Update on Jerrod--surgery on Monday

Sorry this update is so late! We saw a specialist in Indianapolis on Tuesday afternoon. He said that Jerrod needed a bone graft to fill the gap that is basically just powder right now. They will take a bone from his wrist and put it in his elbow. Then they will put a plate with locking screws in his elbow. His wrist will heal in 8 weeks. He will be in a cast straight out for 2 weeks, then a sling for about 8 more weeks, and then rehab for about 20 more weeks. He will go into surgery Monday afternoon at 2pm. We have to be there at 12pm. Jerrod has to stay overnight in the hospital and will get to go home hopefully on Tuesday if everything goes well. Emma gets to spend some time with my brother and his family. She's pretty excited about that. She loves to play with them.

Please be in prayer for Jerrod's surgery that everything goes smoothly. Also pray that our travel to and from Indy is safe (we are leaving Sunday afternoon and will hopefully return Tuesday evening). Thanks so much for all of your prayers! I will try to update after his surgery.

We survived another day!

That's how we are feeling right now. I am definately in survival mode and Jerrod is just trying to control the pain. Thank you so much for all of the prayers that you all have said for us this week! Jerrod injured his right elbow last Tuesday, actually it's crushed into tiny pieces. We bought a Segway as our second mode of transportation to ride back and forth to work, we were pretty excited that it was saving us money in gas. Last Tuesday a retaining wall jumped out and stopped that Segway and threw Jerrod to the ground. Jerrod is actually pretty lucky that he just broke his elbow and the rest is scrapes and bruises. He was on the ground and tried to get up and stumbled back down, he said he felt like a war movie :) But then he got up again and rode it home! He got home, I looked at his elbow and said we're going to the Hospital right now! We spent all evening in the emergency room and they admitted him overnight to control the pain. Both kids were SUPER good at the hospital. Emma did everything that I expected her to. I was very proud of her. She sat in a chair and did not move or talk while the dr. was talking to us, which was a very long time. The rest of the week has been full of dr. appointments. We have two conflicting views from two different dr.'s in Goshen on what kind of surgery he will need. The orthopedic surgeon who saw him in the ER sent his CT scan down to a dr. in Indy to look at. We won't hear until Tues. whether we are doing surgery in Goshen or going to Indy. I think we have decided just to trust what the dr. in Indy says. The dr. put a cast on him for the weekend, which seems to be driving him batzode! Plus it's a lot heavier than the ACE bandages. The pain is greater now too, probably because the swelling is starting to go down. We are hoping that Jerrod will have surgery on Wed and not have to wait until Thur. We are hoping and praying that he will get full range of motion back. The dr. seems to think that he will have limited mobility, this thought really depresses Jerrod.

As for me, I now know how a single mom feels. I am sooo happy that this is only temporary. I'm surviving one day at a time. Both kids have been pretty good. And despite Emma having another cold, she seems not to be too clingy and winy this time. Praise Jesus! It takes all of Jerrod's energy to just get up off the couch, so he stays there with his arm up, unless he has to go to the bathroom. I'm hoping it will be a lot better after his surgery. After Jacob was born, I really relied on Jerrod to take care of Emma. He was doing almost all of the cooking and did everything for Emma. Tuesday this all stopped abruptly, I'm just really thankful that I am fully recovered from having Jacob! I don't get any time to sit down and rest. The only time I sit is when I feed Jacob or when Jacob is falling asleep. I went to Sam's club the other day and got all of the meals I could that I can just pop in the Microwave or oven without much prep. It's working out pretty well and it's really easy to fix dinner. It's been really nice out this weekend, so I put Jacob in the stroller and we've been spending a lot of time outside playing in the yard and riding Emma's tricycle in the street. She's really good at it and I think it's almost time for a real bike! We went and bought a helmet and elbow pads (Daddy seemed to think she should wear them on her elbows instead of her knees :) ) She picked out a Dora helmet.


Jacob is doing really well now. He is over his fussy period in the evening time. So thankfully I don't have to deal with that! I bought him a new play mat, he loves it! He's smiling a lot lately when he is talked to. He's also sitting up really well with support. He can be pulled up to a sitting position from a laying position by holding his hands and without supporting his head. Here's a video of him talking. It was taken a little over a week ago, and he talks even more now. Very cute!

2 months old!

Yesterday we went to Jacob's 2 month appointment. He weighs 14 pounds and is 24 inches long. Those are both in the 95th percentile. He's a big boy! His head however is 15 inches, which is only in the 10th percentile. He is starting to cooh and smile a lot. He also loves to watch fans and Emma and Daddy playing. We found out yesterday that Jacob has thrush, just in case you don't know what thrush is--it is a fungus/yeast infection in the mouth. I suspected it, and actually called the dr. about it, but they advised we just wait to see at his dr. appointment. I was on antibiotics that ended a couple of weeks ago and I think that is what made him get it. It spread to me and it has been very painful to nurse for a little under a week now. The dr. gave us both medicine, so hopefully we'll both be back to normal in a couple of weeks. On top of this I have a cold and Emma came down with a fever today and Jacob got 4 shots yesterday that made him feel pretty bad today.

On a happier note, we had a great time on our vacation to Florida. We spent three days at Disneyworld. Emma dressed up as a princess and got to eat breakfast with the princesses. She also got to eat breakfast the second day with Leo and June from the Little Einsteins. She loves this cartoon and was thrilled! We also went to the Clubhouse Disney live on stage at Hollywood Studios. This was very cool. It featured Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Handy Manny. Emma loved it! Then we headed down to Marco Island where our vacation home was huge! We shared our vacation with Jerrod's mom, my parents, and the Merrills. It was a very relaxing time spent around the pool and at the beach. Jacob hung out in my wrap the whole time we were out of the house. He really loved it and calmed him during his fussy time in the evening. In fact, now he's not fussy as much in the evening since we have gotten back. Here's some pics.

Emma with Bell

In front of Castle

Emma and Grandma riding Dumbo

Emma and Leo

Emma and June

Emma blasting off with Rocket

Emma wiped out after a long day

Jeremiah and Emma playing at the beach

Daddy threw me REALLY high!