ANNOUNCING...

Z!!!

Born on Feb. 6th, 2009
At 12:09 pm
Weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces
and Measuring 20 1/2 inches

He is WONDERFUL and healthy and I will get pictures out soon!

Update on Life- SERIOUS

Okay, so, I have no idea where to even start...
On Thursday, January 25th, I took E to her pediatrician because she was just not getting over a really nasty sinus infection. When I got there, I told her that I had an appointment scheduled for E at Loma Linda for her GI specialist the next morning. She told me that were it not for that appointment, she would personally hospitalize E, but she wanted her to go to that appointment and would call the doctor herself. Due to her feelings about hospitalizing E and the fact that she would be contacting the specialist, I took D's advice and packed a hospital bag for two of us just in case they admitted her up there at the children's hospital. Well, lucky I did because as soon as we sat down with the specialist, she asked me how far along I was and if there was enough help at home for my older children and I told her we had taken care of it all. She admitted E that evening to Loma Linda Children's Hospital and they started i.v. treatments of antibiotics and started watching her eating and weight and dirty diapers like a hawk. They also started running tons of tests to try to start honing in on what has been creating her eating, weight gaining, and development problems. After a week and a half, they decided to put in a G tube to start doing feedings through the night while she is asleep as a supplementation to her normal eating during the day. That went in today. They also got test results back on her chromosomes and found that she has an abnormal "fish" or chromosome 22 and it means that she has a very mild form of DiGeorge syndrome. I haven't been brave enough to research this disorder yet, but I do know that the doctors already checked to make sure that it hasn't caused heart damage, immune system damage, or calcium deficit and she was in great health on in the heart and calcium areas. They did a swallowing study to make sure she is swallowing well and were able to see why her food has always leaked out of her nose when she eats. There will be more clear information on that in a few weeks when we go back with her as an out-patient to the ENT's (Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists) to run their own tests and get a look. They will be doing a scope to see what is going on in her sinuses and get a better look in her ears. We will also follow up closely with her GI specialist and will be seeing her geneticist. All that and I am having my c-section on THIS Friday. In fact, the only reason I am home now and D is with E is because I had to book it to my OB to get the blood work and pre-admission paperwork done this afternoon. I couldn't put it off any longer and had to take care of this part of things. I will have one full day home before I am in the hospital to have my baby and I am crossing my fingers that D and E will be home by tomorrow night so that D can be there when the baby is born. Otherwise, my mother-in-law will be in the room and D will still be at Loma Linda tending to E. It is a crazy mess, but I am feeling so hopeful now that someone has found a significant key to what has done this to E. Please send TONS of prayers our way as we are all in desperate need of them. They have held us together thus far and I couldn't be more thankful to God than I am right now. God bless.

Unicorns, Door Knobs, Airplane Lollipops, and Dancing

It is Sunday and I am sitting around my house instead of at church because I have three sick children and a cold all to myself as well. So I thought a good Sunday thing to do would be to think of fun things from the kids recently!
M is a unicorn these days. I get an attitude from her if I have the nerve to call her by her name without "unicorn" attached to it somehow (M Unicorn, Unicorn M, or just Unicorn). She goes around on her hands and knees and talks in a very high voice that is only for unicorn time, but she talks less. I joked with D some time ago that I loved Unicorn time because things got much quieter around the house. When I cook meals, they have to be Unicorn food and when I give her a bath, I have to convince her that unicorns love soap and clean hair to get her hair cleaned. It is really special when she is in unicorn mode and wants to show affection. I will suddenly have her at my knees rubbing her head on me like a cat or something. I just say, "I love you too Unicorn" and that usually get a happy Unicorn response and she goes off to do more unicorn things. She has even taken to saying "I wish, I wish, I wish I was a unicorn in a rainbow castle." when she is feeling very sad. It is cute but I feel kind of helpless because that is not something I can do for her at all and nothing I say helps. Not even telling her I love her just as she is as my M, she just gets frustrated that I don't have her vision.
G has outsmarted me once again. Not that it is shocking by any measure, but all the same, this one is pretty smart. In order to get the child in bed for a nap anymore, I have to find ways to keep her in her room. She has mastered opening doors and so I put a door knob cover on the inside to prevent her escapes, even though I hated it. Well, she is not easily stopped and the other night after being put down, she walked into my room and handed me the door knob cover in it's two pieces! So, I put it back on and her back in bed and here she came not very long afterward into my room again. When taking her back to her room yet again, the cover was again in it's two pieces on the floor next to the door. Crap. That was my last idea on keeping her in her room to eventually pass out from boredom! Gates are a fun obstacle course to her and she knows how to use the locks on the doors better than her four year old sister! So, here I am in a state of "oh crap-ness" on nap times. sigh...
E is enjoying sounds more and more as we get more and more wax pulled out. As a result, she has really taken to her own version of dancing to music she likes. E does what we have termed "knee walking" because she has skillfully figured out how to walk along on her knees in order to hold things when she gets around. We are working on walking, but she sees knee walking as just fine for her. Well, when she hears music now, she will get on her knees, close her eyes, pat her chest, and throw her head from side to side with a giant smile on her face. It is absolutely hilarious and sweet at the same time. We love it when she starts going off on her dancing kicks and it gives us a hearty laugh.
Lastly, M has become obsessed with trying to go to work with her daddy. Her dad's job is high security and dangerous and it will NEVER happen. So, when she started up one day with her antics on going with him, a light came on for me. I told her that if she went to work with her daddy, she would have to take naps while she was there because that is what they did at daddy's work. She was horrified and decided that naps were not going to work for her and so Daddy's work did not appeal anymore. I think I know why she had this obsession with going to work with him too. A few weeks ago M came up to me and told me that Daddy was an airplane doctor and that when the airplanes were all fixed, he gives them lollipops for being good. I totally went with it because it was hilarious and I immediately called D to tell him about his job. He thought it was just as funny as I did and he goes along with it too. So, according to M, D goes to work were there are sick airplanes. He makes them feel better and gives them a lollipop and then has everyone lay down for naps. Pretty sweet job! Too bad unicorns don't like naps so they can't go LOL. Good stuff...

