Here are a few pics of Teagan smiling, he has so much personality! I took this while we watched the Lakers get demolished by the Caveliers, it brought a smile to both of our faces!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! We hope that all of you are having a wonderful Holiday Season, I know we are. Even though we have been stuck to our house for the last little while, I feel this has been and will be our best Christmas ever, and I'm not talking about presents. So many of you have shown us the true meaning of Christmas. I just have to mention a few of our experiences this last week. As you know we have had sickness in our home, but we still managed to get our family put together so that we could get our family pictures taken for our cards. Thanks to my brother-in-law Nick Marriott we were able to get them taken without even exposing Teagan to germs. I was so excited to go home and make them, but that night my girls became sick with strep so me and Teag’s had to lock ourselves up stairs away from the sickness. I just figured we wouldn't get them out this year, but I was talking to our friend Angie Ericksen and she offered to make them for me. It was wonderful we, e-mailed the pictures and an hour later they were done. They were just was I would have done to the T. I know that we have mentioned that someone was doing the 12 days of Christmas on our last post, but I just wanted to mention how wonderful it was. Every night they would bring a new activity for the girls to do, it was so nice because it took their mind off of not being able to go outside. Thank you so much.


Last night Bryson and I watched "It’s a Wonderful Life". When it got to the end where the people from the town surrounded them and donated money to them me and Bryson both began to cry. This movie has never touched us so much, as we watched it, it hit home how much everyone around is doing the same for us. We have had cards in the mail and on our porch with money from unknown families. We have even had people drop a big box of food on our porch and an envelope with money. We don't know how to thank all of you, or even find out who you are to repay the favor someday. Last night we also had a friend of ours, Melissa Chambers, show up at our house. She told us that she put us in for a photo shoot give away, and that we were nominated. We don't know all the details yet but she did tell us that they are going to give us a very nice family photo shoot. I can't wait, I have always wanted a big family picture to put above my fire place. So thank you Melissa that was very thoughtful. These are just a few of the things acts of kindness that have been done for our family. I thank you all with from the bottom of my heart.

As for Teagan he is doing really good. He is gaining weight like crazy, he now weighs 9.14 , the doctors are very impressed. He is so happy and always full of smiles. We did have a little scare last week, his leg would turn purple and swell up. We took him and had an ultra sound done and they weren't able to find anything wrong. They had thought that it could have been a micro blood clot , but they didn't find anything - thank goodness. Since then we elevate his leg when it starts to swell so that the blood will circulate easier. Nothing scary though. We are looking forward to his next appointment at PCMC on January 8th to see how his heart function is going. We will post pictures of him soon, he has a contagious smile!

Thank you again, we love and appreciate all of you more than you will ever know.

Love,

Amanda

THANK YOU!

     Where to start. First, we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We cannot begin to express the gratitude we feel towards all who are doing such kind acts of service for our family. We want to thank the Pleasant View 7th ward for their very generous donation. I am hesitant to tell what they did because we don't want people thinking we are asking for help - I promise that has nothing to do with my intentions. I only want to give credit where credit is due. Channa Stewart (my sis-in-law) and Melissa Chambers (long-time friend) sent out a letter asking their ward, the Pleasant View 7th ward, if they would like to donate to a fund in lue of neighbor gifts this year. Well they did and collected a very generous amount of money that they brought to us last Saturday. We are putting it straight into a fund for Teagan to help pay for future medical bills, not one penny will be used for anything else. We don't even know these kind people, but they were willing to give money to help lift a heavy financial burden. We thank you and can only pray that the favor will be returned to you in the future. We love you and will do ANYTHING, ANYTIME for any of you.
     Next we would like to thank Miyagi-Do Karate, the greatest fantasy football league ever. Mac Erickson, Zack Thon, Reed Smith, Ryan Jones, Brandon Mason, Jason Hardee, Jeff Reed and Jeff Godfrey put together a Christmas fund and gave it to us on behalf of Teagan. When I got home I handed the envelope to Amanda and tried to tell her why there was so much money in it but I just broke down and cried. What an amazing group of guys, thank you.
     We also have someone doing the 12 days of Christmas for our family. They are so creative in all they have done, our family loves it. We found out today that Kaylee and Emma have strep throat, so Kaylee has been down for few days. It is so neat each night to see her start to get excited, they love waiting for the knock at the door. Emma screams every time she sees what they have left, then we all huddle together to see what they have given us. We don't know who is doing it but you need to know how much it has meant to our family.
     Last week we had a friend, Tiffany Olsen, drop off dinner and groceries, that was so kind and thoughtful of you. You have enough hungary boys to feed at home, let alone us! Thanks again to all who have brought us dinner, we will get even!
     We know that donating any money this time of year is difficult with Christmas coming, and we know there are people donating who are struggling financially, so it makes it so much more meaningful to us. We have never asked for a penny, everyone has done this on their own. This is the kind of stuff the news doesn't show enough, that there is so much good left in mankind. This time of year people dig so deep to help others in need, Christ-like love is everywhere.
     Off the subject, we want to let everyone know that Teagan is doing really good. He is gaining weight, now weighing 9lbs 5oz. He is a smiling machine, we love him so much. This week he has had to be in his room as the girls are sick and we can't let him around them. But we know that this to shall pass, we just need to keep our noses pointed forward!
     Thank you again so much, we love and appreciate all of you.

