The Life of a Little Hippie

As we were expecting Ezra a few years ago, we received a gift from a friend/coworker of Ahna’s of a three dimensional replica of his hand and foot. Well, nine days into Liam’s life, we were fortunate to have her come back and do it again.

It’s at a place like this where I feel like I have to be honest…when I first heard about these molds, I was really skeptical. Of course, it’s a modern day rendition of the old school brassed baby shoe that our Grandparent’s have on their shelves – so it’s not a new concept…but I used to think that it would be a little creepy to have the molds done; and frankly I was afraid of turning into that old couple that has things like that on the fireplace mantel when our kids have become parent’s of their own. That was before I saw them done, and done how Cheri does them. It’s a super cool thing to have, and it’s really nice to have that moment in time so properly on display.

When Cheri got in touch with us about doing Liam’s mold, we were right in the middle of the first two weeks of this journey: quite confused, quite emotional, and quite lost (still are at times); but we were certainly sure that we wanted that molding to get done. She came up to the hospital, and figured a way to get Liam’s (who was still very sedated and laying flat on his back) hand and foot into the cups for the mold to take shape. A few weeks later, we were presented with the awesome piece of art that will soon find a good spot in the house.

If you are interested in getting one of these of your child (or pet or you, I suppose) for yourself contact Cheri at www.littlepawsdesigns.com

I had meant to write a posting yesterday, and just didn’t get around to it….in the morning, I took the opportunity to go down and take Ezra swimming – something that we haven’t done since Liam was born and something that we normally do on at least a weekly basis. Then the afternoon just sort of flew by with visitors and holding Liam. So in place of a post yesterday and one this morning, you get something jumbo sized.

We have been treated to several handmade gifts for Liam since he has been here. We posted about a blanket, a painting,  and a hat (on second thought, maybe we haven’t mentioned the hat yet, so I will work on a photo of that….or if it has been mentioned, I can’t find the post) that he was previously given, and this time we are posting about two other things that people have graciously given to him. So the first item is a cape…yup a cape! One of our friends gave it to him because “every boy needs a cape.” How right she is. It was handmade by a friend of our friend at a place called Happily Home Sewn, and features a big ‘L’ on top of an Aspen leaf/tree. It’s perfect.

The second item is a new sweater for the colder days when we take Liam on a walk outside – or just to keep him warm and cozy inside. It was made by one of our nurses, and is equally a perfect balance of color, fashion, and function. It so obvious to tell that these items come from such loving places, and we are so happy to be able to share them with you.

Okay, next item: Matthew came in town and surprised us with an arrival a full day earlier than expected (and looking quite professorial, if I might add). We are again reminded of the amazing family that we have surrounding us.

Here is a follow-up photo to the ‘Hold Your Hand’ posting, and another great photo by Ahna (she’s getting really good at that).

And finally, here is a photo of the hospital that I took last evening. I have been meaning to go and take a shot at sunset for a few weeks, and just got around to it yesterday. It’s a five-shot compilation using the HDR technique.

Remember that post about the monitor? Yea, I know that a couple of days ago seems like nearly an eternity to us too. In that post, I eluded to the leads that actually hook the monitor to Liam – so here is their story.

There are five individual points of connection between the monitor and Liam (insert asterisk here, one of them actually goes to the bed): three of those are on his chest, one on his belly, and one on his foot. The three that are on his chest are the ones that are responsible for monitoring his pulse and his respiratory rate and get changed at every bath or whenever they decide to stick to his clothing instead of his body. Throughout out stay here, we have become educated in a lot of things, one of which has been how to place those leads on Liam, and how to best remove them with as little chance of pain as possible – although there is probably no physical way of doing that completely.

The lead on his belly – in the photo as a golden bear – is actually a temperature sensor that is hooked into the bed. The computer then uses that information to control the amount of heat that the warmer puts out to keep Liam at a certain temperature: 36.5 celsius. For some reason, this lead and wire are the most difficult to deal with and like you computer cables at home, will always become knotted and tangled no matter how perfectly you placed it last time. I think that it’s because it’s got a heavy connection point on the end and a small flimsy wire that it will just knot itself with no warning and with no easy ability to undo it.

Finally, there is the lead that is attached to his foot – and it changes feet each day just so it isn’t always on one or the other. This one’s primary concern is Liam’s oxygen saturation levels, but also serves as a backup pulse monitoring lead. This one also causes us some frustration on a near daily basis, but it’s because Liam like to kick his legs and that motion causes the lead to not register that well. It is also temperature sensitive, so if Liam’s feet are a little cold, than it doesn’t like to work as well. And of course whenever it doesn’t work, the alarm sounds.

Since it is known that there are five leads, you would correctly surmise that there are also five different cables that have to be managed, along with the four different IV lines. All of these together create quite the mess and quite the entanglement. We spend time after each bath attempting to organize them, but that only lasts until the first time that you pick him up and sit with him in the chair. Most of the time it isn’t really an issue – even when they are messy – but it does reach the point where something has to be done. It’s an impossible and never ending task to keep them clean.