its working!!!!!

The helmet is working!!!! Yes! I'm so excited! We however did get a letter from the insurance saying they wont pay it, so we ahve to appeal it! I hate insurance companies, they wont pay for anything and we pay them big bucks a month for nothing it seems!!! Pics soon

So its been a couple weeks since Channing got his helmet and you can already see some change in his head. It looks rounder and a little skinnier. He tolerates it pretty well, but let me tell ya, it sure makes his head stinky. haha. hopefully this will be his only one.

Last week we had family pictures. First on thursday with the Harper family. Ambers bro. Clay was leaving to the Phillipines for work for awhile for work so and Channing was also 6 months (almost 7) so it was time. It was fun. We went to the classic Woodridge lakes and got some good shots.

Saturday we had pics with the Pedersen family up in Cave Creek. We went to some little marker place area that kinda had a western style to it. It was nice. Pretty fun, the photographer had to jump at Channing and then back out real quick to get him to look at the camera it was kinda funny. Towards the end Channing got tired and started fussing and by the last few pics. He was asleep.

Channing and Amber are sick. They both have had fevers and coughs, not just a cough, but like coughing up a lung cough. I feel bad for them. It started for them on Friday. Now Im starting to get sick. It seems like its going around bc Tyler (my bro.) my sister Emma and my mom are sick now too. Hopefully we will be over it soon!!

Ill put some pics up of our photo shoots when we get them.

changes arent always a bad things

Im refering to his new helmet for his plagiocephally. Hes getting it early tomorrow morning. Im very nervous about skin breakdown. The skin is very thin on the head and is very delicate. He already gets red spots just from sleeping on one side all night. Imagine having to wear a helmet 23 hours a day!! I do think he will adjust quickly being a baby. THey say we should see results in about a week and continue throughout treatment. We have to go once a week. They said all of the bumps on his head cant be fixed because some happened when he was in utero with me. His head was down from the get-go. Im going to work on still thinking of him as a normal baby. With my profession, I see kids in braces everyday and all of them are severly handicapped. My baby is not, he just has a funky head shape! I will have to find a way around that in my mind.

Brandons truck wouldnt start Sunday.. we all thought..oh no! we JUST bought it! Turns out the battery just had to be charged. So everything turned out fine. Were lucky! My car however needs new brakes and we were quoted 180 for just two of them! Crazy! So needless to say we will be shopping around for the best price. But for now I am just being really careful but brakes arent something you wan tto mess with.

Charlie and Lady are doing well. They are putting up with the baby wonderfully! The other day, Channing had ladys ear in his hand and he was swaying her in the air! (she weighs about two paperclips) She has pretty much stayed away from him since.

Nothing else to update. Will update with pics when he gets the helmet!

next step...

Ok so the next step is getting insurance to pay for it... The therapist said she can see alot of his wierd head shape happend in utero... She asked when the dr said he was head down and I told her that ever since the dr could feel his position, he was head down. So nothing we could have done there. Plus with his torticollis (tight neck on right side) she said we probably couldnt have helped his head. And with the whole "back to bed" movement... he was destined. Anyways...

we sold the car! YEAH! we went to our credit union to get a loan and we were approved and now we have to go get that through. He loves this truck from this nice family who are actually related to some neighbors we have. Small world.

The boy I was working with started school this year and now his schedule doesnt fit with Channings babysitters... so I have to find a new patient. It makes me really sad bc I really like this family, they are so awesome and he is such an inspiration! Hes making some progress, but not lately. Its like no doctor will do surgery on him so how can he be helped??? Idk its so sad to slowly watch his back twist more and squish his lungs making it harder for him to breath. When I look in his eyes its just like he wants out. He just wants to run and play with his brothers. He just wants to be freed from his body. And I hate leaving but truthfullly I do not want to just stay and eventually watch him die. I care too much about that poor lil boy. He had a very short life but I guess he fulfilled what God had intended for him to do. He has taught many people including me alot of things. I wont ever forget him! Thanks to him and your family.

Tomorrow is Cindys and Rennys sealing. Its so wonderful that she found the man of her dreams! Tomorrow is also Wayne Gunnels funeral. SO sorry to the gunnel family for the loss of their son. You all will be in our prayers! Tomorrow is ALSO Rennys son, Taylors, wedding reception. THey got married in Utah and are coming down here for the reception. So needless to say.. busy day tomorrow!!