Love,
Bryson, Amanda and family

No more feeding tube! Saturday night we talked about taking out the tube but decided to leave it in over night, well about 4 AM we went in to check on him because he was coughing a little and he had pulled the tape off and the tube all but 4 inches out! We pulled it the rest of the way out it has been out ever since. He is doing really well, he actually slept through the night until 7:30 AM before he woke up looking for food. They told us we can keep it out, so we will see how it goes.
He turned 2 months on Tuesday, time is flying by.
As you can see, this pic was obvously taken before the Jazz game tonight... :(

Yea! First Doctors Visit

So yesterday was Teagans 1st doctor visit back at primaries with the cardiologist. It went really well, they had him go and have an x-ray done so that they could check out his heart. They said it looked great, and that they have no concerns at this time for him. They were also impressed that he is doing so good on the bottle. When the nurse weighed him on Tuesday he was at 8lb 4oz and there he was 8lb 8oz, which is really good.The Dr. told us with how well he is doing, that he may be able to wait til he is a little closer to 6 months for his next surgery. Which is really good, so that his body can get a little bigger and stronger. But it all depends on if his heart function stays as good as it is. So we are praying that he just keeps growing stronger and healthier. They also told us that we can try to give him bottles through the night, and if he does good doing that, we can take his feeding tube out. We are so excited because that thing has got to be uncomfortable.
Also if you can tell in the picture he is starting to hold his head up pretty good, and he looks like such a big boy. This is a picture of him and Bryson watching the Jazz game tonight. Its hard to believe he is going to be 2 months on Tuesday, it seems like yesterday that I had him.We couldn't imagine our lives without him.It has been such a blessing to have this little angel in our home. Thank You again to everyone, for helping us get through the hard times. We wouldn't be where we are today with out you.
Love, Amanda

Thank You!

Tonight someone did something very kind for our family. We are hoping that who ever it was reads this blog, so that we can thank them for what they have done. We know that you will be blessed for what you have done. We just want you to know that this will not be soon forgotten, and one day we will do the same for another family in their time of need. Thank You again. We Love you all!

ALL SMILES!

     As you can see Teagan is learning to smile, and is getting lots of practice at it. Every time he finishes his bottles he just sits and smiles, it’s so cute.

