Summer time, Summer time

The summer time is a really busy place around here. Our two nieces stay here for the better part of the summer so now we have 5 kids here at all times instead of just our 3. They are such a blessing to us. We praise God all the time that we can be such a big part of their lives. Lately we have had a few illnesses. We went to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr. last week for Emma and he told us that her adenoids and her tonsils are enlarged and the put her on a nose spray for 6 weeks to see if the go down and if not then the will have to be removed. They also asked if she has had a hearing test because of her speech and I told him I was unsure of this. So he ordered a hearing test for her to see if her speech is because of her hearing and if so we will go from there and if not then atleast we will know that is not the problem. So when we came home I looked it all up and it said that usually you can look in there mouth and see the restricted airway but the next day I decided to try and see anyways and sure enough she opens up her mouth and it is so swollen in the back of her throat it was sorta scary. It really did explain alot. So now in the month of August we have to make trips to Rochester once a week for the last 3 weeks in August. We have also been dealing with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. First Emma got it but I didn't know what it was because all she had was a sore in her mouth and I thought that maybe she just cut it on something and it was bothering her. Well the a few days later and Izzy got it but of course she got it alot worse. She had the fever and the rash with the blisters on her hands feet and diaper area. I felt so bad for her. She even had it on our big day at church for the 4th of July. Then our niece Alura got it but not bad at all. Then just when we thought things were getting better the baby started getting pretty sick. She was coughing and sounding really junky when she was breathing I was having to give her breathing treatments. When her home nurse came her and I agreed we thought she needed to be seen by her Dr. So we did and come to find out she had Aspiration Pneumonia. We are always worried about that with her medical condition and we hate to hear when she has it. So it has been just one thing after another. But even though God has been so good to us because we have not had to be admitted in the hospital and it could be so much worse. Our niece Ashlee also came down with something, she has a terrible cough and this morning I woke up not feeling the best. So needless to say I went through the house today and totally disinfected the entire house.

Besides all the illnesses there has been some 0ther things going on. The baby actually wore her backpack today while she was crawling around. That would make things so much better if she will wear it all the time because then we won't have to worry about her tube so much. She is also getting 4 new teeth in. We are also getting ready to go to Knobels Amusement park coming up. I am so excited about going this year because my hubby is going for the first time. I just love to spend time with my family. Even when it is a little crazy or complete Chaos I still love it. It should be exciting.

Tomorrow my little man goes back to the dentist to get the rest of the work done on his teeth. He did such a great job while getting his 2 front teeth pulled I am praying he does just as good this time but I am afraid that now he knows what to expect that it might not be as easy. We will see.

Giving daddy some love.

I think one of the most precious things is seeing children running to the door with pure delight when they hear daddy coming. Everyday as soon as they even hear his truck coming down the road it begins and now even the baby has joined in with her excited squeals. It is such a blessing to see the love in their eyes for their daddy. The baby has really been wanting to spend more and more time with daddy. There was a time when she would get upset if he would take her from me and now she reaches for him when he comes into the room. She also saves a bunch of kisses for him and is now saying da da and daddy and directing it to him and he just glows. Our children are such a blessing to us. We praise God every day for our children.

Enjoying life.

Well we have had alot going on lately (as always) so that is why I have not been posting on here lately but I plan to try to do more. I took the kids to the fireworks last night and first we had to go to target to get some much needed accessories and they were so good. Then we found a cozy little corner at the end of Targets parking lot and it was a great spot. There was plenty of room for them to play and not get in anyone's way and it was a good view to. Not to close to the fireworks where the booms scared them but close enough for a good view. It was so cute because I was a little worried about the baby because last year she was only a couple months old and had no idea what was going on but this year she was sitting on my lap when they started and she just loved them. She clapped and clapped. It was so cute. The older ones loved them to. I am just so thankful for my family and I just LOVE making the memories. I hope to get pictures on here soon but I seem to be having a problem with doing that.

We have Crawling

Look out world here she comes!!!!! Two days ago our baby made her first few steps to crawling and it was so precious. She is getting the idea but she still is having problems getting into the crawling position but she is getting it. She is also trying to pull herself up on things as well. We are getting so much progress. It is so exciting. So now instead of sitting in the living room and screaming or crying for me she will be able to follow me around screaming and crying lol. Just Kidding. This is going to be so nice because she is so ready to go.

We also went to the Orthopedics specialist about her trigger thumb. He said that we don't need to be in a hurry for surgery. Because there are studies that came out in the last year that by waiting it does not do any harm and some have actually corrected themselves. As long as it is not hurting or hindering her then there is no reason for us not to wait. So the Dr. left the decision up to us and we decided to wait and not have the surgery for awhile unless it starts bothering her.

