The cinnamon rolls are delicious (and huge!).<---click for her post.
Thank you for being my friend. You've always been there, too. If someday we are old and find ourselves being roomies in some nursing home, at least we know we'll be happy and well-fed... okay, so we'll make each other fat. No harm there, right?
I know that angels are holding her tight.
She's a miracle and a testament to the power of the priesthood.
I'm still the luckiest mom in the world!! All of my kids are miracles in their own little way and I love all 4 of their great (and stubborn) spirits.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Guess who?
... got to hold her sweet little Jeallybean today?!? Me!! I was so excited to have the nurse ask me if I wanted to hold her! What was I going to say? "No, I'm not interested." Seriously? She's so much smaller than any baby I've ever had. She's at 5 lbs, 8 oz. Oh, she's soooo little!!!
... who is taking a bottle and will soon be able to be fed by mommy? Of course it's Olivia too! I was able to feed her too!
... who is home from Geronimo and his mom realized how wonderful it is to have him home. Even Alyssa admitted that life is more fun with Aaron.
... who loves her sister and has a very hard time leaving her at the hospital? Alyssa, that's the answer. She's the first one in her room and to kiss Olivia's head.
Olivia had traces of an infection last night and the Drs. immediately put her on antibiotics. She responded quickly to the meds and was back to "normal" early this morning.
She's starting to fill her diapers! We have been wondering if she'll have the bladder problems that normally come with Spina Bifida babies. She's also proved that she's related to Hayden. They are both "poop-monsters"! Wow!
There are so many miracles happening with our little Olivia every day. I'm very grateful for everyone who's been there to offer support, meals and prayers for our family.
We love you.
... who is taking a bottle and will soon be able to be fed by mommy? Of course it's Olivia too! I was able to feed her too!
... who is home from Geronimo and his mom realized how wonderful it is to have him home. Even Alyssa admitted that life is more fun with Aaron.
... who loves her sister and has a very hard time leaving her at the hospital? Alyssa, that's the answer. She's the first one in her room and to kiss Olivia's head.
Olivia had traces of an infection last night and the Drs. immediately put her on antibiotics. She responded quickly to the meds and was back to "normal" early this morning.
She's starting to fill her diapers! We have been wondering if she'll have the bladder problems that normally come with Spina Bifida babies. She's also proved that she's related to Hayden. They are both "poop-monsters"! Wow!
There are so many miracles happening with our little Olivia every day. I'm very grateful for everyone who's been there to offer support, meals and prayers for our family.
We love you.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Update and Pictures
She had her spinal surgery on Friday morning and the dr said all was well, but they would keep watch over her head circumference to see if the was any swelling in her head.
When Aaron first met her, he said hello and she moved her arm up in the air.
She was so tired, but that movement made me laugh. It was as though she was telling him hello.
She's been on her left and her arm and leg were swollen.
This morning when I went to greet her, they had flipped her over so the swelling would even out.
It took 3 people to lift and flip her.
The nurses said that she tolerated it very well and that she's showing signs of agitation when there's excessive noise. It's a good thing.
She doesn't cry because she's on a breathing machine that's called an ocilator. It's teeny littlle breaths so that her lungs can decompress from being stuck up in her abdomen and they won't take the fluid out too fast because it'll do more harm than good.
Oh, we love this girl... everyone that she's come in contact with have felt a special connection with her. She's such an awesome spirit and I'm so grateful for the Lord, priesthood blessings, technology, nurses, and Drs for allowing me to keep her!
This morning, after the drained the fluid a little more, she weighed in at 5 lbs. 10 oz. which is pretty good sized for a 33 week baby.
Her recorded birth weight is 7lbs, 3 oz but a that's including the abdominal fluid.
She's 17 inches long. She's tall!!!
I guess I downloaded these in the wrong order.
Anyway, this is a picture of her back after the surgery.
It looks pretty good because the swelling had gone down.
BTW, this is the back of her head and she was under the bililights!
Now...
her cute little Jellybean face.
Oh, she's too adorable! She's got a double chin!
If you look close at her arm, you can see the bruising from being inside when there wasn't any amniotic fluid for her to float in.
Seriously, isn't she the cutest thing!
Here she is all in the buff!
It's funny that she's naked while every other baby I see is a baby-burrito!
Her tummy looks so much smaller than it was when she was born.
She's done SO much better than the Drs expected!!!
She's HERE!
I know...I know... she's here a bit earlier than expected.
On Thursday, I went in for what I thought was a monitoring of her little heart. I was so WRONG!
