Facebook Updates from the Hospital

November 23rd:
"For those who have heard something and are wondering, Berlyn was in an accident yesterday and has a severe brain injury in critical condition in the ICU. We will be at the hospital  for a while...Please pray that she comes out ok and we get to see our spunky cute Berlyn back very soon. Please pray with us, this sweet, stubborn girl was meant to do good on this earth, we need all your prayers!!!"

November 24th:
"UPDATE: Berlyn is stable right now but is still in a lot of pain. We won't get another CT scan until Sunday to see if there is any progress in swelling or bleeding in the brain. Just keeping her comfortable as best we can so her body can heal quickly, we will try to update everyone as much as we can. We really appreciate all of the prayers and support on our behalf. Thank you so much!!!!"

November 24th:
"Woke up because Berlyn was stirring in bed and she smiled at us and talked to us and started pointing for things and grabbing for her elephant with right hang, left still doesn't move. Gave mom and dad more hope and faith, just what we needed. She is letting us know she is fighting!"

November 24th:
"Thank you everyone for your sweet thoughts and prayers, we have felt them already. Please continue to pray for our precious baby. We will update you as we know and see more. Thank you so much, there is no way I could tag all of you and thank you so I hope you see this!"

November 25th:
"UPDATE on Berlyn: she is getting better everyday. her swelling has gone down a ton and is starting to look more like my little baby again. She started eating and drinking milk so she was FINALLY able to come off the IV fluids. the CT scan this morning showed new blood but they are just going to continue to watch it and no surgery. she will get another CT scan in a few days. she still cant move the left side of her body or hold her head up. she started working with a physical therapist. they may move us out of the ICU soon and to another floor since she has been stable. so many things going on but slowly making improvements. Thank you again for all your prayers! Please continue to pray with us!"

November 26th:
"Berlyn moved her arm and leg a little more today, not much but it did improve. She held her head up today but still a little wobbly. still not sitting up or anything. she will probably be moved out of the ICU tomorrow, but still not sure when we will be home. She was very irritable today but probably because she didnt get much sleep all day :( praying for a better day tomorrow! Thanks again to everyone who has said prayers for our family, we really appreciate it!!!!!"

November 27th:
"This little girl started out with a cranky day but that completely changed by this afternoon. We were moved out of the ICU today and I think Berlyn knew that because she became the happiest girl after that. She has been playful and talkative and she ate a full dinner finally! Again moving her left arm and leg a little more today. Still don't know when we will go home because of the fracture and brain trauma and dr wants to see more movement on the left side before she leaves. Improvement!! I can breathe a little! Thanks for the prayers keep em coming!!!! The Lord is listening!"

November 27th:
"Thankful for angels in heaven and on earth for watching over my little girl!"

November 28th:
"This experience has made me realize/remember how amazing and supportive our family and friends are, how precious our little baby is, and what great peace and comfort the Atonement can bring! Counting our blessings through this trial! Thank you all sooooo much!!"

November 29th:
"Been at the hospital one week now and still no one can say anything about a discharge :( sleepless nights. So sad today Berlyn was wining and I look at her she is grabbing her left arm with her right arm and trying to give it to me...she knows it doesn't work right :( but on a brighter note she can hold her weight a little better when she stands with assistance and she can almost sit up and she rolls around and wanted to get down and walk this morning thinking she could....all good signs!!!!! Long ways to go but she's come a long way already!

November 29th:
"Finally let us go outside for a walk!! Berlyn loved it!"

November 29th:
"So Berlyn is at Cardons til Monday then getting transported to Phoenix Children's for inpatient physical therapy for a week or two. Can I just say I am so sick of hospitals and I just want to be home with a healthy family for the holidays? Count your blessings! So glad she is still with us!"

December 1st:
"Yes this little girl is doing so much better! Her leg is getting so much strength she can now stand up on her own and take a few wobbly steps. Her left arm is a little slower but still making small improvements. We are still planning on going to Phoenix Children's on Monday for rehab. Thank you for the continued prayers!"

