Captain America: A must see (obviously I, Kelsey, came up with this post title, and Erica has no idea I did it)

Two years ago, when my parents and Ethan came to visit, we visited Portland. For dinner one night, we decided to have some Ethiopian food. Little did I know that I would be spending two months of my life mere blocks from that little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. I reflected on that visit the other day as I was passing the place, thinking about how care-free I was then. Not to sound cliche, but life was a lot less complicated. Much like everyone else, I couldn’t predict the future. If I had known I would have had this experience, would I have done it? If we all knew what kind of trials will come our way, would we choose yes?

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that, before this life, we knew we would have trials. We chose to come down to this earth, gain bodies, and have trials, even though they would be hard. We knew that, if we worked hard at it, these experiences would help us to become better people, and eventually, become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. He would help us get through these experiences.

Now, saying that, of course I would have, two years ago, chosen to have this experience, because at the end of it, I would get my baby. We would go home. And what an incredible miracle that will be.

It may not sound like it from the blog posts, but I have changed so much. I have learned that patience, is, in fact, a virtue. And something that I’ve been meaning to learn. No, not really. I haven’t really been meaning to learn that. I have learned to take one day at a time, because when you look ahead and start worrying, you kind of ruin that day for yourself. I have learned to rely on Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Putting my trust in Him. Trusting that the doctors know what they’re doing. Trusting that everything really does happen for a reason. Sometimes, I don’t know what the reason is. For instance, why did my house have to flood (twice)? Why did we have black mold? Why is Kelsey’s truck needing repairs that cost like a billion and one dollars? Was there really a lesson in those trials? Because I have yet to understand them.

In the last 6 days, Layla has progressed by leaps and bounds. I mean, I am so amazed myself at how much she has grown. On Monday, she was put on bolus feeds, which is the opposite of continuous feeds. So every two hours, she got 76 mls of milk, with an hour off. Tuesday, she did 1.5 hours, with 1.5 off, and Wednesday 1 hour on and 2 off, and Thursday she did 30 minutes, which was the goal. That whole last sentence really doesn’t accurately describe her progress. Normally, CDH babies do no progress with that speed. She just tolerated so well the lessening of time, the doctors decided to go one step further each day. As most of you know (but I didn’t until being a mom), babies usually drink their milk in 30 minutes, so to have her reach that goal was INCREDIBLE. I really feel like I am not accurately describing her progress. Through some major miracles, she is doing so well. We were hoping to be home for Halloween, but I think we’ll be home sooner, which we’ll talk about in a little bit.

Friday was kind of an exciting day. And when I say “kind of” I really mean I nearly did 7 backflips. Layla got her bridle off! I don’t think I told you what a bridle is because I was a little bit annoyed at the doctors for putting one on her. A bridle is, in all sense of the word, a bridle. If you have or know about horses, you know what they are for. In horses, it is the thing that goes in their mouth that is attached to the rope. When you move the rope around, you guide the horse. If they are getting a bit naughty, you tug on that rope, which pulls the bridle back into their mouth, giving them a hurty sensation. On Layla, they stuck one piece of string up her nose and back down the other, and attaches it to her tube. They did it so that she wouldn’t pull the tube out, which she did. Like four times before. Anyway, it was exciting to get that stupid thing out. Especially because it was a major booger catcher.

Layla has also been really good about getting her feeds. She has been keeping everything down, except for on Thursday. Thursday was an exception because she nursed for the first time, got too much, and threw it all up. All of it. That was discouraging, but also ok. We knew why she threw up, and it wasn’t because she had a loose esophagus. Which, we found out that she doesn’t. At least she hasn’t shown the signs for it. Since feedings have been going so well, the doctor said, “Why don’t we just take the feeding tube out?” SHE REALLY SAID THAT. She really did. So, that’s just what happened.

So, that’s that. We may go home the end of this week or the beginning of next. YEAH. I  JUST SAID THAT. It really is going to happen. We are really going to get out of here. I’m kind of nervous because, well, we’re going to do this on our own. I know you may be saying to yourselves, “Well, duh, You knew you weren’t going to be there forever.” Yes, reader, I knew that. But here we are anyway. We aren’t sure exactly when we are going to go home, so I’m going to write this down now, and then remind you all when the time really comes.