     He has a lot to smile about today. His home nurse came today and weighed him and couldn't believe that he has gained 6 ounces since Friday. That is really good, when most heart babies start bottles they lose weight. But our little Teag’s isn't like most heart babies, he wants to stand his ground here on earth and isn't going to let anyone tell him how to do it. He had a rough couple of days, he was really fussy and it had us worried. So I took him to his dr. and they said he was looking good but to watch him closely for any signs of n.e.c. And he also told me to change what I am eating like no milk, tomatoes and beans, just to see if it helps his belly.
     So I was talking to a friend today and realized that I haven't expressed my feelings to all of you. So I just thought I would give you a little insight into what I am feeling. I know a lot of you probably think that this is really hard to sit in my house with not many visitors. But it isn't, This is actually a blessing in disguise.
     I don't even know how to explain the spirit I feel when I am holding, looking or even thinking about Teag’s. He has such a presence about him that makes me want to never leave his side. When I do leave him to go to the store or somewhere quick I can't get home fast enough, I crave him. So I don't want anyone to think I have it hard, just realize that this may be hard on me but at the same time it is very rewarding. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. I only wish I could share him with all of you, so that you to could feel the spirit I feel ever hour of every day.
     Thank you to all of you for all your love and support. I hope that his little smile will brighten you day, like it does mine.

Love,
Amanda

Wow it has been a busy couple weeks. On Tuesday we were invited up to Weber High to tell the Student Body about Teagan and his journey so far (pic above). They are going to do the Quarters for Cans to raise money for him, what an amazing high school. Makes me proud to be a Warrior! We want them to know how much we love and appreciate each one of them. Every dime they raise for him will go to a fund to pay for any bills we have for him in the future. After my presentation they showed Amanda how it feels to be a Warrior, she is ready to jump off the Fremont wagon!! :)
As far as Teag's goes, as you see below he had his 1st bottle Thursday and has had many since! He is doing so good, we love him to death. He has taught us so much, Amanda and I fight (not really;)) about who gets to cuddle him, we are happy to have him home. I have put a bunch of pics in below, thank you to everyone who has been helping our family, we love all of you!
P.S. He let out a scream of joy when the COUGARS BEAT THE UTES, looks like he is a BYU fan!

Kaylee and Emma holding his hands, they love to take care of him and make sure he is comfortable.

He got his 1st bottle! On Thanksgiving we were able to give him his 1st bottle and he chugged it! They told us that if he did not finish it in 20 minutes we would need to give him the rest through his feeding tube so it didn't stress his heart to much, he finished it in 12 minutes! Amanda even stopped to burp him in the middle, he loved it. He kept his fist clenched the entire time, it was funny. Nice work little man!

Finishing his bottle!

Macie holding Teagan for the 1st time!

He's Home!!!

            This is a picture of Teagan waiting for his dad and sisters to pick him up, he was very patient!


So we've made it. Little Teag’s is home and healthy. He is still on an NG tube which is feeding him breast milk, but hopefully that will change soon. He passed the swallow test yesterday with flying colors. We couldn't be happier, we have heard of so many babies taking a along time to pass the test. So with that being said, we couldn't more proud of our little man and what strength he is showing. We are planning on doing little bits at a time to get him so that he can take a bottle.
It was so fun to bring him home today. I dressed him in his first little camo outfit and he looked like such a cute little guy. Our girls came down with us this time to pick him up. They were so excited to see him, it was cute. On the way home Emma was sitting next to him and she wouldn't let go of his hand. I can already tell they are going to be best friends.
I want to thank everyone for all of the love and support you have shown to my family while I have been away. We have had so many people doing so much for us, it’s like I have had my own little nanny since I have been gone. We have had dinner almost every night and we have had so much help with people watching and driving our girls around. I wouldn't have been able to spend so much time with Teagan if I didn't feel comfortable leaving. So thank you again so much.
Love,
Amanda

      Teagan is back on food! They started him on an NG (feeds into the stomach) yesterday and he is handling it great. This is the 1st time he has had food in his stomach since the day he was born. Since then he has been on IV's or an NJ (by-passes stomach to intestine), so we're sure it feels good to have food in the belly again! They started him at 3 ml an hour and have steadily increased it as it is tolerated. Before he leaves he will have a suck test to see if he can handle a bottle, we will keep our fingers crossed!
We have received a little feedback that people couldn't comment, so I changed the format to allow all to comment, sorry it wasn't like that before!

