the 16th and a HUGE 2 pounds 3 oz last night. YEAH. Now that she is off of her iv's and just has the small ventalator( her lungs are very premature) we can hold her. The first hold was on the 16th. This was more of a craddle than a hold, but we are not complaining. I got to hold her last night for the first time ( a real Hold) and that was great. Kangaroo care for those that dont know is holding the baby skin to skin under blankets so that they can really feel there parents. It was great, No picture, this needs to stay family appropriate.



As always thank you for the prayers, and support. WE LOVE YOU ALL

Everything's fine

Just a quick update for everybody. Aven has had her arterial line taken out which means we will be able to hold her the next time we see her. Brandy and I are very excited. Not too much else has changed. More information on next major change.

It's been a long time...

So here is the latest news from the world of the Mondy's... As far as Aven goes, she is doing so much better! The biggest thing that I am exited to share is that her eyes are open!! Well the left one is at least and I'm told the right one should be well on its way to follow suit in about a day or so. I am really bummed that we got to spend all weekend up there with her and she waits until the day after we're home to do it, oh well. Her dopamine has been dropped 3-4 times since the last post and to re-cap, she is completely off of the epinephrine. Her blood pressures and oxygen saturation is doing very well also. We talked to her primary daytime nurse on Saturday and she was hopeful that the arterial line would be out as soon as this weekend which means that mom, dad, and big brother can finally hold her! So I'm really excited and hopeful for that to happen. They are putting the blankets that we bought for her in the incubator with her so it's almost as pink as I'd like, but not quite. No other big news to report for Aven...

Isis got to spend all weekend with grandma and grandpa Dann playing outside, going to birthday parties, and getting plain old dirty. When we arrived to pick him up he was outside with Grandpa playing swords with sticks. It's amazing how a stick can be a sword, gun, laser, and 50 other things to a two year old. He got to launch his Estes rocket this weekend too which is always fun for him but for some reason he is scared to actually push the launch button himself. Other than that there isn't really anything else for the big man.

Brandy and I are hanging in there from day to day just trying to cope with not having baby here, but we are really excited and anxious to have her. I am trying to finish of school with this being my finals week. My professors have been very understanding and have given me the opportunity to do some make-up work and re-schedule some tests. I couldn't ask for more from work either. My bosses are telling me to take all the time I need and to take care of my family. It's tough not coming home to see the baby girl but I am trying to be patient and just take it one day at a time. Thank you again for everybody that has kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

Doing so very much better..

So as of yesterday at 1:00 pm Aven was doing so much better. When we called at 8:00 am to check on her they stated that earlier that morning they were able to take her completly off her epie drip and that her dopamine is down to about a .14. She was at a .5 the day of the scare. Her anti-biotics are working well and she is needing a litte less help to fight it. WOO HOO. We will head down tonight to spend the weekend with her. Isis will stay with Grandpa and Grandma, and get to be spoiled and go to a birthday party for his cousin Noah. What a fun weekend.

In Aven's news

As far as our sweet baby girl goes, the docs have narrowed down the infection to two places. She has an infection in her urine and in her lungs which the docs for now are just generalizing as pneumonia. Her blood pressures are stable and there isn't really anything else of note to report. She is still on dopamine and epinephrine, but they have started to ween her off of both these medications in very small amounts. They are doing x-rays two times a day to make sure that nothing is growing or acting up in any other way. No new news in the head bleeding department and her bruised abdomen is starting to look very good and fill in with color. More news as it comes in.

And the straw that broke the camel's back

So last night around 10:45 pm we received a call from my father-in-law saying that our car, which had been parked legally on the shoulder of 35th avenue, had been smashed by a drunk driver. Needless to say this was the best news we've had all week, Aven being the exception. Luckily we had up to date insurance information in the glove compartment and so we didn't have to do anything. This morning we went to the towing company's yard and found that our Saturn had indeed been totaled. The rear windshield had been completely smashed out and the driver's side rear door had bee smashed up to the driver's door, almost. The trunk had been pushed almost completely up to the back seat. Nobody was in the car when it got hit and nobody was injured, not even the retarded drunk driver, too bad. Here is some eye candy that we took today when we saw the car to get all of our belongings out of it.

Forgot about Dre... I mean Isis

Hey everybody. Just thought I would update the blog for everybody to know what's going on. I got a call last night from a doc at the hospital and they told us Aven's blood pressure was really low and had been all day. The doctor told us that she wasn't responding to any medications and asked how far away we were. Needless to say, when you hear a doctor ask you to come to the hospital it really freaks you out. Brandy and I left immediately after the phone call and headed straight towards the hospital in Denver.

The trip down there was very nerve-racking and full of confused emotions. You can't help but think the worst when your kids are on the line. Brandy and I got there and my parents arrived about 15 minutes later. Aven was on a dopamine drip and now a constant epinephrine drip as well, not good. My dad and brother in law Chris gave her a name and a blessing for the sick. Her blood pressure immediately went back up into a more desired range and stayed there all night and into this morning.

