Friday, March 30, 2012

We are going home!!!

Anton did end up having refeeding syndrome so we had to stay one more night in the hospital but WE HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED and will be going home once we pack up the room. Thank you guys so much for your prayers, love and support :) 

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Anton might go home today!

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog. Anton is doing SOOOO good! They started feeding him formula through his G-Tube on Tuesday and he is now up to his full feeds and tolerating them well! They were a little concerned that he might have refeeding syndrome since it had been so long since he had eaten but they are doing blood work before we go home to make sure he doesn't have it. If he doesn't have it we will go home today if he does have it we will be in the hospital for a few more days. 

 

Patrice left early yesterday morning and I miss her so much! Sandy, Courtney, Anita and Patrice were such an amazing blessing to have here the first week we were in the hospital. I couldn't have done it without them.

I also have to thank my amazing husband, he has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off taking care of us. He is working, coming to the hospital to see Anton and I, going to see Kenya and Judah at my Mom's, cleaning our house and washing our clothes. He has been AMAZING and I couldn't do any of this without him!

I wanted to also thank our families for all of the support they have given us and thanks to Momo and Gramps for watching Kenya and Judah while we are in the hospital.

Thank you to Jen also who has been coming to the hospital to see us then taking our laundry (including cloth diapers) home and washing them for us! I have lots of people to thank :)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has brought us food or sent us money for food. It has been so nice not to have to worry about getting food!

And a HUGE thank you to the ladies from our church who went to our house and cleaned it they said it wasn't bad but I am so glad it's done!

Jason and I did our first dressing change alone yesterday and it went great. Patrice helped me cut bandages before she left so that helped a ton. We did it in two hours and we both were talking about how much easier it was than we thought it would be. Anton did great and his skin is looking really good right now. He had a few spots that have been pretty infected for the past week but they are starting to clear up! 

Anton is the EASIEST baby EVER! He was only fussy the first two days we were here and after that he has been so good! He is playing, talking, and learning more signs everyday. He understands us when we talk, which has happened a lot faster than we thought it would. He can sign "more", "thank you", "please" and "help". He can make the animal noises for bear, pig, cow, elephant and monkey. He says "Mama", "Papa", "Oppa" (the way they say "uh-oh" in English, I think) and "Tom" (Russian for "there"). He is the most amazing little boy and he is such a gift to our family! 

Our hospital stay has gone great. I have really enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with Anton and I haven't really gone stir crazy yet. I miss Kenya and Judah but I have gotten to see them a few times so that has helped. 




Anton is adjusting well, in fact we had our two week post placement visit with our social worker today and she said, "This is more than the honeymoon phase after a child comes home, he is really bonded to you." If he is upset he reaches out for me to hold him and he lays his head on my cheek and I just snuggle and comfort him. He cries if Jason or I leave him and he LOVES it when his Daddy walks in the room. He really is doing great! 

He is recovering well after surgery. He is in pain but seems for the most part to be tolerating everything really well! He is a trooper.



 

I don't think words could ever describe how God has worked on our hearts through all of this. I just praise Him more and more everyday for the amazing things He has done in our lives. Anton is such a gift, as all of our other children are, and I can't stop praising God for these amazing blessings! 

Thank you all for praying for Anton and for us! We LOVE you all and I pray more then anything that you would know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. Please take time to read the tab at the top of our blog that says "The Gospel" there is nothing more important than knowing where you will spend eternity and there is only one way to God and that is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. I love you all and pray that today you would be made right with God, there is no greater gift that you could receive then the gift of salvation.

LOVE you all so much!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Patrice's Time With Anton & Post-Surgery Update

Patrice did a "short and sweet" post talking about her time here with Anton. It includes updates after the successful surgery and some great pics she took. Here are just two to tease you:



Monday, March 26, 2012

They just took him back & updates

UPDATE: 1:21PM 
Everything is fine we are in our room and hanging out with Anton. He seems to be pretty happy and his talking to Jason as I type this. 


UPDATE: 10:20AM
The surgery is FINISHED!!!! Everything went great. Patrice and I went into the OR after surgery to re-bandage him now that we are back in the waiting room they will extubate him. Thank you for loving our boy God is so so faithful!!! 


