Ok....are you ready for the longest blog post in the history of blogging????? So we have been home ...well sort of...for a few weeks now. Everyone is doing really great! Do i have an AMAZING family or what!?! Brynnah is just the most strong willed little gal I know!! She is doing soooo much better so much sooner than we anticipated! She is starting to walk (she lost a lot of ground after being sedated and immobilized for what....almost 5 weeks!) loves to push things around, and is crawling like crazy! She has also begun EATING! Now if that isn't a miracle I don't know what is???? She eats at least 2 meals a day (like 3 oz each feeding) which doesn't sound like much to most of you...but if you know Brynnah you know what a huge acomplishment it is! She also is ASKING for food!!! She is also become somewhat of a chatterbox! She talks non-stop and doesn't care who it is...she will just start talking up a storm about animals or colors or whatever she feels like repeating. And overly thrilled when everyone tells her how smart and cute she is! She has also grown a TON...they had to decrease what she's getting in her feeding tube because she keeps gaining weight. Daddy's kidney is still plugging away and doing fabulously! Labs have been great and there's no sign of rejection. This week is our last week of going to Salt Lake every week....which is pretty exciting for me....I Hate going up there all the time! She will be going every other week now! She did have a little setback last week and required more oxygen...she came home on 1/2 a liter and now she's on 2 liters...bummer I know...but I would rather have her breathing well on more oxygen than not breathing...! Ryan is doing AWESOME! He's been back to work for a few weeks and has been on regular duty the last 2 weeks! He sure is a trooper! I have been keeping busy catching up on scrapbooking and christmas gifts. We are doing the final planning for our big trip to San Diego on the 7th of October....we are way excited and can't wait to get to go on a VACATION!!! We are extending our stay and will get 6 whole days to do whatever we want! We are also preparing Brynnah to start pre-school...is that CRAZY or what!?! Other than that just alot of appointments, medication, and more appointments!! Thank you all for your love and support...we sure love you!

Jacqui finally got sick of her longer thick hair in the heat and decided to cut it off again. It looks super cute I think.

Chillin at the PCMC

So this is how Brynnah rols when she's finally able to leave the confines of her room at the hospital. She really loves her sunglasses.

Here she is with the cutest smile on her face. She's the prettiest girl in the world.

Sorry I haven't updated sooner....so here's the scoop...Brynnah actually is being discharged tomorrow!!!! Bad news is....is that we have to stay in SLC for another week. They kidney specialists want to see her twice a week for the first week and then once a week for a month. After that if there aren't any problems we go to every other week and finally once a month! We're soooooo extremely excited at the prospect of going home soon. I can't believe the whole summer is almost gone...it's kind of been nice in a way...I HATE the heat. And...it will be closer for our vacation to San Diego!!! Brynnah has been doing really well! She's been doing a lot of therapies here in the hospital...so hopefully that will make things a little easier when we get home! She has lost most of her muscle and strength in her legs...she hates crawling and refuses to walk or stand...but we'll get there! We've been doing some feeding therapy with her and I am amazed to find that she does really well with a spoon(which she never did at home with therapy) and she LETS me brush her teeth and will "open wide" on command!!!!!!! I'm sooooo surprised at her improvement already. She is definitely a whole new girl. Of course all the nurses, doctors and staff just LOVE her and can't get over her extremely mellow personality. On the ICS (immuno-comprised unit) when we leave the room she has to wear a mask...which she absolutely loves and insists on wearing it even when we are outside and she no longer needs it...she also sports her very fashionable Tinkerbell shades(which she also insists that she wear with her mask...even inside!) Ryan went back to work this week and is loving the fact that he has something to keep himself occupied! He's such a trooper! I tell you what I have the BEST family in the whole world! I am definitely so blessed! I'm so grateful to have my little girl back to her somewhat normal self and to see her get stronger and better every day! Thank you for your prayers they are what really kept us going... Lots of Love.

Extubation!!!!

So they extubated Brynnah last night and she is doing really well. She is soooooo excited to not have the tube down her throat any more. She is now back on a nasal canula at 6 liters. She has been sitting up on her own and still is a little wobbley but doing great. They had PT come in this morning and work with her. She did really well and the therapist was really pleased. This afternoon she was sitting up and pulled herself into the crawling position and moved forward a little bit to reach one of her animals. She loves to be playing again and was really excited to watch he "hippo movie"(Madagascar 1 & 2) again. They are planning on moving her to a different floor in the next couple of days and then if things go well she might be able to be discharged by the end of next week. We really appreciate everyones prayers and look forward to seeing everyone again. We love you all.

Also, so many of you have been going private lately and I always forget to send out my e-mail so that you can update me and give me an invite....so everyone that has a private blog send me an invite (even those who already have!) My e-mail is caywjacq@gmail.com

UPDATE

Things are finally looking up for little miss Brynnah! They switched her from the oscillator to the conventinal vent...(which means that her lungs are starting to look better and her body can handle less pressure being pushed into her lungs) They have been slowly turning down the settings... a little bit each day! The docs are hoping to take her off the vent next week! Wouldn't that be FABULOUS!?! They have also been letting her be a little more awake....it's so nice being able to see her big beautiful eyes! It's crazy how much I miss the little things...her bright smile, her laugh, and her little voice saying "hold ya". Ryan had a check-up today with the surgeon. They said everything looked good and to keep up the good healing! He also got the green light to drive so he will being going home tomorrow! he is sooooo extremely bored being up here in the room all day. So it will be nice for him to feel like he's doing something! For those of you who have offered to take care of my husband...I'm going to take you up on your offers. So PLEASE call him and bring him dinner...it will make me feel better! A never-ending THANK YOU goes out to all those who have prayed for us, are thinking of us and are currently giving us support! We love you all!