Five Month Update #54

I originally sent this out in September, but it applies to August 7th…


Julie and her parents went for their first road trip as a family.  Julie did fine, but her parents were a wreck, ha!

Aunt Marla
Aunt Marla

As I mentioned in my last update (from August 4th) Julie was cleared to travel and newly outfitted with her Mic-key button instead of the g-tube.  We did a test run over to Frisco, TX (just 15 minutes away) to visit my brother for a family get together.  We learned a few lessons about what we needed to feed Julie and so we set off on August 5th to drive 600+ miles to Saint Louis, Missouri.  We left Friday night and planned to stop as needed with the goal of arriving about mid-day Saturday.  The return trip would start about midday Sunday so that we would arrive in Dallas about midnight.

Unfortunately, we ran into a few snags.  First, we left about 2-3 hours late Friday.  Second, we needed to stop to bottle feed Julie every 3 hours and our stops took us at least an hour each. Third, I was utterly exhausted (a recurring theme for many months).  I was unable to rest during the stops, so this was the hardest trip I ever done.

Grandma Horn
Grandma Horn

We did make it to Tulsa before stopping for the night, but we had to stop again for a nap in a truck stop in Missouri, so we didn’t make it into STL until 4 pm.  Our goal was to introduce Julie to her grandmother, my Mom, Helen.  She has been having knee problems for over a year and was about to go in for a knee replacement.  We got Julie there just before Helen’s surgery so they were able to enjoy each other.

Grandma Horn
Grandma Horn

Our visit went very well. Unfortunately, we could only stay for 24 hours and then we needed to get back. We repeated the same routine, but got a better hotel just before hitting Tulsa and arrived in Dallas about mid-afternoon. I’ve included a couple pictures of my Mom holding Julie.  I also included some pictures of my oldest brother and sister-in-law holding Julie when they visited Dallas at the end of July.  Also, there’s a picture
of another sister-in-law holding Julie from the Frisco get together.  If you don’t know which person is which, don’t fret, they know who they are! That plus Julie is having fun is all that really matters, right?

Leslie Schaeferle
Leslie Schaeferle

Another picture is of our family friend, Leslie Schaeferle, holding Julie Saturday night.  Leslie absolutely fell in love with Julie, so much so that she started talking about having another child.  I won’t comment on the biological potential of such a suggestion, but will add that Julie has had strong influence on many people!

Uncle Alan
Uncle Alan

Julie did remarkably well on both trips.  She loved the hotel rooms and was patient about being in the car seat for hours at a time.  She didn’t get car sick and hardly ever made any noise…amazing!

Aunt Becky
Aunt Becky

We are done with doctor’s appointments for over a month.  We are all looking forward to the break.  I have a couple weeks off from school which I plan to fill with updates to my second book (I left a copy of my notes with my Mom).  Sarah is hoping to do a little writing and composing, but mostly wants to focus on Julie.

This trip to STL was the fulfillment of a lot of prayers for Julie and us.  Thanks to all for all
your prayers.

Andy and Sarah Horn


 

 

Alan and Becky, my oldest brother and his wife, visited from Los Angeles at the end of July just to see their new niece. Becky had forwarded my updates to her distribution list throughout Julie’s stay in the NICU. As you can see, they bottle fed Julie and enjoyed holding her.

Leslie Schaeferle has known me since I started elementary school. We worked together in the church nursery for many Sundays when I was middle-school aged.

Peter and Marla, my older brother and his wife, live just a few miles away. They would have loved to help us more, but Marla’s daughter had problems with her newborn son just as we learned of Julie’s problems. So, they had their hands full with other problems.

Our pulmonologist gave his OK for visiting relatives just in time for all these pleasant encounters. At this point, Julie continues to accept bottle feeding, but with some resistance and only once or twice a day.