Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed to have such a special little girl like Lucy to call me "Mama."  And yes, she can say mama!  She also has 7 teeth (almost 8 we think!!) and my little nugget is CRAWLING!  I can't believe it.  She's still pretty terrible at it, but gets better every time she tries (see video below of one of her first attempts - don't mind the dog...).

We are thrilled that she is doing so well developmentally, as this has always been one of our foremost concerns with her.  Now if we could just get rid of that pesky feeding tube, her 4 month stay in the NICU would seem like a bad dream instead of an actual memory!

Her third esophagus dilatation is scheduled for Wednesday :( Unfortunately, these are becoming a routine for us - not something I want to get used to!  Prayers for her comfort and successful procedure are always appreciated.  We will update you all on how it goes.

Duluth

Ready for lunch!

As I mentioned previously, Jason, Lucy and I spent the weekend in Duluth.  Jason and I are celebrating 3 years of marriage this week so we decided to head up north for a little get-away.

The three of us had so much fun!  Lucy seemed to really enjoy herself at all of the new places we took her - the aquarium, out to eat, her cousins house and even swimming!  She is such a good car traveler - mostly she sleeps, or else she will entertain herself with her car toys or by talking softly to herself in her car seat.  Even though we can't feed her food off of a restaurant menu yet, she did great feeding herself baby food whenever we were out (although she was super messy and her spoon ended up on the floor at least 25 times per meal - gross!)  She also had so much fun hanging out with her cousins and playing with their toys.  They love her so much - it's fun to see her watch the other kiddos and see how gentle they are with her.  This weekend was a good example of why we moved back to Minnesota - we can drive 3 hours and spend the weekend with my sister and her family.  If we were still in Colorado, we wouldn't be able to do that so easily.

Such a big girl in her stroller at the aquarium

Cousins Raina, Ollie, Remy and Jackson and Barry & Jenny

And...we took her swimming at the pool in our hotel!  I was super hesitant to take her in a pool because of her feeding tube - I don't want any bacteria or anything to get in her opening. But...I taped her up with plastic wrap around her site and put her in a one piece and we took her to the pool.  She loved it!  At first she held on to Jason pretty tightly, but before long, she was smiling and splashing and really having a good time.  Another couple in the pool area with us commented on how much she liked the water and asked how often she's been in a pool - they couldn't believe that it was her first time!

Ready to go swimming!

Loving the pool!

She wasn't the best sleeper in her hotel crib and ended up sharing our kingsize bed for a good part of the night both nights we were there.  I know a plenty of families that do the family bed thing when their kids are little, but we have never been one of them, so it was different for us to have her in bed with us. Jason said he woke up at 6 this morning to Lucy patting his face and watching him sleep.  Hahaha...that cracks me up!

Even though the weather was cool and rainy most of the weekend, we overall just had a nice, chill weekend as a family.  It's so much fun for me to see Lucy and Jason play and hang out together and she seems so happy to have just the three of us together all day, every day and every night.  What a good baby! 

Playing dress-up!

Goofing around with Daddy at the sea otter exhibit

This weekend reminded me of a song I grew up singing - I have taken it for granted often but find it a good description of my thankfulness tonight..."This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24

So tired out after a busy couple of days - she feel asleep face down on the bed before we checked out of the hotel!

Springtime!

In keeping with my previous rants about the weather...we have been so thankful for the gorgeous weather over the past few days here in Minnesota!

Lucy loves to be outside - there is so much to look at and so much space to explore! 

She is also becoming VERY independent in regards to feeding herself.  Typically a baby her age would be able to handle table food and feed him/herself finger foods.  But since she only gets purees still, she has taken to feeding herself with a spoon.  She is pretty coordinated and does a great job - but it's still a pretty long, messy process for us (I frequently sport baby food of some form on my shirt and pants, too!)

On a positive note, her gagging has been much improved since her last dilatation.  Also, her leaking has been SOOOO much better since we've started using the homemade dressing all the time. We haven't had to change her dressing/clothes multiple times for quite a few days in a row - so nice!

We are heading to Duluth on Friday to celebrate our wedding anniversary, see my sister and enjoy a mini family vacation.  Traveling with a baby takes a lot of planning, but traveling with a baby who has a shunt and a feeding tube takes a LOT of planning - but we are up for it and looking forward to spending some quality family time together!

Esophagus Dilatation #2 (Oh, and Lucy is 10 months old!)

Yesterday Lucy turned 10 months - I can't believe it!  Wasn't I just writing that she was 9 months old?!?

Today she had her second esophagus dilatation.  The procedure went well again, as her first one did last month.  Instead of performing the dilatation with a series of wires/tubes, this time the surgeon inserted a deflated balloon into her esophagus and then inflated it once it was in place.  They inflate it just to the point that the tissue tears and starts to give a little.  Beyond that - the risk of more injury to the esophagus is too great.  He was pleased with the results, and told us that he was able to dilate it from around 6 mm to 8 mm.  So, we still have a ways to go and will repeat this again in 3 weeks.  He reminded us that this is a long process - the results are better right after a dilatation than they are 2 - 3 weeks down the road, because the site re-scars, causing the stricture to narrow again over time.  Once it gets wide enough, that will happen less and less.  Below is an image that we got today - before on the left, after on the right.  I think that the zoom is a little different, but you can definitely see a change after the procedure.  See how tiny it was before?  No wonder the poor baby has trouble swallowing sometimes! :(  Prior today, she had been having a lot of reflux and gagging so we are hoping that issue will be improved with today's procedure.

