tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57951331583570739022024-03-13T18:18:52.842-05:00Imperfectly PerfectThe Story of Our Beautiful Little WarriorAshley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-49220173859216679302012-10-04T13:02:00.000-05:002012-10-04T13:02:32.272-05:00CardiologyIt's hard for me to write this, and it's not like we didn't know she would need more surgery, but I guess I was still blindsided today.<br />
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Fi was a trooper for the apt, and it seemed like it would be a quick one. Ms Sarah was almost done with Fi's echo when Dr Yang came in. He was saying how she's so lucky because things have remained pretty stable, aortic stenosis is still moderate, leak is still mild and her CoA repair is still looking great. After Ms Sarah finished Dr Yang looked over the images to make sure that everything he needed was there. Then he said, "well that's different from last time". He then personally redid the entire echo, my heart sank because I knew something was up.<br />
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I knew what it was too, as he went over the same part over and over. He was looking at the sub-aortic membrane. He said since her valve still looks okay we can come back in 6 months, at that point we'll schedule a trans-esophageal echo to get a better picture and decide if it's time for surgery. He wants to try to preserve her valve, so he sounded like the best plan will probably be surgery sooner than later.<br />
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As he was talking about is Laz had a ton of questions, but not me, because I know what it means, Fi's heart sister Jillian is having sub-AS surgery today. I've decided to refer to it the SFM (stupid f*ing membrane), even with surgery they often come back, saving the valve means another surgery for that down the line, or if the valve has to go at that time future surgeries to replace the valve.<br />
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You know the other shoe will drop eventually when you have a kid with a complex heart defect, but it still hurts just as bad when it does.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-70256390174664122322012-05-03T12:16:00.001-05:002012-05-03T12:16:04.065-05:00Well Monster Check UpFiona had her 3 yr checkup to day with Dr E and she did awesome. She is still 27lb 4oz, but she grew an entire inch!!!! Yes lots of exclamation points, because that's a BIG deal in this house, in 2 wks she's grown more than she did in the past 8months! She's officially 3ft tall. Since she did grow in height Dr E said that she's fine with the lack of weight gain, esp since her BMI is good.<br />
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As far as development goes she's pleased with how Fiona is doing. We have a couple things to work on, but nothing major. She thinks preschool is going to be great for Fi. One of my concerns was her skin picking, Dr E told me it's a losing battle and even if she gets and infection from doing it, oh well, hopefully she'll outgrow it by the time she's seven. On the topic of preschool we hope to visit the one that we've pretty much chosen soon. I'm also going to set up an apt with the district to get her evaluated (which I guess we should have done long ago).Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-40572294093285515992012-04-29T12:57:00.004-05:002012-04-29T12:57:52.229-05:00Disney, ER, GI and A Princess BirthdayI'm slacking with the updates...forgive me, we've had so much going on!<br />
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On April 7 Fi and I headed out to Orlando. We had an awesome time and got to see my mom, as well as some of our other family who actually live an hour away from Orlando. The highlight of our week in FL was of course going to Disney. Fiona loved meeting Mickey and Minnie and the Princesses. Her favorite rides were Snow White and the Tea Cups (which she calls the soup ride...lol). Wish we could have stayed on vacation forever.<br />
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When we got home it was back to work for me and back to causing trouble for Fiona. She was acting tired, then she started running a high fever wt hich we were having trouble bringing down. We ended up in the ER where she was diagnosed with a URI, and we were just told to keep up with the meds.<br />
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The next morning we had GI. Dr F said Fi looks great, except that in a huge shocker (jk) Fiona isn't growing...again. I figured this would happen with going milk protein free again. Fi's around the same size she was in Oct, however Dr F only seemed concerned about her drop over the last month...yeah whatever, I saw the chart and I know it's a bigger issue. She's always struggled and now I'm worried that we're looking at going back on a formula, but I'm not convinced Fiona will drink it if we have to go that route.<br />
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The next day (Fri) Fi wouldn't drink or eat anything and was complaining that everything was too hot. So we got squeezed in at Dr Es. Dr E checked her throat, which the ER had not. Well her throat was full of ulcers so she started her on antibiotics. Luckily, Fi was really doing better a couple days in...so thankful she was better in time for her birthday.<br />
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Which brings me to yesterday...Fiona turned 3! Yes birthdays are a big deal for any child, but when you've gone through everything she has, it's an even bigger mile stone to celebrate. We had a small Princess pool party and Fi had a great time. She spent most of it pretending to be a pirate and playing with her bestie Lydia. She got lots of awesome gifts and wished for a boat when she blew out the candles. My baby is officially a big girl.<br />
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It was 3 yrs ago today that my precious newborn was taken from my arms for an echo to investigate her "innocent heart murmur" and a few hours later she was in the NICU, critical and being stabilized. Today is the anniversary of the day our worlds were forever changed, "there's something wrong with her heart." I will post more tomorrow on her heartiversary...but April 29th , even being one of the worst days of my life, is also one of the best. It is never far from my mind that she could have easily gone undiagnosed until it was too late, so it truly was a blessing in disguise.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-4967475998649345802012-03-27T15:46:00.005-05:002012-03-27T16:06:38.241-05:00GI & Behavioral TherapyYesterday we saw Dr Charles for a follow up and also had our first visit with Dr Clendaniel, the GI behavioral therapist. It was a good apt, I think that it's obvious to everyone that she is really doing better. I hate to think that milk was being that huge of a problem, but after 2 monthsish with no milk it's really like night and day from where we were. We did have a time when she was on Elecare that she had been doing amazingly well and it seems that this girl just can't tolerate milk period.<br /><br />I also think that using the senna more has helped, Dr Charles is afraid if we do it too often she'll become dependent which is my fear too. Now he wants us to wait 2-3 days before giving it if she hasn't gone, I'm hesitant though because I know how quickly things can spiral with her and also that many times she doesn't fully empty...so I'm going to do it my way, because it's working and I don't intend to be doing weekly cleanouts again any time soon.<br /><br />Dr Clendaniel was very nice, though I'm fairly certain I could have come up with the same ideas on my own lol. She gave us some charts, to work towards potty training. Basically if she goes, or doesn't go as long as she sits for 2 minutes she gets a sticker. We will mark if she does go, did she pee, did she poop. I'm waiting until thursday to start since I'm off and it's very scheduled. I want to make sure we get all set up before I turn over the reigns to anyone else.<br /><br />One thing that I found strange was that Dr Charles said that since Fi's poop is soft she is probably with holding until she absolutely has to go. He feels that she's afraid to go. However, she does ask to go potty and she will actually poop almost every time. Dr Clendaniel said that she doesn't think it sounds like she is fearful...who knows. What I will say is that I'm 100% convinced that Fi can not pass solid stool, ever since her very first somewhat firm stool at 2-3 wks she has been unable to pass them, I just feel like there's something else that we're missing.