The Phillips Family

Things are going MUCH MUCH better now. I was able to hold Sam last night and today. He's already off the oxygen, heated bed, and IV. In fact, they're thinking now that he doesn't even have an infection. And on top of all this wonderfulness, Sam drank two FULL bottles today all on his own!! Talk about a Father's Day present! I was able to feed him one of those bottles and, boy, was I proud of that kid! I am so happy right now. Everything is coming together, it seems, at last. The end is in sight. As soon as Sam can drink all of his bottles on his own for five days, then he can be discharged. Maybe it'll be this weekend. I really hope so... All of this has put me in a pondering mood. Today at church I was thinking about how it's been a while since I've gone through a trial of this magnitude in a long time... if ever. I've heard the Sunday School lessons on trials and tribulations and how Heavenly Father actually BLESSES us with them for our ...

So last night was a rough one. Earlier in the day, I had called to do the regular check-up on Sam since I can't go in to visit him (I'm still sick) and the nurse said that everything was fine and there were no new developments. Later that evening, I couldn't stop thinking about Sam and had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to call over there. So I did and got bad news. Sam kept forgetting to breath all throughout the day, which made his heart rate drop. When this happens too much, it can be a sign of infection. They told me that they were doing some blood work on him right then and that they would call me back with the results. An hour and a half later, I get a call from the doctor telling me that Sam has an infection and that they will have to do a spinal tap to make sure the infection hasn't spread to his brain. She says this will take another hour. TWO hours later, Rex calls me. (In the meantime I had been sobbing over the phone to Rex, who decided it ma...

Sam is doing much better. He's holding a higher body temperature now and is getting the hang of breathing WHILE eating. Now he just needs to get stronger so he can take more than 5 gulps before he tuckers out. They think that he may be lactose intolerant... so no ice cream for mommy. So other than that, Sam is doing much better and is super adorable. Good news : We HAVE A HOUSE!! Bad news : Rex is all by his lonesome in that big, beautiful house. Right now, we are all in different states. Aiden is in Oklahoma with my parents; Rex is in Colorado; and I'm in California waiting on Sam to get stronger. More bad news : I have a cold and, therefore, cannot visit Sam until I get better. So Rex, Aiden, Sam, and I are all alone for the time being, so to say. I mean, we still have friends and family around us, but our little family is split. And that's sad. But this will only make our reunion... some day... all the better. ::sigh:: I miss my boys. And just so I don't e...

Rex and I sure needed a good laugh. This did the trick. The person who comes up with the best caption for any of the pictures... wins.

Here we are: the excited, tired, relieved parents of lil' Sam the Man. For those of you who don't know and are interested, I had Sam 7 weeks early. We think it happened because I had a marginal placenta previa (prone to excessive bleeding) and I had pushed myself while packing and getting ready for the big move. I have a hard time taking things easy apparently... Sam had a hard time breathing in the beginning. Within just a few days, however, he made a championship comeback and went from being on the respirator, to the CPAP (shown), to just the little nose thing that gives oxygen (same thing old men have.) He also had to get fed from a tube through his nose starting on the 2nd day. As you can see here, though, he proved himself again and got the tube removed to eat normally. What a man! Would you look at that hair! It's so blond it almost looks gray. It's also more hair than his older brother Aiden has now. I just can't get over how tin...

Ladies and Gentlemen, We are please to present the littlest new member to team Phillips: Sam Richard Phillips Stats: Born 3:57 A.M. (PST) in Pleasanton, CA Weight: 4 lbs. 11 oz Length: 18.25 inches Story: Saturday night I went to bed at about 12:20 and shortly thereafter Edda got up to go to the bathroom, but found she was covered in blood. We managed not to freak out too much and got her to the hospital. She and Sam were both stable, but they wanted to keep her for observation. I dropped Aiden off with our friends (the Andrus clan) and came back. Edda started bleeding again and they lost track of Sam's heartbeat, so the call was made to do a C-section. What happened next was a blur. Edda was whisked away into the operating room and I was told to sit down in a chair. That was at 3:49 A.M. People started running and things got crazy. I was just waiting for someone to help me put on the funny shoes (I figured I didn't need the hat). Suddenly someone came out and told me ...