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!

An echo, an EKG, and two surprises....

Last Tuesday I took Belle to Children's to see the cardiologist. What I thought was just a regular checkup turned into an eventful day.
After Belle's echo the sonographer (who has a little 5 year old with Downs and was super nice and super good with Belle) told me that it looked like her VSD had finally closed on it's own. (1st surprise) Which is fabulous news! I told him that was great but was surprised since her pediatrician had just heard it at her two year checkup a couple months ago. They thought that was strange and so they listened and guess what???? They heard something. They were very surprised by this and while she was having her EKG they went over all the film to see what they had missed. Dr. M (her cardiologist) came in and almost the first thing out of his mouth was "so there's a surprise". I got a bit nervous but of course thought that he was referring to the VSD being closed which he quickly told me that is great but she has been "misdiagnosed". My heart instantly sunk and then I tried to laugh it off with "Oh she doesn't really have DS" ha ha! No really what does that mean you wonder....so did I. It means that for the past two years she's had a hole in her heart known as a PDA that they have overlooked because they were more focused on her VSD.
**A PDA or patent ductus arteriosus is a heart problem that occurs when a blood vessel fails to close after birth. It should close permanently after the baby's first breath. This opening allows blood to flow directly from the aorta into the pulmonary artery, which can put a strain on the heart and increase the blood pressure in the lung arteries.
You can only imagine what was going through my mind. I of course was concerned why and how it was overlooked. He said that he didn't want to make excuses but everybody that ever looked at her heart (which by the way has been a million people) was so focused on her VSD because they knew she had that from before she was born. And when they would listen to the audio they only assumed that what they were hearing was from the VSD. That's fair but had this caused damage, what does this mean, will she have to have open heart surgery? I had a million questions. This is what I learned:
She is not in any pain, her heart doesn't show any damage, she is one lucky girl, PDA's are linked to respiratory problems and hopefully fingers crossed she'll have a better winter this year, there is also a possibility that this will help her grow but he like all the other doctors thinks that her being petite isn't linked to this it's just in her genes. Yes, she will have to have a surgery. She is very lucky it doesn't have to be open heart surgery. They will insert a catheter into her artery in the groin and through that they will place an occluder into the hole and close it up. She might even be able to come home the same day if all her stats look great afterwards.
It was all so surreal when I left Children's that day. I guess I didn't quite believe it until the surgeon called. But all in all it should be an easy peasy procedure and she will be as good as new.
With all that said this has totally rocked my world. I have barely slept in the past week and probably won't sleep much in the next two weeks leading up to this. As much as I say to everyone that she's going to be fine (which I truly believe) I am a mess. I keep telling myself that Belle is an amazing little girl with a will. She has overcome so much in her short little life and this is just one more thing for her to rise above. She is going to prove more to us in this life than we ever thought of.
So here's to September 8th: may it come quickly, go smoothly, and soon be forgotten.

Temple Square and the Haymonds

It's been way to long since we had been at Temple Square as a family. This has always been my favorite temple. It has an extra special meaning to me because this is where we were sealed for time and all eternity. The best day of my life.

We met up with the Haymonds and completely acted like tourists. The boys loved it. My heart swelled to watch all of them be so excited about every little thing there. They loved the paintings, the statue of Christ, the replica of the temple, and especially all the fountains. I loved watching them react to all the beautiful things around them. Temple Square is a special place. Thank you Haymonds for meeting us there and spending the day with us. The visit was way to short but I'm so glad we got to see you all. We love and miss you guys already.

(We like to laugh that this family picture portrays us as the typical Mormon family, I look pregnant and with Ellie with us it looks as if we already have 5 kids.....YIKES)

All the kids loved the many fountains. Sadly I didn't get any good pictures of the Haymonds. So this one of sweet little Amelie will have to prove that we really did see them. Sorry!

Summer Vacation Part 2....

We all went up to Idaho and spent a week at my moms house. The kids once again thought they were in heaven with the playhouse/play structure in the backyard. They played out there for hours which let us ladies get some fun projects done. I love love love all my new pillows, thanks Mom and Wendi! I haven't been to Idaho in the summer time for years and was quickly reminded how much I love the breeze and the evenings. I thought for sure that it wouldn't feel like home since it was Idaho Falls instead of Sugar City. But if you have ever heard that saying "Home is where your family is" it is so true. Mom's house is definitely home. :) Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Lyle took all the kids to a movie and a baseball game. They of course loved it. Poor Lyle probably felt like he was working on my car the whole time. He had to replace the brake pads and roters. Which were down to the nothings, I guess metal on metal isn't the best way to stop your car. He did many other little minor fix ups as well. Only by the grace of God did we make it through all the passes on the way to UT and ID. Thank you Lyle for all the work you put into my car and keeping us safe. We also went to a little lake that was the hit of the trip. The water was freezing but the kids didn't want to leave. We were able to see my Dad and Margaret which was really nice because it was the first time they met Belle. After the initial introduction to Grandpa Dal, Belle let him have it. She sure babbled to him on and on. I don't know if she was telling him off or if she was just catching him up. It was pretty funny. All the kids played in the ditch which took me back to memories of when I did the same thing....day in and day out.... The last night at Grandma and Grandpa's we roasted smores. YUM!!! I think Jace is the only person I know who doesn't like a smore. Crazy kid!!! I also got to have lunch with a dear friend Carren, it was so so nice to see her. The trip to Idaho was a success. It is always so hard to say goodbye but I bet Grandma and Grandpa were so happy to have peace and quiet again. Thanks for hosting us and making many wonderful memories with the kids. We love you all!

Summer Vacation 2010

Kiegan started off our vacation by going to Utah for two weeks. He was spoiled rotten by the Birch's and Steel's. We all missed him terribly at home. We made the long trek down to Utah and were so glad to see him. It was a long 14 hrs..... The dvd player stopped working after 1 1/2 movies. Which meant Belle pretty much screamed the last 12 hours of the ride. She was not happy. Once we got to Utah we had so much fun with all the cousins. My kids thought they were in heaven. It's really to bad we have to live so far away from all the cousins. Speaking of cousins.........We had a lovely BBQ and got to see a few people we hadn't seen for way to many years. Thanks Megan and Jessie for making time for us. I can't tell you how great it was to see you both and your handsome escorts. It was so so nice to catch up with them. I only wish it could have been longer, next time right? We had lots of fun with the Birch's and the Steel's. We goofed off, played night games, went swimming, and ate lots of really good food. Belle learned how to go down the stairs and is slowly overcoming her fear of dogs. (I think she thinks Pepper is a muppet or something since she is the only dog she isn't afraid of) This is the first trip in a long time that no one got sick. I was so HAPPY!!! I was even happier that they have AC there. I realized that I have been spoiled up here in the Great Northwest where the weather for the most part is so lovely. It has been in the 70's since we got home and I am not missing the dry, hot, desert at all. The people yes but not the heat. Belle is loving her cooler climate also.....she does not like to be hot one bit. While in Utah I got to see two dear friends, Jenny my bff from high school and Laura my old roommate and her beautiful new baby. It was so nice to see them to.