The Nowell Family

Monday, January 29, 2007

December pics - Nebraska trip 12/2 - 12/5

Okay, so here are some pics from December (even though it is the end of January) we would like to share with you. (I know still behind - but still trying to make sure to share the journey with you :) ) These are pics from our trip to Nebraska - the one that was last minute for D's grandpa's funeral.

At one stop pit stop on the way up to Nebraska we stopped and there was snow for Pierce to frolic around in. He really enjoyed it and this was his first snow experience - Grandma and Grandpa Baker and Aunt Desi got to experience it with him.

With all the events of the funeral - Pierce was a trooper. Here he is on the steps at the Church's reception hall playing with Mom's cell phone -it was one of the best toys on the trip!

Here Pierce is with Grandma Baker and Great Grandma. He was pretty shy a lot of the time we were up there - there were tons of new faces!

Here we are at a gas station filling up - he was a happy camper at this time.

Church Search

Well one of our resolutions this year was to find a church that we would like to go to here in Austin. We had found a church we really liked while living in Carrollton, and we miss it. So the last 2 weekends we have gone to two different Churches. both have been really nice and have some differences for us to consider. I think we will check out 2 more churches before making the decision. Pierce was one of our concerns in attempting this resolution - to sit for one hour - yea right. Well he has been great these 2 times (knock on wood) - even with having to stand for the whole 1 hour this last week. We need to get a bag of just toys/activities/food just for Pierce for Sundays to take with us. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! We will keep you posted! Hope everyone else is staying on track with their resolutions :)

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Update on Pierce

Well it has been 27 days since croup came into our lives. Here is the update from us of what we have gone through since the last post....

Pierce continued to wheeze and so on 2/24 we went back to the doctor to see what was going on to make sure that nothing else was a problem. So we went to the appt and she said she could not tell that there was anything wrong with him by looking in mouth, ears, etc. So she wanted us to get xrays to make sure there was nothing in his airways blocking his breathing. So we went to get xrays. That I think was more painful then the blood being drawn. He was too big for this contraption thing they use normally and I guess they didn’t know how to wrap him up. So J and I were there wrestling with him to hold him still, raise his heads, arms, etc. For 5 xrays – he was just miserable – and just screaming and looking at us like what are you doing to us. From what we could tell there was nothing that could be seen from the xrays. So the Doctor then wanted us to go to an ENT – she recommended one and we had an appointment 2 days later (2/26). This appointment was basically to put a scope down his throat to get a look to see what is going on.

So we went to the ENT on Friday and immediately Pierce was like “heck no you aren’t even coming close to me”. The doctor, which let me say I didn’t really like, asked all these crazy questions, wasn’t very personable, could not explain things to me in laymen terms, and just didn’t seem to be very concerned in getting Pierce better. Anyways we hold Pierce down to put 2 drops in his nose to numb it. Then we waited 10 minutes and they came back in and stuck a scope down through his nose down his throat to his vocal cords. All this while J, myself and another lady are restraining Pierce. It took probably only 2 minutes for him to look – but it sure felt a lot longer. The great news is there is nothing there that is of an issue, the bad news is that he wants to now go and take him to the OR to put him under for about 5-10 minutes to put a scope (through mouth now) down to look past vocal cords and close to lungs. I am not too thrilled with this doctor and really didn’t get a good understanding on what all that is going to really do for us (benefit, possible results, risks, etc). So we are going to talk to the pediatrician first to maybe understand it more to know what we might find out with this, etc to determine if we definitely will go through with it. If we do, the appt is set for Thur. It is so weird because after this weekend Pierce now sounds so much better - very little wheezing and can breathe and actually talk. So now we wonder if we should wait for a week or more to see if he is 100% better before putting him (and us) through another traumatic experience.

So we are exhausted and tiered and so behind on everything!

So thanks for thinking of us and keeping us in your prayers. Please continue to think of us in hopes that Pierce will be all better soon and not have to go through any more procedures for this!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Mid January Already!!!