-------
UPDATE: 9:30AM
The OR just called and they just now started surgery. They were able to intubate him without any problems. The surgery should take one to two hours.


------
Here is what Patrice posted on FB: 
They took Anton back about 20 minutes ago. Surgery will take 1-2 hours. They would not let Vanessa go back for this part but will let us both go back to rebandage him at the end. We are confident that he is in great and EB experienced hands. Thank you for your continued prayers.


And here is what I put on FB: 
They just took him back to surgery and they have operated on EB kids before in fact Anton is the second this week. I know they know what they are doing but it was so hard to let them take him. God is sovereign and faithful and amazing and we continue to praise.


I will keep y'all updated as I can.

Anton's surgery is in one hour .

(thanks Patrice for this awesome picture)

My sweet baby boy will be having his G-Tube surgery in one hour. Please be praying for Anton and all of the staff that will be working on him. Patrice wrote detailed blog if you want to know specific ways you can pray click HERE.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Surgery is scheduled.

Anton was pretty fussy the first two days we were here, now he is pretty content. He plays with his toys and sleeps in his stroller but oh man when Daddy came in today he LIT up. He was so excited to see Jason he started yelling and pointing at him until Jason picked him up. I only thought he loved his Mommy but I am telling you he LOVES his Daddy! It was so cute to watch them playing together today!

Anton being silly.

Playing with his puppet.

Making animal noises.

snuggle fest with Daddy.

Sleeping in his stroller all snuggled up with his new love, the cow blanket from Courtney and Anita!

Courtney worked VERY hard to win him over. 

To say Courtney and Anita spoiled Anton is a grave understatement. This boy was spoiled rotten by them :)They bought him blankets, clothes, and every toy in Target. They are so sweet and have helped us out so much! They got everything I needed, have brought me food, and have watched Anton so I could have a little break to go get food. I will say it wasn't easy leaving him even if it was only a few minutes but I was so thankful to get to have just a little break and know he was in amazing hands.

Courtney and Anita are so much fun and they know how to entertain a kids for HOURS.
 I have so much to learn from them. 

 Anton is looking in the big bag of  toys from Target to see what's next ha

 Courtney and her Mom had an early flight this morning so they will be headed back home shortly. It was such a HUGE blessing to have them here. I learned so much from them in such a short amount of time and it helped give me the confidence to know I can do this, I am the Mom, and NOTHING happens at the hospital without me saying it's okay!

Sweet snuggle time with Mama.

Surgery is scheduled for 8am Monday morning. We have seen the surgeon several different times and he has done surgery on EB kids before. We met with his anesthesiologist yesterday and he is amazing! Everything I was going to ask him about and everything I was going to make sure he knew he said them all before I could. They will cut the tape off of all the leads and use mepilex, they have meditape already (EB safe tape), he knew he couldn't tape Anton's eyes in surgery and he asked tons of questions about how much Anton could open his mouth. They will have him on a sheep skin blanket during surgery to make sure it's super soft and he will have all of his bandages on except for where they will operate. They already have an EB kit in the OR because they do have several EB kids that come to Cook's for surgery.

I felt so much better after talking to them both. Please be praying for our sweet boy no parent wants their child to have to have surgery but we know this is whats best for him and he wouldn't be able to eat without having it done. 

None of this surprised God he is sovereign over all things to Him be the glory FOREVER! 
The heart of a man plans his way,  but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

We love you all! 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Anton was eating fine in Russia what happened?

I wanted to clear up a few things. The question that has been asked the most since Anton was admitted to the hospital was "he was eating fine is Russia what happened?" I totally understand that question and I want y'all to feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Anton was eating fine in the hospital and really he was eating okay once we brought him home. The reason we had the swallow study done is he coughs a lot when he eats and gags a lot but he also did this in Russia.

