New Site!

I created a share site on shutterfly.com. I use shutterfly to print most of our pictures, so it is easier and faster for me to share photos and videos here. This may help me update Adelyn's fans more often :)

http://failingfam.shutterfly.com

Come check us out!

Bump in the road

Well, this past week we hit a bump in the road. What seemed like the start of another cold turned into pneumonia. It developed in her left lung, which is the lung that was operated on. We decided to take her to the ER at All Children's at 3:00 am on Sunday morning and I never imagined we would still be here today, which is Friday. We are hoping to get discharged today. She will go home with two different kinds of antibiotics and also use an inhaler. We are going to set up an appointment with the pulmonary doctor on Wednesday for a follow up xray. They suspect she may also have asthma. She's has proven to us again how strong she is.

During our stay, she was able to see some of her friends from the NICU. It was very sweet for them to pay her a visit. Of course everyone fell in love with her and one nurse even said she was going to miss seeing her cute face.

Bill and I took turns staying with her and we never left her side. We are exhausted and look forward to being home this weekend. Here are some pics from this week.

Daddy's Phone

Daddy had so many cute photos on his phone, I thought I should post them for ya'll to see! Adelyn is doing great. As you can see she is happy as can be and keeps getting cuter :)

Adelyn had her 4 month vaccinations last week and weighed in at 10 1/2 lbs and measured in at 23" long. Doctor said she's doing great!

The Nephrologist doctor didn't run any tests, but changed her antibiotic. She has to have a renal ultrasound in 6 months, then a bladder test in July to see if she outgrew the reflux.

She started daycare yesterday and seems to be doing well. It was a rough day for me to say the least. I may have actually been more emotional dropping her off at daycare than I was when she had surgery. It was a little easier this morning and I managed to drop her off without crying.

I know, I know . . . it's been too long since my last post :) Things have been busy as ever at our house! Adelyn fully recovered from surgery, and from her cold. Poor baby can't catch a break! I'm happy to report that the Prevacid definitely has helped her acid reflux! She is sleeping in her crib in her own room, and even sleeping through the night! We are loving it!

Last Friday we took Adelyn to the pediatrician just to make sure her cold wasn't causing any lung infections. He said she had an upper respiratory infection, but that her lungs were fine. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 14 oz.

We had a slight change in daycare plans, so we working around a crazy schedule until she can get into daycare on the 19th. It will be so hard for me to put her in the care of someone else, but we really love this new daycare and the woman in the infant room is a gem! It is very close to our home and my work, so I know I will be checking in on her for at least the first few weeks.

On Monday (10/12), we take Adelyn to All Childrens in St. Petersbrug to visit with the Nephrologist. They are going to check the status of her vesicoureteral (kidney) reflux. Hopefully everything has "fixed itself" and we can close another chapter.

On Wednesday (10/14), we take Adelyn to the pediatrician for her 4 month vaccines. Can you believe she will be 4 months old on Monday! It seems like just yesterday we brought her home.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safely on Tuesday. Adelyn did well on the plane ride. I took her to the pediatrician on Wednesday for a post-op follow-up. She weighed in at 9 lbs 7.5 oz. Dr. Sevilla said she looks great and the incision looks perfect. There are internal stitches that will dissolve, so we don't have to worry about having to get them taken out. She was in some pain and discomfort for the first few days home, which of course broke our hearts. She's feeling much better now and even giving us lots of smiles, which of course melts our hearts :)

As far as her reflux, we switched her to Prevacid, and even though she's only been on it for 4 days, I think it's helping. Keep your fingers crossed!

On top of all she's been through, she now has a runny nose. Hopefully she's not coming down with her first cold :(

Adelyn was discharged yesterday! We were so happy to be together again last night. Amazing how much I missed getting up in the middle of the night to feed and change her. We couldn't be happier with the care she received from CHOP.

We spent the day today doing some more sight seeing in Philly, well Bill and I did the sight seeing and Adelyn slept.

Adelyn wasn't able to get discharged Thursday. She had a few significant brady's where her heart rate dropped below 80. They decided to keep her at least another 24 hours to monitor her. She did good last night, only a few marginal brady's, so we'll see if she will be discharged today. They may send us home with a monitor.

What a difference a day makes

After all the brady's and desat's (NICU lingo) last night and this morning, we are feeling much better tonight. They were able to take out her chest tube and epidural today. The morphine drip was discontinued as well. The swelling she had in her face went away. It was obvious she was feeling a lot better and the brady's and desat's disappeared. It had only been a day since I last held her, and when I finally was able to hold her today it felt more like weeks had passed.

The NICU nurses and all the staff at CHOP have been wonderful and we are thankful to them for taking such great care of our sweet little girl. Of course they all fell in love with her . . . how can you not :)

We are hoping that she will be discharged tomorrow. We are exhausted and glad that the worst is over and soon this will all be behind us.

Answered Prayers

The surgery went well. They removed the entire lower lobe of her left lung as planned. She is recovering in the NICU. She has a chest tube for drainage. They took an xray after surgery to check for air leaking into the lung. It looked good. They took another xray this morning and we will find out later how it looks and if they will take the chest tube out today.

She has an epidural for pain and was also given a morphine drip aroun 9:00 pm last night. We think that may have been a little too much for her, as she had a lot of brady's (stopped breathing and heart rate dropped) between 9:00 and 10:30 pm. It was stressful for us, and it reminded us of her early days in the NICU at All Children's in St. Pete. She's doing much better this morning. Today should be a much better day than yesterday.

We had a great family day today walking around the city. I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Adelyn now weighs 9 lbs 2 oz. and is 25" long.

We need to arrive at CHOP tomorrow at 7:45 am for surgery. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Adelyn was a good traveler yesterday. She didn't cry on the plane, airport, or cab. She was a good girl and waited until we got into our hotel room to start her fussy part of everyday. We sure hope this reflux goes away soon!

Today we went to CHOP and met with Dr. Adzick. He said, "so, this is the wonder baby?" He later said how cute she is. I told Adelyn he would say that to her :). We are all set for surgery Wednesday. We won't know the exact time until tomorrow afternoon. Apparently they wait to schedule them until the day before in case of any emegerncies taking place. We learned that we can feed her up until 3 hours prior to arriving at the hospital. That was a relief for me, as I was trying to figure out how to tell Adelyn she couldn't have any food.

They drew some blood today just to check for anemia and to check her electolytes. There is a small chance she will need a blood transfusion. Bill had to hold her for the bloodwork, I can't handle the needles. She was a champ, and barely cried. I cry more than her when I have blood drawn :)

We met a little 2 month old girl in the waiting room that had the same surgery 3 weeks ago. It was very nice to talk to her parents about their experience. They assured us we are in good hands.

Adelyn had a great visit from Grandma and Grandpa Abraham this past week. They headed back to Wisconsin this morning, and she already misses them! Noni came to visit last night too. Adelyn was feeling lots of love :)

We are anxiously getting ready to leave for Philly on Sunday. We are so grateful for all the love and prayers she has been receiving. We know that God is watching over her and she will do well. We meet with the surgeon on Monday and her surgery will be on Wednesday, so please say an extra prayer that day.