Making progress...

Jayden has been making lots of progress. He's actually surprising a lot of doctors, but doesn't surprise us because he is such a strong baby. Since the last post, Jayden had several IV drip lines going for different blood pressure meds, various nutrients, pain meds, etc., but as of today that has been reduced down substantially. He really only has two going, and that is to keep him hydrated and to keep the central IV line good just in case they need it. They were able to wean him off the oxygen completely, so all of his breathing is on his own now. His blood pressure meds have been reduced down to an oral med. For pain, he is receiving Tylenol, which is much better because he's more aware and not so loopy/drowsy.

We did run into a few minor complications last night. The chest tube he has, which is used to drain excess fluids from around his heart, started showing fat cells, which is an indication that a duct (forget the name of it right now) was damaged during the surgery. This duct is part of the lymph system and is used to help flush out fats from the system. This is not an uncommon thing to happen with this kind of surgery. They have a general idea of where the lymph nodes are in the body but every body is different and sometimes a lymph node is damaged during surgery. Because of this, Jayden will have to go on a special fat-free diet. This means he will have to eat special formula for 4-6 weeks and Crystal will not be able to nurse him (She is really sad about this).

Our goals now are to get the chest tube out and to have the central IV line replaced for a traditional IV (Poor baby has had too many pokes). They say that it might be a few more days so that they can make sure that the drainage from his chest is under control. Which means we might be celebrating Easter here (Thanks Shelley for watching Tysen...Dan will probably be coming home to see him. We will call you). We trust these doctors and they have been very meticulous. They double & triple check everything and we feel that they are being very attentive to his needs.

We will keep posting updates as they come. Jayden did smile today for the first time after surgery...of course it was at the pretty nurse, but he did smile nevertheless. We love you all and feel free to call us with any questions or just to chat...we will answer if we are available.

Jayden update

They were able to pull Jayden off the ventilator last night, which was a really good thing. He was not very happy, and it was sad to see his silent cry, but they were eventually able to calm him down and make him more comfortable with some pain meds. Once they removed the ventilator, they put him on oxygen. Hopefully, they can wean him off that today.

Aside from the pain and keeping him comfortable, we are a little worried about his blood pressure. Initially, after the surgery, his blood pressure seem to be almost normal, but then started going up. They were giving him two different blood pressure medications intravenously, and were able to reduce it down to one. We were hoping that they were going to be able to wean him off of the one, but unfortunately they had to increase the dose, and will be adding the second medication again. They say that he will probably go home with blood pressure medication. Please pray for his blood pressure to go down. If he continues to make improvements, we might be able to go home on Thursday.

Thanks for all the prayers, kind love and support!

Out of Surgery and Stable

We just wanted to update everyone and let you know that Jayden is out of Surgery and stable. He is still on the ventilator, which is basically doing all the breathing for him. He has several tubes and machines hooked up to his little body as well. It's very scary to see, but we blessed to have him in good hands. Currently, they are keeping him sedated and waiting for his blood pressure to go down. When that happens they will be able to wean him off of the anesthesia and start to see if he can take some breaths on his own.

All of this has really been a great blessing. All your payers have been felt. Please continue to pray for Jayden to have a speedy recovery...It's been working so far. Thank you!!!

Prayers for Baby Jayden

Written by Shelley (Crystal's Sister)

Crystal wanted me to post this blog to give you a little more details of what's going on with Baby Jayden. When Jayden was in utero, perinatologists detected a narrowing of one of his arteries going into his heart through ultrasound. They took lots of tests and told Crystal & Dan it didn't look like anything serious but to follow-up with a cardiologist when he was born. When he was born they detected a slight heart murmur in the hospital and ran some tests to be sure it wasn't caused by the same thing. Everything looked OK and they again advised Dan & Crystal to see a cardiologist to follow-up. At one of his regular check ups Crystal was impressed to get the referral from his regular pediatrician to see the cardiologist even though there seemed to be no sign of the murmur. Crystal got the referral from a doctor at CHOC and went to see him today. During the visit and routine ultrasound the doctor found that indeed the artery was narrow and had worsened. He indicated that it had been a little lower than previously thought and urged Dan & Crystal to go home and pack and go straight to CHOC to admit Jayden into the ICU. Jayden will be there to go through a battery of tests to fine tune his diagnosis. He is set to have surgery on Monday to remove the narrowed artery through the side of his body. We know through prayers, fasting & faith Jayden will be just fine and growing like a weed. Whitman prayers are the best medicine for the Carlsons now. I will try to keep everyone posted on details as they come. Thanks again for the love and support, I am so grateful for our family and Dan's family what a great network to fall back on when you feel you can't do it on your own. We love you all!