<br /><br />We go back in a month, so hopefully by then we will be able to see how things are going. We'll also see Dr Fortgang next month and I'm curious to get her input especially since Fi's growth has stalled again. She's 27.5 lbs and 34.5-35inAshley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-17387913985616482102012-03-22T14:15:00.002-05:002012-03-22T14:29:58.654-05:00Cardiology UpdateToday we had Fiona's 6m cardio check up. She did soooo well it was incredible really. Despite being in her words "really really grumpy" lol she laid there and let them get all the pictures they needed. It was our quickest apt of all time, we were literally in and out in an hour flat!<br /><br />First off she had bp, pulse ox and ekg. Her bp was the lowest I've ever seen it at 80/69 (for her right arm). Pulse ox was reading in the mid 80s, luckily it was just the probe, and after switching that her sat was 95-97, and even hit 99 for a couple seconds...way to go Fi.<br /><br />Next we had her echo and she was even good while they looked at her aortic arch, which is the part she usually hates. When she was done Dr Yang came in to talk to us. He said her aortic valve leak looks a little worse, but otherwise the valve looks stable and he thinks it may last a long time. Such a relief to hear that. Her murmur is significantly changed from our last apt and is now a 6 (the loudest possible murmur where you can feel the murmur through their chest without needing a stethoscope). Since her obstructions are nearly the same as last visit I'm not sure why the murmur changed so much, guess I should have asked lol.<br /><br />He did ask us lots of questions about her endurance and if she's ever passed out. Thankfully she hasn't, but he made sure to tell us a few times that if she ever faints we need to call him immediately. I mean of course we'd call if it happens, it's just weird that he's never mentioned it before. I wonder if at this age they tend to push themselves too much or something...not sure though?<br /><br />All in all an awesome apt and we don't need to go back for 6m! By that time she'll probably be in preschool, it's crazy!Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-72098272457622709212012-03-19T19:48:00.003-05:002012-03-19T20:14:12.599-05:00Always Something Around Here<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSqZMVNrkHM9m6ARk1c_m3_fLixWkTEGGuMEfHvIGWnu2XPUSgOWMGPCRaANBlHuexyRt63LmSy14gvhdgwkyMvCTzxMgDjSTKohsseNYqGvJx9C0tGo2uZNKoltVGI_3qHge-2Xag-A/s1600/020.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSqZMVNrkHM9m6ARk1c_m3_fLixWkTEGGuMEfHvIGWnu2XPUSgOWMGPCRaANBlHuexyRt63LmSy14gvhdgwkyMvCTzxMgDjSTKohsseNYqGvJx9C0tGo2uZNKoltVGI_3qHge-2Xag-A/s320/020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721779067182227074" border="0" /></a><br />Wow, I didn't realize it had been almost a month since my last post. Like usual we've been pretty busy. Fiona was diagnosed with allergies and possible asthma after having a dry persistent cough for over a month. She was started on Singulair and Nasonex.<br />We've yet to really see whether it's helping because 3 days in she came down with URI and was hacking up a lung all day and night. After 3 nights of no sleep we called her ped who had us stop the Nasonex for now and gave her codeine to help her sleep. It was a welcome relief, with some unwelcome side effects...lol. She's doing better now though so we'll probably be able to take her off of the codeine in the next few days.<br /><br />At this point she's on Miralax (4x a day), Senna (1x a day), Singulair (1x a day), and Nystatin (2-3x per day) and codeine for now, then back to Nasonex when she's better...I know 5 meds isn't a ton, but sheesh it gets old. We're lucky that Fi's great about taking her meds, but with her going back and forth from my house to her dad and grand parent's it's a lot of keeping up on our end.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe1AgPwf71OBq-T2r8EQUD1MuH4PEmg8UAsvteI3hSQbuHRgMVgp0zLsGcpw2Q4GBzyvgKYmwrUPNboeBCDQSUcOKA2txaDGzoHLIgamZYuV_AkEmwlPJO1t6qSV0D_GrYFRyo9g-l3M/s1600/zoo+and+childrens+015.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe1AgPwf71OBq-T2r8EQUD1MuH4PEmg8UAsvteI3hSQbuHRgMVgp0zLsGcpw2Q4GBzyvgKYmwrUPNboeBCDQSUcOKA2txaDGzoHLIgamZYuV_AkEmwlPJO1t6qSV0D_GrYFRyo9g-l3M/s320/zoo+and+childrens+015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721779066080841602" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This week we'll see Dr Yang for her 6m cardio check up, hoping that everything looks the same. So far the degeneration in her aortic valve has been slow and we really want it to stay that way. I never really get nervous for her other doctors, but cardio always worries me because in the back of my mind I know that we could go and hear it's time for another surgery.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-A7UHWwoJaVFt03rVilyyIs4E9CbjhEmKaXxko8GkNHx4K2NbYI6DKC43UBqdYBjov-Mj5v6ew41VkjkGP5N4MUiHtIi5WvXmxNPn9c3cwdGbunZqKiQGVstP4X7HYli7YcmNd_QO-Y/s1600/040.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-A7UHWwoJaVFt03rVilyyIs4E9CbjhEmKaXxko8GkNHx4K2NbYI6DKC43UBqdYBjov-Mj5v6ew41VkjkGP5N4MUiHtIi5WvXmxNPn9c3cwdGbunZqKiQGVstP4X7HYli7YcmNd_QO-Y/s320/040.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721779071553154722" border="0" /></a>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-20045093682434029442012-02-29T14:03:00.002-06:002012-02-29T14:07:18.030-06:00Urology Appointment<span style="min-height:50px"><p>Yesterday we had our 1st uro apt. Despite being exhausted from having to get up extra early it was awesome because being the 1st apt of the day we were in and out in a little over an hour! First like always they went over her history and why we were there. Then they took her to US. It was a very quick one to measure her bladder, then back to the room to wait on the doctors. 1st the resident came in talked to us for awhile taking more history. She then told us that Fi's US showed that her bladder capacity is really high for an almost 3yr old, and that despite having soaked wet diaper right before the scan she was still about 60% full.</p> <p>Then we waited for her to come back with the urologist. He said, "she clearly has alot going and I'm not surprised that she's having urinary problems" It was good/ not good to hear that, I always worry that a new specialist will look at her and be like, um, why are YOU here?</p> <p>Anyway, for now he just wants us to watch her and how things play out. He feels that her constipation is a big factor in the urine retention. He also said that until we really attempt potty training we won't really see what the true extent of the urinary problems are or really be able to try to work on them with her. So he wants us to go ahead with the behavioral therapist to work towards potty training and come back in 3-6 months.</p> <p>For now he gave us some info on how to try to prevent UTIs, since she's now at high risk for getting them, and also some other things to try to help get rid of the damn yeast infection. He says if we're still battling the yeast when we come back that he wants to do some further testing to see why she keeps getting them. Since it was a first visit and she's not potty trained he's waiting until our FU to decide if she needs to have urodynamics etc preformed. Overall it was a good apt, however, I'm not really thrilled that his only solution for when she has the screaming in pain episodes which have landed us in the ER twice is to give her motrin. At this point, I know that the pain will eventually stop and probably not bring her to the ER right away, but with a toddler it's hard to distinguish exactly what is causing the pain and I'd hate to miss something because it's just "bladder pain".</p> </span>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-67402957564233285892012-02-27T16:55:00.002-06:002012-02-27T17:06:42.063-06:00Quick GI UpdateWe saw Dr Charles today at Children's and he was really nearly horrified by the fact that she had gone through 5 cleanouts and 3 ER visits in one month. Of course it happened to be the month that he was out of the country lol.