When Brandy and I woke up from sleeping at the hospital her numbers were looking great! How marvelous a feeling to have your baby doing so much better from modern medicine and the power of prayer. The doctors know that she has an infection and now we are just waiting to hear back from them as to where and what type it is. We have been checking in with her nurses all day and our precious baby girl is doing great, thanks for everything that everybody has done in this time of confusion and heartbreak for us.

In Isis news, we think he is suffering from some sibling rivalry... already. So a few days ago we bought him some new toys. One of them is a remote-controlled indoor helicopter. Isis and daddy have a balst playing with it and it is a good tool to use to teach him patience, yeah right, and sharing since daddy thinks it is just as cool as Isis. Here is a video to show what Isis and daddy do during flight time, enjoy:

NO HEART PROBLEMS

So one of the issues that the doctor had told us about was that their is a duck in the heart that sometimes does not close in babies this early. Not knowing if it would close on its own or how bad it could really effect her we worried a bit as that her heart is the size of a marble. Well they did an ultra sound yesterday and her heart has closed properly. Isis really likes to go and see her. He gets really mad when he can't hold her or take her to her room. He really is being so sweet with her right now and I know he will be a good big brother. Aven has also been taken out from under the lights as her color is so much better.

An update

So there isn't really a whole bunch to say as far as an update goes. Aven was placed on an oscillating breathing machine on Wednesday and was taken off of it yesterday. That particular machine breathed 300 times a minute for her and she responded very well. They also did an ultrasound on Wednesday and found some bleeding in her head, which could be from her ventricles or it could be from an infusion that they gave her. They are supposed to do another one today to see if the bleeding has gone down or if it remains constant. That is all the major news as of now, stay tuned.

Bying time...

So we had a couple of conversations with doctors about me and the baby today. Aven has a small bleed in her head - very common for a baby at her age. They will monitor it and if it starts to effect her we will relieve the pressure and if there is no effect it will just go away as needed - Just need to wait and see. She is also having a small problem releaseing carbon dioxide from her body - so they have her on a new ventalator to help - it is tad on the uncomfortable side so she is sidated currently. But all in all she is so tough and holding her own. It will be a long road. She is perfect.

I am having some different hormones and kidney levels tested - to see maybe if there is an underlying factor to my kidney issues or still just the effects of the preeclampsia.

Thanks again for all of your support - prayers and care that you have given. I am glad that my husband can go to dinner at members house to have a semi normal night - and that everyone has sent us their best.

Still hanging out

Well Aven is still hanging in there doing great - They came and got permission for a transfusion if she needs it at any time - she is anemic and does not produce well at this stage - of course she is my daughter I am anemic as well. Of They are taking her off of some of the anti-biotics and she is looking to have an ultra sound on her heart just to make sure that it is all closed right - if not she could have to have this anytime in the future but we dont know that it will even be an issue yet - my sister had this fixed at lit age two - so we wont stress it till we are told to. It turns out that they are waiting on a few of my levels to stablize a bit better to make sure my body is coming back to normal. I will be here for today as well and maybe on my way home tomorrow. Thank you again for all your prayers - Love you

By request of the mother...

Here are most all of the pictures we have of our sweet baby girls as of now. I had to get creative with photoshop with one of them to be sure it was 'modest'...

So I talked to my sister in law this afternoon and promised an update - I also told Ethan to put up the pictures from the camera -

So really what is new - Not much - I am feeling well and will be on my way home tomorrow - Aven will be here a while as she continues to grow and get big. However she is a TROOPER - everytime we talk to the docs they give us a heads up on some the the bad scarythings that they will check her for - but she is yet to have any - THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS- as I KNOW that this is why - GOD is GOOD. They will check her to see if her heart murmur is closing tomorrow and we will know tomorrow night - other that that if it does not we really just have to see how much of an issue it will be as far as fixing it - but as of now she is a healthy girl. I will post again soon adn get some updated pictures. Love you all and thank you

Some minor details about the delivery...

We were moving rooms last night and when we got settled into the room the nurse strapped on the monitors to listen to Aven's heart. About 7 minutes later a team of about 7 docs came in and rushed to Brandy. Needless to say I was freaked out, no joke the most scared I've ever been in my whole life. They were able to find the heartbeat again and it was back up around 148 bpm. She dropped twice again in a matter of 15 minutes and on the third drop they came in and told us that they had decided to perform an emergency c-section. From first drop to her being born all happened in about 45 minutes. They took her to the NICU immidiately and I was with her the whole time. She has 2 IV's and all sorts of thingys hooked up to her. She is doing GREAT and everything about her is in excellent condition, for a 25 week old baby, she still hasn't opened her eyes though which is too bad because I am very excited to see if it will be another brown-eyed Brandy baby. More info as it comes..

