Blessing of Tyler

We will be blessing Tyler this Sunday, November 4th, at 9AM at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Overlook Chapel located at 2369 Overlook Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94596. We would love to see all who wish to attend at Tyler's baby blessing this Sunday. At 12:30 my parents are hosting a simple brunch if you can make it at 920 Cochise Ct., Walnut Creek, CA 94598.

Our little seal

Marci Shackleton got Tyler the cutest seal towel, which Scott has temporarily stolen. It is the perfect length so he doesn't trip. Thanks to everyone who has thought of us as we have welcomed Tyler into our family!!

Tyler's First Bath

Now that his chest is healed, we are able to give him a real bath. He was very content and enjoyed the warm water. Maybe he'll be a fish like Scott.

Close-up heart surgery

We asked the anesthesiologist to take some pictures during the surgery and the camera was accidentally put on video. I think these are pretty neat. The white tube in the 2nd picture is Tyler's gore tex conduit running from his right ventricle to his pulmonary artery. When I hold Tyler and feel his little heart pumping I realize what a miracle baby he is. Thought this would be interesting to share. It is amazing what they can do. We are so grateful for Dr. Azakie and his team!!

Got Milk??

Yes, the large yellow bag also contains milk. What can I say...I am a milking machine. We all know Tyler won't be going hungy anytime soon. That's what happens when you can't feed your baby for 3 weeks. People ask how I lost my baby weight so fast and here's the answer.

Why Life is Great for the McMillans

1. We love our jobs. That's worth millions!
2. I love my husband & he loves us & would do anything for us.
3. We love where we live. FYI, Walnut Creek will be making its debut on the Bachelor. 10 is a little late & I don't like the show, I might have to watch.
4. The BBH's are coming to town :+)
5. Tyler is a rock star!! We figured out that by the time the milk got through the tubing it was cold. I am grateful he doesn't truly have colic and is eating well.
6. I can eat ice cream again since his gas wasn't related to my poor eating habits.
7. My mom's health is doing better. In the hospital, doctors thought the cancer spread, but now think it's just a virus.
8. Scott is in toddlerhood. Danny came to my work to pick up Scott, who Scott saw from across the pool, started pointing and saying "ah, ah, ah," & finally got to run around the pool to dad's arms.
9. It is in the 80's. Need I say more? We went to the park, swimming, downtown & played outside office buildings waiting for Grandma.
10. My family is the best. A little crazy, but still the best.
11. We have so many friends that care so much about our fam.
12. A new season of the Office is on.
13. We had leftover halibut for dinner from the Bains.

What's Missing??

Well, Tyler had been really upset with bad gas, the feeding tube was consistently choking him and he was upset every time we fed him through the tube. We had a hunch that taking out the tube would help him, so last night we removed it to see how he behaves. Now, instead of feeding him every 3 hours, we'll feed him every 1.5 hours since he doesn't have the stamina to eat his feeding in 1 sitting. He had a great night. He is sucking better without the tube and we hope that he will be satisfied. His stool today was a better consistency, so that is an improvement already. Go, Tyler!

Scott's latest obsession...

MOTOCICLETAS!! Whenever Scott sees a motorcycle driving or parked, he adamantly points and grunts, as if to say, "everyone look, look, look." Yesterday I was following Danny, who was driving his Honda VFR, and Scott waved to his dad driving his bike for the entire 10 minutes from the car seat. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Danny claims Scott will be on his first bike at age 4. I definitely live with a household of boys and love every minute of it. Scott wants to do everything mechanical Danny does. He takes his tools and puts them in the little screws while Danny works on the car, cleans his bike with him and wants to do as his dad does.

And the Winner is...

Well, Rummage was right in the fact that it is lower than buying a house, but higher than dental school, however, his guess sadly only covered Tyler's room fee. For those of you who have inquiring minds this is the breakdown. I failed to mention that this doesn't include the doctor fees such as the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Maybe some of us will do better if we have a second contest with their charges.

1. Pediatric Cadiology ICU room fee 14,994/day = $314,000 ...... anyone wishing to change their guess??
2. Transitional ICU 7965/day=64,000.
3. Pharmacy 63720
4. supply/devices 43390
5. lab 59800
6. radiology 9147
7. operating room 100408
8. anesthesia 18729
9. blood process fee 17537
10. imaging service 3658
11. respiratroy service 24237
12. occupational therapy 3795
13. audiology 418
14. cardiology 22701
15. mri 4499
16. ekg 582
17. eeg 8793
18. other 391.

GRAND TOTAL $789,073.09

Congratulations Betty!!

Teachers always know best. She guessed $745,000+change.