<br /><br />He thinks that our current plan, no dairy, and 4, 1/2 caps of miralax is good since she's been doing better. He agrees that her getting sick in November was probably the trigger that set her on the down hill slide.<br /><br />I asked him about several things today 1) her anterior anus and my findings about it requiring surgery, he doesn't feel that she does. 2)her reaction to enemas, he doesn't want her having them period 3)using senna and dulcolax, senna yes, but he doesn't want her using the dulcolax because it puts her anus out of her control 4)potty training, we will be getting into the GI therapy next month 5)urinary issues, he's still unsure if they are being caused by the constipation 6)gagging and spitting things out, still calling it rumination if it worsens she will need a scope to rule out esophigitis<br /><br />So our current plan: follow up in 1 month. Use miralax daily, if no bm then we will do senna, if she goes more than 3 days without a true bm we will come back sooner and start therapy then. No fiber supplements. Keep and eye on her bowel habits and swallowing...and I think that pretty much covers it. We'll be back at Children's bright and early for urology with Dr Roth tomorrow.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-38062234702808601402012-02-25T13:22:00.006-06:002012-02-25T13:56:55.242-06:00Busy Bees<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOM61oiAQIqHfJWXL2pMsY3jFG1yQNh8xsbBn4jgeOuPnJzIAUOtsDMIRPhpPeWmYB771xHC6ZJbtIcKaXlZYqbOlaseFysqmfWvXp6LgIy_MazB3wg1iZbaxbn5AbbBfxx4XeK4Rtozc/s1600/mardigras+2012+037.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOM61oiAQIqHfJWXL2pMsY3jFG1yQNh8xsbBn4jgeOuPnJzIAUOtsDMIRPhpPeWmYB771xHC6ZJbtIcKaXlZYqbOlaseFysqmfWvXp6LgIy_MazB3wg1iZbaxbn5AbbBfxx4XeK4Rtozc/s320/mardigras+2012+037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713163733771276930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />We've had so much going on around here. Last Saturday I went with some friends to the Endymion Extravaganza, for those of you who don't live around here, it's a Mardi Gras ball. It was held in the Super Dome for the first time since Katrina. We had so much fun and it was nice to have some mommy time. To go out and hang out with adults was nice esp since with all that's been going on with Fiona lately, I've been pretty stressed.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiE3fJuj_ceWVjk_PmyuUmF1u6HLPkrmGw_qtIW5NdbzTz7H-iBO8KUAjLzCECrUIKJtZemzxBEuv8DGcM8eqnZBuQTycAbB_77b47aeplbtSetSoSVY7uQj-MkxcuwJeI1ts8MiXnnlc/s1600/mardigras+2012+020.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiE3fJuj_ceWVjk_PmyuUmF1u6HLPkrmGw_qtIW5NdbzTz7H-iBO8KUAjLzCECrUIKJtZemzxBEuv8DGcM8eqnZBuQTycAbB_77b47aeplbtSetSoSVY7uQj-MkxcuwJeI1ts8MiXnnlc/s320/mardigras+2012+020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713163730944384450" border="0" /></a><br /><br />She's still been having some episodes of painful urination, and frequently going 12+ hours without peeing. We are seeing Dr Roth at Children's on tuesday for our first urology apt. Hoping that he can give us some insight as to what might be going on. I also want to ask him about the yeast infections, she's pretty much had one constantly for the past 5 months and frequent ones before that. Not sure if that's in the uro realm of things to deal with, but I hope so.<br /><br />We also have GI (Dr Charles) on Monday so it should be a busy 2 days. Interested to hear their take on what's been going on. I also really want to talk to them about our ER experience and my concerns about ever bringing her back to that ER, it was awful!<br /><br />As far as the constipation goes it does seem like she is improving since coming off of dairy...so fingers crossed that this was the solution that we needed. She's currently taking 4 1/2 caps of miralax a day and senna/ dulcolax suppositories as needed. We did the senna 2x a day for 1 week along with the 3 days of dulcolax and that was really the turning point. In awesome news Fiona has actually asked to use the potty and pooped on it 2 times! I'm sooo excited by this because I was really beginning to think we may never get to the potty training point with her. Since she's making progress on her own I really want to push to get her in the GI therapy program ASAP. I'm very sure now that her issue is not holding it in since she wants to go.<br /><br />Of course with the good comes the other...lol. It's always something. I know I mentioned this months ago, but Fi has been still chewing up food and then gagging and spitting it out. She's also swishing her drinks in her mouth, sometimes swallowing, others letting it roll out of her mouth. So I plan to ask about repeating her swallow study. We had assumed that her dysphagia was gone, but maybe we've just been over looking the signs the whole time...idk. I definitely want to rule it out though because she was at aspiration risk and since she's been coughing a lot lately I want to make sure it's not an aspiration thing.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNmfKsEptm0kIsdpicCx_T-VYsAXY5m2IpCX7gJM6SMn6ioFLN5TWM1hPOuTNVWPigkmjVKTHqa_e7f-OQcr82eodHh-CXbYO-yLSPNVrdDT-wLL8KDBDotO_9Y5ykG3mD7xdmnJGAqlE/s1600/mardigras+2012+057.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNmfKsEptm0kIsdpicCx_T-VYsAXY5m2IpCX7gJM6SMn6ioFLN5TWM1hPOuTNVWPigkmjVKTHqa_e7f-OQcr82eodHh-CXbYO-yLSPNVrdDT-wLL8KDBDotO_9Y5ykG3mD7xdmnJGAqlE/s320/mardigras+2012+057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713163738615002834" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Even with all of the craziness we've still been having fun. Fiona had a great time at the parades and caught tons of stuff. She told me she wanted to go to parades today and when I told her that there are no parades, she said "but why not?"...lol. We did Chuck E Cheese, got pictures taken, bought dressers and I made her a new dress...no wonder my house is a mess lol. I'll try to update after each of her apts and also when I hear back from Cinci.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZhfUSb1FGYn9LFFB9QWpZ8Pds4LBWHuIDiV4xx2eTEZpJ6jQoT0DjfDC7ofGFhnUqef8J-GJxbpTCoLvOsrUjBXdaHG9qd11Bw092AZetGuH_mj0xbg8U8TTbwb-espyW6qjzEd7-ZE/s1600/019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZhfUSb1FGYn9LFFB9QWpZ8Pds4LBWHuIDiV4xx2eTEZpJ6jQoT0DjfDC7ofGFhnUqef8J-GJxbpTCoLvOsrUjBXdaHG9qd11Bw092AZetGuH_mj0xbg8U8TTbwb-espyW6qjzEd7-ZE/s320/019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713163743690114066" border="0" /></a>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-59894667420133617302012-02-13T16:33:00.003-06:002012-02-13T17:13:42.431-06:00A Mommy Obsessed (and Heart Week)For those of you who don't know last Monday I got a phone call that Fiona was in severe pain and I needed bring her to the ER. So I rushed to her grandparents, picked her up and off to the ER we went. By that point she had peed and her pain had stopped. We realized that the pain and peeing were correlated.<br /><br />In the ER we had to go in this creepy multi person, adult and child room, which in all of our trips to Tulane we have never had to do. They thought maybe she had a UTI and she was definitely crying when she had to pee again, the other theory was that she was constipated again and this was causing her to not be able to urinate.<br /><br />We went for an xray and it showed that she was full of stool, again (3 days post cleanout), but the doctor said he didn't think this was the problem. So they kept trying for a urine sample and finally cathed her. The test was clear, so they sent us home with instructions to keep doing miralax, 2 days of dulcolax suppositories and 1 week of stimulant lax. Well it did work in getting her emptied out. I did notice also that after they cathed her she said she felt much better and did not complain again about peeing. So we still don't know exactly what was causing such severe pain.<br /><br />Now that she's not just having poop issues, but pee issues (this has been going on to some extent since Nov) I'm even more frustrated...and I feel like our hopes of potty training are drifting farther and farther away.<br /><br />So I took it upon myself to do some more research into motility disorders, and solutions. Well I found out that the test she had at 1, the barium enema has a false negative rate of 24% when checking for hirschprung's disease, and that it doesn't even look at the actual cells, which is what truly determines whether or not someone has this disease. I also looked up the anterior anus, her dx from children's, and found that it's a debated dx. Many doctors believe that there is no such thing as a malpositioned anus with normal function...it's either a variant of normal or a perineal fistula.