Vomiting Virus-4, My Family-0

CCAM Up Close and Personal

If you have never seen a sonogram picture, this might look like mashed potatoes to you, (they all did to me until I had seen about 20.) So many of you have prayed for Joy and her condition to change or stay stable that I thought you'd like to see what it really looks like. What she has is called CCAM (Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation.) Kudos to my photographer hubby who got a somewhat clear picture of the print. I tried maybe 20 times and all were blurry!
Start with looking at the top of the picture. See the little bright white dots that make an arch? That is her spine. She is facing downward, and her head is on the right side. Notice the bright white cluster that makes up her jaw, head, etc. Okay are you with me? I know it's hard if this is new to you! The tumor is made up of many cysts, and it is outlined by a dotted white line. You can see black dots inside of it, which are some of the larger cysts. From this picture, taken Feb. 10th, you can see that it is the size of her whole lung, which is a little alarming. However, we are still stable and continue to be told that if she is born with the tumor the size it is in this picture, she could still breathe and may not even need immediate surgery. What an amazing thought...and one that keeps us praying for it to shrink!!

On a different subject, the update on Charlie is that she spent the night, (now two nights ago,) vomiting from 11 pm-4 am. The Dr. warned me that since one of the things that she is on would loosen the mucus in her chest--much needed since that's where her cough has come from for the last month and we had no idea--and it might collect in her tummy and make her nauseous. That is an understatement for what happened. Sean was home and we took turns with her but it was rough! It went on every 20 minutes or so that whole time. Yesterday she was much better and slept all night last night. And so did we. If I haven't said it before, this parenting stuff can wear you out. I've read about so many kids being sick right now and my advice (not that anybody asked,) is to revert back to the newborn days and sleep when they do. And call your momma and complain. She'll understand.

Thankyousoverymuch

Good to meet you, Dr. Rembecki. Not only did we learn from you that this one has asthma, she also still has reflux. And she needs not only reflux medicine but thickener for all of her liquids. Oh and she has a bad ear infection. What??? She had no fever, no fussiness, no sleep interruptions, no nothing. Mother of the Year once again. I think I'll have another child I am so good at this. Oh wait...I am soon. 

You told us there is a reason that she chokes on her food and often even on her drinks. You explained that there's a physical reason she probably did everything late! The light bulb is on, the prescriptions are being filled, and my little bean will be on the mend soon.
We are thrilled to add three additional breathing treatments per day for the next three weeks, (a total of five a day,) and I know I'll think of you when we are out of the house and have forgotten to bring the right meds. 
And since we have no idea what her asthma triggers are, we will now limit how much time we spend outside, which has been everyone's favorite activity for the last two weeks. Like this day when my nephew Henry, his momma Ana, and Nattie were visiting and the kids all played together for a few hours. I really appreciate your knowledge and help for my little girl, even though I sound a bit sarcastic. 

Thankyousoverymuch, 

Mary 

Oh y'all what a visit. I had no idea what was coming, a good thing probably. Yes there are few changes to be made but it's all going to help her so I'm not actually frustrated. 

Okay well a little.

But it's not the doctor's fault. He was kind, brilliant, and patient with my daughter. And his office is 4 minutes from our house. I timed it. Thank You Jesus because it looks like we'll be going there A LOT. 

I Should Have a Rolodex for Doctors

If I could take a picture and show you what I look like right now I'd get a good laugh out of you but thankfully you can just trust me: it ain't pretty. It involves a strapless shirt not exactly made for a pregnant person. Sean just came outside and said, "Nice." That's his way of saying, "I love you no matter what but this is pushing it." Ha! It is gorgeous weather here-79 degrees and sunny. Makes the fact that I have tonsillitis and would rather eat popsicles than anything else seem just fine. It's popsicle weather.

We get to add another doctor to our list today. Charlie is going to the kiddie lung doctor at 3:00 for the first time and I'm taking her. My sister-in-law Amy takes Charlie's cousin Cole to the same doctor and she's told me to prepare for at least 2 hours per visit. Tempting as it is to send Sean instead since he's home I really like going to the doctor--especially a first visit--with the kids. Are you the same way? Is that a control thing? Sean really remembers more than I do in the heat of the moment therefore he's the better candidate but I always want to go. :)

The only person in my neighborhood that I know came by yesterday while we were out in the front yard and I learned some exciting news. Ty will turn 3 in September and before we found out about Joy, (first pregnant,) we had planned on signing him up for MDO next year. Then we found out we were having another baby and the thought(s) of what might happen trying to drag three kids into any building at one time scared me and I put it off. Then a few months later I started asking around and calling churches and found out it's expensive around here. Mainly because even if you want the child to only go one day a week, (what I was looking for,) you still had to pay for two. This was my logic behind the one day thing: Sean is home Saturday afternoon/evening through Tuesday night. If Ty went to school two days a week one of the only days his Daddy is home he'd be gone a big chunk of the day. That's no good. And there's just something wrong with the idea of paying for a day when there's no way he'd be going. So I gave up. I'm what you call a fast giver-upper about things like this. I should work on that.