So, I got to the Drs' office and the hooked me up to the monitors. They noticed after about 15 minutes that she wasn't moving... at alll. Her heartrate was normal, then would dip, then normal, then dip, and she was showing signs of fetal distress. They took me in for an ultrasound and tried to find any sign that she was okay. Everything they looked for, they couldn't find. She wouldn't move. The only sign that she was still alive was her heartbeat that was a little "iffy". I thought that Dr. Ghandi would send me to the hospital for monitoring, but instead she surprised me with the announcement that the ambulance was on the way to run me to Banner Desert for delivery. It all happened so fast and the only thought that I had was "I wonder if my brother, Rich, would be one of the paramedics?" (They said that he'd just gotten finished for the day or he would have been. Too cool.)
So, in office, they started quizzing me about everything and putting in an IV. They told me that I was a Code 3 and I got to have the sirens and lights! That was pretty neat and we joked the whole time. I knew it was serious, but I was still in shock this was all happening.
I had called Curt from the Dr's office and told him that he needed to meet me at the hospital. He called his brother to pick him up from the lightrail. We both thought that we'd have a little more time. When I was getting prepped for surgery, they told me that they wouldn't wait for him. I called him and told him that they were rushing me in for emergency C-section. Finally, as they were wheeling me into the OR, they threw scrubs at Curt and told him to hurry and get changed.... they weren't waiting.
I was chatting with the anesthesiologists and they were doing the spinal block and I told the one to get in front of me because I needed something to hug to hold me still. So, as I was getting stabbed in the back, I had my arms around a Dr. that I'd met only 3 minutes before. I grabbed onto his love handles on his back and everytime something stung, I'd squeeze. He told the other Dr to quit hurting me because he was going to get bruised by my pinching hands.
Finally, as they were starting to cut me open, I heard Curt's voice in the back of the room. The doctors were giving him all the information that they had learned so far and told him that when he would see Jellybean she would not look like she was living. They asked Curt if he was prepared for the possibility that she might not make it. So, when he got to me, he was crying and just kissed me on the forehead and sat down. I grabbed his hand and told him that she was going to be okay. He just shook his head and I told him to trust me. I KNEW that she was gong to make it.
Anyway, they told me to not be surprised if she didn't cry after she was born. I was prepared for anything.
So, they got her out, and took her to the back of the room and started working on getting her stable. Her belly was extremely distended and swollen. They did a temporary patch on her back and got her stable. She was much more reponsive than they expected. The Drs were very surprised. Before they took her upstairs, they brought her over and I got to kiss her and tell her that I loved her. Curt went with her as they brought her to the NICU. I was sewn up and sent to recover. My Dad came and chatted with me and Curt came down to tell me that the doctors were so happy with Jellybean and had her mostly stable. She was doing well with everything that was going on. Then, my sister Jen came to visit and made me feel happy while Curt went to stay with her for a while longer. They drained some of the fluid out of her belly and sent it for testing.
They finally got me up to a room and the Neurosurgeon came to talk to us and tell us that he thought she had become stable enough to have surgery the next morning. I felt strongly that she'd need a blessing before she was operated on and had he back closed. So we decided to go on ahead and give her a name and a blessing.
After the surgery, Dr. Elton came to see us and told us that everything looks beautiful and her back is swollen, but that it will go down. When we went to see her later on, she was still sedated and they'll keep her loke that for a few days. They don't want her to move when she's swollen; they want her to heal.
They had the urologist come visit and he found her bladder. She's urinating great now. After the ultrasound, they found out that the fluid wasn't urine acites and the bladder hadn't ruptured. Hooray! Now they have to figure out what the fluid really is, where it's coming from and why it's there.
So, she's stable for now. Well, as stable as she can be. We trust the Doctors and all the wonderful staff at the hospital.
Oh yeah... her name?
I'll post more later.
Yes, I'm healing. Little by little.
Yes, it hurts.
Yes, I'm grateful she's here, early
Please keep her in your prayers.
On Thursday, I went in for what I thought was a monitoring of her little heart. I was so WRONG!
So, I got to the Drs' office and the hooked me up to the monitors. They noticed after about 15 minutes that she wasn't moving... at alll. Her heartrate was normal, then would dip, then normal, then dip, and she was showing signs of fetal distress. They took me in for an ultrasound and tried to find any sign that she was okay. Everything they looked for, they couldn't find. She wouldn't move. The only sign that she was still alive was her heartbeat that was a little "iffy". I thought that Dr. Ghandi would send me to the hospital for monitoring, but instead she surprised me with the announcement that the ambulance was on the way to run me to Banner Desert for delivery. It all happened so fast and the only thought that I had was "I wonder if my brother, Rich, would be one of the paramedics?" (They said that he'd just gotten finished for the day or he would have been. Too cool.)
