The Lyon's Den

Gianna's memorial service turned out very nice. If you'd like to read more about it and see pictures, you can visit my mom's blog.
"http://mapastubz.blogspot.com"

I don't have the stomach to write about the whole heart wrenching process right now, but I wanted to share some pictures and a brief rundown of our last moments with our sweet baby girl. Gianna Rae Lyon was born May 29th at 5:46pm. She was 2 lbs 7oz and 14 inches long. Gianna was only 30 weeks gestation when she was born. I was at the hospital for a routine Non Stress Test to make sure everything was going okay and Gianna's heartrate indicated that she might have been struggling. After further monitoring, her heart rate began to get worse and the doctors decided to do an emergency c-section. My parents were able to make it in time and be in the room with me, but Aaron arrived about 10 minutes after our baby girl was born. She had many problems and we had to make a very difficult decision saturday May 31st. We decided to take Gianna off of all the machines. I couldn't bear standing there watching my baby girl look so weak and hear all of the machines constantly beeping, indicating something was wrong. We finally got to just hold our little butterfly and she passed in my arms after about an hour. We enjoyed our time with her and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. She is so precious to us and we cherish her presence in our lives. Our lives and testimonies will forever be altered for good because of this little angel. I didn't get to share Gianna with many people because she didn't live very long so I'd like to share a few pictures with all of you.

After 6 full long days at the hospital I am now home and on strict bedrest. I need to keep this brief cause I need to get back to laying down. The doctor released me but I have to stay down and continue taking the meds to stop contractions every 4 hours (even through the night). I go back to the doctor on monday for another ultrasound and also to the pediatric cardiologist. I start my non stress tests twice a week next week as well. That's all for now and I'll keep you updated. Thanks everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and phone calls!!

So I thought I would give everyone updates from my hospital bed now that I am connected to the outside world with the laptop my parent's brought me today. I really don't know a whole lot about how long I'm going to be here; we just have to take one day at a time.
For those of you who haven't heard, I decided to go to the hospital on saturday evening because I was having some mild but regular contractions. The ER docs decided to call my Dr in Sacramento to see what they should do. They decided to transfer me to Sutter Memorial in downtown Sac by amblance. Code 3 with the flashing lights and sirens. It was kind of nerve racking and the ride was not nearly as smooth as I had expected. Then the contractions got worse and was put on three different meds to stop the contractions. So here I am at day four and I'm still on all the meds and the doc has no idea if and when he will send me home. Every day we just wait and see if anything new changes. My cervix doesn't appear to be changing which is very good. The baby seems to be doing very well other than measuring really small. I have been given both steroid shots to develop her lungs and they will be in effect by tonight. I'm feeling very positive about the abilities of this hospital and all the doctors. The hospital has about 6 or 7 floors (not that I've seen the outside because I was brought in by ambulance). When I first got here there were 58 babies in the NICU. I've met with a neonatologist who will be taking care of my baby when she's here. He was very reassuring. It's just kind of a wait and see game here for us. Aaron returned to work yesterday and mom and dad have had the kids during the day; Aaron kinda takes over at night. I just got a visit from the boys and it was very nice to see them. I've feel pretty isolated here but it should be getting better. Let me just tell you, daytime television is awful. If anyone cares to make a visit or give a call I'm at Sutter Memorial room 222B. I'll keep ya posted.

Yesterday was a very full day and I have sunburns on my calves and arms to show for it. We started the day with the local Run Drugs Out of Town 5K. Aaron hasn't done a fun run in almost five years and thought it was about time. He didn't get to do a whole lot of training beforehand...maybe got out with the jogging stroller twice a week for a couple weeks. He ended up doing very well, and lots better than he thought he could do. Aaron ran a mile around the Tierra Buena track not too long ago and could only pull it off in about 8 and a half minutes and was kinda disappointed. Well yesterday he managed to average just under 7 minutes a mile for the whole 5K. He came in 4th in his age category (20-29) and he'll be 29 in just a couple of weeks. Not too shabby I say! It was pretty well organized and they even had games and a bounce house set up for the kids. And some raffles that we didn't win. :(

As soon as we got home and got Aaron cleaned up from the run, we headed to Woodland to the Scottish Highland games. I think that is where most of the sun damage happened. It was pretty interesting watching all the men in skirts and the events that went on. IE: caber toss, hammer throw and highland dance competition. I think the kids' favorite part was visiting the Scottish animals. I personally thought the Scottish cow was beautiful. The dogs were the boys' favorites though and got to play with little Scottie dogs the most. All in all it was a good day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Oh, and I must not forget to mention tasting Scottish Pasties (meat pies) and Haggis (you don't want to know, but it involves sheep stomach, heart liver and lungs).

The boys had an Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hawley's place. It was a really nice day and lots of fun for the kids; as you can tell by their huge cheesy grins!






















Brechin was pretending to fall into the ditch/ creek. He really was just copying his big brother.

Well as most of you know, we've had a very challenging past 5 weeks....all to do with my pregnancy. We've been through the depths of despair and are on the upside right now. We had some tragic news about our baby girl and things are finally beginning to look more and more up. I've seen a couple of different perinatologists and today I even went and saw a Pediatric Cardiologist to have an echo-cardiogram done on our little girl. In case some of you haven't heard, we were told our baby most likely had a chromosome problem and would be incompatible with life. By an amniocentesis, we have ruled that out which now gives us some hope. We don't and won't know the extent of any structural defects or brain defects really until she's born. But we did find out about her heart this morning. It looks like she has what is called a Primum septum defect, which is a hole in a certain spot of the heart. It really is great news compared to what we were looking at. This heart defect has nothing to do with the rest of her development. Blood is going where it should and the heart shouldn't slow her down any until about 4 to 5 months by which she will have had surgery by then. She should have a normal delivery (from the heart's standpoint at least) and will hopefully be able to come home with me from the hospital. About three or so months later they will have to do open heart surgery and close the gap. It is a very successful surgery and as far as the heart goes, she should have a normal life once that is fixed. We still aren't out of the woods with her other problems. I have another ultrasound in 2 and a half weeks and maybe we can rule out some other problems. We truly appreciate everyone's prayers and fasts in our behalf. We know many of you have been suffering along with us. I know that it is by the faith and prayers of so many that things are really coming together. We love and appreciate all of you. We will keep you updated with the progress of our little girl.

BABY!!! So we had an ultra sound yesterday and got to see our very wiggly, modest little girl!! Yes...we can make girls after all!!! We're very excited. She kept crossing her legs and squeezing her little knees together. The techs let me get up and walk around and try to get her to move again...as if she wasn't moving a ton already. So finally after two techs taking a look they decided it WAS a girl. Most everything looked great and heartbeat was strong, but after going to my Dr's appt right after he let me know they found some fluid around the baby; other than amniotic. They're not sure what it is or if it's anything. But to be sure my Dr is doing some blood work on me and referring me to a Perinatologist for a detailed ultrasound. I guess we'll know from there what to expect. We don't know much more for now. We'll let ya all know when we find out but we're praying they won't find a darn thing when we go back in. :)