Layla has compromised lungs. She is a baby. Two factors that can be harming for her, especially as we go home to the beginning of cold/flu season. WE REALLY DON’T WANT TO RETURN TO THE HOSPITAL. So don’t be a dummy when you want to come visit us. Here are the rules:

1. Wash yo hands. None of that put-some-soap-on-and-wash-the-soap-off business. Like, sing your abc’s while you do it.

2. Use hand sanitizer. Yes, I am going to ask you to wash your hands AND use hand sanitizer.

3. If you are sick, STAY HOME. We don’t want any of that junk. Even if you have a small cough, but you feel great. If you’ve been around someone who has been sick, you can just forget about seeing our cute princess.

4. Don’t be a liar. If you haven’t been following the rules, you will get in BIG TROUBLE, MISTER. Maybe we won’t know, but the Man Upstairs does. He’s watching you.

That’s it.

Thanks again for all the support. We’re finishing up this experience, whether it be this week or the next. We can’t wait to go home and live the “real life”.

Clockwise from top: Layla likes looking at herself in the mirror; Layla smiling, courtesy of the Yoshioka Family; Layla and the Yoshioka family (Thank you guys for visiting! We love you!); Layla and one of her neonatalogists, Dr. Nelson. We love her.

Hace dos años, cuando mis padres y hermanito nos visitaron, fuimos a Portland. Una noche, fuimos a comer en un restaurante Etíope. En este momento, no sabía que, en dos años, estaríamos unos bloques del restaurante, viviendo por dos meses, con nuestro bebé, en el hospital. Reflexioné en las situaciones que hemos tenido cuando pasé el restaurante. Si yo supiera lo que pasaría en dos años más, lo viviría? Si todos nosotros supiéramos lo que pasaría en nuestras vidas, el bien y el mal, lo viviríamos?

Como miembro de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, creo que, antes de esta vida,  sabíamos que tendríamos desafíos. Escogimos venir al mundo, obtener cuerpos, tener desafíos, aunque serían difíciles. Sabíamos que, si hicieran nuestra parte esas experiencias nos ayudarían a ser más como Jesucristo.  Él nos ayudaría.

Habiendo dicho eso, por supuesto yo habría escogido este desafío, porque, al fin, mi familia y yo podríamos volver a casa.

He cambiado mucho. Por esta experiencia, he obtenido más paciencia. Aprendí cómo vivir, aunque mis planes no sean los planes de Layla y El Señor, todo saldrá bien.

Estos últimos 6 días, Layla ha progresado MUCHÍSIMO. El lunes (29 de septiembre), Layla empezó a comer en un espacio de 2 horas, en vez de comer todo el día, por el tubo.  Porque ella no vomitó, el martes, comenzaron a darle comida entre una hora y media, y el miércoles entre una hora, y el jueves entre 30 minutos. Cada día, teníamos miedo que ella fuera a vomitar, y cada día ella nos demostró su esfuerza. Que milagro ha sido esta semana! Normalmente, los bebés con hernias así no progresan tan rápidamente como Layla, pero sabemos que es por las oraciones y fe que ella ha sido tan fuerte.

El viernes fue muy emocionante. Se le quitaron la brida a Layla! Ne he hablado mucho de la brida, pues estaba irritada con los médicos por habérsela puesto. Una brida es para caballos, para poder dirigirlos a su placer. Le pusieron una brida a Layla para evitar que intentara sacar el tubo de alimentación. Layla siempre intenta sacar el tubo de su cara, ya sabe que eso no es natural. Por fin se la sacaron. Más que nada es una trampa de mocos.

También ella está comiendo muy bien. No está vomitando para nada, excepto el  jueves. El jueves fue la primera vez que se ha amamantado. Comió demasiado y lo vomitó por completo. Fue difícil que así lo sucediera, pero sabemos que no fue por tener un esófago flojo, lo cual ahora bien sabemos que no tiene. Ya que ha estado comiendo tan bien la doctora dijo, “Por qué no quitamos el tubo también?” Y así fue. Quitaron el tubo de alimentación el domingo y fue la primera vez desde su nacimiento que no ha tenido algo en su cara. Qué bendición!

Entonces, así es. Tal vez podamos volver a cada esta semana misma. Ella está progresando rápidamente. Me pongo nerviosa al pensar en eso, porque hasta ahora hemos sido “medio padres”, y ya pronto vamos a ser padres auténticos y hacerlo sin ayuda. No sabemos exactamente cuándo podemos volver a casa, pero llega el momento, y cuando ese momento venga, van a saberlo.