Ryder's Tonsils, Adenoids & Tubes

Last Tuesday Ryder had his tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears. It had been a week since we were at the hospital and we kind of missed the place. We have had our fair share of hospital visits this year; enough to last a lifetime, and it's only March.

Ryder was a very brave boy in the ENT (ear, nose & throat) surgery center, and the nurses commented that he was the best kid they had seen in a very long time. He's still healing, but doing much better. He went back to school today and was so happy to be around his friends.

As you know, we've been through a lot this winter and we wanted to pause and say thanks to everyone who called/emailed and offered up their thoughts/prayers and support.

Specifically:

The Kearneys: Making Ryder one of their own for a few days while we were in the ER/Pediatric ICU with Payton.

The Skenes: One of the ER nurses noted that, "I have never had any patients have Mai Thai delivered to the intensive care before." To which we replied, "thats how our friends roll."

The Hamiltons: Great dinner, lots of calls and visits to the hospital, as well as a few rides to/from the airport.

The Richins: For having your baby so we could hijack your nanny for a few weeks so Miss Payton could get healthy enough to go back to the daycare germ pit. And for bringing us the yummy dinner, two days after bringing little baby Eli into this world.

Tucker and Susie Bordner: For making a last minute trip down over the weekend to help us get our house/life back in order after spending the week at the hospital with Payton. Also, installing new chandeliers and a new toilet seat which otherwise never would have happened.

Jan/Mom: Thanks again for making multiple trips to Boise to help us out (digging into your vacation time), doting on the kids, cleaning our house, and just helping us keep our sanity.

Ji Young: For sending Ryder Madagascar 2 and Bolt. We needed some new movies. We watched Space Buddies at least 15 times this week while he was home.

The Seattle Girls (Missy, Cherie, Ji Young & Dorrinda): For sending Miss Payton a new teddy & balloons while she was in the hospital.

Work: For not firing me.

Work friends: For the bag of goodies and for getting me hooked on Twilight during Payton's first hospital stint.

Here are some recent pics of the two kiddos, healthy. We hope it stays that way.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Did you know that Jeremy liked to box? Well, he does. A few weeks back, he participated in an amateur boxing match that consisted of three, one minute round fights.

He did a great job, winning the match by a unanimous decision. We're quite proud of him here at the Bordner House of Ali. (This is really weird for me, writing about my husband boxing.) Anyway, he broke the guy's nose in the second round, which has led the poor fella to spending some time with the doctor. Jeremy has a bruised rib, or two, but otherwise he came out of the fight without a scratch.

I've included some pictures below, as well as a video of the fight. Enjoy!

Oh no. Facebook.

I tried to avoid it. I just signed up ...

Ryder & Marriage

Last night Ryder told Jeremy and me that he was going to marry Payton. I asked him when, and he said when mommy & daddy go to heaven.

Wow.

We're home again!

Miss Payton was discharged today from the hospital. We are so thankful to our dear friends here in Boise for helping us out. It's hard to be away from family during times like these, but we are fortunate to have a good group of friends that we consider our "Boise family." Thanks for the yummy food, snacks, reading material and toys for Payton ... but most of all thanks for all your support and making Ryder feel loved while we concentrate on our sick girl. It means so much to us. XOXO.

Back in the Hospital

We're back in the hospital with Payton. We went into the ER yesterday afternoon and got admitted into the Pediatric ICU here at St. Luke's after she tested positive for RSV. Her poor lungs didn't have a chance to fully heal since our last visit and she caught another cold that advanced into RSV. We hope to only be in the PICU until tomorrow and then get transferred to the Pediatric's ward, or better yet, home. We'll keep you posted on how things progress with her.

Caribbean Cruisin ...

After a couple of weeks off from work and money out the door for Payton's hospital expenses, it only makes sense to go on a cruise through the Caribbean. Recession? What recession?

Actually, we had this cruise planned for nearly a year with Jeremy's family. Don't worry, we consulted with the doctors to make sure Payton was healthy enough for us to jet-set across the US and then cruise out into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. They felt she would be fine. And she was; she only barfed on me twice and got an ear infection the last couple of days. Piece of cake.

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed spending time with family. Rather than words (since my last post was so long), I'll tell this story through pictures. Enjoy!

We made it! We took a red eye to Miami to meet up with the rest of the Bordner clan who arrived the night prior.


Payton Frances and Julie Frances on the deck off our rooms (we had five rooms next to each other with an open deck looking out onto the ocean).

Payton and me, enjoying the sun.

Ryder got lots of love from Grandpa Tucker & Grandma Susie.

Every night when we would pick Ryder up from "Kids Club" he would come back with his face fully painted. Most kids had smiley faces and balloons painted on their cheeks. Not Ryder. He wanted to be an alien.

Our sleepy little alien.

The guys enjoyed a couple of Coronas and some cigars on the deck off our rooms, while the ladies enjoyed being pampered in the Spa.

Spa time. (Thanks Susie!)

The cruise had "party pics" - remember those from college? As you can tell, Jeremy loved the party pics.