So, in office, they started quizzing me about everything and putting in an IV. They told me that I was a Code 3 and I got to have the sirens and lights! That was pretty neat and we joked the whole time. I knew it was serious, but I was still in shock this was all happening.
I had called Curt from the Dr's office and told him that he needed to meet me at the hospital. He called his brother to pick him up from the lightrail. We both thought that we'd have a little more time. When I was getting prepped for surgery, they told me that they wouldn't wait for him. I called him and told him that they were rushing me in for emergency C-section. Finally, as they were wheeling me into the OR, they threw scrubs at Curt and told him to hurry and get changed.... they weren't waiting.
I was chatting with the anesthesiologists and they were doing the spinal block and I told the one to get in front of me because I needed something to hug to hold me still. So, as I was getting stabbed in the back, I had my arms around a Dr. that I'd met only 3 minutes before. I grabbed onto his love handles on his back and everytime something stung, I'd squeeze. He told the other Dr to quit hurting me because he was going to get bruised by my pinching hands.
Finally, as they were starting to cut me open, I heard Curt's voice in the back of the room. The doctors were giving him all the information that they had learned so far and told him that when he would see Jellybean she would not look like she was living. They asked Curt if he was prepared for the possibility that she might not make it. So, when he got to me, he was crying and just kissed me on the forehead and sat down. I grabbed his hand and told him that she was going to be okay. He just shook his head and I told him to trust me. I KNEW that she was gong to make it.
Anyway, they told me to not be surprised if she didn't cry after she was born. I was prepared for anything.
So, they got her out, and took her to the back of the room and started working on getting her stable. Her belly was extremely distended and swollen. They did a temporary patch on her back and got her stable. She was much more reponsive than they expected. The Drs were very surprised. Before they took her upstairs, they brought her over and I got to kiss her and tell her that I loved her. Curt went with her as they brought her to the NICU. I was sewn up and sent to recover. My Dad came and chatted with me and Curt came down to tell me that the doctors were so happy with Jellybean and had her mostly stable. She was doing well with everything that was going on. Then, my sister Jen came to visit and made me feel happy while Curt went to stay with her for a while longer. They drained some of the fluid out of her belly and sent it for testing.
They finally got me up to a room and the Neurosurgeon came to talk to us and tell us that he thought she had become stable enough to have surgery the next morning. I felt strongly that she'd need a blessing before she was operated on and had he back closed. So we decided to go on ahead and give her a name and a blessing.
After the surgery, Dr. Elton came to see us and told us that everything looks beautiful and her back is swollen, but that it will go down. When we went to see her later on, she was still sedated and they'll keep her loke that for a few days. They don't want her to move when she's swollen; they want her to heal.
They had the urologist come visit and he found her bladder. She's urinating great now. After the ultrasound, they found out that the fluid wasn't urine acites and the bladder hadn't ruptured. Hooray! Now they have to figure out what the fluid really is, where it's coming from and why it's there.
So, she's stable for now. Well, as stable as she can be. We trust the Doctors and all the wonderful staff at the hospital.
Oh yeah... her name?
Olivia Gwen Mellor
(pretty cute, huh?)I'll post more later.
Yes, I'm healing. Little by little.
Yes, it hurts.
Yes, I'm grateful she's here, early
Please keep her in your prayers.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
More... and more
The ultrasound was yesterday afternoon. My Dr, Dr. Clewell says it's not good. He can't find what's wrong. He's been a Perinatal Dr for decades and he's never seen anything like this. He can't find a reason for her abdominal cavity to be full of fluid. They can't really find her bladder, but thinks that he may have seen it squished up against the back of the cavity. There's a team of 20 Drs that will be reviewing my case on Thursday morning and Dr. Clewell is hoping that someone may have seen something that was missed. I'm grateful for him; that he would say that he doesn't know rather than to guess and perform a surgery that might make things worse. He can't figure out what would have happened in a 2 week period of time that would have made things turn from normal to ????
The reason that they can't find out a whole lot of stuff is because she's not floating. There's very little amiotic fluid, even a little less than before and so the transceivers have a hard time portraying her image. So I'll have weekly ultrasounds and will have twice weekly heart monitoring. She's sitting on my pelvic floor and it's painful depending on how she's laying.
I'm grateful for all of the prayers and support that I have recieved from all of my famiy and friends. I feel extremely blessed and uplifted by those around me.
Yesterday, Curt and I were talking and I told him that I am trying to keep it together but when am I allowed to fall apart? It then occured to me that everytime that I started to loose it just a little bit, things would come to my mind to remind me who I am and that I have Heavenly support: a verse from the scriptures, a hymn, a talk that was given in conference, or a kind word from an inspired friend.