Pictures Are So Valuable

I will probably be posting loads of pictures since I have a new born and a sweet two year old that, i think, are so stinkin cute. I want every moment captured...especially the ones where Tysen leans over his brother to give him the softest hugs and kisses ever while whispering, "it's OK baby Jay." I cry every time! These boys are just too cute together in their "Big Brother" and "Little Brother" shirts (thanks Grandma Carlson and Carie).

This Boy and His Music

Tysen LOVES music! He loves to listen to it, sing to it, play to it, dance to it... He just loves it.
He even asks to watch American Idol every night so that he can grab his microphone and sing along. It is his favorite show right now.

Every morning he wakes up wanting to play Daddy's guitar. He has good rhythm and he has a good memory for lyrics and melodies.

Daddy decided to sit down with Ty and teach him a thing or two about the guitar. Tysen was just eating it up! He sat very still the whole time just listening to Daddy and then when Daddy actually let him play it...oh he was soooo excited! He was very careful when he strummed the guitar and he made sure that he strummed all the strings at once or he would try again.

These are the moments that I just have to capture because I'll bet that Tysen grows up to be a great musician some day, and now he can look back and see where it all started...in his Daddy's arms.

Presenting...

Good News!

(insert picture here)

Everything went really well and we are expected to come home today at some point. They found the problem and he is expected to make a full recovery. What a strong boy! Thanks to all those who kept Ty in your thoughts and prayers.

Prayers for Ty-Man

Tysen will be going in for surgery, yet again, today at about noon. He will be getting a revision on his shunt because he is showing major signs of it's malfunction.
We just want to ask for prayers that everything will go smoothly for surgery and that he will recover well. Tysen loves all of his family and we all appreciate your love and support. We are very grateful to have the Lord watching over him.

A Fine Tuesday Morning...

February 16th 2010

at 9:30am

Jayden William Carlson was born

weighing 7 pounds and stretching out at 19 inches.

Mommy labored in the hospital for a mere five and a half hours. Things went smooth as can be and I have to say how much I love Fallbrook Hospital! I always feel as though I am the only one there with all the attention I get.

After labor I was escorted to my PRIVATE room! And we had a few visitors

including big brother Tysen. Tysen looked like a giant when he walked into the room. He was not my baby anymore. He suddenly turned into my Big Boy!

We went home the next day and took some time to relax and adjust to our family of four. It wasn't too hard. He defiantly is cute enough to be apart of our cute family.

JUST ABOUT READY...

TO POP!

We are very ready for Baby Jayden to arrive. Things are all in place and I keep running through the house cleaning up every little mess that I see.

This pregnancy has been pretty great.

Even though Jayden seems really strong, and at this point, it feels like he is going to just kick his way out.

He is an active boy all the time!

Anyone could feel him kick any time of the day. You could see my stomach moving in weird directions all the time!

It is hard to imagine that we will have a family of four soon.

We have gotten the rooms ready, the baby clothes are down, and the swing is out.

We are very anxious to meet you baby Jay.

I don't know if Big Brother Tysen fully understands what is about to happen but he seems excited to meet the baby in Mommy's tummy.

The Doctor's have been telling me for about two weeks now that I might go any day because I am already dilated a little. But...(sigh) ...that was two weeks ago and even though it is only two days before the due date we are left wondering....

Will this baby ever come?

Sports Photo Shoot

Tysen and I went to the park with all of his different sports ball to take pictures for his new "big boy" room. It is sports themed and I wanted some cute framed pictures of him playing sports...HIS FAVORITE!

Now I just don't know which ones to pick.

All That Matters is...He Thinks He is Helping

I was cleaning out the pantry and It was one of those times that I was so focused, I blocked out all other sounds from my brain.

Tysen was in the kitchen with me but I did not notice the work that he was doing. He was very busy as well.

He opened the dish washer and decided to unload it. I caught him in the middle of putting away the silverware (yes, even the knives) in the silverware drawer. He knew exactly where those went. He just wasn't tall enough to sort them.