During the swallow study what they do is give him a different things to eat and drink that have something (radio active I guess) that will show up on x-ray. Then they put it in a few different things for him to drink and eat to see where it is going once he drinks and eats it. They do a live x-ray the whole time he is eating and drinking to see where it goes. They started with a super thin liquid like water and it aspirated into his lungs almost every time he drank it, then they thickened it up a little (like chocolate milk) and tried that and he still aspirated a few times, then they made it thicker (like honey) and he still aspirated into his lungs then they tried baby food and that even aspirated. He FOR SURE was aspirating every time he was eating in Russia and the way we know is he had Pneumonia several times while he was there and aspirating causes Pneumonia.

 It is only by the grace of God we caught it because you CAN die from aspiration. He can't eat anything else by mouth until he has physical therapy to learn how to close his airway when he is eating. Getting a G-Tube is a really good thing for his EB too because it will allow us to get all the calories in him that he needs to heal.

None if this is bad, Anton is NOT sick they just have to leave him in the hospital because we have no way of feeding him without the G-Tube.

 Hope that helps clear things up. Love you all!

Update on Anton

Yesterday was so busy and I was exhausted because I had only slept for one hour the night before. They hospital is taking everything very slow to make sure the do things the right way. All the nurses and doctors are willing to listen to us and so far we have had a great stay. The hospital has a Chick-Fil-A that is open till midnight... oh the joy that brings to me. Ha!  

Anton had a study done to look at his stomach and check for reflux. He does have a little bit of reflux and they also found that his stomach is not in the right spot. I think they said it's transverse. I'm not sure what they are going to do about it but it is a good thing they found it before they put the g-tube in. 

Then he had an ECHO done to look at his heart. We were told in Russia that his heart is slightly malformed, but PRAISE GOD his heart is totally normal!

He is being fed through an NG Tube that goes from his nose to his stomach. There is a picture of it below. We put transfer on his face (EB safe bandage) then taped the NG Tube to the transfer. He can't have any tape on his skin at all so the IV came out once and the NG Tube has been pulled out twice. That is the only bad part of waiting for surgery is I am always having to make sure he is not pulling on his tubes because they are not really attached to him. 
 

Anton had a much better day yesterday, he wasn't fussy and even played a little bit. 

 Courtney and her Mom Anita flew in yesterday to help me and I am SOOOO glad they are here! They said I'm doing a great job but it is so nice to have them here to help me in dealing with the doctors and teaching a ton about day to day care with EB. We tried to get Patrice here too but Jonah might be sick so it was a no go :( We wish you were here Patrice! 

They tried all day to win him over and finally by the end of night it worked!  I was able to go take a shower while they played with him. 




We did Anton's dressing change yesterday and he was in so much pain the hospital gave him a pain killer.

After his bath he crashed out and slept by me in his stroller all night. I was finally able to get some sleep too and I feel very refreshed today.
The thing by his mouth is not a breathing tube but the feeding tube that is in his nose.

We still don't know when he will have surgery. They are thinking it will be sometime next week so we will be in the hospital until then.

Love you all and thank you guys so much for all the prayers, love, and support they mean the world to us! We know that God is sovereign over all of this and we are so thankful Anton will be getting a G-Tube soon so he can get the nutrition that he needs. 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

UPDATE.... Anton's IV

2:30 AM
Praise God they got the new IV in their first try! We caught the problem in time so there is only a little bit of fluid in his arm and it should be fine. He was in a much better mood the past hour and is now sound asleep. Thank you guys for praying we continue to praise our great God and savior.


 ________________


1:00 AM
Anton's IV moved so now his arm is full of fluid which is not good for a person w/out EB and it's really not good for a person with EB. Please be praying they wont have a hard time getting a new IV and please pray it will stay in. They can't use tape since he has EB.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Anton is in the hospital

Anton had a swallow study done today because his GI Doctor was concerned about how much he was choking when he was eating. The results were not good. Anton is aspirating everything he eats and drinks into his lungs. We have to stop giving him ALL food and drinks by mouth. 

He is going to have to get a g-tube since he can not safely eat. In all reality this is a HUGE blessing because it is almost impossible to get enough calories into a child with EB without one. The plan has changed several times but they want to take things slow and make sure they do what's best for Anton.

