Day 20: Analise gets visitors and an update on Erik and Dawn's "new normal"

Today, Analise had several visitors that were very excited to see her:  Great Grandma Thelma (Dawn's Grandmother) and her husband Leon , Grandpa Ed and Grandma Sandy (Erik's father and step-mother), Isabela (Analise's cousin), Grandpa Richard, and me.   All of us have had our Pertussis vaccines and we were all healthy, yeah!!! (A message from Erik: Thank you for all of the people running out and getting the shots.  Kaiser does it for free for their patients, CVS was expensive ($50), most other places will do it for your co-pay or free through your insurance.)

Today we got a small sample of how Erik, Dawn, and Kaley are feeling these days, and yes...Kaley too, she is being an amazing big sister!!!

Erik and Dawn are still a little nervous about having Analise not being observed round the clock since she has a tendency to hold her breath once in a while and they also want to ensure her arms are not in a position that will be harmful or painful to her.

Erik and Dawn's friends, Keith and Lisa gave them some advice on how they took care of their premature twins, Kash and Emma, who also spent weeks in the NICU, and coincidentally were born on the same day as Analise was born, but on 8/8/08!!  They also have a great blog http://tarterbabies.blogspot.com, in case you are interested in checking it out.

Here is a small sample of what their days have looked like since they have been home and what their lives will look like for the next weeks, months, ?? :

• Erik, Dawn, and Kaley take turns throughout the night, making sure one of them is awake with Analise at all times, as well as with the feedings every 3 hours, exercising  her every 6 hours, and making sure her splints are 3 hours on and 3 hours off.  

• In addition to doing the usual care-taking of a newborn, we saw how difficult it is to put on a shirt, change a diaper, burp, anything having to do with caring for Analise, because of her inability to move her arms and the lack of range of motion. It almost takes 5 hands to do some things!! We were ready to run to the store and buy a stack of snap on t-shirts for Analise, but Erik and Dawn told us that Dawn's sister, Victoria, had already done so!!  Thank you Victoria!!  Anything to make it easier on Erik and Dawn and also not hurt our Sweet Analise!!

• So much to do and so hard to remember it all!! In order to keep track of everything, they are keeping a log of when they did what, including when they changed diapers, when Analise sleeps, etc!!  Very organized!!

• Erik and Dawn are becoming pros at doing Analise's range of motion exercises, so much so that Erik thought he would even try his therapy on his Dad's shoulder this afternoon.  How did he do, Grandpa?  Erik may have a new career in his future  ;-)

In addition to all this, they are now also having to coordinate Analise's care, call and complain about appointments not scheduled, apply for services for Analise from several agencies, and keep everything organized and on schedule.  And, in addition to all that, there's Kaley, Kyle, and Kassandra's school and soccer schedule, and...Erik will need to go back to work in a couple of weeks!!

Now that Analise is home and they are beginning their life, as Erik describes it, "their new normal", it is very clear that they will continue to need our prayers and our support more than ever!!

This afternoon, Erik rested his head for a minute and ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours, but  poor Dawn never was able to nap today.  We pray she is able to get some rest tonight.   

Great Grandma Thelma and Great Grandpa Leon

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Ed

Kassandra took this picture of her baby sister,
she is becoming quite a little photographer!!

Isabela holding her new cousin

Abuelita and Grandpa Richard