MRI

Friday, December 14th we headed to UW Children's Hospital for Adi to have her MRI. Thank God she got over her cold as her last scheduled appointment in November had to be rescheduled for a month later because of a cough. I can't lie and say I didnt have this awful picture of her fighting us tooth and nail at the hospital in my head, BUT, I was SO wrong! Our day went something like this...

Thank you Grandma Thompson for watching Ryleigh for us!

Nick, Adi and I arrived at the hospital at about 7:15a.m. and we were immediately taken back to Adi's room where the measured her, took her weight and gave her arm a hug (blood pressure) and checked her oxygen levels...and mommy and daddy's too! After they got the initial questions of what happened with her seizures, etc., the put a lotion (numbing cream) on the inside of her left arm and on the top of both of her hands. This numbing cream "lotion" was placed on 3 different locations "just in case" they were not able to place the IV in one vein, they wanted to be sure they had other options. At that point we discussed whether we were going to attempt to place the IV as-is, or if we wanted Adi to have "silly juice" or a relaxation medication. We opted for the silly juice as I wanted this to be as non-traumatic as possible!

After about 15 minutes, the silly juice really kicked in and Adi was very relaxed, just chilling on my lap with her blanket and 2 stuffed animals she brought with her! I was NERVOUS about the placement of the IV, so they had Child Life come in the room with an IPAD for Adi to play some really awesome games on! Well, she wanted nothing to do with the IPAD and just sat and watched them put the IV in her arm very calmly! WHEW! I was sooooo happy to see this! I was more worked up over it than she was!

When the IV was in place, things started moving FAST! 2 nurses and the PICU neurosurgeon, Dr. Sush came in the room, they asked if we had questions, and started the sleepy medicine, propopol. THIS put me in tears! She did so very well, but had a little moment of trying to sit up, which she couldnt because of the medication so I panicked and so did Nick but was reminded that this is a completely normal activity and she would NOT remember what happened. And after she calmed down which only lasted about 20 seconds, they gave her more meds and she was out like a light! At which time her head was placed just so and her breathing was monitored by Dr. Sush VERY closely for a few minutes. He assured us her breathing was 100% normal, all her levels were 100% normal and she was good to go!

Nick and I were able to wait right in the room for her to be brought back to us! But, let me tell you...it was a VERY long hour! We went to get her a balloon and a little stuffed animal and headed right back to the room!

When she came back to the room, she woke up very quickly and as soon as she started to stir, they IV was taken out and we were able to pick her up and snuggle her and try to get her to drink and eat a little snack! Now, we had about a 15 minute spell where she was very upset because she wasnt able to talk normal and we couldnt let her down to walk because of the meds, so she got very frustrated but as soon as we took her out of the room to see the big Christmas tree, we got our sweet little baby girl back and headed home!

The entire process was so very scary, BUT, the Children's Hospital was simply AMAZING!!!!

We were anxious about results of course and didnt expect to hear anything until Monday or Tuesday, BUT, Adi's neurologist is AWESOME, Dr. Zawadski and she called us at 7 pm on Friday night to tell us that the initial scans of the MRI were NORMAL!!!!!

There are no words I can tell you to explain the relief this is for Nick and I! Now we will go for a follow-up on January 4th to discuss what will be happening with Adi and her medication for the next 2 years and further testing!

5 Months!

I know I am posting Ryleigh's 5 month pictures on the same day as her 4-month well baby check, but, things happen and life gets crazy so here they are!

 I got so many blurry pictures as the little stinker is constantly on the move now! I have to be careful that she doesnt roll right out of her seat for the pictures!

Oh how we all just love those chunky little cheeks of hers! She is smiling and talking and playing so much more now! She is so much fun! She loves watching her sister and smiling at her, if she can keep up with her! It is an amazing site to see the love this little peanut has for her big sister! And, she is just so in tune to her surroundings, it is amazing to watch her catch people and lights and sounds now!

We are truly blessed with the presence of this sweet, smiley baby girl!

4 Month Well Baby Checkup

November 7, 2012, was Ryleigh's 4-Month Well Baby Checkup. She had to have 3 shots and 1 oral and did very well. We didn't get our normal nurse which is no fun because the nurse we got just didnt do a "fast" enough job for momma so needless to say we wont be having her do shots again! All in all, we have a very healthy, happy baby girl and that is all we ask for!

Height - 24 inches (28th %)
Weight - 14 pounds, 11 ounces (63rd %)
Head Circumference - 17 (91st %)

A lot is Happening

It has been quite awhile since I have blogged and I am sorry about that but, it seems there is no time for concentrating longer than 2 minutes on one thing lately! I have a lot of pictures to share and maybe that is just the easiest way to explain things that are going on!

 Mmmm...we get rice and oatmeal now!

Ryleigh can jump around now too! (or get  bounced by her sister!)

 Adi's 1st Turkey cookies she made!

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 A very rare mom and girls picture!

 It's rough business being a baby at Thanksgiving!

 Nick shot a nice 11-pointer!

 Hanging out in the shed with the guys was just too much work for Ryleigh!

 Our OH SO BIG girl!

 Prunes....hmmmm...

 Oh wait...yummy...give me more!

 Adi's kitchen!

 Searching for our Christmas tree we had a beautiful day! It was in the 40's!

 Ryleigh was a champ!

 We found it, nice and small for our living room which is filled with baby gadgets and toys!

 Adi helped cut it down too.

 And she helped drag it out!

ROLLING

WE HAVE A ROLLER! Ryleigh has been working on rolling/moving for a couple weeks now but yesterday she DID IT!!! Rolled right over onto her tummy!!! :) Mommy and daddy are so proud of her! What a big girl she is becoming!