Dragging

Okay, so according to the nurse practitioner's best guess on the day I will be c-sectioned, I am having the baby in a month from today. That feels far away and right on top of me simultaniously. My body is so so tired and my mind is racing on all the things that I need to get accomplished before he arrives. So, my mind is saying "do this and do that" while my body is going "ha, ha, ha, ect..." at it. Being a mom has the worst version of sick days and maternity leave ever. I am working just as hard as someone in a work place but don't have any sick days or even a respite when I am 8 1/2 months pregnant. Awesome, really. Heck, I am on-call all through the night for my children even. Okay, I am done whining for the moment, just had to complain out loud to feel heard.

Looking Back and to the Future

So, I am only 5 1/2 weeks from the c-section. I don't plan on having any more children and as this pregnancy is drawing to it's end, I have a lot of feelings about it. More than anything, I feel quiet and reflective about the last five years and how much of it I spent carrying my precious babies. What a blessing it is to be the mommy and to watch your body change and to begin the bonding with your child. To watch your baby move or feel them is amazing and a true-to-form miracle. I once took a medical terminology class in which the professor went through the process of conception and by the end of the class, it was a wonder that anyone actually becomes pregnant with all that has to be perfect in every way for it to work. He called pregnancy a miracle and I agree. I have loved this chapter of my life and all though it has happened all very quickly, it was meant to be that way and I trust in that completely. I am looking forward to the new chapter that will begin when this precious little boy is born and I am excited to have these amazing four children to share my life with. They are forever and always going to be the people by which I will judge myself as a person based on how well I serve them as their mother and teach them how to be the best people they can be. I have a wonderful husband by my side that will be an amazing father in the future as much as he is now. I pray that this part of my life will forever be a precious memory and that the future brings equal joys and miracles. In the pictures provided, I have shown pictures of my pregnancies with each child. It amazes me! It goes in chronological order of M, G, E, and Z.

E Update

We went in to see the audiologist today and finally have some insight into why E is not developing in speech. When the doctor looked in her ears, they were completely filled with wax that was hard instead of soft like it is meant to be. Then when she put in the little tester thing in her ear, she did get some readings that made her think that there is either fluid built up in her ear or the canal is shut completely and causing pressure in her middle ear. Then when the hearing portion was run to the extent we can test before the wax is removed, her hearing was definitely impaired. She was hearing at about the level of someone with earplugs in their ears instead of how a normal person hears (they called it a 1 mile radius). So, in the picture I attached, there is the red section and those are the areas that are suspected to have the most trouble right now. The outer ear is clogged with wax because E is not producing an oil that is supposed to be produced to soften the wax, so it is instead hard and stuck and building up constantly and blocking her eardrum. Then on the middle ear (Eustation Tube), there is either fluid or it is closed from her sinus problems and causing a pressure build-up and issues there. It appeared her left ear is worse than her right.
Our plan of attack from here is that we are first going to do multiple eardrops and water flushes a day for the next two weeks to see if we can make any improvement on getting the wax out. If that doesn't work, she will be scheduled to see an ENT doctor who will surgically remove the wax and E will have to go under for that. Once that is done, a thorough hearing test will be able to be done and after that, there will be a brainstem test done while she is asleep to see if the nerves in her inner ear and brainstem are working correctly. So, we are in for some exciting times trying to do the eardrops twice to four times a day with a wiggly-almost-15-month-old. Fun times. At least we now have answers and a direction to go in on that end of things. The doctor explained to me that whatever condition it is that makes her so small is probably what has caused her the inability to make her oils for her ears. It stinks, but it is something we can do something about and I don't feel helpless.
Yesterday we went to the hospital lab and they drew something like six viles of blood from her because her pediatrician is starting to look into how E's immune system is working. It is a relief for a doctor to be actively seeking answers instead of just me. Aside from the lab work, we are waiting on a referral to get her in for what is called a cinefloroscopy and she has an appointment with her GI specialist. All this BEFORE I deliver our baby boy and that is only six weeks from now! Busy, busy. I guess I like it that way. Please send prayers our way that the eardrops work and E can avoid surgery.

Only 7 weeks left!

Here are some late pictures on my growing self lol. These are of 30 and 32 weeks.