Our next appt. is on the 8th and that is for a swallow study to see how much she is still aspirating and that will decide on how much we can push her to eat. I am very excited about this appt. because I am really praying that she is not aspirating as much and we can work on getting her off this machine. She is really starting to like new foods so everytime we eat she wants some. We also bought her some new finger foods for babies. They are like baby cheese puffs and she loves them. So we will see.

What a wonderful memorial day

On the Sunday before Memorial Day my hubby had to work so I had our three kids and my two nieces the whole day all to myself. So we got up and got ready and went to church like usual. Usually after church the four older ones go with my hubby on the church bus and I usually take the baby. Her and I go with my great friend Brenda to Wal-mart or if we need to go to a different store we do but usually it is Wal-mart. Well this week they all had to come with me and they did not get to go on the bus which they all look so forward to. I wanted to make it a special day and just enjoy my children. I also wanted to help them understand just how important our Soldiers are and seeings how it was Memorial weekend I decided to take them up to my Dads, Uncles, and Granddads grave. (I also have a sister buried there as well) So we went to the store and bought some American flags and some flowers for my sisters grave. We went to the cemetery and we walked around it and I showed them where they all were buried and we walked around and looked at all the veterans headstones and read them to the younger ones. After a bit we went back to my daddy's grave and we put the American flag up and put the flowers on my sisters grave. Then we prayed. I prayed first and if anyone knows me they know I am emotional and I have a VERY soft spot for anything to do with the military. So of course I got a little choked up but I wasn't sad I was thankful for them and their service. Well if anyone knows my niece Ashlee they know she completely feeds off of me and she is very much my Drama Queen. Well she got to crying and I told her I wasn't crying because I was sad. I was thankful and I just love them so much. So then she said well I am crying because you are crying because you are thankful so I am thankful. Boy oh boy is she gonna be a handful the older she gets but I love her soft heart. Well then the rest of them prayed and I just love to listen to them pray it is so sweet. So then we finished up there and we were all so hungry by then so we decided to go to our favorite place as they call it. (Lin Buffet) We had a good time there they were all so good. Our next thing we needed to do was we needed some shirts for the Parade on Monday. So we ran over to Old Navy because they had some shirts with flags on them and they were only 5 dollars buy one get one free. I was really thankful they had exactly what we wanted and we could get in and out of there in no time because our last class for Sign Language class was Sunday and I really didn't want to miss it. Well we made it. Yippy. So over all we had a great Sunday.

We had to get up early Monday AM because we were all going to be in all 3 of the parades here. I was a little worried because you never know how it's going to go and what kind of meltdowns we are going to have but for the most part they all were awesome. Even the baby was great the entire day. We got there I think a little after 9am and the Elmira one was supposed to start at 9:30 So we got everything situated and decided to put the 4 older ones on the bus throwing candy and I would walk with the baby in the double stroller with a box of tracks in the front seat of the stroller for everyone to grab from. The float that our church did was absolutely AWESOME. Everyone did such a great job with it and I really think it made a big impact with alot of people. So in the front we had a couple people carrying our church banner then there was two people carrying the Christian flag and the American flag then the float then a bunch of us to hand out tracts then it was the bus and on the bus were a bunch of posters with all of our church ministries then on the back of the bus was a lighthouse then behind the bus was a couple more people carrying another church banner. I have NEVER been more moved at a parade than I was this year. To walk up to a Veteran and look them in the eye and to tell them thank you for serving our country from the bottom of my heart and to see them stand and salute their fallen brothers I was so thankful for my sunglasses and sweat that way they couldn't see my crying. It was just so awesome. Well then after the first parade we went to the heights one. That one was pretty quick then we ended up at the height legion for their BBQ chicken yummy. Then onto the HHDS parade. This time Livie and Ashlee were gonna walk the parade and Aries was gonna stay on the bus to throw candy. Well at the very last minute Livie decided she was to tired to walk and wanted to get back on the bus to throw candy. Truth be known she really wanted to get on there to eat the candy. So Ashlee walked with me and she was such a hoot. She was so cute handing out tracts. It was like she was hand picking everyone she wanted to give one to. She was just a skipping it was super cute and my Izzy was holding strong. Well after the parades were all finished up and we all got back to our cars we had a little cookout with the Norton's at our house. We turned the sprinkler on and they got to cool off and had a good time. By 8pm we were all so tired there was no problems getting anyone to bed. It was such a great day. Over 6000 tracts were handed out and praying that some souls will be saved. We love our children to see us serving the Lord and they love to serve the Lord as well. There was some great memories made. Oh I forgot to mention that while we were waiting for the Heights parade to start my hubby took Aries over to the firetruck behind us and the fireman let him get up in the truck and Aries had the biggest smile on his face. He absolutely LOVES firetrucks. He also let him step on the button for the siren. His eyes were as big as saucers. It was great and I am sure he will remember that for a long long time.