Lucy had a much easier time coming out of anesthesia today than she did last month.  Although it still took her a bit to get her oxygen levels to a high enough rate for them to discharge us, it happened much quicker today.  We had talked with the anesthesiologist before the procedure and he was going to give her a slightly different dose/mix in the hopes that she would recover quicker and we are so thankful that she did!  Thank You to all of you who lifted us up in your prayers today.  We felt it!

She had a nice long nap in the car on the way home and tonight was such a gem.  She is always happy to be home, surrounded with those she loves the most and able to play with all of her toys. 

Someone challenged me to claim a verse this week, as we continue to face the long road ahead of us with Lucy's health.  So, Romans 12:12 is what I am holding on to:  "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Learning New Things

As I have mentioned before, Lucy loves all sorts of flavors - tonight I even let her get a little messy when I gave her a bit of chocolate pudding - as you can tell from her big smile, she loved it!

We have had a busy week - Jason is in Vegas for an event and I had to go into the office for 4 full days of training this week.  We are so spoiled to have my parents taking such good care of Lucy on weeks like this (and taking good care of us - shoveling me out in the morning and having dinner ready after a realllllllly long commute home in the snow).  Lucy is learning to play interactively with us more and more - like pushing toys to us and she still loves peek-a-boo and clapping and even ALMOST played with the dog tonight!  She's not crawling, but spends a lot of time on her hands and knees or scooting on her butt or belly and still would rather stand and jump than anything else.  She NEVER sits still!

We are preparing for another esophagus dilatation next week Tuesday, so with that brings a pre-op on Monday and another long day on Tuesday in Day Surgery.  We would appreciate your prayers that Lucy has an easier time coming out of anesthesia than she did last time.  I've talked to the nurses and her ENT office in preparation, so everyone should be better prepared, I hope! 

Through all things, we are constantly reminded that Lucy in God's hands.  Last week's sermon at church was very humbling for me and a good reminder of that fact.  Our pastor spoke about the promise he made to Abraham to make him the father of many nations - and that promise took  decades to fulfill!  I know that God will heal Lucy in His time, and I need to remember to be patient in the meantime.

Ready for bed in her adorable new nighty from cousin Kristie - even reading a book by herself like a big girl!

A few of Lucy's favorite things

As you can tell in this picture, Lucy still loves her pacifiers and we keep several on hand always!  In 4 years, when she's bawling on the way to kindergarten because I won't let her take her pacifier with to school, I may regret allowing her to have it on demand right now, but as we've said before, she didn't have any soothing methods in the NICU besides taking a pacifier and all of her docs have told us how important it is for her to maintain the ability suck and get oral stimulation since she is still fed mostly through her G-Tube.

On the other hand...we have been trying to help her learn to drink out of a sippy cup since she has never been interested in a bottle.  I think we've tried almost every type that has been manufactured - straws, no straws, valves, no valves, handles, no handles, soft plastic, hard plastic, etc, etc, etc.  She still doesn't like to drink anything beyond a few sips at mealtime.  We are hoping that the feeding clinic can help us with this dilemma so that she can get off this stinking feeding tube!

She's learned to shake her head "no"and it's the cutest thing.  It first started when I was singing to her, but I think that was just a coincidence, since she does it quite often now...here's a quick video clip.

Lucy and daddy got to visit mommy at work this week, and she got her last Synagis shot (to fend off RSV).  Other than that, we are hunkering down for the last of the winter weather here in Minnesota and enjoying a relatively calm household!

Growing Up

Doesn't she look so big?  Notice the double pacifiers...HA!

We have had a very uneventful week, which for us is great!  No doctors appointments, only a few calls to insurance and lots of fun family time.  She is definitely eating better than before her esophagus dilatation and if we could just teach her to drink out of a sippy cup, we would be able to start cutting down her G-tube feedings.  Currently, however, she still does not like to drink anything orally, but she would eat anything put in front of her (even though she's still only getting purees - not counting the newspaper she ate on Wednesday!).  We do give her "real food" in those little baby net things, which she can chew/suck on and get out a puree of sorts.  She'll eat carrots, potatoes, peaches, pineapple and even beans and rice in that thing and LOVES the taste of food that isn't baby food!

Lucy is geting to be more and more vocal and squirmy!  She is rarely quiet and almost never sits still.  Which, as you can imagine, leads to even more G-tube leaking, but I am hoping that she'll be up off her stomach and crawling soon and that the homemade G-tube dressing that we found will continue to keep her leaking somewhat at bay.  It's a huge pain and both Jason and I are so sick of changing her clothes and dressing 3, 4 or even sometimes 5 or 6 times a day!  I've been busy scouring message boards and talking to other parents who have had babies with G-tubes to get some ideas.  It seems like the medical community are very passive about the problem - they sort of leave it in the hands of the parents to figure out the G-tube dressing, leaking and corresponding skin care.  A HUGE Thank You to my aunt, Marilyn who got us some free samples of all different dressing and tape types to try out.

All in all, it's been nice to have a quiet week and next week will likely be same.  She is scheduled for her last dose of Synagis, but no other appointments.

So, we will continue to hope for warmer weather (am a broken record on that statement?  Seems like spring is taking its sweet time coming to Minnesota to stay!) and enjoying Lucy's sweet personality!  Every day she seems less and less like a baby and more and more like a little girl!

Meeting sweet little cousin Hannah a few weeks ago

Hanging out with great-Grandpa Los and sitting still like such a big girl!