Gabi 4 Weeks!

My baby is growing up too fast, One month old already! She has gained some weight she is now about 8 pounds and has grown 1/2cm! I am ok that she hasn't grown too much because I want her to still be small when she finally comes home! She has been doing really well still off all her medications other than Zantac and Prevacid to help with her Reflux. Her Scar from ECMO is healing well too, you can barely see it now, mostly because her chubby cheeks hide it!

This picture was right before they took out her stitches. She was still bruised but has healed up well since then. The biggest thing that we are working on right now is feeding. She has improved a little each day but she really didn't want anything in her mouth after having tubes down her throat for 2 weeks. She is now sucking on her Binky really well but the bottle is a little harder for her to get used to.



Gabi has also been alot more awake lately. She looks around and will follow your voice when you talk to her, which I love because I know she can hear! I feel like I can read her thoughts sometimes by her facial expressions and her personality comes out a little more everyday




Gabi is a gagger! Part of the reason I think she doesn't like to eat is because she gags on the feeding tube going down her throat. When she gags her whole body starts to dry heave and she starts puking, this is no baby spit up, its full on vomiting. Its so sad because you can feel how uncomfortable she feels. I have never seen a baby vomit like that and as her Mom of course I worry. We hold her up when she eats so if she gags or vomits she doesn't choke on it, but when we aren't there she is just laying in bed. I get nervous that she will swallow it and choke or swallow it back into her lungs which could cause more infection. I talked to the doctor and apparently this is very common and there is nothing to worry about... I of course feel other wise but I'm just the mom right!


The last few days she has done better with the vomit thank goodness. They say she has reflux and that its very common for babies with downs to have it, which may be true but I don't think that is entirely the issue. I feel like her disability has become an excuse for everything and I think that it will be something we will have to fight the rest of her life. I understand that there are common things that can occur but what I don't like is the assumption that because she is downs she has automatically has something or she will be slower. She will decide that, not a statistic.


Sometimes Gabi looks so dang fat! She really is tiny but in her pictures she looks like a giant!


The plan right now for her is to work on her feeding by mouth, They are giving her until the 26th and will then evaluate her progress. If she hasn't changed they have discussed the options of sending her home on a feeding tube. We can do the nasal feeding tube that she has now or a gastric tube that is surgically put into her stomach. Both options suck! I don't like the nasal one for the fact that I would have to shove it down her nose and into her stomach, hoping I put it in the right place. Plus she hates it and trys to pull it out multiple times a day! The G tube is ok other than it is surgically put into her side and she is fed that way. Its not a major surgery but its still surgery. I think for Gabi it would be a better option though because she wouldn't have anything going down her throat to gag her!


She has the chubbiest little legs! I just want to munch on them!


As much as I don't want to bring her home with the feeding tube, I also don't want her to stay at the hospital much longer. I am getting burnt out! The traveling back and forth is exhausting! I can't wait to have my lazy days with her like we had planned when she was first born! Taking naps together and not leaving the house! I am sooo looking forward to that! Gabi gets cuter and cuter every time I see her and it's so hard only spending a few hours a day with her. I am so grateful that she will be with us forever! I can't imagine life without her!

This was Grandpa Hreinsons Birthday present! He loves BYU... Gio is not a big fan so this was a little bit of a sacrifice! But she looks dang cute in it!

What's Up Man!


Hopefully she will be home with us SOON! Im ready to be a full time mom! I feel like parents have insticts with there children that no one else does, and I honestly think Gabi will do better in a more consitant enviroment. It's amazing what parenthood does to you as a person. I feel like I have changed so much in such a small amount of time. I have so many people to thank for that. I would not be who I am without all my family and friends, You have all been so great! I never imagined that having Gabi would bring me closer to people. I feel guilty sometimes having so many people loving me and my family because I don't feel I always deserve it. So many people have helped us and prayed for us that it is incomprehendable at times. I can never thank you all enough. I guess it is times like these that we have to swallow our pride accept the charity of others and when the time comes give back to someone else in need. and that is exactly what I intend to do! I love you all and Thank you again!

Happy 3 Week Birthday Gabi!!!