We are making progress

Well we have been working with the baby with her rolling over and helping her getting up onto her knees then to sitting. Well she wasn't having too hard of a time rolling from her belly to her back but it was from her back to her belly that was giving her problems. She doesn't seem to have the hip control. So what we have been doing is for the most part whenever I put her down to play on the floor I lay her on her back. I was having to help her roll over. Not alot of help but some. Well after a couple days of that she now has that. But then she gets backing up on her belly but she can't seem to get her legs under her to get up on her knees. So I just put my hand behind her foot and I give her something to push on and most of that time that is enough to help her to get her up onto her knees. Then from there she is becoming a pro to getting into the sitting position. She also is skooching too. So she is getting around the living room a little. Well today I was sitting on the couch folding laundry and she had made her way over to me. She was transitioning like she was going to go into the crawling position and the next thing I knew she had pulled herself up onto her knees to me. I was so excited. Then she saw my cup on the coffee table and she pulled herself up to the table on her knees too. I love to see these new things....

To Re-name or not to Re-name, that is the question.....

Well we are really struggling with if we want to change Olivia's name or not. I have had a couple talks with her about it explaining that if we change her name it is forever and we would not be calling her Olivia any longer and she keeps telling me she does not want Olivia any longer. We really want to give her the choice if she wants to change it or not. So it is looking like we are going to do it possibly. I know this will take alot of getting used to not only for her and us but for everyone that knows her. But we want her to have this choice. Like giving her a fresh start. So we will see.

Starting the process to adopt Olivia.

Well we found out Monday that we can start the paperwork to adopt Olivia. We are so excited. She is such a blessing to our family and we just couldn't imagine our family without her. We are just in the first stages of doing this so it could take a couple months to finalize but now it is just paperwork and lawyer and court stuff. Can't wait. Our next thing we are thinking about is a name change. We were not going to change her name because she has had this name for 5 years but she is very adamant about getting a new name. We did change the babys name and I think she wants the same thing and we don't want her to feel like she's not as important because she very much is. So we are going to pray on this and keep talking to her about this. We are actually trying to see if we can just get her to change her middle and last name. If that will be ok for her. We will see. But we DEFINITELY want her to feel the same importance as Izzy.

Separation Anxiety

Well our baby officially has separation anxiety. All week has been a battle to get anything done because Izzy is very clingy. Sometimes its not even enough for her to even be in the same room, she wants me to hold her. It is to where she won't even calm down for daddy. Not to mention we had court 2 days this week so we had to leave her with a sitter and that did not go over so well so I think that only added to this. I also think she is teething. She is just not a very happy camper this week unless mommy is holding her. So I guess housework will have to get done next week lol. I do love the cuddle time though but sometimes its just not convenient. But someday I will miss this.

She's all ours!!!!!

Today was a great day. We got our Adoption certificate in the mail today so from today on she is officially Isabella what a wonderful feeling. Then when her Physical Therapist was here today she was on her belly and she was pushing herself backwards which she did often. But this time she got her legs under her and got up onto her knees and sat up for the very first time. I was so excited. She is really making alot of progress. She is so awesome. Then Rochester called and we have been waiting for an appt. for her to have another swallow study done. They set her appt. up for June 8th. I was so surprised that they had gotten her in so quickly. So it is beginning to look like June was going to be pretty busy as well. We have to go to Rochester for Izzy on the 2nd then to Binghamton for the older 2 on the 4th then back to Rochester on the 8th for Izzy. We also found out today that my hubby got the promotion that he had put in for which I am so excited about because that will give us alot more time with daddy. Our children truly love to spend time with their daddy. Our children are such blessings to us. They are so sweet. Aries is so loving and today he was super cute because I gave him a piece of gum and he sat there for a bit chewing his gum then he said mommy thank you for the gum I said your welcome buddy. Then a couple mins later he said mommy thank you for buying the gum so you can give me some. I giggled and said your welcome buddy. He has such a sweet spirit and we just love him so much. Also this morning when we were waiting for Olivia's bus to pick her up for school Jimmy got home. She was so excited that her daddy was home before she left for school. Well then she wanted him to take her to school but he couldn't because her bus would be there in less than 5 mins. So he told her he couldn't but he would walk her out to her bus and put her on it and when her bus got there and he took her out she went hand in hand with him just a skipping. It was such a sweet way to start our day.