December 4th:
"Well....WE ARE HOME!!!!! the medical director from our insurance company looked over Berlyn's case and decided she didn't need intense inpatient physical therapy at Phoenix Children's hospital, so they discharged us today!!! Now we just have check ups with the neuro surgeon every few weeks for at least 6 months til her fracture is healed and she has outpatient physical therapy 3 times a week for as long as she needs it. Still praying she gets full use out of her left side and the fracture heals correctly on its own so she doesn't need surgery!!! So glad to be home though and in our own beds! Thank you everyone for your continuous prayers!"

Berlyn's Hospital Stay 11/22/12-12/4/12

During the time at the hospital, Berlyn was in the PICU for 5 days. Immediately after the accident she was paralyzed on her left side, which is why she could not hold her head up. Her head began to really swell. Even though this was the case, her vitals were stable. They had ruled out a neck or back injury (thank heavens!) and took the neck brace off. Little by little, day by day she started to try to talk more and more, still gibberish and slurring her words though. They then started her on occupational and physical therapy. We were given exercises to do with her arms and legs and head to see if we could get her strength back.

After 5 days in the PICU and her vitals staying stable, they moved us to another floor, which meant it wasn't life threatening. We were again RELIEVED! The doctors wanted to see more movement in her left arm and leg before they would discharge us. Every few days she would get another CT scan to see the improvement (if any) of her skull and brain. After a few days the bleeding in the brain had stopped and the swelling started to go down. Everyday she looked a little bit more like our Berlyn because the swelling was going down slowly. She started talking more and more and getting her personality back. She kept working with physical therapists and occupational therapists and speech therapists. She kept getting stronger and stronger. By day 9, a Friday, she was almost walking again, but we weren't being discharged until they knew if they were gonna transfer us to Phoenix Children's Rehab Center. On that Monday we were told that our insurance had denied the transfer because she was already walking again (in a week mind you) and that they were confident that out patient physical therapy would be enough. We weren't sure how we felt about this, but we couldn't really do anything about it. At least we were going HOME!

During our stay at the hospital we had MANY MANY MANY MANY people come to visit Berlyn to which we are very grateful. We felt so loved and blessed that so many people cared. We felt all of the prayers on our behalf and I know that is one of the main reasons we were able to keep it together.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012 A Day We Will NEVER Forget

This year's Thanksgiving was one we will NEVER forget, not necessarily one we will want to remember. It started out as a GREAT day. Bear, Sabrina and I ran the Turkey Trot at Red Mountain Park. My parents came to watch Berlyn while we ran. It felt so good and was a blast. (Enter picture here)

After the Turkey Trot, we went home and put Berlyn down for a nap while we cooked. I made mashed potatoes and a pie to take to Nani's house for dinner. It turned out pretty good. We ate a very yummy dinner at Nani's and hung out for awhile with family afterwards. Around 4pm we decided we would go see everyone over at Bear's grandparents house in Queen Creek.

Once there, Bear took Berlyn out in the backyard to play and run around, while I stayed inside and talked with his aunts. Not too long after did I see Bear's uncle Mike go outside. About 5 minutes later he sticks his head through the back door and motions for me to come outside. I go in the back and immediately hear Berlyn crying. I turn around the corner and see her motionless in Bear's arms. He turns her towards me and what I see makes me burst into tears. I immediately knew something was wrong. Her head was tilted to the side and she could not pick it up and her eyes were rolled over to the left side and she just kept whining and wanting to fall asleep. I had no idea what had happened, but I knew we needed to get her to the emergency room ASAP! As we were trying to leave, Bear's grandma Martha and aunt kept telling us she would be okay and kids hit their heads all the time. As much as I knew this was true, I knew something more was wrong. Bear's mom's cousin was there and he and grandpa Wayne went into a back room and gave her a blessing real quick. Martha told me that in his patriarchal blessing, he was given the power to heal. (I am getting goose bumps writing this).

As we were racing out the door, in the car. I called my parents. She told us to go straight to the Cardon Children's Hospital all the way in Downtown Mesa (from Queen Creek). We asked them to meet us there. On our way there in the car I held Berlyn as carefully as I could and tried to get her to keep crying and not fall asleep. This is also when Bear told what actually happened to her: Berlyn was just playing in the grass. Bear's uncle was playing catch with a little boy, nothing rough at all, just throwing the ball back and forth. The little boy threw the ball haywire and Bear's uncle started to run backwards and to the side to catch it. At that exact time, Berlyn darted out. Neither of them saw the other one. And Bear's uncle tripped over Berlyn and his entire body weight landed on her head. It was a freak accident. No body's fault.