I can't believe that it has been 3 weeks since my sweet little angel was born. In some ways it feels like yesterday, but in other ways it feels like it was months ago! We have been through so much in the last three weeks that every day feels like ground hogs day lately! (other than Gabi keeps doing better and better each day! thank goodness!) This has been the most life changing 3 weeks of my life and the only thing that I would change is that fact that Gabi was so sick from the beginning. She has been through more in the first weeks of her life to last a persons lifetime! I hope that this is it and we have no more after this! This last week gabi has progressed so much. On Monday the doctor planned on taking her off the ventilator, but before they did they had scheduled to do an MRI to make sure everything was well. Gabi had other plans and ripped the tubes out of her mouth all by herself! She is one feisty girl with a mind of her own!

This is her being mad after she was naughty and ripped out her tubes, they put her in a high flow nasal cannula instead which meant that we could finally hold her! I only held her for a few seconds right after she was born and Gio hadn't held her at all so it ended up being a very good day!


On Tuesday Gabi was upgraded to a crib. She was producing her own body heat so she didnt need the heated bed! They put her in some pj's and wrapped her up in a blanket. She was finally looking like a healthy baby. That day Aunt Brittany and Grandma Hreinson came to visit and were able to hold her as well. They have been patiently waiting for 2 long weeks!



Since Gabi was doing so much better and was moved to a crib that meant she was well enough to be moved to a different room. I was not happy about the move at first. All the nurses said that she was moving up I felt the opposite. She went from being in a room with one other baby, having a personal nurse on her 24 hours a day and having lots of room to gather round her and admire her to being in a room the same size with 4 other babies, crammed in a corner with only 2 nurses to the whole room. That was the first time I questioned if she would be taken care of when I left. I think being able to hold her made things worse because I hate leaving her now. I know that when I am not there she will be left in her crib with little interaction, it made me feel like she was in prison and I wanted to break her out!

Snuggled up in her new Bed!


The next day one of the babies had been moved out of her room and I felt a little better about the situation. I know she is being taken care of I just really want her to come home.


She slept so good for almost 3 days straight! When she is awake she likes to still pull on her feeding tube and oxygen, the last few day she has pulled it out a couple times a day.


When Gabi finally decided she had slept enough over a few days she woke up and couldn't take her pretty eyes off her dad! She is such a good baby, she hardly cries and when she gets mad she gets over it quickly and is calm and content, I hope it stays that way!

Currently Gabi is completly off all medication! She has all her iv's out including the central line that went to her heart! The only things she has on her is oxygen, her feeding tube and her monitors to keep track of her blood pressure and breathing. She has recovered extremely well. Her pulmonary hypertension in her lungs has completely resolved itself. Tomorrow she will have another eco on her heart to make sure her valves have closed up ok. She is scheduled to have and MRI on Wednesday to look everything over again also just as a precaution. Considering how sick she was when she was born she has recovered extremely well. Right now she is on 1 1/2 liters of high flow oxygen and we are optimistic that she will be switched to regualar oxygen in the next few days. This is a huge step because she could come home with that kind of oxygen cannula. She has come off the drugs well and now our biggest challenge is getting her to eat. She doesn't like anything in her mouth. I can't imagine why! She has done a little better each day but still is not super interested in doing the work, its so much easier to have your stomach filled for you! If she doesn't want to eat we could possibly take her home with a feeding tube but i REALLY don't want to do that. I don't know if I can handle shoving a tube up her nose and down her stomach. So we continue to pray each day that she will stop being so stubborn like her mom and dad and decides she wants to eat!

Easter Sunday was a good day for me. I am so glad it was conferance weekend to go along with it. Listening to the leaders of the church and the messages they share is very uplifting but it was even more comforting this time because of everything that we have been through. My testimony of prayer, priesthood blessing, and the atonement of our savior has grown so much. I know that through our savior we can get through anything, he knows of my pain, my fears, and my joy. Gabi has brought Gio and I more joy and hope and peace than we could ever imagine. She has brought people together and helped bring perspective to the most important things in life. Looking at her each day I see our saviors love for me and my family. Gabi is a true blessing in our life, she is a symbol of hope, peace, stregnth, courage, and most of all love. We are all so blessed to have her and she has changed all of us forever!

She loves Daddy's kisses!

Our little Easter Bunny!

You don't get any cuter than that!

We continue to pray each day that Gabi continues to progress and that she will come home soon. She has never been in our house but there is a void that we are waiting for her to fill. The sooner ther better! WE LOVE YOU LITTLE MISS GABI GIRL!!!