A little medical background Part 2

So everything seemed to be going good. She was gaining weight now and starting to really perk up. But now we had new worries. Like clogging up the tube with her medicine, worrying about infection, and finally of course her wanting to pull it out every chance she got. Every time you take her clothes off of her and she can get to it she messes with it. So we had to run to the ER quickly because she pulled it out of course. See when she pulls it out we have to get the the ER right away because it will close up VERY fast. So we got there and told them what had happened and they got us back there only to realize they did not have one to replace it. Of course. They had to put a temporary thing in there and we had to go to Rochester the following day. That is when we had them ship us one to have here so if it happened again we would be prepared or so we thought. So we did good for awhile. Then she had gotten really sick. She was coughing, breathing horrible (worse than her normal loud breathing), throwing up, running a fever, and sleeping all the time. She was literally laying on me then she would lift up her head try to look at me then literally pass right out. So I took her to the Dr. and they said it was viral. Then she got worse so I took her back. They sent us over for an xray to check for pneumonia and that seemed fine so after 2 more days of her just getting worse I took her back to the Dr. and then they sent us over for blood work. That all came back fine. I was so frustrated I felt like I was going crazy. I KNEW something was wrong. So I called her GI specialist and explained the whole week and they wanted me to go to the ER right away. So we went to the ER and I explained everything and they checked her over and her O2 was in the low 80s so they put her on oxygen right away. Then he looked her over and said her throat was REALLY red so he was going to check for strep even though it was really uncommon for someone that young to have strep. He was also going to check for RSV even though that Monday she had just had the shot for RSV. Well the Strep came back negative but the RSV came back positive. When he came back in to tell me he said because she couldn't keep her O2 up without oxygen she would have to be admitted. Needless to stay we ended up staying there 5 days I think. She was on oxygen a long time and she was getting breathing treatments every 2 hours and we couldn't leave until she could get off the O2 and get the breathing treatments to every 4 hours. While we were there we did get a nice surprise. We actually shared a room with another Foster family. It was like sharing a room with family. It really made the hospital stay a little less stressful. Their little one was in there for RSV as well. It was def. an interesting stay. Well on the day before we were to supposed to get discharged they took her down for yet another xray of many and this on showed pneumonia. We really thought she was safe from getting it seeings how she was starting to get better but we were wrong but it wasn't that bad. They gave her some antibiotics for it. So once she could keep her O2 up without any oxygen for 24 hrs. and breathing treatments every 4 hours the Dr. and us decided that she would be safer at home. She still suffered for a long time because of this illness. She continued to cough and throw up for the next month. It was so bad we literally had to keep those basin things from the hospital that looks like kidney beans around our whole house (we call them her beans). We also had to take them with us everywhere we went. She also had a couple episodes where she looked like she was having seizures. Well we went to her GI Dr. and I explained everything and they seemed concerned and wanted to do a couple tests but wouldn't be able to get them done for 2 weeks and I told her that I just couldn't wait that long. I couldn't let her throw up and choke on it for 2 more weeks. She said that if they had one come up sooner they would call us. Well that was not good enough for me so I called my hubby and he told me not to leave without them doing SOMETHING. So I took her to their ER and to make a long story short they admitted her. While we were there they did a couple tests and we saw the ENT spec. and the Neurologist and of course GI. The one test was an emptying test and that showed what we already knew and that was that she has really bad GERD but the good news was that she was not aspirating when it came back up. Then they did an EEG to check on the seizures and that came back normal. Praise God. The ENT spec. checked her over and they were not sure but they think she has post nasal drip but they thought her ear prob. was due to GI problems and the GI spec. thought it was her ears so we were sorta caught between 2 specialists, that's always nice. Anyways after they found the EEG to be normal they finally told us she has Sandifor Syndrome and that looks just like seizures. It is basically the way her body reacts to the pain from the GERD. So they sent us home with a new medicine regimen and they said if we get her GERD under control then the episodes that look like seizures would go away as well. Of course we still didn't have an answer to the tons and tons of mucus and all the throwing up but atleast we knew she was OK. So we went home and all was going well. We have been trying to feed her by mouth and she seems to like carrots and butternut squash and sweet potatoes but she does not crave it because first of all she really isn't hungry but we try to feed her every time we eat just so she will get used to when we all sit down to eat that is what we do and we want her to be involved as well. She does like to sit with us when we eat. Every time we all get up to the table if we don't get her right up there she will start crying till we put her up there with us. Most of the time she just hangs out but as long as she is involved. A couple months later it happened again.......you guessed it she pulled her tube out....grrrrr.....I just got her out of the bathtub and I reached over to grab her clothes and I hear this noise and I knew right away what it was. So Aries and I hurry up and get around because we have to get there so quickly and the 3 of us head to the ER. We get there and I tell the receptionist what happened and they told me when this happened to let them know we need to be seen right away because it will close up so fast. So she sent us right over to the nurse. We go right over to her and I told her last time we were here they told us if it happened again we needed to tell you guys what happened and we needed to be seen right away because of what it was. Well to my surprise she looks me right in the eye and says there is one person ahead of you so if you will have a seat I will get to you right after him and she said it with a little bit of an attitude and I was not trying to sound like I was telling her what to do or that I thought I knew everything I was just telling her what they told me to do if this happened. So I said to her "I don't think you understand what I am telling you if we are not seen quickly my baby's hole in her belly could close up" and she actually said to me again there is 