This is something that could be such a huge trial for me, but I feel peace and comfort.
"Fear is the absence of Faith." I'm trying to remember where I heard this, but it's one of those quotes that helps. I'm not afraid of what's to come. I'm not afraid of what's happening now. I have every belief that something will come of this; good or bad. All will be revealed in it's own time.
The reason that they can't find out a whole lot of stuff is because she's not floating. There's very little amiotic fluid, even a little less than before and so the transceivers have a hard time portraying her image. So I'll have weekly ultrasounds and will have twice weekly heart monitoring. She's sitting on my pelvic floor and it's painful depending on how she's laying.
I'm grateful for all of the prayers and support that I have recieved from all of my famiy and friends. I feel extremely blessed and uplifted by those around me.
Yesterday, Curt and I were talking and I told him that I am trying to keep it together but when am I allowed to fall apart? It then occured to me that everytime that I started to loose it just a little bit, things would come to my mind to remind me who I am and that I have Heavenly support: a verse from the scriptures, a hymn, a talk that was given in conference, or a kind word from an inspired friend.
This is something that could be such a huge trial for me, but I feel peace and comfort.
"Fear is the absence of Faith." I'm trying to remember where I heard this, but it's one of those quotes that helps. I'm not afraid of what's to come. I'm not afraid of what's happening now. I have every belief that something will come of this; good or bad. All will be revealed in it's own time.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
So Sad...
We were supposed to leave for the Porter Family Reunion tomorow morning.
Now, Aaron and Alyssa are going with my parents while we get to stay home and figure out what's going on with Jellybean. Is it wrong to be SO JEALOUS of my own kids?
I don't get to hang out in Greer... so sad. :( I haven't seen my brother Dave is SO long, I really miss him and his family. (Sorry, Dave) We get to hang out with Dan and his family today at a house they rented in Gilbert. I always look forward to just "hanging out" with my sibs when there's nothing else to do than to catch up.
Jellybean has fluid in her abdomen. They aren't whether she has a hole in her bladder or why the fluid is there. There's no way that its's coming out and so her amniotic fluid is low. They don't think it's related to the Spina Bifida, but at this point they aren't really sure.
On Thursday, I was admitted to OB/Triage at Banner Desert Hospital where they watched her, because she wasn't moving around very much. So they decided to do an ultrasound while she was there. That's when the fluid showed up.
So, the Dr sent me to Good Samaritan in Phoenix to be checked out by the Fetal Surgeons to see what they could do. They aren't sure if they will put a shunt in from her abdomen to the amnionic fluid or if they will put a stent in and open up her tube from her bladder, which might be obstructed, by the aren't for sure if that's the problem. They gave me the shots to mature her lungs just in case they decide that the only (and last) option is to bring her early. But they really don't want to do that.
The good news is that at 31 weeks, she already weighs in at a hefty 5 lbs. 7 ozs.
The ventricles in her brain are only mildly dialated.
Her neural sac (her back) isn't looking any worse!
Now, Aaron and Alyssa are going with my parents while we get to stay home and figure out what's going on with Jellybean. Is it wrong to be SO JEALOUS of my own kids?
I don't get to hang out in Greer... so sad. :( I haven't seen my brother Dave is SO long, I really miss him and his family. (Sorry, Dave) We get to hang out with Dan and his family today at a house they rented in Gilbert. I always look forward to just "hanging out" with my sibs when there's nothing else to do than to catch up.
Jellybean has fluid in her abdomen. They aren't whether she has a hole in her bladder or why the fluid is there. There's no way that its's coming out and so her amniotic fluid is low. They don't think it's related to the Spina Bifida, but at this point they aren't really sure.
On Thursday, I was admitted to OB/Triage at Banner Desert Hospital where they watched her, because she wasn't moving around very much. So they decided to do an ultrasound while she was there. That's when the fluid showed up.
So, the Dr sent me to Good Samaritan in Phoenix to be checked out by the Fetal Surgeons to see what they could do. They aren't sure if they will put a shunt in from her abdomen to the amnionic fluid or if they will put a stent in and open up her tube from her bladder, which might be obstructed, by the aren't for sure if that's the problem. They gave me the shots to mature her lungs just in case they decide that the only (and last) option is to bring her early. But they really don't want to do that.
I was just released with the promise that I would return on Monday, have yet another ultrasound and meeting with a few of the Fetal Surgeons and Perinatal Drs.
BUT (HOORAY!)
The good news is that at 31 weeks, she already weighs in at a hefty 5 lbs. 7 ozs.
The ventricles in her brain are only mildly dialated.
Her neural sac (her back) isn't looking any worse!
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