<br /><br />With all of my new info in toe I'm going to request a suction biopsy at our next GI apt, to rule out HD more diffinitively. Secondly, I also emailed Cincinatti, the #1 GI hospital in the country, with the only Colorectal Institute. They already emailed me back and the best thing their email said was "we are happy to help your child". They sent me a request for certain records to send to them. Fi's Dad is very against the idea of Cinci because he is always against having testhing done and just would rather say, "well her body always works funny, what are you going to find out...etc" I want answers, or at least to get her feeling better so that we can get her potty trained and in school...he's content though and thinks things are good enough.<br /><br />With all of this GI stuff going on I sometimes forget about the other big part of our journey, the heart stuff. This week is CHD awareness week. Fiona is 1 in 100! I would have never known that so many kids are affected by heart defects until I was thrown into this world almost 3 yrs ago. We are so lucky that Fiona, despite not having a prenatal diagnosis, had her CHD caught early and was able to have life saving heart surgery at just 2 days old. We are so grateful for all of the doctors and nurses who have kept Fiona here with us. It isn't always an easy journey, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am a better person and more importantly a better mommy because I am a heart mommy.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKeHPnszAnfvrT3_kAI5-DKijg6YK71a1UYPjX9JNrv-jvgZWjVIuc5hKrl722X0cTveYpJiTnj_ZB4mmnPi9IFxndXBi-hxYrYHDpKI9Pf87qagaS3ZoettSdwzvOEajHjDFb-1PGKIs/s1600/fi+post+op.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKeHPnszAnfvrT3_kAI5-DKijg6YK71a1UYPjX9JNrv-jvgZWjVIuc5hKrl722X0cTveYpJiTnj_ZB4mmnPi9IFxndXBi-hxYrYHDpKI9Pf87qagaS3ZoettSdwzvOEajHjDFb-1PGKIs/s320/fi+post+op.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708761855217768178" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQ8HdxTASDcKFU5eHEoIc_CWlz1tD4qLt0UVgwAxCzohDjMM0SVsiTs7MGKvM9T3ryPD06fYN9tg1uPPiT9Iloe3HKkuXwEr0sKl947696p7Xh8Oc5jhp6mVFMgzrH1tb2VyND7nFyfI/s1600/011.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQ8HdxTASDcKFU5eHEoIc_CWlz1tD4qLt0UVgwAxCzohDjMM0SVsiTs7MGKvM9T3ryPD06fYN9tg1uPPiT9Iloe3HKkuXwEr0sKl947696p7Xh8Oc5jhp6mVFMgzrH1tb2VyND7nFyfI/s320/011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5708761862511218578" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=" ;font-family:georgia;font-size:9pt;" ></span></span>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-35152735215346512192012-02-02T16:04:00.003-06:002012-02-02T22:42:56.582-06:00She's Full of Poop and I'm VindicatedI don't think ever in history has any parent heard the words, "I reviewed the films and you're right, she's completely full of stool", and felt like doing a happy dance as much as i did. It's not that I didn't know it, but it was sooo good to hear that I, the measly parent, do know what constipation looks like in my child.<br /><br />Unfortunately this means another cleanout, if you're keeping tabs that's number 3 in the past month and they are no fun. Basically it involves giving nothing but clear liquids and laxative until she poops clear. This is a miserable process and usually involves many tears shed and a very grumpy little girl.<br /><br />Once we are finished with this Fiona will go back on a milk protein free diet and we will trial using soy milk. Hopefully this will be the change that helps. In 2 months we'll follow up. If we've seen an improvement then we'll stay just milk free, if we're in the same spot we are now she will have to go back on an elemental formula like Elecare Jr. It's really tricky to do such a restrictive diet, so we don't want to have to go that extreme yet.<br /><br />On a side note February is CHD awareness month...I'll do a heart post soon...but for today it's all about the poop :-)Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-86271675873719600562012-01-24T20:09:00.003-06:002012-01-24T20:37:17.002-06:00Having Some Smooth Sailing (knock on wood)<div style="text-align: left;">After 2 ER visits, 2 cleanouts with clear liquids and an increased laxative dosage Fiona is finally doing better. We will be seeing our GI at Tulane on Feb 2nd (their soonest apt with double booking) and we will be keeping out Feb 23rd apt with her GI at Children's. I really want to try to come up with the best plan of action so I'd like to know what they both have to say, since this is out of the norm for her.<br /><br />I really hope at the Children's apt we can talk some about getting her into GI behavior therapy since we really want her to be able to start pre-k (wow I can't believe I'm saying that about my baby) in the fall. So far we've been told to hold off on potty training until other issues are under control, but I so don't want her to miss out on the school experience because of something as silly as potty training.<br /><br />Hoping that we can keep her feeling well, esp since she's had such a hard time growing and when she's impacted/ during cleanouts she can't eat or hold anything down, so I'm worried about it in that aspect as well. For now though, I'm going to enjoy having my boogie back (even if it means hearing all about beautiful flowers at 2 am).<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQF-XJkFcF546dnLg4nbrN_lA6pcGYmmAdnCt0nX5ea8toP3i1oYe_DmgQrUFrsoAZzWTzQvlwrK6gRnU0a0yGsDTdMvgw757I7Pejj1OazKBSrt5d7tk43xb0_AKbg8aQ5DteKpFiYU/s1600/012.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQF-XJkFcF546dnLg4nbrN_lA6pcGYmmAdnCt0nX5ea8toP3i1oYe_DmgQrUFrsoAZzWTzQvlwrK6gRnU0a0yGsDTdMvgw757I7Pejj1OazKBSrt5d7tk43xb0_AKbg8aQ5DteKpFiYU/s320/012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701390632398285266" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0UMkwb1gIi2E0MH_4-4O4N-zRc_ls8m1rIzFPv2RxIE0JLYeXH0a5alYMUjypaEqfe0huRmPy-7osjtNSi6g98zWNhRIUc7eivBwedUi0HT3aTxO-4KTQ-_6uXQdZtuQgdifydvdtQs/s1600/013.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd0UMkwb1gIi2E0MH_4-4O4N-zRc_ls8m1rIzFPv2RxIE0JLYeXH0a5alYMUjypaEqfe0huRmPy-7osjtNSi6g98zWNhRIUc7eivBwedUi0HT3aTxO-4KTQ-_6uXQdZtuQgdifydvdtQs/s320/013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701390638136035522" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-_msmkmaIsJoseJr-pc00a4yUIlafR4B8WX_i6FEkizs7BOqDuMIT76ZnzwNTiruVGLjVK9eTSOsHlJBL49QwoDjRPQNC9ItA0VxlwgRSAcIO9RQfDvmb8YmpqC_lzIgg3Rm9-ymz44/s1600/016.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-_msmkmaIsJoseJr-pc00a4yUIlafR4B8WX_i6FEkizs7BOqDuMIT76ZnzwNTiruVGLjVK9eTSOsHlJBL49QwoDjRPQNC9ItA0VxlwgRSAcIO9RQfDvmb8YmpqC_lzIgg3Rm9-ymz44/s320/016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701390643159609218" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On a side note, please keep Fiona's heart buddy Graycen in your thoughts and prayers. She is 16 months and has HLHS, she's currently in ICU battling a bacterial and fungal infection in her blood that has gone to her heart. She will be in the hospital for at least a few months undergoing IV treatments, if they don't work she will need a valve replacement, and she currently also needs the Nissen surgery to prevent aspiration. She's a tough little chicken, but she's very sick and needs all the prayers she can get.<br /></div>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-34298554195010311802012-01-12T21:34:00.002-06:002012-01-12T21:50:34.448-06:00Oh PoopSo after basically being cleaned out last week, Fiona is now constipated again. I really don't know what to do at this point. What was the change in her that led to the miralax etc starting to fail. She's always had difficulty going, but since she went on Miralax we can generally manage it.<br /><br />I feel so bad for her and she's in obvious pain. She's shrieking like she used to as a newborn. It's awful. We've cut out milk and put her back on coconut milk. Upped her dose to 2-3 times daily and we had a couple days of nothing but watery yuck and then boom she stopped pooping again. I swear if you would have told me 3 years ago when I was gearing up to have this little lady that I'd spend so much time worrying about and typing about her poop I wouldn't have thought it was possible.