1 person ahead of you if you will have a seat I will get to you as soon as I am done with him. I was so upset. So I bit my tongue and took my children and had a seat and did what any furious mother that is about to lose her testimony........I prayed.....God had gotten us through so much this past year with out baby I am so thankful that back in 2004 I put all my trust in Him and got saved and it was the best decision of my life because I know no matter how things are going God knows what He is doing and I can trust Him. So I waited 10 mins and looked back where the nurse is supposed to be and she was gone!!!! I could feel my face getting red. Then she came back in and called us over. She got all her info then sent us to her room. When we got back there we had a sweetheart of a nurse and our baby really liked her. Well the Dr. came in and took a look and I gave him that g-tube that I had them send to me so we would be prepared. (I mentioned that earlier) So he got it all set up and layed our baby down and tried to place the tube in her belly and guess what............you guessed it, it wouldn't go in. I instantly knew we had waited to long. So he had another Dr. come in and try it, Nope he couldn't get it in either. So now I am really upset because not only am I worried about them getting it in but my baby is in pain from them trying so my heart is just breaking. So they inform me that they will have to call an intervention radiologist and we would have to go to the xray room to get it done. Well I had Aries with me as well and with all of this excitement he couldn't sit still. He was so concerned about the baby because he knew that they were hurting his precious and he wanted to see what was going on but I had to keep him out of the way and with us having to go to an xray room to do it again I knew he wouldn't be able to go in and I didn't want the baby to go in and me not go in with her. So i called a couple people and the first 2 wouldn't be able to get there right away and I needed someone now so I called another friend and she came right over and I couldn't thank her enough and she couldn't have come at a better time because as soon as she was walking out they came to get us. So we went to the room and he tried the tube that I brought again and he couldn't get it to go in either and by this time my baby was hurting so much she was shaking. I was furious. So I asked the Dr. "So what am I to say next time we come so we don't have to wait so our baby doesn't have to go through this unnecessary pain next time and he said well only the outside hole closes not the whole thing so if we had to we could always get it back in we would just have to put her under and I said well no that is not OK because it is to risky to JUST PUT HER UNDER. So basically he was sticking up for the nurse so I just bit my tongue again. Well because of how much it had already closed they had to put a smaller g-tube in and all the unnecessary pain as well. So after we got all that over with I called her GI Dr. and told them what had happened and they said it was OK to keep the smaller one if we were OK with it and I said it was fine as long as it was OK with them. Then I asked them about upping her amount of formula an hour so we could work on getting her off her feeding machine more hours a day and we decided to go up to 45cc's an hour so she could be off of her machine 6 hours a day. To try to get her more hungry so we can get her to maybe eat orally more. Well we got up to the 45 and she seemed to be eating a little more here and there. Well now we were looking forward to her 1st birthday it was such an exciting event. We were also told that we get to finalize the adoption on the 5th of May you want to talk about an emotional week. So we had her birthday and it was so great to just celebrate a whole year of her life. The best part of it was when I looked at her in her highchair and she had ice cream and frosting all over her face I just cried. A couple months ago I would have never thought that she would be able to eat ice cream or frosting on her first birthday or any other day as far as we thought. So we had a WONDERFUL day and then May 5th came and that was so amazingly wonderful she was ours all ours. Then May 9th was Mothers Day and that was my first Official Mothers day and that was overwhelming as well. Well We went to her Primary Dr. for her 1 yr appointment and her Dr. was so surprised at how well she looked she hardly recognized her. We talked about all the normal stuff then i told her I wanted to get her trigger thumb taken care of and last time we had went to the Ortho here and I just wasn't comfortable with that and I wanted to get referred up to Rochester for it and she said she was thinking the same exact thing so they set up and Appt. for her for June 2nd. Well we were at the Dr.s on Friday then on Monday she started to get her normal runny nose and of course along with the runny nose comes the coughing then the throwing up. This seems to be how her body reacts when she is not feeling well and it can get a little crazy. Because every time she coughs you have to be right there and have the bean ready because she will probably throw up. So all night when ever she starts coughing I have to get up and sit her up so if she does throw up not only so it doesn't make a mess of her and her bed but so she doesn't choke as well. So at the beginning of this episode the first night I was up just about all night. We had our follow up appt. with her GI Dr. and they are happy with her progress but we want to push her some more. So we are changing her formula so she will get more calories in her formula an hour so she will be able to be off her machine for 9 hrs a day. Then we talked about getting her an appt. for another swallow study to see if and how much she is still aspirating because we don't want to push her too much to eat if it is still going in her lungs. Then we talked about all the throwing up and she was thinking that maybe it is environmental allergies and gave her some allergy medicine to see if that helps if that does not help then we will go from there. We go back to them in 3 months. So our next thing to do is go to the Orthopedics Specialist about her thumb but that is basically her medical background. I am sure I missed some but you get the point. The funny thing is even though our baby has gone through so much she is absolutely the best baby. We couldn't be happier. Oh I also forgot to mention that she is now getting Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Physical Therapy because she is delayed a bit because of all she has gone through. She is now sitting up on her own and schooching a bit too. There are still a couple concerns like the way she still rakes her hands and cups them as well. Her speech therapist is also a little concerned about the way she flaps her arms but she is really starting to make some really good progress. Well that is basically it and we just love our baby girl so much and if there is anyone that reads this and is going through the same thing or has any questions I am more than willing to help out any way I can because I can tell you one thing she sure has taught us a ton this past year.