Oh my, so we are off to a fast start already this year. I just downloaded all the pictures for Dec so I hope to get some uploaded soon! We have had a rough start to the new year. Pierce came down with croup on 1/1/06. We took him to the doctor on 1/2 to be told that it is going around and it is viral and there is nothing to give to make it better. So we got through the week and thought it was getting better. But at 2am Sunday 1/7 it got really bad and really scared us. Pierce could barely catch his breath. So we got an appointment with urgent care that morning. We got there and they told us he probably went from having minor croup to severe croup. At that appointment we got a steroid injection (2 inch needle into the muscle - let me say ouch) and also a breathing treatment. With in 30 minutes Pierce was doing so much better. So we held off on the next step was another breathing treatment that they would then watch him for 4 hours (would want to do it at a hospital because some children have a terrible reaction afterwards). So we went home and Monday he seemed better until later that night. So the next day we got another appointment with the first doctor and so on 1/9 we went in and the doctor was so surprised that he still had it. Especially since he was still running a fever. So she wanted to take a blood sample to see if he had an infection going on. So we we had blood drawn - and let me say that has been so far the hardest thing yet to do - hold Pierce down while they stick him in his arm. One arm she was not comfortable with because his vein was so close to the artery and the other arm was iffy because the vein was so small (probably due to not drinking enough fluids). But the nurse was great and was able to get the vein. The tests results came back that he did not have an infection. So she gave us 3 days of oral steroids to give him and told us to come back on Friday if all is ok. If he was still the same the next day she wanted us back in. So with those 3 days of steroids he has done a lot better and on Friday the doctor said everything looks like he is doing better. He still has a cough at night that causes him to not be able to catch his breath so we are up with him to calm him down. I can't wait for this to be over and for him to be himself again.

On top of that, D experienced this year - Cedar fever. Oh my did it hit her hard. She ended up getting a sinus infection (about the same time as all the stuff was going on for Pierce). She went to the doctor and got some medicines and is feeling much better! We have been locked up for 2 weeks - and we can't wait to get out of the house!

With all of this, we have had great friends to help us through it all. 2 friends brought us dinners so that we didn't have to cook and to help us get some good nutrition. Another friend made us cookies (which many of you know that we have cookie monsters in this house) and called every day to check on us and offer any help. There are no words to express how much we appreciated all this!

So on to some fun stuff! Pierce has been learning the word no lately and says it when he doesn't want things. We are at the point where it is good to have that word, not where that is all he says. He loves to play on the computer, listen to the ipod, grab your hand and pull you where he wants you to go, plays like he is making a smoothie, likes to help make his cinnamon toast, loves trying to build things with his building blocks, and when Dad's pager goes off, Pierce is off to try to find it to bring it to him.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Happy 2007

Happy 2007 to everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and a wonderful New Years! We had a great holiday up in Dallas visiting friends and family. Pierce really enjoyed tearing paper off of presents this year - it was so much fun to see him enjoy it! Next year will be even better! Pierce was teething right before we left and ran a fever for a few days that we were there. Then James came down with something for a few days as well. At both families we had a great time and enjoyed visiting with everyone. We also thank everyone for being so thoughtful. After we returned home, J's Dad came to visit for a few days and they built a shelf for the theatre room. It is going to look really nice when it is all done! New Year's Eve we spent with a few friends and their families. We had a fiesta dinner - margaritas, tamales, rice, beans and cheesecake sopapillas (all so yummy). This year D was able to stay up for the strike of midnight, but J was not able to. Other than that we have been trying to get all the holiday stuff put away and get back on track regarding schedules and work out plans. J had to go back to work this week after being off for 2 weeks - it was hard for all of us. Pierce also this week got croup - so we have had a sick little guy on our hands. Well again, Happy New Year. Please keep in touch and I soon will get the last pics from 2006 up on the site!