Sadbh’s update – day 338 March 14th, 2012

Sadbh had a restless night, and kept pulling her toys close to her head. At one point, she stood up in the corner of her cot, even though she was still fast asleep.

She slept right through the entire night and did not wake until 6:20, had a quick snack and went back to sleep again until 8am.

Su-Jin was working today and Sadbh was very excited to see her.

It was a fun morning with plenty of playtime. This seemed to do the trick, because Sadbh was exhausted when it came time for trach care.

She enjoyed her bath, and loved it when Su-Jin styled her hair.

Trach care was very easy, and Sadbh slept for almost two hours.

Her temperature and heart rate was running a little higher than usual today.

At one stage, when Sadbh gave Granddad a big smile, he noticed what looked like a tooth was ready to poke through her lower gum. Su-Jin washed her hands and gave Sadbh’s gums a rub. She instantly felt a tooth, and Granddad was very excited. He’s been hoping to be the first one to find a tooth, and lucky for him, his patience paid off.

By bedtime, Sadbh’s temperature started to run a lot higher, and her heart rate was almost 50 above normal.

We are hoping that it’s a result of her teething, however it’s more than likely the onset of a cold or bug.

New photos.

Photos from January 14.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 337 March 13th, 2012

Sadbh had a great night sleep, and even though she was moving all over her cot, she did not require any attention or even suctioning. It made for an uneventful night for Larissa.

Sadbh finally woke up at 5:15am and she got a few minutes of playtime in with Larissa before Katie came down stairs. 

Breakfast was served, and shortly after Larissa’s shift ended, Sadbh was back to bed and in a deep sleep.

Today was the first day for our new nurse Destiny and Sadbh had a ball. Destiny works at Children’s and had looked after Sadbh when she was in recovery after being in the NICU and after receiving her trach.

Unfortunately for Destiny, and all our other nurses from Children’s, the nursing agency has some of the tightest requirements when signing up, so it took forever to be qualified to look after Sadbh.

Ali-Baba came over for her daily dose of Sadbh, and to also help Granddad with trach care.

Just as my father was securing Sadbh’s trach ties, she woke up, making it a little bit more stressful than usual to finish things off.

The sun came out later in the afternoon, so my father and the Destiny bundled Sadbh up and headed out for walk. Shortly afterwards, the weather changed and they got pounded with rain, hail and snow. Thankfully they were not far from the house, so it was a mad dash home.

Sadbh was fully of energy when I got home from work, however she had not slept much throughout the day, so after a quick feed, I changed her into her bed clothes and as soon as she was comfortable in her cot, she fell asleep.

She did great for about 20 minutes, but woke up crying hard. I unhooked all her equipment, put a nose on her trach, and rocked her to sleep in my arms. We were both so comfortable I ended up falling asleep for almost 30 minutes.

We both woke up when Katie returned home from work, and it was suddenly play time.

Sadbh had a great evening and was ready for bed with the time came.

New photos.

Photos from January 13.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 336 March 12th, 2012

Sadbh had a very restless night and woke up crying a few times. Larissa was able to sooth her and get her back to sleep each time. Larissa found that the best way to comfort Sadbh was to sing her favorite song that Katie always sings, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It worked perfect each time.

Breakfast was served at 5:30am, and Sadbh was in a great mood. After cuddling with Katie, and a hug from me, she went back to sleep and did not wake until 8:20. At one point as she was sleeping, Granddad noticed Sadbh smiling in her sleep.

She had a fantastic morning playing with Granddad.

Later on, Ali-Baba stopped by to join in on the fun, and to help with trach care.

It was a very wet day, so Sadbh and Granddad were housebound all day.

This is never a problem, since Sadbh has so many toys to play with, and Granddad seems to have so much energy to keep up with her.

New photos.

Photos from January 12.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 335 March 11th, 2012

Sadbh was awake and fussing at 1am this morning. It took a while to get her settled back down, and as soon as she was ready, we put her back to bed and she slept until 6am.

This time she was hungry for breakfast, and as soon as she was done feeding, she was eager to get out of bed and play. It was still very early in the morning, so we had to work very hard to get her back to sleep.

It was our Goddaughter’s third birthday today, so as soon as we were all up, we headed over to visit Clodagh to wish her a happy birthday.

Clodagh and her friends greeted Sadbh as soon as we arrived.

Sadbh was in her element, and was excited with all the attention that she received.

While all the other girls were having lunch, Sadbh and Cormac got to hang out and play.

Dylan arrived later on and the fun continued.

It was a fun afternoon, and Sadbh even got to Skype with Clodagh and Cormac’s grandparents back in Dublin.

As soon as we arrived home, it was time for a bath and then trach care. Sadbh was tired from all the excitement, so it did not take long before she was fast asleep.

She slept for a good hour after we were done, so Katie and my father headed out to do some yard work.

As soon as Sadbh woke up, we bundled her up nice and warm, and all headed out for a walk through the neighborhood and up to Capitol Hill.

It was a cold, but sunny evening, so we headed to Quinn’s Pub for a bite to eat.

The last time Sadbh was in Quinn’s, was back in August, and we had a minor emergency since her blood oxygen level started to drop down into the eighty's, and we had to rush home.

Tonight was the first time she got to sit in a high chair and she loved every minute of it.

We thought it would be easy to get her to sleep tonight since she had a busy day, and with the clocks changing, but we were wrong, and it turned out to be quite the battle.

That said, it was a fantastic day and Sadbh had a great time.

New photos.

Photos from January 11.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh. 