A little Medical background

Well when we went to the hospital to bring Izzy home we go into then nursery and see this small beautiful bundle of joy. I have never seen a more beautiful baby and just knowing she was going home with us made it that much sweeter. The nurse starts giving me some background and then the baby needed to eat so she gave me a bottle to feed her and I did then I burped her and put her back in the bed and all of a sudden there if formula coming out of her nose. The nurse tells us it has been happening and that is why they kept her an extra night and she didn't know why it was happening but it did happen to some babies. My husband and I didn't question her because we didn't know and we figured if it was something they would know and tell us.
We took her home and over the next couple of weeks it continued to come out of her nose and it became normal for us. Well she seemed to keep getting congested every time she ate so we thought she was allergic to her formula so we had it switched to a soy formula. Well we soon realized she was getting congested with that as well so we had that switched to. During this time she was starting to have difficulty each time she was spitting up and it was coming out of her nose which was making her choke. But she was still able to clear it herself. In the meantime we had to have her switched to yet another formula and this one was Milk and Soy free.
Well next all of a sudden her breathing was getting really wheezy and strange sounding and it was all the time. It literally sounded like she was having an asthma attack but without the distress. So now our little girl was sounding like she was drowning every time she eats then when she does eat it comes out of her nose and is choking on it more and more and her breathing is so loud that wherever we went people look at us with a questioning look on their face like they are looking to see if she is OK
By this time we have been to her Dr.s numerous times and she was working with us any way we wanted to try to get all of this figured out. It was so nice to have a Dr. that listened every time you had a concern and took you completely serious. She knew there was something going on and we were doing all we could to get it figured out. She had an upper GI and that looked normal. Next we went to a speech Pathologist and he was concerned but didn't know what it was either. Oh I forgot to mention that around 2 weeks old she started to put her tongue to the roof of her mouth. One night I went to feed her and it was really late at night so it was dark. So I tried to feed her and she was doing something really weird. It was like she was sucking in and spitting out at the same time. So I took her downstairs thinking maybe she just wasn't awake enough and that was the problem. So I took her down and tried again and she still did it so I looked in her mouth to see what the problem was and she had her tongue pressed to the roof of her mouth so the nipple was actually going under her tongue when I was putting the bottle in her mouth. So I had to press on her little chin to get her to put her tongue down then she would feed fine. But after that day every time you put the bottle in her mouth you had to press her chin to get her to put her tongue down. So because of this we thought maybe there was something neurological going on. So back to her Dr. we went and she made an appt. for her with the neurologist in Rochester at Strong Memorial Hospital which was the first of many.
So we went to the neurologist and they were not sure why she did that but they were not too concerned as to where they wanted to look further into it because that would have meant an MRI which she would have had to be put under for that and it didn't seem that concerning. They did listen to her breathing and thought she had Tracheomalacia and referred us to the Ear, Nose, and throat specialist. When we went to see them they put a scope down her throat and determined she had Laryngomalacia and was also concerned that she had reflux when I explained about all the spitting up and I told them it smelled burnt and about it coming out of her nose. So they referred her to the GI Specialist.
While we were waiting for the appt. with the GI specialist I noticed her thumb was getting stuck and then popping when it became unstuck. So at her next Dr. appt. I asked the Dr. about that and we then found out that she has a trigger thumb. So we had to set up an appt. with an orthopedic specialist. So at this point we are waiting to see the GI specialist and the Orthopedic specialist as well and she is still spitting up out of her nose and the choking is getting worse and worse and she is still sounding like she is drowning every time after she eats and I am starting to feel a little crazy because I KNOW something is wrong with our baby and we are not getting any answers or solutions.