<br /><br />The thing that worries me the most in this situation is where we were a week ago with 2 failed enemas, countless doses of laxative, 2 er visits, clear liquids and a child who was just lying around in pain, if these things are failing what are we left with? This can't become our new normal and it really sucks because it's pushing our hopes for potty training at any reasonable time out of reach. I really want her to start preschool in the fall, but I'm pretty sure at this rate we'll need to try to find one that will work with her. It's not, in the grand scheme the worst thing, it's just frustrating to not be able to even try to make progress when you know they're ready from a cognitive stand point.<br /><br />Hopefully, I can get her into see Dr E tomorrow and discuss what's going on and although we can't get into GI right now she can talk to them. Icing on the cake is that Fi has another yeast infection, which I've lost count of how many that makes over the past few months. I really want a solution for that situation as well.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-88888616318959443112012-01-05T21:15:00.002-06:002012-01-05T21:45:05.087-06:00Crappy New Year to Us (pun intended)Fiona started grabbing her stomach a little on Sunday. By Monday night she was having some obvious pain and it was pretty apparent that she was really constipated. This is not our first rodeo, so I went ahead and gave her 2 full caps of miralax back to back before bed and nothing happened. She was up throughout the night complaining that her tummy hurt.<br /><br />The next morning I had to go to work but let her dad know what I had noticed. He said that she'd gone twice on Saturday and was surprised she was struggling so much. He went ahead and gave her miralax with every drink that she had, but still nothing came out. I picked her up around 3 and tried to feed her lunch, she was in so much pain that she was arching her back and screaming...I'd already left a message at the ped office, but hadn't heard anything back.<br /><br />I got a call back around 5 and Dr E said to keep up with the miralax and just do clear liquids. If her pain was out of control we could try and enema or bring her to the ER, but otherwise just watch her. She was miserable and wouldn't play or really move so I decided to bring her to the ER at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. It was such a disaster experience!<br /><br />First off we had to wait over 2 hours to even get into an exam room and then another 40min to see the doctor. The doctor came in, did a very brief exam and ordered an enema. The nurse came and gave it to her and after an hour we still had no results other than Fiona falling asleep after screaming bloody murder. The doctor then decided that she would do an exam, and tried to break up the poop. Still nothing happened, but since Fi was sleeping she said she was fine to go home.<br /><br />Well I don't think she was very comfortable at all, she was very shaky and on the car ride home she started projectile vomiting. I immediately called the on call ped who basically said, not my problem call the ER back they just saw her.<br /><br />The ER was no help either and just said she was vomiting because of the pressure in her stomach and was fine to wait until morning and to follow up with her doctors in the morning. So I woke up 1st thing and called Dr E's and Dr C's offices. Dr E's office called and said it was a GI issue and left a message with Jeannine at Dr F's (our GI at Tulane). She called back and said to do another enema and a clean out. Fi ended up sleeping most of the day so we got a late start. After 5 doses of miralax, and a second failed enema Fiona began vomiting again. At that point I was really getting concerned so I brought her to the Tulane Pediatric ER.<br /><br />We had to wait maybe a 1/2 hour, but they were busier than I've ever seen and were much nicer about the wait. They immediately said that they were going to make her feel better before sending us home which was really a relief. In typical Fiona fashion as we're waiting to see the doctor she pees (for the 1st time all day) soaking her outfit and the bed. When the doctor came in and saw, she'd also pooped a little he said that it was a good sign and that we were likely headed in the right direction he then gave me the option to have her admitted and do a clean out with Go-lytely using and NG tube or go home.<br /><br />After thinking about it and discussing it with her dad I asked if we could stay a little while and see how she did before deciding. Well luckily Fi's body made the decision for us, she started screaming and freaking out and I was thinking, I guess we'll be staying, but amazingly she finally pooped, and was definitely feeling better after. So we decided to go home.<br /><br />Today she woke up and has been a little cranky but she's finally back on track. For the first time in days she's been running around, dancing, jumping and best of all smiling. Her tummy is still bothering her a little, but overall she's a million times better. We've decided to take her back off of dairy for now since we really don't want to put her through this again.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-81030499978399728762011-12-29T16:57:00.005-06:002011-12-29T17:43:39.854-06:00Christmas Month<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mQkyIYz-m70dhiI0FAEPN34T0UaJ51rsuIXKQN09pdXwZ7v0dc7gbTyGOPIxSv6jaAl4FWEm9mKGOxAxgbmjMEUfuNNzmbOHaPb_5zU6EVRlwQGszTJ0IFS_VDsoJlWTMFzmJ7GXZaw/s1600/423.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mQkyIYz-m70dhiI0FAEPN34T0UaJ51rsuIXKQN09pdXwZ7v0dc7gbTyGOPIxSv6jaAl4FWEm9mKGOxAxgbmjMEUfuNNzmbOHaPb_5zU6EVRlwQGszTJ0IFS_VDsoJlWTMFzmJ7GXZaw/s320/423.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691697500188618370" border="0" /></a><br />Wow, I can't believe I didn't post an update for whole month. We were super busy with the holidays, esp since I was working crazy hours in retail which wasn't much fun at all. Going in to December I decided to give Fi a month off from scheduled doctors visits. My plan didn't really work because Dr Charles' office called to move up Fi's apt from Jan 09, to Dec 20. Luckily, she stayed healthy all month and it ended up being our only doctor visit!<br /><br />My mom came to spend the holidays with us in New Orleans and she was such a big help with Fiona, I really wish she lived closer to us! After one day here with Fi's insane sleep pattern that she picked up while she was sick all of Nov, my mom told me, "no wonder you're always tired"...it's nice to hear from someone else that your exhaustion is well earned.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXO2c0mZZO5wBHt_P2KuVSO-qgHg1Co5cBAwxLtHiemGfyjpVWjrY_Sdcl8yX7O0ONTtTix0yM1InAWxhqCbDq22CX0pQo5gx6xMeNU5nPqIIeF2DRahomYKlcAJqPTcWolUO7iD8OmHY/s1600/104.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXO2c0mZZO5wBHt_P2KuVSO-qgHg1Co5cBAwxLtHiemGfyjpVWjrY_Sdcl8yX7O0ONTtTix0yM1InAWxhqCbDq22CX0pQo5gx6xMeNU5nPqIIeF2DRahomYKlcAJqPTcWolUO7iD8OmHY/s320/104.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691696136543681938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We took Fiona to celebration in the Oaks and she actually had fun this year. She loved all of the pretty lights, story land and most of all she liked the train display. It was nice to be able to have my mom go, it's such fun holiday tradition here.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79wJMLTlTcJhSLyHcbVAzphi8O85CmjcivVPT-7PLhiIrfJOULUvPBLEntUWumV0a2pS14cUASbQewm54x7NtKjEq8UpIsvKYGn9fx4JW3o6NIbUeqabLH0M0bTOHpk1XXgGVQRd0k1I/s1600/005.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79wJMLTlTcJhSLyHcbVAzphi8O85CmjcivVPT-7PLhiIrfJOULUvPBLEntUWumV0a2pS14cUASbQewm54x7NtKjEq8UpIsvKYGn9fx4JW3o6NIbUeqabLH0M0bTOHpk1XXgGVQRd0k1I/s320/005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691696139701863442" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On the 20th we saw Dr. Charles. Fi is back up to 27lb and still 34.5 in. He was really surprised that when we had gone to the ER for the lack of urine output they didn't do an xray or anything to verify an impaction before doing the enema. He agreed with me that it was not likely the cause. So it's still a mystery? Oh well. He wants us to start giving her fiber again (which I'm a little iffy on) but I guess we can give it a shot even though it was a nightmare last time. He also wants us to give her miralax in less liquid so she'll consume it faster since it's ineffective after 20min and she rarely drinks that much that quickly. He also acted a little concerned that her murmur seemed louder, but she hasn't had any symptoms so we'll just stick with our march apt for cardio. By far the best part of this apt was that they let her pick a toy for xmas! She picked a little pink cell phone. We go back in 2mon for follow up.