Quick updates on Teagan, he is doing good. The doctors told us today that the x-rays show his intestine walls are free of air which means the NEC is clear. They said if all goes well he should be able to come home next Friday, we will keep our fingers crossed!
Thursday morning Amanda went back down to be with him while I worked and took care of the girls, when she got there she said there were 3 nurses in his room trying to comfort him as he had been crying for a while that morning. When she walked in she called out his name and he immediately hushed. The nurses handed him to her and he stopped crying and just cuddled to her. Who says babies don't know there mom's! She has been with him every night since, it is getting harder to leave him alone down there.
We will get more pics soon, thanks to everyone who has brought dinner and helped out!

Before I update we want to thank my sister Brooke for taking time to take these amazing pictures. There are more listed below, thanks Brooke!
We also want to thank Dayle, Channa, Cherry (my mom, sister-in-law and her mom), when we got home tonight our house was cleaned spotless! We have been a little behind there lately :), they are good to us.
Alright - well, little man is back at Primary's. Luckily we caught everything early so it didn't get to serious, but easily could have. Tuesday evening around 5 Amanda was changing Teag's diaper and saw blood in his stool. She immediately called Primary's on call cardiologist and they told us to get him checked that night. We called several offices, they said they weren't comfortable seeing a patient with his complications, and our regular doc was out with strep throat. We had a previously scheduled appointment with with our cardiologist scheduled for the following morning (today) so we wondered if we should take him in or wait for our scheduled appointment. We thought it may be a food allergy because his oxygen levels and heart rate were so good, so we were leaning towards waiting. Well about 20 minutes after our initial call to the on call cardio doc, he called us back and said he felt we really needed to get Teagan seen that night as it could be complications with his heart causing the issues with the blood in his stool. We were so grateful he called, we immediately got him in the car and headed for Primary's. We also have a wonderful NICU nurse in our ward, Katie Money, who told us to get him in to Primary's. We got there and Amanda went in and explained his heart condition and they immediately got him back to a room. We were grateful for that as there were 3 kids in the waiting room with swine flu and we didn't want to get him exposed.
They did initial testing, then took him back for x-rays. When they got back they told us that he had air in the lining of his intestine wall and that it was a very concerning and potentially complicated setback. It is called Necrotizing Enterocolitis, here is a link explaining what it is. It can happen with any newborn child, but they were concerned with Teag's because it could point toward heart failure.
The cardiologist who called us and told us to come down came in and took us back to a room to do testing and an echo on his heart. His name is Titus Chan, he was SO thorough with his exam. He told us that his heart looked good, so about 1:30 AM they got us up to the 3rd floor and checked in to a room for the next 7-10 days. We got to bed about 3, but we were able to get a little sleep during the day while we were down there. While we were there they came in and told us that he is doing great. He is off food and on IV's to take the pressure off his intestine, they are doing x-rays every 6 hours and said that he is clearing up. He is also on antibiotics to kick any infection, we are glad he is in good hands.
Because we took nothing with us to the hospital (we were expecting to hear he has a food allergy that was causing the bleeding) we are home tonight to recharge the phones, get a shower and some sleep! Amanda is going back in the morning and I will have the girls, she will be spending most of the nights he is there sleeping in his room and I will be back and forth. Thanks again for all the dinners and things people have been doing for us, we love you!

Sorry this has taken so long, time is flying by! Little man is doing really good! Having him home really hasn't been bad, we are lacking in the sleep area but that is to be expected with any newborn. The first few days we had more issues with his feeding machine, but once we got that settled it has been smooth sailing. His went from weighing 6.15 when we got home to 7.55 a week later, so he is gaining the weight he needs. He still has his NJ (feeding tube), that will be in for a few more weeks. Right now it passes through his stomach and empties into his intestine, I am sure he will need it to feed into his stomach for a couple weeks to let his stomach adjust to digesting food before he can take a bottle.
We can't begin to express our gratitude to all who have been bringing us dinners. It has been so nice not having to worry about that, we will always be indebted to all who have helped us through all of this. We love and appreciate all you do!

When Macie couldn't hold Teagan she grabbed the next best thing! Macie has been a Wonderful help, anytime we need a diaper or wipes she runs! She hasn't been 100% since he has been home so we keep her away as good as we can. She is hoping to hold Teagan soon, but until then she is being a good help!