Keep you updated with the insurance thing...

Time to go to cranial TECH!!!

Well today is the big evaluation at Cranialtech to see if he will benefit from a DOC band AKA helmet. Poor baby. I cant imagine him having to wear a hot sweaty helmet 23 hours a day. He HATES anything on his head anyways so this should be fun.... Problem is insurance. They dont want to pay and they will try everything first to see if it will help rather then just doing the expensive treatment. WEll I have two PT friends (physical therapy) people I know that can write their observes about him. I hope that will do it. They will say that positioning wont help and that nothing they can do will help as best as the helmet. They say very few babys really need the helmet but everyone feels that he does. Premies heads are softer and therefore are more prone to the flat head syndrome... Ill keep you updated.. wait, who am I talking to/ DOes ANYONE even read this? Am I wasting my time? I wonder. If I stopped this, who would know. I doubt my own mother even reads this.

Channings 5 months old!!

Hes getting so big!! Hes over 15lbs! I cant believe the skinny little baby we brought home has grown so much! Hes starting to roll over and he can lighten any room with just one smile! He loves loves his reflection in the mirror. He thinks its another baby. I'm continuing to work with the same little boy but also looking for any dr office positions that may open up. I'm currently studying for the exam to get back into nursing school.... its very intimidating! Brandon is loving working at scottsdale healthcare. Great hours, great pay and great benefits! Its been a great blessing. Hes also starting school in a couple weeks. Were going to be busy! We went to a barbeque and he fed ducks for the first time. His reaction was cute, he got so excited! His friend Miles Mckay turned one on the 10th. His birthday party is tomorrow (sat) and Channing gets so excited everytime I mention it. Its a swimming party! Miles is the bigger baby in the pic above.

Here are some pics. Will add some of his 4 month old photo shoot. ITs SO cute!!In these pics, he ranges from 3 weeks to 3 months.

Poor Channing

He got his shots yesturday. then we took him to a birthday party for two little of his friends. He was SO cranky because of his legs. I feel really bad. Everyones gone through it yes but he is just so innocent.

Things with work are great for both of us. The lil guy I work with isnt doing well though and thats really discouraging. Brandons job is an amazing blessing! We have great insurance through it and its great pay and good hours. Hopefully he can keep that all through school...which they pay for. Then I will go to work full time while he is in the radiographer program. He starts back in school in Aug. for evening classes.

Channing is starting to eat semi solids now, just rice cereal but its still good. HEs laughing and smiling alot more now. Its so cute! We love him so much!!!

Nothing new here since our last blog. Were just keepin busy I guess. Channing goes to the doc tomorrow and we find out how much he weighs and then he gets his dreaded shots.

We are going to a birthday party for some four yr olds Brandon worked with. They are twins that were premature and have many problems. I hope they like their presents!!

Channing is doing well, growing like a weed. If you check out our facebook page, I put up some new pics of his photo shoot. Hes four months and started on some applerice cereal.

Well gtg, will write again soon.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow we go to get shots. I'm so nervous because I know he will be in pain. I never want my son in pain again. While this isn't the worst he's gone through but he hasnt gotten hurt like that since hes been home and I just feel so horrible. I know I'm a nurse and Ive given babys shots before but not my son.

Vaccinations themselves are not my favorite thing. I really think the medical field does too much to our bodies. I'm not a complete naturalist but I believe that if its what God intended then it would be in our food or grow naturally in our bodys. Disease is out there, I'm not in denial but viruses (dead) arent the only thing in those shots. They have all these perservatives that will hurt the lil body. Plus theres mercury in most of them. If the virus isnt dead then it can change and grow into an even bigger disease then we know. They also give so many at one time. I'm just not comfortable with that. I think well space them out and not give any live viruses AND OF COURSE no mercury.
My wont my doc be happy with me!

grouting, painting, and cleaning OH MY!

We took down the walpaper which was horrible! Then we had to have a guy come texture, then we painted (I was prego so I couldnt help or even be home) It drove me nuts cause I'm a person who likes to do the job myself so its the way I like it...
The carpet was next to take out... Gross under 15 yr old carpet! Living on concrete was great.... We got carpet the day Channing came home so we had to stay at grandmas house for the first night. Every little sound would scare me about him. He turned, I was up. He was still a sick lil boy in my mind.
Were painting the front door today! RED! I Love it! We got a new lock too. Its gonna look real nice. Ill take some before and after pics.