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhph7TiQaT3SkrcvfRdbbH-8XMYzsBkveWb3_wofRVrBrRhJVy6biIPxNDz7qqRprWHEgLcq4SMjQCIIMsLkBU-7mFLJ7CAjicZwYjJYwvrVRu5oFOoiOPgESver2o4MjzLT2AEoRRzlww/s1600/021.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhph7TiQaT3SkrcvfRdbbH-8XMYzsBkveWb3_wofRVrBrRhJVy6biIPxNDz7qqRprWHEgLcq4SMjQCIIMsLkBU-7mFLJ7CAjicZwYjJYwvrVRu5oFOoiOPgESver2o4MjzLT2AEoRRzlww/s320/021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691696141658408306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwucp5nMK1DgRroJUd4pG6is6PQpwesx9MiC5PWWAVFx3y-d22bjCSl7p9KF-Z7gYdCLcCrJuZ15CiBYi-GHQc86jSOz-6VkmZQZ2Hio5jt_xd_HTKukJ_WSNu2AWWvrV1h2ncq7LCM2A/s1600/011.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwucp5nMK1DgRroJUd4pG6is6PQpwesx9MiC5PWWAVFx3y-d22bjCSl7p9KF-Z7gYdCLcCrJuZ15CiBYi-GHQc86jSOz-6VkmZQZ2Hio5jt_xd_HTKukJ_WSNu2AWWvrV1h2ncq7LCM2A/s320/011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691696154162198674" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had a lot of fun gearing up for xmas. Fi got to see Santa and she actually gave him a hug this yr! On Christmas Eve we baked cookies for Santa and I learned that I only need to make red frosting next year since it was the only color Fi liked. She loved dumping sprinkles on them and we left cookies and milk out for Santa. Funny girl that Fi is, she dumped the milk on the cookies and laughed, "milk and cookies for Santa."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPY_ZYesmS_GK-FZAtYdealZeadNq-oogwJzaOkiHlcMKxeNaI7-pJGe5LBwGDROYoR_z7XOBBbTvUVSv3wpoH5qqT3IK-r88bAl0NCy9_nkU-Tj36ZsUB8JuZK8HYH-3ZcEZrv6tE2f8/s1600/062.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPY_ZYesmS_GK-FZAtYdealZeadNq-oogwJzaOkiHlcMKxeNaI7-pJGe5LBwGDROYoR_z7XOBBbTvUVSv3wpoH5qqT3IK-r88bAl0NCy9_nkU-Tj36ZsUB8JuZK8HYH-3ZcEZrv6tE2f8/s320/062.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691696160735432146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Christmas day she got to open all the gifts that Santa brought including a Slide Set, 4 dollies, clothes, lots of books and DVDs and some special presents from Uncle Keith and Aunt Amanda (a leap frog explorer, rock n roll mickey and cookie monster that gobbles cookies). So much for a small xmas...lol<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnXk7xCFymeBP1MX9FJOureMXAa-EWjBmluOcNQpsTWu7VjbldEPAn-rW-8aUcVmL5-FzTMuUOOe9NBpb2mhJxGvclLReSmCOeexKuxnGAD0cmdNqiI0AVPnTg55egdsYr3aA7S4nUrE/s1600/242.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnXk7xCFymeBP1MX9FJOureMXAa-EWjBmluOcNQpsTWu7VjbldEPAn-rW-8aUcVmL5-FzTMuUOOe9NBpb2mhJxGvclLReSmCOeexKuxnGAD0cmdNqiI0AVPnTg55egdsYr3aA7S4nUrE/s320/242.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691697481593529090" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1niK2FLO7CxbrZn665ESOtxq1Sq2BAPnLWTFG2IIofJx3xm1WCRa0O096KZQPSSa9KNuze-FLf_MUK3NP9YCgbbBhw-t-2DINJKVh9ksVmB4QaHanrYWK3nYtfxRODI0Tu6wP9jcTuw/s1600/356.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1niK2FLO7CxbrZn665ESOtxq1Sq2BAPnLWTFG2IIofJx3xm1WCRa0O096KZQPSSa9KNuze-FLf_MUK3NP9YCgbbBhw-t-2DINJKVh9ksVmB4QaHanrYWK3nYtfxRODI0Tu6wP9jcTuw/s320/356.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691697487348314578" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6iOlCT13l-k9PYvI6Vc3wsjsvUqV8H4GQG-HxGX4cpNr6eAp6zcJIeIKaHhizPTWhYr9i7y-w-bTsm2LVkGD3Zyuvu06JROQ90nmOQYQZhpBLwI5u8LJEXsjKYQa-7tRtwv56-eQdTA/s1600/400.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6iOlCT13l-k9PYvI6Vc3wsjsvUqV8H4GQG-HxGX4cpNr6eAp6zcJIeIKaHhizPTWhYr9i7y-w-bTsm2LVkGD3Zyuvu06JROQ90nmOQYQZhpBLwI5u8LJEXsjKYQa-7tRtwv56-eQdTA/s320/400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691697494646444866" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrobe8c4cAKH37u8OJxARyk409KpeJbtVSOsXsrxHCp7Qve2CJnV_vUSZn9eHT9W7QQjhcMVFg-qbmb8gGSR8yzoiYOI_Kbctf3VrnVNxgkW1hqGO-0tc4dVLHvP2tXegsV0XjP-l8es/s1600/398.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrobe8c4cAKH37u8OJxARyk409KpeJbtVSOsXsrxHCp7Qve2CJnV_vUSZn9eHT9W7QQjhcMVFg-qbmb8gGSR8yzoiYOI_Kbctf3VrnVNxgkW1hqGO-0tc4dVLHvP2tXegsV0XjP-l8es/s320/398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691697514221340418" border="0" /></a>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-66795678998338876952011-11-29T17:26:00.003-06:002011-11-29T17:45:11.790-06:00Endocrinology Etc<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ5G2OPVuvVY9Dxp-Kzgd5DcVuo5oT6HjjAECOHs008CiD9kpnMhL-c1Xahyphenhyphenzaq24byUkML5o1q_gZP2tXK-TtK-JhXUcTul89oJMCuNJd8gE_PLkMAtZPUHdUU6FZ-Xe5832ZJjBPX0/s1600/027.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ5G2OPVuvVY9Dxp-Kzgd5DcVuo5oT6HjjAECOHs008CiD9kpnMhL-c1Xahyphenhyphenzaq24byUkML5o1q_gZP2tXK-TtK-JhXUcTul89oJMCuNJd8gE_PLkMAtZPUHdUU6FZ-Xe5832ZJjBPX0/s320/027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680567436152651570" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Since my last post Fi has definitely improved. She's hardly even coughing, peeing normally and back to her normal self. She has been peeing regularly so I suppose despite my doubt they may have been right. I actually think she's still somewhat constipated so we're working on getting her back to her baseline and after talking with Dr E yesterday we decided that when Fi gets sick we need to boost her miralax.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinc7H6c1XwlgriloKicVWTnZDEJ5KKxwHeT3apMJ2PUOaK4mVuSby-fVQg9V6ajcSxQ_0kOcV8Eejte2hSGsKz_nY0psAqPzpea5_d2D7DLRsKwAv7HDQZdp_5JjHvyvzV4n4o7S9QARk/s1600/013.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinc7H6c1XwlgriloKicVWTnZDEJ5KKxwHeT3apMJ2PUOaK4mVuSby-fVQg9V6ajcSxQ_0kOcV8Eejte2hSGsKz_nY0psAqPzpea5_d2D7DLRsKwAv7HDQZdp_5JjHvyvzV4n4o7S9QARk/s320/013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680567408940473058" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had a good Thanksgiving even though Fi was a total grouch and melting down about nearly everything. Did some Santa duty black friday and worked it as well, but I survived both...happy that it's only once a yr.<br /><br />Now onto Endo. We got into to the car and Fi was fussing and I was like oh great, and then the radio came on and was playing "All of Me" (love that song) she quieted down and I was sure everything would go well today. Dr Vargus was awesome!!! But the best part of the apt was that we found out that Fi is just little. I asked about continuing her high cal diet and he basically shrugged and said we could if we wanted, but she's just going to be small. He said it was clear that she had some issues with growth at one point, but seems to be past it now. What a relief!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMzWeUEQ3bN00vXuXeaZMKmGYZiaaOK6GPQHZyYbFcjNFviMgJ7TmB00T0_iJgVwPgwCMBt4EV3HJlUbctAX8do2-8EO4YLEqXUqlHA8Cw7X9wFODbyDKcF8PIjWl7qKtCfO7BTDkhEs/s1600/029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMzWeUEQ3bN00vXuXeaZMKmGYZiaaOK6GPQHZyYbFcjNFviMgJ7TmB00T0_iJgVwPgwCMBt4EV3HJlUbctAX8do2-8EO4YLEqXUqlHA8Cw7X9wFODbyDKcF8PIjWl7qKtCfO7BTDkhEs/s320/029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680567440549913378" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwe9jSXcpJnwPjxE6hjB2-biRyn8_1A7XzFfP-XxGLpmVVHQ6kQfz_4HLMuZ7I3S6Ric7iAqLk8_JyIcgJ5w-CH93AT897N6R6ZiWWse7-nstQN83J07fGTa0k0HZjS5-UKkQtaVqJ5t8/s1600/026.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwe9jSXcpJnwPjxE6hjB2-biRyn8_1A7XzFfP-XxGLpmVVHQ6kQfz_4HLMuZ7I3S6Ric7iAqLk8_JyIcgJ5w-CH93AT897N6R6ZiWWse7-nstQN83J07fGTa0k0HZjS5-UKkQtaVqJ5t8/s320/026.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680567414393217586" border="0" /></a>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-16488093028769381302011-11-23T17:13:00.003-06:002011-11-23T17:21:20.785-06:00ER Visit Pics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemqT-BlTO6YPK56MS3w8_xuR5ZXuBqWQsbN6n23NDnVuyU-7J-Cnoa2N98o8OBO_f6hEy2y9bH3VMcydTjYAQA0b76VcKpCnpiDhx8YYeGdyY8KpSaAw3Sx38u7VW4EVk5plHX3HlK8E/s1600/1406.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemqT-BlTO6YPK56MS3w8_xuR5ZXuBqWQsbN6n23NDnVuyU-7J-Cnoa2N98o8OBO_f6hEy2y9bH3VMcydTjYAQA0b76VcKpCnpiDhx8YYeGdyY8KpSaAw3Sx38u7VW4EVk5plHX3HlK8E/s320/1406.