Sadbh’s update – day 334 March 10th, 2012

Sadbh slept well through the night and apart from the occasional adjustment, she did not wake until 4am.

She joined us in bed, had a quick breakfast and it was back to sleep after having her trach suctioned.

She slept through to 8am, and then it time to get up and have some solids for breakfast.

Sadbh is 11 months old today, and it’s hard to imagine that she is only a month away from her first birthday.

Katie had a hair appointment, so she left Sadbh with us and headed off.

We had a great time playing with Sadbh, and she was in her element leading poor Granddad around the house.

Eventually, when she started to get tired, Granddad and I started her trach care procedure.

Everything went well for the most part, but it was quite difficult to get her trach ties secured as the ties kept rolling back on itself. I ended up having to remove the ties a few times and resetting them before they were finally secure.

We whisked Sadbh up to her cot as soon as we were done, and the moment I placed her in bed, she woke up.

I had a bunch of things to do during the afternoon, so we fed Sadbh and after she was done, we bundled her up, loaded up the car and the three of us headed to Costco.

Going to Costco on a Saturday is probably not the greatest of ideas, can you imagine how ridiculous of an idea it is when it’s raining hard.

Costco was packed, and since it was Sadbh’s first time there, she was so excited with the shear volume of people. It was crazy.

Typical Sadbh, we can’t go anywhere without bumping into someone who knows her. We met one of the nurses from Children’s.

After Costco, we headed off to the hardware store, and this time Sadbh stayed in the car with Granddad. It was a good thing since she was finally getting tired and needed to nap.

After another couple of stops, we were home bound and since things took longer than anticipated, it was a mad dash to make dinner as we were expecting company for the evening.

Our friends, Curtis, Christina and their lovely daughter Grace were stopping by for the evening.

Grace was fantastic with Sadbh and very gentle. The last time they met was back in September, and Grace remembered everything about Sadbh.

We had a lovely evening and the two girls had so much fun.

At one point, Grace wanted Sadbh to follow her into the living room, so she took her by the hand. Since I had her other hand, Sadbh ended up walking sideways through the house. Despite being the first time she attempted to walk sideways, she honestly did a good job.

Sadbh really enjoyed hanging out with Grace.

New photos.

Photos from January 10.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 333 March 9th, 2012

Sadbh slept fairly well last night, but Katie did have to take care of her a few times through the night.

Eventually at 4am, Sadbh joined us in bed, and that’s when she wanted to play.

I woke up to a gentle tapping on my shoulder and when I looked over, Sadbh was thrilled.

It took some effort, and almost an hour to get Sadbh back to sleep.

By 7:30, she was ready to get out of bed, so Katie brought her downstairs for breakfast of bananas and cereal.

She made such a mess, but loved every minute of it.

Sadbh’s monthly trach change was scheduled for this weekend, and since she was getting quite tired after arriving home from work, we figured there was no time like the present.

As usual, she really enjoyed her bath and got to relax while Katie read her a bedtime story.

It did not take long for her to fall asleep, so we started off with trach care. She was quite restless as we cleaned and conditioned her neck, but when it came time to change out her trach, she relaxed and allowed us to get the job done.

It’s definitely getting easier to change out Sadbh’s trach each time, but it is still extremely nerve wracking and by the time we are done, we are exhausted.

Sadbh is such an angel, and slept for another hour after trach care.

It was time for dinner when she woke up, and for dinner she had chicken, carrots and mango for desert. She’s got a good life and eats extremely well.

New photos.

Photos from January 9.

Have a great weekend,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 332 March 8th, 2012

Sadbh slept through the night and woke up happy at 5:30am. After breakfast, she had a few minutes of snuggle time with Katie and me.

Shortly after Larissa’s shift ended, Sadbh was bundled up and went back to sleep.

Sadbh was scheduled to have a nurse today, however Katie received a text yesterday explaining that the nurse was feeling flu symptoms, so she cancelled since she did not want to get Sadbh sick.

After breakfast, Sadbh spent the morning playing in the sunshine with Granddad and she had a fantastic time.

At one point she was trying to put on a pair of lovely shoes that she got from our friends Brian, Breffini and Saoirse back in Ireland. It was very entertaining to watch since espadrilles are not easy to put on, especially when you are 11 months old.

Just after noon, Katie arrived home to help Granddad with trach care, and Sadbh slept for almost two hours.

We were finally able to get the doctors order to lower the heart rate the settings on Sadbh’s oximeter and the service technician was scheduled to stop by to make the adjustment.

Unfortunately for Sadbh and my father, the technician did not arrive until later in the day, so it was late by the time they got to go out for a walk through the neighborhood.

It was another beautiful day, and Sadbh was checking everything out. Even when a plane would fly past overhead, she would follow it through the sky as she waved.

Sadbh had a great evening and when it came time for bed, she was exhausted. It was obvious that she was overly tired as she had so much energy and was flying around the house.

Once we placed her in cot upstairs, she passed out within minutes.

She has been great sleeping without being swaddled up tight over the last couple of nights, and last night she did great sleeping without her wedge.

Obviously Larissa was keeping a close eye on her and making sure that she stayed comfortable and safe by keeping her trach mist collar in the correct position.

Since she is sleeping upstairs with us tonight, I am hoping that she sleeps well.

We are scheduled to change out her trach this weekend, and hope to get it done early tomorrow evening. It’s always a nerve-wracking procedure, so we are eager to get it taken care of sooner rather than later.

New photos.

Photos from January 8.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.