He took out the plates too. After opening several cupboards, I guess, he figured that the plates didn't belong in any of the cupboards that he had opened because he eventually put them on the dining room table.

Even though I had to put all of the dishes where they really belonged, it was so sweet to see all the effort he put into putting the dishes away in, what he thought, was the right spot.

(please let this be a permanent trait of his)

I couldn't ask for anymore.

2 year old Check Up!

Tysen, you are 2 already and doing great!

Aside from getting the flu like three times this season, You are healthy and very smart.

You do not have anymore physical therapy (because you were doing too well)

and your understanding for things has shot through the roof!

You weigh 29 pounds and stand 32 1/2 inches tall.

You are in the 50% for your age, even though people are constantly commenting on what a

BIG, solid boy you are.

You are such a healthy boy.

Being 2 has brought on some new and interesting attributes.

You now have a mean voice and a nice voice and you are learning when to use them.

You also have quite a temper and you like to FREAK OUT when you don't get your way.

There is also hitting and a little bit of scratching which usually leads to time out and then a sweet hug and kiss. (time out is a new 2 year old activity that we have now)

You test Mommy and Daddy to see how far you can go before you get into trouble.... you've tested this theory many times and yet it seems that you still need to test it over and over and over and over!

Aside from all the "normal" 2 year old behavior, you have become quite the talker! You like to talk a lot and you come up with new words everyday. You surprise Mommy and Daddy with how much you understand.

You can count to twenty (with the exception of 3 numbers)

And you are very interested in your alphabet.

You like to ask everyone "How Do'in?"

and you like to ask "What time is it?" every five seconds.

You LOVE to be around people! You love to say "hi" and "bye" to everyone in the store...which usually starts up a conversation, which makes every shopping trip take about double the time it should.

You have an amazing memory!

After meeting someone once, you will always remember their name and you will make sure to call them by their name.

You have memorized the words to many songs.

When we drive somewhere familiar you always tell Mommy where she is going.

And, because you have an OBSESSION with climbing stairs, you seem to always remember the places that have stairs.

(the stair obsession is getting to be a bit much)

You are a very sweet boy. You love to ask for "suggles" from Mommy and Daddy. You say your own prayers and you make sure Mommy and Daddy are both present before you say them. You hug and kiss Mommy and Daddy randomly (my favorite).

And if anyone around you is emotional you make sure to ask if they are "ok?" and then you get emotional too.

You love to say "bless you" when ever anyone sneezes.

Tysen you get funner and funner to watch grow. You sure are more of a handful now and you can really bring down the house when you are mad, but you also bring a lot of joy and love to our world. You are a happy, outgoing, emotional (cry at the drop of a hat... like Mommy), loving 2 year old boy!

We really are lucky!

Christmas Morning 2009

I loved Tysen's face when he saw his power wheel quad bike. He rode it around and had to get a feel for it. He kept pulsing the button that makes it go. so he was stop and go for a while until he figured out that if he held it down it would keep going. :-) We took more video this year than pictures. So we only have the one family picture. That is ok because we can watch the great video footage we got.

Tysen got:

Aquadoodle

computer

shopping cart

train set

tonka trucks

microphone

....among other things

Daddy got:

Bike

Universal Remote

Sage TV

some tools

blue ray DVDs

cologne

Mommy got:

Necklace

Lens

cricut

VS Jammies

Perfume

"Gone With the Wind" Blue Ray

Here we are in our matching jammies on Christmas Morning.

This Christmas morning was special because we were able to deliver some presents to a needy family. It was a very special experience to shop for each person and to deliver them (anonymously) on their door step Christmas morning. We were able to teach Tysen about giving this year which is something we want to be a priority every year.

Grand Canyon/ Polar Express..Choo Choo

For our Christmas vacation we took a trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and to ride on the Polar Express train. The Grand Canyon was so gorgeous with all the snow around. We took one train to the Grand Canyon; then, we got back and rode on the Polar Express train, where we met Santa Claus. Tysen now has a new found love for trains since experiencing them first hand.

This vacation was the perfect thing to do before Christmas to get us in the spirit! It was filled with lots of fun family time and beautiful scenery. And we got to experience the prettiest white Christmas ever.

Merry Christmas!

We didn't get as many of these out this year as we would've liked So, we just wanted to make sure we wished all of our friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!