Avendesora Haylen Mondy

Hello everybody. Our daughter was born at 10:53 pm @ University Hospital in Denver. She weighs 1.5 pounds and is 13 inches long. Her body is in perfect condition and lungs and everything else is working at 100% so far with absolutely no complications to speak of. It's late, Brandy and I are exhausted, here is some eye candy for now. A special thanks for everybody that prayed for us, I KNOW that it helped.

Ethan

Back on the roller coaster

We just got the new test results back and the level is now at a 1.43 wich is the biggest jump since we've been here but on the flip side she is still below the 1.5. So we don't know if she will be back on the 6 hour test yet or not. We haven't talked to the doctor yet but if there is anything of note to report I'll post is asap.

So my 6 am 4-18 results took a while to come back but down still further to a 1.33- they dropped my observation to 12 hours instead of 6 so no more test till 6 pm on 4-18 - I will just keep trucking away and let god do as he knows best.

So Ethan has been doing great with the updates here - he is now sleeping and I am up so here goes....
We were very worried that my creatine level (Kidney function) was going to cause me to have this baby early. We checked at 6 pm on 4-17 and I actually dropped from a 1.45 to a 1.39 the danger level is a 1.5. I was checked again a midnight and fell yet again to a 1.36. I AM keeping this baby in there as long as possible and want to let everyone know that is praying - THANK YOU and I KNOW that God has ANSWERED our PRAYERS. We are currently waiting for our 6 am 4-18 test results and wanting this backward trend to keep up. I and or Ethan will post any thing we know as we know it. I do get to shower today - which has me so every excited - I kinda feel the funk.

Down again!

Brandy has a new protein level of 1.39! So this is great news, as every day and hour the baby can stay in is a blessing. We want to thank everybody again for keeping us in your prayers and thoughts. Not too much else is going on so more info as it comes in.

Protein levels

Brandy has a certain protein that is really high at the moment. I'm not sure what scale is used to measure it but if it gets as high as 1.5 they will be delivering the baby. Right now it is at 1.45 and 6 hours ago it was at 1.42. The Neonatoligist came in and spoke to us about what to expect from the baby as well as what some possible complications could be and the medications and tests to find and fix them. Of course, learning disabilities are increased being so premature. She has a good weight, and is a girl which helps for survival. There isn't anything else that the docs can do and I'm being told that Brandy also has developed an infection just now so that's obviously not good. Thank you to everybody who is keeping us in their prayers and thoughts. The next protein test is at 6 p.m. and I'll let mom know what the results are.

Some good news...

The docs came in and talked to Brandy and I about the overall situation and gave us some hope. Overall there are many things that they are looking for. Those include blood pressure, protein level, and much more. They said that she has elevated levels overall but she is still manageable. There is a possibility that the baby could still come anytime but right now Brandy's body is taking it all in stride and doing the best it can. If we can hold out even for 2 more weeks the survival rate more than doubles so we're hoping and praying. Right now we're looking at about 45-80% survival and next week we will be looking at 60-90%, so obviously the longer the better. Baby is doing great, with a good heart rate and is still moving a ton, which we're told is VERY good. Her Bp is 140/93 currently and everything else is doing ok. More information as we get it.

Headaches, it's always the headaches!

So the latest is the Brandy has developed some headaches and this could potentially be very bad. Basically a headache with this disease can lead to spotty vision and blindness. Not permanently, but it can cause serious damage to mom and in turn baby. So as of right now, we are potentially being delivered in the next few hours, assuming the headache does not go away. Brandy is convinced that it will, as she states that she talked to the baby, and she will be grounded. But kids will be kids and will do what they wish. More updates as we get them. See this link to learn more about Brandy's condition. http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/understanding-preeclampsia-eclampsia-basic-information .

At University Hospital in Denver

Hello everybody. I figure this might be as fast a way as any to update everybody as to what is going on with Brandy and the baby. As of right now, the doctors are hoping to stabilize her position for at least a few more weeks, but they don't think it'll be much longer than that. Brandy had pre-eclampsia with Isis too but not until much later in the pregnancy. They were doing an ultrasound yesterday and Brandy found out, all by herself, what we were having. So we lucked-out and are having a baby girl. Brandy is pretty sensitive to one of the medications that they are giving her called magnesium sulfate. It helps prevent seizures and acts as a muscle relaxant to lower her blood pressure, which at one point yesterday was around 169/111. This morning I checked on it again and was back down around 130/86, so it is good to see that it is going down. The blood pressure is really important to watch because that is what will cause her to have seizures. As far as baby goes, she is very healthy, for a 24 week old, and is also being monitored. Heart rate and movement we are told look even a little advanced for a baby of her gestation. So all of those things are very comforting to know, that she will be as best as she can when it's time for her to come. We arrived at the hospital around 3:30 p.m. They started Brandy on a 24 hour urine test to measure her protein levels and right away they noticed it was VERY high. As far as tests and status goes, that's about it. Nothing to excited to report, but that's okay because that means that mom and baby are doing as best as they can. If any new tests or events happen I'll post them here as soon as I can, so subscribe and stay posted.