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678334174910708226" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUpMtz-HmZyjaWl5t2shJ6hyphenhyphenuTc0xDlf1oWVKI9yZ316BV-h9MjTY3rFPTmPL7izG38YULMyr9jWV2e93Rg16gvM7YtObLZbjpeDiWPp6iglIrQYgxJs4-YtmL12YkwIVtol-OvKX55g/s1600/1410.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUpMtz-HmZyjaWl5t2shJ6hyphenhyphenuTc0xDlf1oWVKI9yZ316BV-h9MjTY3rFPTmPL7izG38YULMyr9jWV2e93Rg16gvM7YtObLZbjpeDiWPp6iglIrQYgxJs4-YtmL12YkwIVtol-OvKX55g/s320/1410.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678334831351828322" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoAtbMvuT-ahp4sK-kkMYHsHG5dL_z3UEzhwZm9XCD_AMlOJmYAgHylbKT6oO-bSpdFIw3bUWD6Lp3ICwwH3PnjRB4eUNgmVE-xxVVdTILpw2iXrDVnkb5d89avHHPHyuI_FtTPZHGqQ/s1600/1409.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoAtbMvuT-ahp4sK-kkMYHsHG5dL_z3UEzhwZm9XCD_AMlOJmYAgHylbKT6oO-bSpdFIw3bUWD6Lp3ICwwH3PnjRB4eUNgmVE-xxVVdTILpw2iXrDVnkb5d89avHHPHyuI_FtTPZHGqQ/s320/1409.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678334816811978834" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZsJSdTkNjOwHqc-c0vquPmqe1FHy11LPG3Tqzwg5mnpLSQbUkpR5g2QpjUiLYmU72fVgSTuSfV4F-INk9Y4V4ENQMVYmAiQDeOiWFNp9tSuiOxx-lGoXeIB4Jl65CJKzOl9QWfU7JeI/s1600/1408.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZsJSdTkNjOwHqc-c0vquPmqe1FHy11LPG3Tqzwg5mnpLSQbUkpR5g2QpjUiLYmU72fVgSTuSfV4F-INk9Y4V4ENQMVYmAiQDeOiWFNp9tSuiOxx-lGoXeIB4Jl65CJKzOl9QWfU7JeI/s320/1408.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678334818855891730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAMNzJmr9WAwMtYqZlZMYzErynqvUPu4FwSpAKomTcptS90n2TtuzBcUakA96YCJ9B2wgjsJnO8mkH43rq3E-3Iq57fmX_4m8lTkrEfmGus3n8LsnAPbvAp9yEpiDx4hND5OHR4gNnMs/s1600/1411.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAMNzJmr9WAwMtYqZlZMYzErynqvUPu4FwSpAKomTcptS90n2TtuzBcUakA96YCJ9B2wgjsJnO8mkH43rq3E-3Iq57fmX_4m8lTkrEfmGus3n8LsnAPbvAp9yEpiDx4hND5OHR4gNnMs/s320/1411.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678334833761985538" border="0" /></a>She passed out as soon as she was done pooping. LOLAshley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-34920132452068259382011-11-23T16:06:00.002-06:002011-11-23T16:27:44.897-06:00And So the Plague ContinuesFiona has now been sick for 2 wks. We've been to the ped a total of 3x and just ended our long streak of avoiding the ER. Yesterday I brought Fi back into the ped clinic since she was not improving at all and her cough was actually getting worse. Again everything checked out on her, clear lungs, throat, and ears. The said that she might be at the beginning of a sinus infection, but did not want to give her antibiotics yet. We were sent home and told to watch for any green or brown mucus being coughed up, or coughing until she throws up.<br /><br />So again we went home and she was up a bunch last night. In the meantime since she's been sick she's been constipated on and off but honestly that's not out of the norm for her, esp when she's sick. Well when we went to the ped yesterday I didn't think anything about it. Today I noticed that she wasn't wetting diapers so I called her ped. They advised me to head to the ER since if I went to the clinic they would send us in to be admitted.<br /><br />It took me awhile to track down the stuff for our hospital visit bag since I stopped keeping one together after going so long with no real bumps in the road. We didn't even have to wait and the triage nurse was very nice. She noticed that her heart rate was a little high at 130 and pulse ox a little low for Fi at 94%. So when we got in the room the hooked her up to the pulse ox to keep an eye on this. They were also convinced she had a fever, which she didn't.<br /><br />The decided to cath her and get a urine sample thinking she had a UTI. The results came back clear, so they said that they thought her stool being impacted was the problem. We opted to go for an enema clean out there because if it didn't work at home I didn't want to be right back.<br /><br />Poor Fiona was literally punching herself in the stomach and yelling it hurts, I felt terrible for her. I almost cried watching her, it was bad. After about 15 min she was cleaned out and fell asleep. Sure this is a TMI but in the grand scheme this wasn't that much poop, nothing like the amt I've seen with cleanouts in the past. I'm a little doubtful that this was the problem and if she doesn't start peeing by 10pm I'm taking her to the ER at Children's Hospital because I don't feel like we're getting anywhere with this particular illness at Tulane.<br /><br />I'll add some pics in a bit...waiting for them to uploadAshley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-10401348332468320942011-11-15T12:06:00.003-06:002011-11-15T12:33:45.097-06:00A Sick Little MonkeySo Fi has pretty much been sick for the last week (fever started last wed). She had fever for 2 days. Friday I woke her up and was excited that she didn't have a fever. She was very grumpy though and a couple minutes after waking up she puked. It was all bile since she hadn't eaten the day before. Well since I had missed work 2 days already I decided to go in. As soon as we got to her Dad's house she threw up again. The whole day she kept throwing up and we had skipped her miralax because of that, didn't want to dehydrate her. Well that night her tummy was hard and distended, which freaked me out since she was vomiting and hadn't eaten...long story short she was constipated :-/<br /><br />Saturday she woke up, no fever, no puking just completely back to her normal rotten self. Going crazy from being home all week we ventured out to a couple stores and got some xmas craft stuff. It was an uneventful day and I was sure she was better...until Sunday<br /><br />Sunday she woke up with a little bit of a cough, mentioned it to her dad when he picked her up and didn't think much of it. She ended up being up all night coughing her voice got very raspy and he text me at work to say that we needed to get her in to the doctor. So I called yesterday and left a message saying we needed to be seen again, they called back my cell and I was at work so I had to call and leave another message, with another frickin person and tell them all the same stuff.<br /><br />They called me back the 2nd time at after 1pm so there was no chance of getting in same day. So we made an apt for 1st thing in the AM. Laz (Fi's dad) who usually never worries when she gets sick was worried that we'd need to go to the ER because she was really sick. He told me to see her and decide what I thought was best. When she got home she seemed okay. It is a really yucky cough but I thought we should wait.<br /><br />So I brought her in this morning. They weighed her and at 1st it said 26lb 6oz but then it was 26lb 8oz after a couple minutes? Regardless this means she's lost a 1/2 lb since Thu and considering how hard it is to get her to gain it kind of sucks. The good news was that they didn't find anything wrong, ears, lungs, and throat are all clear. So they think that she just has a nasty virus and we need to just let it run its course. I would have preferred that they get a better look at her throat though, she was fighting them so much...the resident said she got a good look, but Fi was wiggling so much I'm not sure how she could have. I just can't imagine that with how hoarse she is her throat is not at least red?..Maybe I'm wrong.<br /><br />At this point I just hope she gets better quickly and we can avoid going back in. We all need some good sleep and healthy time :-)Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-35221891236406441292011-11-11T16:01:00.003-06:002011-11-11T16:20:36.224-06:00We Have the "Plague"So the past week, to put it mildly has sucked completely. It started when I got a tickle in my throat last Friday. Saturday it was sore, but not awful, Sunday it was a little worse. By Monday night I felt like I was dying. I barely made it through my shift at work and when I woke up the next morning I knew I couldn't make it through another. So I stayed home and just laid around all day with Fi and figured I'd be better by the morning.<br /><br />Well as it became night I realized that I was only getting worse and was actually considering going to the ER, but decided to go buy some OTC stuff and suck it up. Stayed home again Wed. Well in the AM I noticed Fi felt warm, took her temp and it was a little high (which btw was not a symptom I'd had). I was mad because I thought for once Fi would be spared the illness. By Wed night Fi was burning up (fever was almost 103), but she was refusing all fever meds.