A little bubbly, anyone?

All the "kids" went on a catamaran cruise to a private "pink" (and nude, mind you) beach.

Here we are in, you guessed it, St. Maarten.

While in St. Maarten, Katka, Julie and I decided to get matching shirts. They were too cute.

Family pic in Puerto Rico. We spent the afternoon exploring Puerto Rico.

Labadee, Haiti.

While in Haiti, Jeremy, David, Peter, Katka and I went on the world's longest zip line across an open body of water. It was terrifying, but exhilarating.

Jeremy and Ryder playing in the ocean in Haiti.

Hospital Visits

Most of you probably know by now that our sweet little Payton was in the hospital for a bit. It was a scary couple of weeks, but she's doing much better now. Thanks to all our friends, family and co-workers for thinking of us and sending Payton get-well wishes, bringing us dinners and lunches, and for just being there for us and helping out with Ryder. I wanted to especially thank my mom for all her help during this ordeal. She took time off from work to be with us. She sat with us at the hospital, she did our laundry, cleaned our house, played/fed/helped out with Ryder ... the list goes on and on. I don't think we could have sanely gotten through all of this without her!

Now about what happened ... as you may have seen from one of our previous posts, we took Payton into the doctor's office mid-January as she had a fever, raspy chest and a mild rash on her body. They checked her out and determined that she had bronchiolitis and sent us home with a nebulizer and some albuterol to give to her a couple times a day to help clear up the secretions in her chest. We followed instructions and felt we were on the mend.

The following Tuesday after Ryder's birthday party, we didn't feel like she was getting better. She got another fever, her cough was terrible and she was working really hard to breath. So we called the on-call nurse and they recommended we take her into the hospital. We took her to the ER that Tuesday morning and they admitted us for the night to monitor her breathing as her oxygen levels were hovering around 86 percent. They should be in the high 90's.

Payton and I stayed the night in the hospital and they discharged us the following day (on Ryder's actual birthday) after sucking some the secretions out of her lungs, giving her several rounds of various nebulizer treatments and watching her oxygen levels. We decided to keep her home from daycare the rest of the week to make sure she was getting healthy.

She was still coughing and sounded rattly in her chest the following Monday, but we felt that she was improving so we took her back into school. When we got home from work that night and picked the kids up from school, we noticed that Payton was very sleepy, had another fever and she really was working hard again to breath. We went back to the ER that night ... and were admitted to the hospital's pediatric ward at midnight. Poor Payton was poked, prodded and just generally irritated for the four days we were in the hospital. They did several x-rays of her chest, took her blood, gave her nebulizer treatments again and again. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Imagine that feeling not knowing what is wrong with your baby. Why was she so sick? Why was she working so hard to breath? It was terrifying.

After spending the four days in the hospital they sent us to another local hospital because they specialized in pediatrics. We spent two nights there. While in the Pediatric ICU at the second hospital, they took Payton down to the operating room where the ENT and GI doctors inserted a bronchoscope to take a look in her lungs and GI tract (stomach, small & large intestines, etc).

The prognosis?

Payton has been aspirating into her lungs - either from her reflux or from nursing (apparently I am/was like a fire hose). They also found when performing the bronchoscope that she has a cleft larynx, which could have been an attributing factor to her aspirating. She also has an irregular suck/swallow. So by combining all of this together, the food/milk in her lungs was like a magnet to the series of respiratory colds she had, which was making it hard for her to breath and keep her oxygen levels up.

It was a frightening couple of weeks, but she's doing much better. Here are some pictures from our time in the hospital.

Still a happy girl with tubes going in and out of her.

Her bed, which she didn't end up sleeping in. I pretty much held her all night, every night.

After the bronchoscope.

Payton was not a fan of the canula in her nose.

Nothing like family time in the Pediatric ICU.

So happy. She's going home.

Getting ready to leave the PICU. I look so tired.

Ryder's 4th Birthday

It's been more than a month now since we celebrated Ryder's 4th birthday, I realize that, but like I said, we've been a little busy. You'll learn why in the subsequent posts.

Now onto Ryder's birthday ...

For Ryder's 4th birthday celebration we had a whole gaggle of 3 & 4 year olds over to our house for a little party time (bbq'd up some burgers and hot dogs). What constitutes a gaggle? Well, I think we ended up with 12 kids and their parents at our house. A lot of work, which is why we are so thankful that Grandpa Chris and Grandma Jan were able to make the trek over to Boise to help out! We definitely needed it.

Before the party made it over to our house, we called the local fire station and the kind firemen hosted the rowdy bunch for an hour or so. The firemen showed the kids around the fire station and talked with them about fire safety. You know, the whole "stop, drop and roll" shtick. Ryder and Jeremy even got to go for a ride in the big red engine.

Here are some pics from the celebration at our house.

Ryder and the ladies. He has lots of girl-friends. Oy. What are we in for?

Who's ready for some cupcakes?

Payton even got to invite some of her friends (Isla & Delaney) over to celebrate. Such sweet little girls.