Make-A-Wish Countdown!

Alright we are 4 days away from our Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World!  Can’t wait to get some good quality play time for a whole week.  Meanwhile I am again writing from my overpriced studio apartment AKA our inpatient room at Cardon Children’s Hospital.  Audrey knows how to do one thing really well and that is grow stuff in her bladder.  Another UTI has 1-2017-02-20 18.53.59brought on another fever and combine that with low white counts and we are again back in the hospital.  The good news is she hasn’t felt that bad this time as we caught it early and her temp has just been hovering around the 100.4 F or 38 C fever point.  Nothing like last time when we were spiking to 104.  She has really enjoyed riding around and playing with her friends from child life.  They are the wonderful ladies that have made it their carrier to help keep our kids happy when they are here.  They can be such life savers for us on those long days of no sleep and tough decisions.

Since the last post we haven’t done much other than stay around the house and enjoy hanging out.  But as peaceful as that sounds it has been pretty busy.  It apparently is lambing season for the sheep.  We had our first arrival of the season about two and a half weeks ago.  Then on Feb. 12th while my parents were down for a visit one of our ewes (female sheep) was in distress while laboring.  Luckily we noticed and were able to take action and help her out.  Melissa grabbed and her and kept her still while I went to work figuring out how I was going to get him out.  Luckily the first time we had a pregnant sheep I watched some YouTube videos on how to help a sheep in distress while delivering.  Yes they really have them but beware it’s not pretty.  I pushed him back in and grabbed his legs and pulled him out.  He wasn’t moving but seemed to have some shallow breathing.1-2017-02-12 10.49.54  Within a few minutes he was looking better but still not moving much.  Then we saw two more hooves pop out and we helped that one out also.  It was a baby girl and she was strong from the second she popped out.  We named the boy Hank and the girl Tracy.  Hank spent a few nights with us inside at night since we had to feed him every 4 hours the first day and it was cold out.  He is finally outside sleeping with the rest of the sheep.  Then this past Sunday night the 18th we had another mama sheep drop her 2 babies on the front porch.  We knew she was to big to just have 2 and she kept laboring for many hours.  Melissa and1-2017-02-13 08.04.34 I took turns watching her all night and sometime in the early morning she past the last lamb but it was a still birth.  She was so tired by then and so were we just from watching.  Both lambs are doing well and Melissa and Cole named them Pearl and Franklin.  Today we had our 6th baby lamb.  Melissa’s dad Rich stopped by the house and said I think your sheep is having a baby.  We looked out the front window and he was already starting to come out.  So I did what every person does that sees a lamb being born out their front window and opened up Facebook and started a live feed for everyone to watch.  It was fun to watch and share with everyone.  You never know what you are going to see at our house.

It’s fun to watch and be a part of something so special as the beginning of life.  It’s a reminder to us that life goes on.  In some cases like the triplet it never really got going and in Hanks case he needed some help but he is now well on the way.  Audrey falls somewhere in the middle.  She has had a strong 5 years and God willing many more to come but she still needs a lot of help to get there and a little luck to beat this beast.  There are days where I just want to be the woe is me type of person and sometimes it gets me and I dwell in my own self pity and cry a bit.  Then I realize I need to pick myself up and get back in Audrey’s corner as she is doing all the hard work and we are there to merely help and advise.  Next week is the rest in between rounds where we get to go be a family of 4.  We get to make some more precious memories and long videos for yo1-2017-02-22 16.01.05u to all struggle through getting to the end because I made them too long.  We get to watch Cole and his baby sister smile and laugh and play together at the “Happiest place on earth”  and I get to try not to cry as I watch them have fun.  It will be interesting to look back with Cole in 20 years and see what stands out the most to him from this trip.  I am willing to bet it won’t have much to do with Disney.

Also here is a link to a quick video I made for Audrey’s YouTube channel Ask Audrey

You can subscribe on YouTube to Ask Audrey and it will update you when we add more.   You can also add your email at the very bottom of this page and every time I post a new post it will email it to you.

Thanks for being a part of our journey and loving on my family!  It’s time to breakout of this hospital and start preparing for a trip of a lifetime.

3 thoughts on “Make-A-Wish Countdown!

  1. Ira, I just want to say that You are an amazing Dad with and even more amazing family. The strength you and your family show everyday during these trying times is beyond compare! I am proud to have you as a friend. Please give our love and prayers to your little fighter Audrey!! Take care…and keep the videos coming! My kids have truly taken to Audrey as an inspiration even though they have never met. We need to change that and get together.

  2. It was wonderful to be there with you all visiting and just enjoying being around everyone. So glad that we got to be there while the lambs where lambing and watch the kids see life come into the world. Life is a beautiful thing. Glad to hear Hank is doing well. Loved the new video of Audrey in the hosptial. Not one for to many words that time in the video but look out she can surprise you. Love to all. Happy Day

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