HOme now

He is now 10lbs 3oz and was due last week!! He is a chunky monkey and the love of our lives! He has such a personality and can lift his head and is almost turning over! He has succeeded once already! We are getting into a schedule of sleeping most the night which I hope he sticks with.

Our dog also decided to have puppies on our brand new carpet! Thank heaven for peroxide! It takes the blood right out! The pups are three weeks old and have opened their eyes and are just so cute! Ill put pics up soon.

The baby!!!!!

Channing James Pedersen cam e into the world on March 12, 2009. I was only 33 weeks when my water broke at 1am that Thurs. We rushed to the hospital at 330am. I was admitted and got the epidural at noon and he was out with three pushes at 2:58pm. The cord was wrapped around his neck and he was 6lbs 2oz. He screamed beautifully for the first ten min. He started grunting and they took him away. I had no idea what happened to him for about two hours. They took me to my postpardum room and asked if before I went to bed, did I want to see him? I said of course and they took me in and I wasnt prepared. He had a cpap, IV, and moniters everywhere on him. I stayed only a few min before I felt lightheaded. The next day I felt great. THey discharged me and said I could hold him after! I was so excited! We put everything in the car and we were walking back when.... The Cpap ended up blowing out his R lung. They did a pleural effusion where they stick a huge syringe into his chest cavity to pull out the air and they put a chest tube in through his ribs. He also had to be put on a ventilator. The world was spinning. My MY perfect little boy wasnt doing good. All I remember was sitting on the hospital bed in my old room in the arms of my husband and praying to God that he will pull through and be ok. We were balling and didnt know what to do. We couldnt understand why this was happening to little Channing. He had just come from Heavenly fathers presence. Why did he have to experience this. Was this a learning experience for us? Of course it was. We had to learn that in this life we have trials and we have to trust in the Lord and humble ourselves to get through it.

Well he got better day after day and all the tubes came out. FINALLY I got to hold my son. It was about four days after and they let me hold him and try to bottle nipple him. With oxygen in his nose and a tube going down to his stomach, he gulped those 10cc down like it was no bodys business!

He got better and was able to come home with us March 21st.
He was 5lbs 12oz when we brought him home.

Wedding and life since.

We got married March 13, 2009. We married in the morning at the Mesa temple and had the luncheon at Rigatonies on Brown. We had the reception in the Clarks backyard and it was so awesome. We left the next morning for our honeymoon in Sandiego. We stayed at a timeshare. We went to Sea World and Zoo. We got home and life began. We rented a small triplex near Westwood high school. We had some dramatic neighbors and decided to get out of that place. Brandons mom had been dating Renny Rogers and they had announced their engagement. So the plan of us moving into her old house with Tyler was thought. It was two weeks after we moved in that we found out we were prego! We were so excited as was the family.

We dated until Jan 18, 2008. He took me to dinner at ALTO in Scottsdale. I was thinking this was an ordinary date until he took me on a gondola ride. It was sooo romantic. I waited and waited for a purposal but it didnt come. I was disappointed but knew it was coming sometime. We started driving home and he got off at the wrong exit. He drove to a park and we walked to this huge huge statue of LOVE. It was bright red and was so big. He got down on one knee and asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him. I said yes and it was wonderful!!! I love him!

How we met...

One boy... One girl... sitting quietly in seminary. To put it mildly it was love at first sight. She wrote a note, he answered back. It went from there. Our first date was the first of April 05. IT was bowling with my friends. Brandon, trying to look like a hunk went up there, swung the ball back, and swoosh... flat on his butt... Laughter filled the alley. I fell in love with him that night. He was so cute all red faced. From there we dated until he left on his mission in Dec of 2005. I was heartbroken that he had left and tried to fill the two years focusing on school. It didnt work so well. I moved out with my best friend and got a job working as an LPN. I went to MCC and GWCC for a while doing prerequs for the RN program and somewhere along the line stopped. I currently would love to go back. Brandon was serving in Cordoba, Argentina. It was a long two years and he loved it. He met alot of friends he still has today and he still loves the people and culture. He came back on the 12th of Dec 2007. That night was amazing.