Anyway, I really gave up once we found out that Joy might have surgery at some point but kept wanting the option for Ty since I feel like it will be hardest for him at that point to stay home all the time. There's just something about having to be at home all the time with an infant isn't there? Now that mine are mobile I'm honestly dreading that part a little bit. Just being honest. Back to yesterday: this neighbor goes to a different church than we do and was asking about my plans for the Fall and told me her church, (a very reputable one in our area,) has a one day a week option. WOOHOOO! I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I think he'd love it and it would be something only he got to do...and it's about 10 minutes from our house. I'm so excited.

Oh good Lord I just looked at my watch--gotta get little miss up and get moving. Enjoy the weather if you are in the Dallas area today. I hear it's gonna get cold again this weekend. :(

The Funniest Birthday

Not mine--my friend Jennie's. I've told you about Jennie before. Her son David is about three weeks older than Ty and up to this point, my play group has consisted of Me, Jennie, and our kids. We are having to beat new people off with a stick. If you want to join, just let me know. We're very selective. :) Carley will bring her little boy out with us I'm sure and she already joins us when she can to help with tantrums, shuttle kids to and from the car, and take pictures of funny moments. Like the one above. We all met for lunch to celebrate Jennie's birthday and David asked if we could go on the carousel. Sure, we said. Ty has never been on it so I had no idea how he'd react. See how well he did? HA! Thanks Carley for capturing the moment!

29 Week Update

29 weeks

What it really looks like under there. I've had this shirt since I was pregnant with Ty...it's an XL and I'm already in it. Should I be worried? As I've said before, the bigger the better and the quicker they sleep all night.

An update from yesterday: Joy looks great! Big, stable, and moving a ton. To me the fluid situation looked a little worse today but Dr. BE (Brown-Elliot) insisted it was still stable and she told me to stop worrying. If you have to meet with a doctor because your baby is sick, she is probably the IDEAL person to meet with. She's funny, wants to talk about anything but the worst case scenario, and is really easy to be around. We asked her questions today about her training--just making small talk--and found out she had to finish her residency in obstetrics and then did two extra years in maternal/fetal specialty training. Good Lord she must be smart. And way more into school than I ever was. I thought the two years in grad school was gonna kill me.

I had the best day today! First, the kids slept in...no peep out of either one of them until 7:30 so Sean and I were both awake and milling around before they woke up. After we all got ready Sean left with the kids and I had the day off. Within maybe 20 minutes I was bored by myself in our house. Isn't that weird when you look so forward to a few moments of solitude then you start looking for people to talk to? I headed to the mall because I needed some serious makeup to help with pigment issues...also known as what appears to be a mustache thanks to pregnancy. It was so dark when I was pregnant with Charlie that I tried to wax it only to find out nothing came off on the little strip. It is on my skin. I don't get the line on my stomach but this is my issue. After a small panic attack I decided to tackle problems I can actually solve and start depending on concealer/foundation. The expensive kind. 

By now you know I'm trained to wait for a good deal. In makeup terms that means you wait for the best possible free gift. Don't lie--you've done it too. Even if you're loyal to a certain brand you eye the other ones if they've got a cute bag or a tube of lipstick in a wearable shade. And as I walked into Macy's what to my wandering eyes should appear but a fabulous free gift at the Clinique counter. How's this for luck--today was the first day of the gift so had I gone yesterday I would have missed out not only on the good lipstick color but the purple eyeshadow that was also part of the loot. Look out Spring. Here I come. With a lovely shade of lilac on my eyes.

Wait there's more. I went to Target after that and then Sam Moon, and after my appt. we went to Patrizio's for dinner. It was maybe the most perfect day in a long time. Finished off by a husband who ordered a Tiramisu to go so I'd have a memorable breakfast today. And it's not even my birthday! 

Speaking of birthdays, congratulations Brandi and David--just got an e-mail that Presley Evans Pemberton made her entrance into the world today. If I knew how to grab the picture from the e-mail and put it here for you to see I would...still in need of some picture/video training. Brandi is my friend that I mentioned recently who said, "Are you kidding me?" in response to motherhood in general. She's a hoot! Brandi, if by some strange twist of events you're reading this, congratulations on your new beauty! Love you! 

For Karen

UPDATE: All good! Stable and growing well. I'll give full update tomorrow.

When my mom told her friend Karen, whom we call kAren (long A) that she was pregnant with me, Mom must have mentioned how overwhelmed and freaked out she was about it. See, Mom and Dad were planning on two kids. Emmy was 2 and Graham was 9 months old and suddenly Mom was really tired and nauseous, but confident she wasn't pregnant again. She was. Sounds mighty familiar to me...I was an accident and I've known that my entire life. It doesn't bother me in the least because my parents always said, "Well, now what would we do WITHOUT you?" I imagine I'll maybe have that exact same conversation with Joy one day. 

kAren made Mom this little pillow soon after she found out about me and when she gave it to Mom said, "Pam, it'll be okay. We'll all get through this!" Mom always kept the pillow and I think it was always in my room. Recently when I was in Waxahachie Mom gave it to me to put in the girls' room. This little pillow has such significance! The funny part of this story is that yesterday when I replied to an e-mail from kAren I told her I had the pillow and she didn't remember anything about it. Ha! 

We have a sonogram today and I'll let y'all know what we see...hoping for no big news. Sean's mom is coming to watch the kids so we can go eat dinner afterward. What a treat!