Feel Better Grandma

Scott and Tyler want to tell Grandma that they miss her and hope she is feeling better real soon. Scott wants someone to play with in the sandbox and Tyler wants someone to rock him. As many of you know, my mom, Jacquie was diagnosed last month with CLL or Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a type of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells(lymphocytes). Further testing has shown that the cancer is probably in the early stages and hasn't rapidly spread which is great. She will need to get blood work done to monitor her white blood cell count to determine treatment options. For now, they aren't planning on doing anything. She hasn't been feeling well for the past two weeks with a 102 fever, so we have had to keep Tyler and the McMillan family away from Grandma and Grandpa for infection control. My mom has been in the hospital for the past two days and will hopefully be released soon. They are not sure what has attacked her body. It might be harder for her to fight infections due to the CLL. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. We miss you mom!

Calling all Bloggers

Well, I got a little bored today, so I decided to change up the blog a bit. I like the pictures better with a black background and that is really what everyone, or at least I, look at so I guess I'll keep it this way for now. I wish I was a blog pro. For everyone who doesn't have a blog....get one. That way I, and the rest of the world, can see what you are up to. Tyler weighed in at 8 pounds yesterday. We made it to the 8's...YEAH!! So in 6 weeks, he has gained a wopping 4 ounces. That's our boy! That's what happens when you have parents as lightweights, don't eat for a month, have a broken sternum, a feeding tube that itches and lasix for breakfast and dinner (yummy...above are his morning meds). His feeding tube came out this morning and he seemed so happy without it. I fed him and he did so much better without it in. I know it irritates him. He is sucking and feeding great, but he doesn't have the stamina to eat everything he needs. Maybe in a couple of weeks he will not need the tube anymore. We are soo proud of him. He is doing great and such a strong fighter. Has taught us all so much.

68 Degrees and still smiling

These must be Danny's genes, because mom hates cold water. We tried to warn him that the water was cold, but Scott wouldn't listen, brought his suit and swimmies to us and off

he jumped. He tested it out by going to the steps first and I think was a little shocked at the frigid water.

They say that when your second comes along your baby all of a sudden becomes a giant. I still can't believe how big Scott is. Overnight he has become huge!! What 19 months can do to someone.

Tribute to Danny

I am so grateful for Danny. He takes such good care of the boys. Scott and he play non-stop and he is so caring to the baby. I feel so blessed to have such an supportive and amazing husband. Not to mention he takes great photos like this one. I love you Danny!

Calling all game players

People have told us they are in blog withdrawal, so we are trying to spice up our blog a bit. Since Tyler is doing well and there aren't many updates we are going to have to find lives outside the hospital. We received what looked like a packet of information in the mail from UCSF today. Any guesses? It was the hospital statement. We are having a contest for all that want to play. Tyler was admitted to UCSF when he was 1 day old, 9/5/07, and discharged on his month birthday, 10/4/07. So what was the total bill?? Hints to help you guess: 1) 47 pages long 2) each page contains 45 costs (some might be multiple quantities on the same line) 3) includes everything from pharmacy, supplies, labs, operating room, his hotel for the month, occupational therapy, anesthesia, audiology, ekg, radiology and on and on 4) we are grateful for insurance!! Anything and everything you can imagine. Respond by posting a comment. Happy guessing. All submissions needed by Friday.

Fun Monday

We went horseback riding today with Anne's horse. I work with Anne at Aquabears. It was so fun to see Scott so excited about the horses. On the way into Petey's barn Scott waved to all the horses he passed. He loved to feed them carrots, was a little afraid of the tractor and was a pro at riding. Mothing compares to seeing your kids have fun. He is at such a fun age. We are so blessed to have 2 amazing little guys in our family. Tyler is getting cuter by the day in our very unbiased opinion. He had a good day. Still having some trouble with his bowels and gets upset for quite a while with gas pains. Tonya Isom made the best dumpling of cream cheese and vegetables. I don't ask for many recipes because I rarely cook, but I think that I might attempt this one again. Thanks Tonya! Overall, good day. We will see how the night goes. I love work. I really enjoy working with the kids. I have a great group this year even though I miss the kids that moved up.