So We had a follow up appt. with the Ear, Nose and Throat Dr. and while we were there I told him that I am really concerned because she is REALLY starting to choke alot to where I can not let her out of my sight and she has to sleep in her bassinet right next to my bed so I can have my hand on her while I sleep because when she spits up it is really quiet and then she starts choking and if you don't see her then you might not even know she is choking. Also she used to be able to clear it when she was choking but lately she was unable to and i was having to sit her up or put her over my hand with her belly down and help her to clear it and the night before it was so bad I almost called 911. So the Dr. looked in her throat and was really concerned because it was extremely red. So he told us he was calling over the the GI specialist and see if they could see us right away. OK a little nervous now. So we waited for the Dr. to come back in to tell us what the next step was. He finally came in and told us that they are usually closed right now but they were waiting for us to get over there and they were going to see her and more than likely they were going to admit her. So Brenda (My wonderful and faithful sidekick) went over to the hospital after a pitstop at the store because we were starving and was not prepared for this day because we thought this was just a normal follow up appt. Once we arrived at the Dr.'s office they got us right in and they looked her over and they decided to admit her to observe her. So here I am with my friend that gave me a ride and all I brought with me was a diaper bag packed for a day trip. SO we wait for them to get her a room and they do and then Brenda had to go home so now I have no car, no clothes, nothing but a diaper bag for the baby and what I carry in my purse. So needless to say I was a little stressed. Well to make a long story short they ran a bunch of tests and found out she had a bad case of Gerd but there just still seemed to be something that wasn't right. They decided to put her on and NG-tube and they were going to do this for 12 hours a day. That was until we had the swallow study done that she was scheduled for in a couple days but I begged them to do it while she was admitted so we didn't have to come back up there in couple days right after she was discharged. So they did the swallow study and it was amazing because it was a live feed of her eating and it was obvious as soon as the study started there was something wrong and this was our answer. As soon as she swallowed it looked like fireworks, there was fluid going down her throat, in her lungs and up her nose. So all this time we thought she was allergic to these formulas she was actually aspirating her food. You wouldn't believe how much of a relief it was to finally have an answer. So because of these new findings instead of being on the feeding tube 12 hours a day she now had to be on it 24hours a day. The next step was for them to teach me how to put the feeding tube in and check the placement. If someone would have told me I was going to have to learn how to basically shove a tube up my babys nose and down her throat all the way to her belly to basically keep her alive I would have never believed that. So now we have all this new stuff to learn but we are willing to do whatever it takes for our baby. We go home and this definitely took care of the congestion that she was having. So for the next 3 months she had the NG-tube and we had our mishaps with her pulling it out now and then but for the most part it was fine. But she eventually was getting to where she was just pulling it out to much. Now onto the next step.
Our next specialist appt. was with the Orthopedic Dr. to see about her trigger thumb. He did confirm that it was a trigger thumb and seeings how she was so young and it was already giving her so much trouble then it was very unlikely that it was going to fix itself which some trigger thumbs did I guess. Hers was not going to be one of them. They scheduled her for surgery but she had other plans. We had to go back to the GI Dr.s because she kept pulling her NG-tube out and we needed to have the G-tube placed. So in Oct at 5 months old she had to have surgery for the G-tube placement. Here was my little girl who has NEVER been out of my sight getting ready to go have surgery and she was going to be in there for like anywheres from 1 to 3 hours. So we went up to Rochester the night before and we stayed in the Ronald McDonald House because we had to be there so early the morning of the surgery. I can't say enough about the Ronald McDonald House they are absolutely awesome. They not only house and feed you but they make you feel like you are going to a family members house anytime you need and they help you with anything you need. It really does help not add any unneeded stress. So anyways we tried to enjoy our day and just love on our babygirl as much as possible. Then that night came and it was just about impossible to sleep. Not only did we have to be there at 6am but I had to get up at 2 and turn off her machine because of course she had to fast. So we got up that morning and went