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 :)