After what seemed like an eternity, we make it to the hospital and rush her into the emergency room. We told them what happened and they immediately take us back into a room. We have nurses and doctors rushing to our side. They quickly put her in a neck brace and take x-rays and CT scans. She is still limp and trying to fall asleep. My parents finally arrive and the doctors come back and tell us that she has a traumatic brain injury and skull fracture and will need to be rushed to surgery. My dad and Bear give her another blessing. After quite a few minutes the ER doctor comes back in the room and says that the pediatric neuro surgeon on call said to wait on surgery. We are relieved!! He said that the brain was "angry" and that if he tried to operate right now that it would upset the brain even more and may cause more damage. (We are very thankful for his knowledge). He told us they would take her to the Pediatric ICU and wait for the swelling to go down and take it from there. Around midnight they finally get us to a room in the ICU. At this time they say they want to do a full body MRI to rule out back and neck injuries and they must sedate her for this to keep her completely still. I cannot stand for her to do these tests alone and insist I go with her. To my surprise they let me. I stay in that VERY loud, cold MRI room with her for the entire 2 hours it took. When we finally get back to the room it is around 2:30am. My parents decided to leave at this time, but would be back in the morning. Needless to say it was a very LONG hard night full of crying and anguish and guilt and pain.

To be continued...

Halloween 2012

Berlyn was Belle for Halloween 2012. She looked so cute in her yellow dress. We went to Mimi's again for dinner and trick or treating. We were so excited to take her out because she could actually walk this year. She loved being pretty and kept spinning around in her dress, which made it hard to take her picture. Bear dressed up as a mad scientist and I was, well, me. Didn't feel like dressing up this year.

We also carved pumpkins as a family a few days before Halloween. :) Berlyn just wanted to eat them.

New Home

We moved into OUR first home in Mesa, AZ at the end of September 2012.

We were so excited to have a place of our own. No more living on top of all my Grandma's stuff. It is a cute 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a pretty big backyard. We have a shed off the side of the carport and a huge garage in our backyard to make Bear's gym. It is awesome. So much storage space, which we need. Before we moved in, the backyard was all weeds and gross. We pulled all the weeds, chopped down a tree, put in curbing and planted grass. It is going to be a fun place for our kids to play.

We are so excited to make it our own and add or own touch to it with improvements here and there.

Here is a picture of Berlyn trying to copy Daddy. He was putting up wall decorations and Berlyn decided she was going to as well. Before this picture she had picture up a kid flute thing and tried hammering the wall. Hahaha she is a sponge!

Berlyn is ONE!

We had a little celebration for Berlyn's first birthday. My parents and Talor and Sabrina came over along with our best friends Cam and Ashley. Mallory stopped by later in the evening with her nieces and nephew. We ordered pizza for everyone and watched her open gifts. She was not really into opening her presents.

Our friend Ashley made her birthday cake. It was adorable! It was purple and pink with a little crown on top. So cute. She touched it once and started crying. She hates getting dirty and did not like the frosting and cake on her hands. She didn't eat much of it either.

Overall it was fun little celebration. She is a doll! OH! and she started officially walking earlier in the day ON her birthday. Easy to remember. So cute!

Feliz Navidad

So last night we had all my moms side of the family over to our house for a Christmas party. We had YUMMY soup and bread bowls, hot chocolate, and homemade cinnamon rolls. Each family exchanged gifts. We got a beautiful picture of Christ, a nerf gun, and bracelets for Berlyn and I. My grandma gave us an ornament of the Quetzal bird from Guatemala. (She gets all the grandkids a new ornament every year for Christmas so by they time they are my age and married they will have a tree full). She also gave Bear a Guatemalan tie and sling-shot. She gave Berlyn two Guatemalan dolls and I got a Guatemalan purse and necklace. Then we skyped my grandparents so they could watch our program. Each family sang a Christmas song. Our family sang "Feliz Navidad" with Bear playing the guitar. I love my family. As my Grandma said last night, "There is no greater joy than family." Merry Christmas!

My mom even found a cute little sombrero for Berlyn. :)