to the hospital. My heart was pumping so fast and it was really hard to know what she was about to go through but I knew that she was in the Lords hands and that was a comfort to us but it still didn't take away all the worry. So we take the walk down to the waiting area and then they called us back and when we got back there I just wanted to hold onto her so tight. After everyone that needed to talk to us came in and it was time I asked if I could please go in with her till she fell asleep and they asked me if I was sure and I said "Of course I am sure" :0) so they said yes but they had to tell me that when she starts to go under she might do some strange things but she is OK and I said that is fine but I want her to know I am there and I want to be there when she wakes up as well that way she knows her mommy is here. So we went into the surgery room and it was so fast I loved on her they layed her down she went under with no weird side effects and they rushed me out. Oh my! I went back out with my husband and we went out to the waiting room and I had to go into the bathroom and cry and pray. After what seemed like FOREVER they called our names and of course we rushed right in there. She was so sleepy but they said everything went good and they were getting us a room. We got our room and we were actually in the same room we were in the first time just the other bed. So we got to have the same great nurses that we had before. Everything seemed to be going good. But over the next couple of days I kept telling the Dr.s that she just didn't seem to be acting right. It wasn't anything big just one of those mommy moments when you know something isn't right. So to appease me the Dr. ordered an xray of her belly the evening before the day we were supposed to go home. They told us they didn't think anything was going to come of it but just to be safe they wanted to do it. So we go down have the xray and we were back in our room 1/2 hr later and we weren't in our room 5 minutes before all of a sudden a bunch of Dr.s come rushing in her room. It was the scariest thing ever. They said she had free air in her belly and they needed to do emergency surgery NOW. Well at the time she was still our foster daughter and we legally couldn't sign for the surgery so we tried to get something from the dept. but it was too late in the day I was a little panicky and I looked at the Dr. and said we can't get ahold of them and he said it's OK I am making the call and we are doing the surgery now. He explained to us that free air in the belly is extremely dangerous and if we would have left without knowing it was in there she could have looked perfectly fine and all of a sudden make a turn for the worse and we could have lost her before we could have gotten back to the hospital. Talk about scary. So they take her down right in her bed and as I am walking out our favorite nurse Kiki gave me a hug and cried with me. That touched me so much. So back down to surgery we go and again I just cried and prayed. I knew God was in control and I trusted her with Him but I just didn't know what He had for us and I was scared to death. The Dr. came out to talk to us and said she was fine. He was not sure where the free air came from but it does happen sometimes with the placement of the g-tube so they replaced the g-tube did exploratory surgery and took her appendix out. My poor baby girl. So instead of a 4 to 5 day stay we were there for 11 days. We made it through that hospital stay and started this new adventure of the constant worry of her pulling out her g-tube. I forgot to mention when we were actually waiting for her to get out of surgery the Orthopedic Spec. calls and she was supposed to have surgery on her thumb that day. So I told them what was going on and I was sorry it slipped my mind we would get back to them. Well i am going to end this here and I will do a part 2 of this so you can read this while I am writing the rest.

My first OFFICIAL Mother's Day.

On May 5th 2010 we adopted our daughter Isabella (Izzy for short). We have had her since she was 2 days old. She came to us in foster care. She was the sweetest and best little girl. We were unsure how it was going to turn out and we tried to guard our hearts the best we could but I really don't think that was possible. Then she started having medical problems and it was just one thing after another and it got to where she was with me and in my sight 24 hours a day. She was at high risk of choking so we were literally within eyesight of each other her whole life until the day she had surgery. So needless to say that guarding my heart did not work so good. So anyways on May 1st she turned 1 and it was such a sweet day and then we got to finalize the adoption on the 5th. I have gotten to celebrate Mothers Day for the last couple years because we have had children placed in our home for a couple years now but this year I am OFFICIALLY a mommy and I WILL be a mommy for every Mothers Day from now till the day the Lord takes me home.