They put an NG Tube (a tube going from his nose into his stomach) in so they could feed him with that until he can have surgery. Tomorrow he will have a swallow study done again but this time using the NG-Tube (not sure how all this works) so they can see how his esophagus looks before they do surgery. They will also be doing an ECHO on his heart because we were told his heart is a little malformed so they want to make sure everything is fine with that before they do surgery. 
We will stay in the hospital until he has surgery and should be able to go home shortly after his surgery. He is also very dehydrated so he is getting IV fluids. He was very fussy today but I know he is just confused and hungry. Please be praying for wisdom for the doctors and the nurses. So far everyone has been AMAZING and has listened to everything we have told them to do and not to do.

I will keep y'all updated as much as possible.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Daddy coming home and Anton signing!

Anton is doing GREAT! He is so smart and can already sign more, please, and help. I took a video of Jason coming home today and then Anton signing. ENJOY!!!



I am working on a FAQ post so if you have any questions ask away! 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

WE ARE HOME!!!!


Praise God alone our son is home!!!

A HUGE thank you to Michelle Monk Photography for coming and taking pictures!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Anton Ezekiel Delgado

We would like to introduce you to our son Anton Ezekiel Delgado!

 

Born on January 16, 2010 and adopted into our family February 7, 2012!


 









 

 

 

 

 

Words could never fully express with words the joy that fills our hearts . 
We love Anton so much and we are so blessed that he is our son. 


God  is so so faithful and so so good to us


For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36

Today was GREAT!!!

I am pretty tired and I still need to pack but I just wanted to tell y'all how today went super fast.

Here is my status update from FB. 

Today was awesome! Went to the US Embassy but forgot my money so my sweet friend Anya and our adoption agency helped me pay for it. That part was SUPER stressful! Then I got to hang out with Anya and Lindsey and their new babies (and their husbands)! After that we (Sandy, Baby And I) went and ate at a pizza place and Baby A did great then we went to a very historic place in EE that you have to go and took tons of pictures of Baby A. I can't wait to post those. He has only fussed a little today but over all he has had a great day. He is one happy baby! 


We fly out tomorrow!!!! I can't wait to get home! 



Thursday, March 15, 2012

GOTCHA DAY!!!!

I can't stay long because I'm hanging with my son but I wanted to let you all know Gotcha Day went great. It was very emotional but so neat because all the nurses came in to tell him bye, even the ones who were on vacation and didn't have to be there came. They all love him so much and are going to miss him a ton. His Nanny and I held each other and bawled our eyes out. That was the hardest part for sure.



We are back at my host families house and I just got him to sleep in his stroller. YAY!

Sorry it's so short but I will try to post all the details of Gotcha Day later on. We wont be posting pictures of his face or his name until we are on the way home so it should be around 1AM Friday CST just in case you were wondering, ha. :)

Love you all!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Day 3 (final trip)

I woke up this morning at 4am and was ready to start my day. I am not wanting to wake up this early or trying to but I guess that's what happens when you travel internationally.

My driver came to get me at 8:30am and we headed to the hospital. I was so excited knowing I was going to get to take Baby A out by myself for a little while but also so nervous.

Baby A was getting dressed for our outing when I got there and he was so excited. Once it was time to go he did great. One of the nurses came with us but she let me do everything. It was so fun to be responsible for his care.

I put him in the car seat and he was fine until about 20 minutes into our trip and he lost it. I couldn't get him to stop crying and then he started throwing up. He threw up about 5 times on the way to the passport office and cried almost the whole way there.

Once we were out of the car he was totally fine. I think he just hates the car and threw up because he was crying so hard. We were able to get his passport really quick which was nice.

There have been so many people working so hard to help Baby A find a family and one of those people has now become my good friend Anya. Her family is also in Eastern Europe for their final trip to bring their son home so we were at the passport office at the same time today. I was so excited to introduce Baby A to Anya, she has done a lot for our son and it was a joy to get to show him to her!

Once we left the office and got back in the car Baby A started crying again and threw up 2 more times. Then he fell asleep! I knew he was tired but I didn't think there was any way he would sleep in the car since he only sleeps in his stroller. He slept for over an hour on the way home which was great!

We got back to the hospital and his nanny fed him and the poor kid was so hungry. I have never seen him eat so fast. I stayed at the hospital for 2 hours after we got back and just played with my boy.