For a 2 year old Emma is so good with Teags. ANYTIME he makes any sound she runs and tells us. If we don't get right to him, she sits and holds his hand or talks to him. I wish I knew what she was trying to say, she hates to see him sad!

Kaylee holding Teagan for the 1st time! She has had a little cough since he has been home, Macie still has a little one so we are waiting to let her hold him. Kaylee and Teagan sat and stared at each other for 10 minutes, it was so cute. His sisters are so good about taking care of him, from the way he stared at her we know he loves them!

Happy Halloween! Mom put him in his 1st costume tonight, even though we are a day late! I thought it needed to be a camo hunting costume, I guess we know who the boss is :)

Now we just need to figure out how to keep him awake during the day so we can all sleep at night!

He wasn't a fan of getting his hair washed!

1st bath! He wasn't sure how he liked it...you can see the bottom of his scar, it is healing well. We should be able to take the bandages off the top soon. Not sure what Kaylee is doing with the scissors! Maybe that's what was scarring him :)

Teagan's 1st pizza night! It is good having little man home, he is doing good. We have taken him all the way off his oxygen and he seems to be handling it well, so we are excited about that. Last night was a long night, but that is to be expected with any newborn. We are happy to have him here and the girls love him!

He's home!

Well we made it home with Teagan and he is doing good. We had a nurse come help us set up his feeding machine, he is doing great. The girls were so excited to see him, they took turns holding his hand and talking to him. We are grateful for all the love and prayers that have kept him going, we thank each one of you.
Unfortunately we have a little bad news, before we left the hospital gave us strict orders to have no visitors for a while. His heart is still so fragile and the sick season hasn't even peaked yet, so to be safe we are going to follow their advice until the "sick" season clears a little. Thank you for your understanding, I know there are many that want to see and hold him and that time will come, just not for a few months. We will keep this blog updated with pictures and progress for those interested, again thank you for your understanding, this is a hard thing to ask.

Sorry it has been a few days, we found out Monday that we will be bringing Teagan home tomorrow! We feel both shocked and overwhelmed, but we also feel prepared for the task at hand. We have had a lot of good advice, and the Lord has prepared us to bring this little man home. He looks so good, I have put some pics below. This is his new room, as you can see there is a lot more space. Amanda is spending the night on that couch tonight, they are teaching her how to use the feeding tubes and anything else she needs to know. I have the easy task of getting the girls dressed fed and off to school tomorrow:), then down to the hospital. We are so thankful to our families for all the help they have given us, we have been tired lately and may not have expressed it well, but thank you.

Today has been a good day for little Teagan. He seems to be settling into his new room pretty good. Last night when we left it was a little scary for me and Bryson. We weren't used to seeing him lay in his room by himself. But today I was able to go down early this afternoon and he just seemed so calm and peaceful. It was nice, I was able to pick him up and put him down when ever I wanted, with out any help from the nurses. It just seemed like we were a lot more comfortable with each other, because it was just me and Teag's in the room. The whole time I was there it was amazing, they didn't have to come in the room once to adjust anything. His little heart is learning how to work without all the medications. Because of that it feels like we are getting closer to bringing him home:) They did a little study on his swallowing, and he was able to swallow the thick formula but not the thin like milk formula. So they are going to be working with him this week on swallowing. And hopefully this will help him learn to eat on his own, that would be a huge mile stone for our little guy. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Amanda

We got to hold him! It was a good day :) We got down there around noon because they told us they may release him from the PICU to the 3rd floor and they weren't quite sure when. We got there and his nurse Jean had him unwired and ready to hold! He sat and stared at us as we held him, you could tell it felt good to not be on his back. He looks so good, it was hard for us to put him down. At 4:00 pm they took him out of the PICU, it was sad to leave. They have been amazing to him and us, we especially want to thank Jean and Lizelle for taking care of him. The 3rd floor is not quite as intense, he will not have someone on his room 24-7. They still have him on monitors for his oxygen, heart rate and a few other things, they can watch them from the nurse station just outside his door. Of course we are a little nervous, but we know he is still in good hands. More pics below!