2 Year Well "Baby" Check

Yesterday was Adi's 2-year well "baby" check! I know some frown that I still call her baby, but she will ALWAYS be my baby! Anyway, I wasnt going to take off work to go to this appointment, but with her seizures and all happening and the medication she is on, I wanted to talk to her pediatrician. Needless to say, our girl is nowhere near having any developmental issues! In fact, she is about OFF THE CHART for growth!!!!

Her 2 year stats are:

Head Circumference: 19.5 (93%)
Weight: 28 pounds, 4 ounces (72%) ~ She FINALLY made it out of the 50%
Height: 34.6" (99%)

Her height was taken 3 different times because according to all records, she has had a MAJOR growth spurt in the last 7 weeks! Since the last measurement 7 weeks ago, she has grown over 3 inches! It added up to be about .5" a week! No wonder we are having a hard time finding pants to fit that tiny waist and loooong legs!

Our little peanut is growing up so fast and we are so proud of her for being such a big girl through all of the last 2 months! We are so truly blessed to have such a sweet, gentle souled little girl!

4 Month Comparison

Adi @ 4 Months!

Ryleigh @ 4 Months!

Our Girls

The last week has been incredible! Ryleigh turned 4 months and Adi had her 2nd birthday! We cannot believe we have 2 beautiful little girls that fill our heart with such joy and love! Their appointments are this Wednesday and next Wednesday so we can fill you in on the details then! Until then...here are our beautiful girls!

 Adi's 2nd Birthday outfit! Thanks to my friend Lorae who does gorgeous work all by hand! 

 Adi is super excited about this cake!

 She just dug right in...literally!

 Mmmm...it was so yummy!

 Ryleigh was all sorts of tuckered out during the festivities!

 And she's 4 MONTHS old! 

 Look at her just sitting right up all on her own!

Our smiley little girl!

Big Girl! & Special Visit!

We brought out the Bumbo for Ryleigh to see how she did and she is getting to be such a big girl! She liked sitting up on her own and seeing the world! It didnt last too long as she got a little weak in her neck, but we are working more and more! She is getting so big and amazes us daily with her growing and just showing us her little personality!

 We got an unexpected visit from some great friends of ours, The Young family! Harry, JoEllen, Elly, Lorelai & Harry stopped by for a visit yesterday and it was great! Quick, but very nice!

 All 3 "little" kids, Adi, Lorelai & Harry admiring Ryleigh!

 Lorelai just having a visit with Ryleigh!

How difficult is it to get a 5 year old, 2 year old, 23 month old, 21 month old and 4 month old to take a picture...well...we got the 4 "big" kids to cooperate but as you can see, Ryleigh was NOT into picture time! :) We got their faces so we are happy!

Results

We got Adi's test results back yesterday! So, her daytime/awake tests looked great, nothing abnormal there but her sleeping tests they found epileptal form. So they found sharp, high voltage waves which indicate seizure. on the video, she was sound asleep in nicks arms but her brain had some wild activity going on in the back left part. So now we pick up meds today which we will start tomorrow morning because I dont want to start anything at night in case of reaction and the side effects to the meds are behavioral changes!  Then, we wait for a call because they want an MRI done of her entire brain to be sure there is nothing else they find! She will need to be put to sleep for this procedure!  That's all I know at this point! There were a million questions I could have asked her but I was so upset and trying to follow what she was saying as I was parked in the walgreens parking lot.

So for right now, we wait! Put on our happy, strong faces and go about our daily lives ! Please say a few little extra prayers for our little peanut! This is scary business! :(

Children's Hospital

10-11-12 was Adi's day to spend the night at the Children's Hopsital! They have an amazing staff and wonderful hospital! We are lucky to have the number 1 children's hospital in the state so close to us! When I got out of college I pretty much immediately began donating money to this hospital monthly and am so glad I did and we still do!

Adi was a trooper! I have to blow a horn for her because every faculty change while we were there were coming in the room telling us how they were looking forward to having Adi because EVERYONE was talking, nurses, PA's, Dr's, students, all of them were talking about how AMAZING she is! We can say...we agree with them!!!

Initially seeing Adi having to go through the process of having all of these wires hooked to her head I was upset inside...my heart was breaking for her! But, after I saw how calm and collected she was for not even 2 years old, I made myself get a grip! What an amazing, strong little girl we have!

We got to the hospital at 12:30 Thursday and were discharged at 11 a.m. Friday! Before we were discharged we were able to speak the to pediatric neurologist and the resident neurologist who did a "glance" at the scans to be sure there was nothing "major" that stuck out to them...like, epilepsy! She is in the clear for that! Thank god!

Now, this doesnt mean we are in the clear for everything, but if and I need to stress IF there is a small issue, we can tackle that in a much lighter fashion! We are all hoping and praying that all of the testing and observations are just precautionary as we have yet to see the pediatric cardiologist as well!

 Getting all hooked up and being perfect!!

 After she was all wrapped up!

 Adi was so happy when her daddy arrived! I can proudly say she is daddy's girl!

 5 minutes in the chair on daddy and she was OUT! 

 They had this pretty cool tree on the wall for Adi!

 Aunt Miss & Uncle Aaron came by for a visit to help keep her occupied too! Adi was stacking every toy she had in the room on Aunties lap!

 Adi thought she was pretty cool on this bed/crib!

 Waiting to get the wires off!!!

 Here is a good indication to the amount of probes on her head...I think there were 25!

As Adi called it...her purse to go shopping!! If she didnt carry her "purse" when she moved, it pulled HARD on her head! The cario wires allowed her about 6-7 feet to move but these were only about 2.5-3 feet, however the main cord was MUCH longer than the cardio machine.

Adi minus the wires with her greasy hair to get the glue out!