Our eventful weekend

Danny and I both worked on Saturday and Heather and Jason came to our rescue. They were our heroes for taking both of the kids, figuring out the feeding tube, playing with Scott and rocking Tyler. The kids were both so happy all day with them. Thank you, Aunt Heather and Uncle Jason. I got a headache mid-day at the meet and it got progressively worse. By that night I had a fever, chills and aches throughout my body. I was worried that I had something I would pass on to Tyler, but soon realized that it was a breast infection. Poor Danny had to take care of the kids and me which was hard on him. Sunday, Danny went to church with Scott who loves playing with kids in the nursery. I stayed home with Tyler who we don't want to expose to a lot of people yet. I was still not feeling well and Tyler had bad gas pains. Every couple of days he will have a hard day like any other kid. The hardest part of our routine are the nightly feedings. We wake up, feed him, set up the feeding tube, get a little sleep, wake up to disconnect the feeding tube and do it again about 1 1/2 hours later. It is a lot of interrupted sleep. Usually Danny does the 9 & 12 feedings and I do the 3 & 6. I have a hard time not falling back asleep when it is my turn. I was feeling better last night, so we went to Brett and Cindy's to see his halloween Department 56 houses which were awesome. Scott loved the skeletons going around on the swinging chairs. Danny forgot his camera...can you believe it!! We will make sure to go back and post some pictures. We are hoping for a better week after a rough weekend. People have asked how they can help. Anytime you want to come over and hold Tyler or play with Scott would be great. Betty and Bob came over to play with Scott and hold Tyler which gave us a little break. Scott was very sad when Bob, his playmate, left. Thank you to everyone who has been willing to help. We are just now figuring out our needs. The church is bringing us meals this week which we are so thankful for. You guys are the BEST.

My echo

I had en echo on Friday because the doctors thought that I might have an undetected chd. My sister has a coartation of the aorta and bicuspid instead of tricuspid valve which is also a left side defect. Doctors thought that I might have a bicuspid valve since it is often undetected, however, my echo came back normal. This is great news, since a defect in me, Heather and Tyler would raise both me and my sister's chances of having a child with a heart defect to 20-25%. It is amazing to see the heart so clear with an echo. They printed out a picture of my heart that looks like the shape of a heart.

Brothers

It is soo cute to see Scott and Tyler together. I put Tyler in Scott's crib and shut the door yesterday when I was taking a shower. When I got out, Scott managed to climb into the crib to rub his brother's little head. I am glad that he didn't smash him on the way in. He is usually very gentle and wants to be involved with everything that we do, from feeding to giving him medicine. Did I mention that Scott also really likes to poke him in the eyeball and at times wants us to leave him in the bassinet so he can get our full attention? Overall we are very proud of how our big boy is adjusting. It is so fun seeing him as a big brother. He is such a caring and concerned little guy when Tyler has his little cries.

Tyler is doing well. His echocardiogram on Monday came back great. They are pleased with how everything looks since the surgery. There is one little leak that doesn't seem grave, but everything else looks great. His oxygen saturation was in the mid 90's which is also great. We love his cardiologist, he's so helpful and loving. Tyler's pediatrician appt went well even though the doctor seemed very nervous about his condition. He is feeding better and we are balancing his bottle/breast and pump feedings. We want him to learn how to suck, but it drains his energy, so the rest goes through his feeding tube. The little hole from his chest incision is starting to heal. His last day of methadone for drug withdrawal was today. We will see how that goes. It appears that he is still in a little withdrawal.

He's home!

Yep, we loaded Tyler into his carseat after getting thoroughly instructed about all of his meds, feeding schedule, how to check if the nasogastric tube is properly inserted, and other stuff. Still, though, we were overwhelmed when we unpacked everything the hospital sent with us. We have an IV stand, a pump to feed him, two stethoscopes, and geez, a bunch of stuff. Whoa. Now we need a new house just so we can have a pantry for his medical supplies!

Tyler is doing well, though, so we are very happy about that. Scott is a little distressed that he's not getting as much attention anymore, so he'll throw stuff. The poor little guy! We'll make it through. People say, "Aren't you glad you don't have to go into the city anymore?" I'm like, "Well, he's got an alarm for anything that goes awry, and when we go to bed, someone on staff is there to help!" We spent 2 hours at the pharmacy when they kept saying, "15 more minutes!" Yeah, right! Woof. Now Heidi's going to write.

So they claimed that Kaiser doesn't carry methadone, but recommended to start driving to outside pharmacies. Can you imagine. Scott was hungry, I needed to feed the baby and pharmacies were probably closed. As soon as I told them to call the doctor at UCSF they mysteriously found that in-house pharmacy had it. I just keep laughing, knowing that we will soon be laughing at the days of trying to figure out a feeding pump, having a house full of baby clothes and not knowing how we will survive. It will be humorous in a day or two...or so we hope once we have figured things out. It sure is nice having Tyler home!! He looks great. In about 2 months he will be back at UCSF for his heart catheterization. That usually takes 1 day of recovery. It will help determine if he will be ready for surgery 2. Usually it is done at 4-6 months. Hopefully we will stay out of UCSF before that. He has his first doctors appt on Monday and his cardiology appt on Wednesday. The doctors office will be my second home.