On the way home I told my driver Vlad,  "I am sorry I always fall asleep in the car." he said, "It is fine." the next thing I knew I woke myself up because I was snoring so loud in the car, ha!

TOMORROW is GOTCHA DAY!!!!

We wont be posting pictures until I am on the way home on Saturday so just a few more days for that friends.

Love you all and depending on how it goes with Baby A I may or may not be able to blog. Hopefully I can do little updates once he is asleep. Please be praying for us as today (I fell asleep before I finished the blog last night) is going to be a BIG and exciting day.

Thanks!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Day 2 (final trip)

Hello everyone :) my day started at 3am thanks to jet lag. I really didn't mind at the time because I was wide awake but now it's 8pm and I have been awake for 17 hours and I can hardly keep my eyes open. I did want to make sure and send out an update though because I don't want to forget anything!

I got to the hospital at about 12pm and I could not wait to see Baby A. I walked in and hugged Alyona (a volunteer who has worked very hard to find him a family) and gave his nanny a hug then I went right over to Baby A and sat down beside him and started playing. I wasn't sure if he was going to remember me or if he would want anything to do with me, but I was excited to see him. We played for a few minutes and he was kinda grumpy but I was just so happy to play with him again!

Then his nanny started his dressing change and I watched and sang songs to my boy!

After his dressing change he was in a much better mood and even reached out for me to pick him up! I love it when he does this because I know he wants me and it makes this Mama proud!

The doctor from the US Embassy came to the hospital to do his medical exam and that went great. Baby A is totally healthy apart from his EB. He is going to write a letter to the airport saying that Baby A is healthy and he will explain EB so that they don't search him. Thank you guys for the idea on getting a letter and thanks for the idea to get pictures printed of him un-bandaged to show TSA at the airport in case they gave us a hard time. I have done both of those things so hopefully it will all go well at the airport.

The last time we came I remember Baby A wrapping his arms around his nanny's neck and he put his cheek to hers and just stayed there all snuggled up to her. I thought it was so sweet and I couldn't wait for the day he would do that with me. I knew it would take awhile though because he is still very stiff when I hold him and he wont really snuggle with me yet. I knew though that once he was comfortable enough to put his arms around me and love on me then he would have a pretty good start to an amazing attachment.

Well, as I was talking to him on the couch I started giving him kisses on the head. Then he leaned in for me to kiss his head and just stayed there with my lips on his forehead and HE WRAPPED HIS ARMS AROUND MY NECK. I couldn't believe he did it. Then he did the same thing several more times after that. I was overjoyed at this amazing blessing God had given me! Then he looked right at me and kissed me on the lips! He did that several times too! This is a HUGE deal because he normally turns away or offers you his forehead if you try to kiss him,... but not today! Then he played with my hair a few times. I was SOOOO excited he was loving on me so much! I love Baby A more then words could ever express and I am so blessed that God has allowed us to adopt him!

The lady from the passport office was not able to come to the hospital so we are taking Baby A tomorrow to the passport office. I am SO excited about taking him out of the hospital with me for the first time!

Wednesday we don't have anything planned but I'm sure I will be spending a lot of time at the hospital.

Thursday is GOTCHA DAY!!!! I will take Baby A from the hospital sometime in the afternoon. Sandy gets in Thursday night and will help me with Baby A.

Friday is our US Embassy appointment and they will give us his US Passport and Visa.

Saturday WE FLY HOME!!! I can't wait to bring our sweet boy home!

I am headed off to bed I hope you have a great day!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Day 1 (final trip!!!)


HI!!! I just wanted to let everyone know  I have arrived safely in Eastern Europe :) All of my flights were amazing and I plan on blogging about my time at the airport later because so many neat things happened. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day I get to go to the hospital to see Baby A, a doctor will go to the hospital to do Baby A's medical exam for the Embassy, the passport lady is coming to the hospital to see Baby A before she give him his passport, and I have to fill out all the paperwork for our US Embassy appointment (with the help of our adoption agency). Looking forward to loving on my baby I have missed him! I am headed to bed because I'm super tired. 

Love you all! 
Vanessa