*****: September 2010

Friday, September 24, 2010

A Girl, Her Stool, and The Wiggles......

Belle loves the Wiggles, and even more she loves to sit on her stool or on the table. She loves to sit on her stool and read a book, do a puzzle, or have snack up to the table. She often hauls all her toys and books up there just to sit and play. We call it her throne. And of course there's no better place to sit and watch the Wiggles.

The BIG Day!

Despite waking up at 6:30 a.m. and not being allowed to eat, Belle was an angel. She thought it was all fun and games the morning of her surgery. This is the before picture. Being silly in her cute little hospital gown. (If we all could be so cute in them huh?)She had no idea what was about to happen.

This is the Amplatzer Duct Occluder II. This is what they inserted through a catheter to fix her hole. The picture is a bit fuzzy but I couldn't find any real pics online only drawings. The one on the left is the old version and the right one is the new one. Everything went awesome she did great through surgery and was able to go home after (what felt like a long stay) only 5 hours of recovery. She initially was not a happy girl when she came out of the anesthesia so they had me go back to the recovery room with her. The poor girl was wrapped up like a mummy with just her arms free and then a sock on her one hand to protect the IV. They were making her stay flat for an hour, I could hold her if she was in cradle position but she has never ever liked that position. She was ANGRY! Once we finally got into the "real" recovery room we were able to turn on Elmo and she was a happy girl. She didn't have to be so confined and was able to eat a bit. 4 hours and some X-rays later we were on our way home with one very sleepy little girl.

This is how she spent the next couple days. Zonked out on the couch like a big kid. It was so cute.

I couldn't resist sharing this one with her belly button hanging out trying to cool her down from the fever the first night.

All in all she is our trooper. One more thing to cross of the list. She is amazing!

Side note:
Since her surgery she has decided she really wants to walk and has taken up to 5 steps on many occasions. She is so so close. It's so exciting!

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Belle's Story

We initially had decided that we were done having kids after Tate. But four years later it all changed.......
From the minute we found out I was pregnant I was so so sick all day everyday. It was definitely different from my other pregnancies. When I went in for my first appointment Dr . G mentioned to me that because I would be 30 a bit after the baby was born she was going to put me in the next age bracket and have all the testing that goes along with that. She told me about the down syndrome testing and how I could just have a blood test done or I could have the blood test and an ultrasound. I of course quickly chose the second option initially out of wanting to see my baby so early. Before the appointment was done though I had thought about it and I hate surprises and definitely wanted to know what to plan for. We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving and convinced my Aunt Linda to come back with us. Tony left for a week long business trip the day after we got back and that day Linda and I went in for the ultrasound. We were so excited to see such a little bug at 13 weeks. She was absolutely adorable. She was this little wiggle worm waving and flipping everywhere. They did what they needed to and then the ultrasound tech told me she was going to go talk to the doctor and that the doctor would be in to talk to me in a minute. By this time my 20 min. appointment had turned into 45 min. and I was starting to get nervous about making it home to get the boys off the bus. I thought it strange she would leave me all lubed up, but everything with this pregnancy was so different than before. After 10 min. of waiting my stomach became nervous and I had just leaned over to Linda and said "I think something is wrong," when the doctor came in. She advised me that from what they saw minus the blood test that my beautiful babies chance of having downs was 1 out of 2. I should note that with my age bracket it normally is 1 out of 1000 something. Dr K. told us if we wanted to find out for sure then we could either wait for 3 weeks and then have an amnio or we could do a CVS right now and know within 48 hours. I chose the second knowing that there was no way I would be able to get through 3 wks. of wondering. My 20 min. appointment had turned into a 3 hr. appointment but we were finally on our way home. I was in shock but had this comforting feeling that everything was ok no matter the outcome. It was so hard to tell Tony knowing that he had to deal with it all alone. I am so thankful that Linda was here with me. This experience was definitely a testimony builder. I know that my Heavenly Father knows me personally and knows what I can handle and can't. I know with all my heart that he loves me and my little family and believes in us. He knows our full potential. Those 48 hours were the longest and hardest hours of my life. The second day I woke up early that morning and just knew that my baby had downs but that everything was going to be ok. It was a very comforting feeling. When the call came in that night it was confirmed and we also found out that we were having the little girl we longed for. Throughout the pregnancy baby and I were both monitored very closely. There were a few scares, the threat of bed rest, placenta problems, non-stress tests not being passed, and the constant worry about her little heart. But in the end we made it through. Finding out so early made for a really long pregnancy but by the time she came we felt like we had learned as much as we could and we were very comfortable with what the future of our family looked like. The night before her last NST Jonah said that he hoped that Belle wouldn't pass the test so that she could come out. The next morning he kept telling her not to pass the tests because he wanted to hold her. Sure enough she didn't pass and after almost 6 hours at the dr's office and the hospital they told us they would start me the next day. The delivery went smoothly and within five hours we had our long awaited, beautiful baby girl, with her one extra chromosome in our arms. She was 2 1/2 weeks early and weighed in at 6lbs. 3 oz. She stayed a few nights in the NICU but soon was home with us. She is a very healthy happy baby girl. Her heart is healthy and we couldn't ask for anything better. She is amazing. She is truely our little angel. We feel so blessed to have her in our family and can't imagine life without her. We are so grateful for our family and all of our friends and their support and love. We are thankful for this opportunity that our family has to go on this little journey that we probably wouldn't have had without Belle. We are all completely smitten with Belle. She is as beautiful as the day is long. Thank you for joining our journey.