This is Jean, she has been his nurse most of the days he was in PICU. She is amazing, thank you Jean!

We got to see him! He looks so good, it was nice to hold little man's hand again. He is off almost all of his meds, they are working him of his last pain meds now. If all goes well we should be able to hold him tomorrow. They said he is healing remarkable well, he is such a fighter. So many foreign objects attached to his body, yet he is patient and acts strong. He opened his eyes for us for a while, I put a picture below, we will keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow!

So we received a phone call today about 10:30 telling us that they had taken out the breathing tube and that he is doing good with out it. They also told us that the tube draining any extra fluid has slowed down quite a bit. While I was talking to the nurse they told me that they might move him out of the PICU within a couple days. This is exciting but also scary just because its nice to have the comfort feeling of having the wonderful nurses in the PICU watching over him 24-7.
As for our girls, they are doing very good:) They haven't had any fevers since Thursday afternoon. Which means they are no longer contagious. Hopefully Bryson and I will maybe be able to go see our little Teags tomorrow. As long as we have no symptoms we are good to go.
This has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. To leave my little baby at the hospital in the condition he is in and not see him for a whole week. But we made it and our wait is over. I can't wait to hold my little angel in my arms. It has been way too long. The wonderful nurses in the PICU have made it so much easier on me. Every time I have called them they make sure and calm all my fears. And they have also sent me pictures every couple of days so that I can see how good he looks. So if any of the nurses are looking at this today, Thank you for helping me get through this tough week. And thank you everyone for all of your love and prayers that have been sent my families way.
Love,
Amanda

Today they had to put another tube into Teagan's chest to drain some blood that was around his right lung. They said it drained 45-50 cc's of blood in the 1st hour and since then it has slowed down to 4-5 cc's per hour. They said he is doing well, this is not uncommon after a big surgery. Getting this blood out has helped his breathing a ton, he should be off the ventilator sometime tomorrow. They sent us this picture from the cell phone, you can't tell but his eyes are open. His left hand is wrapped so he can't grab tubes, we were excited to get a pic, he looks great!

Just a quick update, they had to put Teagan back on the ventilator last night, he was having a hard time breathing on his own. They are not worried about it, they said that his body needs a little more time to drain fluids and gain strength. He should be able to come back off of it within the week. Other than that he is doing well, they have been feeding a little of Amanda's milk everyday (through the feeding tube) and said he has been handling it well.
As far as the pig flu goes, it has been a lot more bearable than we thought it would be. Emma is still fevering and not feeling good, but the big girls are starting to recover. Hopefully we will be able to see him soon!

We just talked to our nurse, she said Teagan is still doing wonderful! she said the surgeons made their rounds early this morning and are very please with Teagan's progress. What a comfort to us. They said they are going to try to situate him so they can put the phone to his ear so we can talk to him a little while we are unable to make it down. During this time we have had a lot of people ask how we are making it through this so positively. While having an incredible wife is a huge strength, there is no way we make it through this without the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved and that all little children who have not arrived at the age of accountability are saved in the kingdom of God. We have also drawn much strength from the Book of Mormon. The 1st day we went to Primary's was a hard day. We had no idea what Teagan's prognosis was or how long he would live. That night we turned to 3 Nephi 17 read it together, it is a touching account of the Savior of the world blessing children and healing those with physical disabilities. It brought such comfort to our hearts to know that these little children are safe in the arms of Christ and that he loves them enough to weep at the thought of what they will be called to go through in this life. Finally there is no way we make it without all of the prayers and kind acts of our friends and family. We feel so indebted to everyone who has donated their time and resources to helping ease our burden, it truly has been a witness of what Elder Holland called The Ministry of Angels. We only hope to be able to repay each of you in some way in the future. We love all of you!

Check out little man! Because we just found out that the girls have swine flu, Amanda and I can't go see Teagan for a week or so. So Amanda called down and asked the nurse if there was any way they could send us a picture, well they did even more and sent 4! I have posted the best 2, we want to thank them for doing this for us.

Notice he is no longer on the ventilator, he is breathing on his own! They said he is doing so good, he looks amazing too. He will have a nice "ladies man" scare down his chest, we are so glad to see him looking so good.

Just talked to the nurses in Teagan's room, they said he is doing very good tonight! They are doing what is called spontaneous trials with his oxygen, it is when they take him off his ventilator for 30 min to an hour to see how he does breathing on his own. They said that he did very good, he should be all of the way off it within the next day or two.
The hardest part about coming off may be that he misses sucking on it, they said he uses it like a pacifier :)
Today was my brother Brandt's homecoming, he did an amazing job. We were able to see many of you in person and again were overwhelmed by your love and support. Thank you so much for all you have done for our family, we really do love each one of you.
Also, we wanted to tell Mac and Angie Erickson congratulations on their baby boy!
Love ya,
Bryson and Amanda

His chest is closed! I put a picture below of how he looks, again it may be a little disturbing but he is doing great and is as calm as can be. To close his chest they actually use wire to pull it together, they will stay in there for the rest of his life. He has actually been awake quite a bit looking at us, he is such a stud. He has been holding our fingers watching the Florida game with us (he has 3 sisters, I need to get him liking sports early!) Amanda and I slept at home and woke up at 5 to get ready. On our way down Amanda called down and the nurse said that there was fresh blood in his drain tubes and he wasn't sure why...needless to say it made for a long ride down. When we got here the surgeon's had made their rounds and said that the blood was from his IV line that was going to his heart. It had moved a little but they weren't concerned at all, what a sigh of relief. They started at 8 am like they said and were done by 9. The surgeon said everything looks good, all the bleeding from the 1st surgery was stopped when he took off all the bandaging and gauze. He is still on a good bit of blood pressure medication, but they are titrating him off of it today. Looking good!

Nice to know he is closed up...

Well little man had a good day. I forgot to mention earlier that they took him off of the paralytic yesterday, he didn't really move until last night around midnight when he started moving his fingers and toes. He also started urinating (can't remember if I mentioned that in the last post) but that is good because he was able to drain a lot of the fluids out of his body allowing it to kind of decompress. They said he got enough out that they are going to close his chest tomorrow morning at 8.
We went down to see him today, but because we have sick kids at home we limited ourselves on our time. He looks so good without all those fluids swelling him up, and every time Amanda or I talked he would open his eyes and look around. They are keeping him on a pain med so he doesn't move much, but that is a good thing. He is a tough little guy, as we sat there staring at him I was amazed at the thought that I have never had to pass through anything close to that tough physically. What a special little guy.
On a separate note, we want to thank everyone for their kindness and generosity towards us at this time. We haven't had to cook dinner all week and our kids have been well taken care of in our absence. We love all of you, people are so good and amazing!

Well Teag's had a good night last night. He started to release fluids that have been building up in his body about midnight last night, they said that is good and now they may be able to close his chest tonight if all goes well today. Will keep you posted.

Well Teagan made it through another day. There were some ups and downs, but overall he is doing a little better. They started to slow some of the meds for his blood pressure hoping it would hold up, and it did for a while. But this evening they had to start it back up because his blood pressure was dropping. This is still normal, it takes a while for their heart to heal enough to have the strength to carry on by themselves. But overall our nurse said it was a good day, so we will take it! Thank you to his wonderful nurses, we know he is in good hands!

Here is our brave little man, although it looks scary he is in good hands. In order to keep his heart rate down they needed to paralyze him so he won't move, they also sedated him so he doesn't wonder why he can't move. He is so peaceful right now, we know that the veil is thin and that he has many angels we love keeping him company from the other side. It was hard to see him like this but we know that each machine serves a purpose and that he will make it through all of this just fine.
...Just read through the last post, sorry for all the misspelled words...sleepy :)

All of these devices are tied to Teag's through IV's. They have incredibly skilled nurses that watch EVERYTHING soooo closely. His nurses are all cardiology specialists, they are so amazing. We love them and are so grateful for their countless ours of sleepless nights and long days. They said their is no "recipe" for each patient, it is up to them to tweak these medications as they feel it is needed and as the monitors tell them. I know they are prompted to do what they do.