<br /><br />Finally got her to take some and called the ped office in the AM. Brought her in and Dr E examined her and said it was most likely viral, but hard to say at that point since fever was her only symptom and everything looked ok. We came home and took it easy, fever stayed around 101-102 all day. Gave her some ibuprophen so she'd sleep better and went to sleep (which I hadn't really the night before)<br /><br />Well I had to be up at 6 for work and I tried to go to sleep early. Fi was out at 9:30, but I was up all night hacking up a lung. So I was exhausted this morning. Got Fi up at 6:40 and she whined like no other and insisted that she was sleeping. Usually she's not so angry. Brought her downstairs and 2sec later vomit...good news no fever though. So I call her dad because I need to leave for his house like now, and here she is puking, so he said just bring her. I thought for sure she'd puke in the car but she held off until we got to his house. Talked to him at 12pm and he said she was still puking and won't drink. Since then she's actually drank a little and peed twice (which she hadn't done since yesterday afternoon)...so I hope we can keep her hydrated, may call and see if we can get her some zofran.<br /><br />So we've been busy being sick and I forgot to mention the craziest symptom I've had is that when I sneeze my chest, arms, ribs etc feel like a bomb went off and burn for minutes after...it's awful, I call it the death sneeze, and funny enough when I googled death sneeze it turns out you can in fact die from sneezing.Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-6114727288937141862011-11-04T14:27:00.006-05:002011-11-04T14:57:39.034-05:00Sleeping Too Much?...and Other Fun<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zl95WCUZZI2MUS_5j_6CS-o_79CYHU2uO1dAtDf32d8OLcvDMleJkMDSvgwKdV39rt_pSkAn9Vf8v_wgyP1mhBY8biUFWUKm6s5La-G97vvtTAnqnTRo7f7V1ZJgnMMSDZcK2P7hwPk/s1600/037.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zl95WCUZZI2MUS_5j_6CS-o_79CYHU2uO1dAtDf32d8OLcvDMleJkMDSvgwKdV39rt_pSkAn9Vf8v_wgyP1mhBY8biUFWUKm6s5La-G97vvtTAnqnTRo7f7V1ZJgnMMSDZcK2P7hwPk/s320/037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671231614950264386" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />It's been a little while since I updated and we've been staying pretty busy. Fi had a great time with all of the Halloween activities over the past couple weeks. We visited the pumpkin patch...sort of twice, hung out with some her friends and did 3 different trick or treat days. She didn't get a ton of candy which was fine with me. She looked adorable dressed as Cinderella.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgumZqhK0dcgw3FsJrJbwean8lLfU2T0A3Owli99cH6Daz-Z5-TlJ6XcKj7GMwQo1RXqozmbykw8UgFysMzYnzZfpOne4MfbvYqkVqiqNh3A0uMHX-PWO3LchFY5JaXtO7KXunFbc1wrIw/s1600/048.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgumZqhK0dcgw3FsJrJbwean8lLfU2T0A3Owli99cH6Daz-Z5-TlJ6XcKj7GMwQo1RXqozmbykw8UgFysMzYnzZfpOne4MfbvYqkVqiqNh3A0uMHX-PWO3LchFY5JaXtO7KXunFbc1wrIw/s320/048.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671230473274384882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I called her ped office 2wks ago as she'd had some tummy troubles, and her yeast infection was going on 3 weeks and getting worse despite using a topical med the entire time. We decided to go ahead and try Fluconazole (aka diflucan), we did 10mg for a week in addition to the Nystatin. Well around day 5 things started to look better and her yeast infection was gone at day 7. I was excited and thought we were in the clear esp since we've recently started potty training and she's spending less time in diapers. Well to my surprise it was back in full force yesterday and today she was complaining about it hurting.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynhIUsfZmsYvoM845mLoyRdO_EkfPybITmGhPpHwwW5mtE2-V53Ek75EyaBL4M1hjCE5c6BTNXQABhYp8XCpiY_GjkLhcEGGkKlfYVOQYOXqKEQ7fOyEVuHz42PNS__jIWG8Eb8-q40s/s1600/037.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynhIUsfZmsYvoM845mLoyRdO_EkfPybITmGhPpHwwW5mtE2-V53Ek75EyaBL4M1hjCE5c6BTNXQABhYp8XCpiY_GjkLhcEGGkKlfYVOQYOXqKEQ7fOyEVuHz42PNS__jIWG8Eb8-q40s/s320/037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671230468319014658" border="0" /></a><br />She also has been sleeping, what we think may be a ton. She will often nap for 4 or more hours during the day and is still sleeping around 12 hours per night. I discussed this with the nurse when I called today and she said we just need to watch her because without any other symptoms they're not really worried about it...so who knows. She was however concerned about the yeast infection and said that we can try Nystatin again for a couple days, but if it doesn't work we need to come into the office.<br /><br />I've tried to find any info on recurrent yeast infections in children and what can cause them but I've come up empty handed...but i don't think it was: bubble baths, baby soap, laundry detergent, non-zinc based diaper cream, or the wipes we were using since we've eliminated all of those things and she's still getting them.<br /><br />But the big news of the week....Fi got her ears pierced!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKzCHJB7sH6MSl-I86wSRUCU5ev0_q_oBEKpCNBvYehlhShgWZq5G40QcjseYcFV-iHyI3aDh2rro9usy5o0IHxLEtoknfXbEpw7kPJchs7TwFGFYufq7M6E_p094g0gK8RACbuciWTA/s1600/ears+003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKzCHJB7sH6MSl-I86wSRUCU5ev0_q_oBEKpCNBvYehlhShgWZq5G40QcjseYcFV-iHyI3aDh2rro9usy5o0IHxLEtoknfXbEpw7kPJchs7TwFGFYufq7M6E_p094g0gK8RACbuciWTA/s320/ears+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671230466834595010" border="0" /></a>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-61204271125172212282011-10-13T14:09:00.005-05:002011-10-13T14:42:09.678-05:00Busy Busy Busy!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >I feel like all we've been done is run around like crazy people! My work has been a little chaotic to say the least so that hasn't helped. I was off on Tuesday, so we went to get my car worked on (new tire, oil change, fuel system clean, air filter , wipers etc). We spent 3 freakin hours playing in Walmart waiting for it to be done. While we were there I had called her ped office about a few different things, a low fever that's been going on for over a week on and off, flu shot, refill and her stupid yeast infections.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >Well I figured they'd just have us come in sometime later in the week but to my shock and happiness they said they were pretty much open anytime all week so just call when my car was done. Called them at 2:15 and had an apt for 2:30, now that is awesome! We got there and went through triage and in another happy moment she is now, ready for it, 27lb 4oz!!! All I can say is wow Scandical! It's helping sooo much, I really can't even believe it.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >They checked her out and said that the fever was most likely just viral since they found no source, which is always nice. She does in fact have yet another yeast infection though :-( we've done everything we can do prevent them and they're still coming all the time...I'm considering trying a modified diet to help prevent them, but I'm not going to completely take every fruit etc out of her diet, that would be nuts and I don't think it's worth it.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >She also got her flu shot and did awesome, not a tear, and barely even a whimper. She's such a tough little cookie. I was very happy that she didn't spike a fever after the shot because she has in the past. The only issue that I've noticed since she got the shot is that she has been having really lose stools. Had to stop the miralax which I really don't like to do because she often gets very backed up after having the opposite problems, at the same time we don't want her dehydrated so it's what we had to do. I'm not sure if the poop issues and the Flu shot are connected since I haven't seen it listed as a side effect, but I don't see why it couldn't be.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >Today is my other off day and we started it where else, but at Walmart, we had to go in because they overcharged my acct by almost $50 last week. Everyone was rude to me about it, as if it's my fault and despite having called about it yesterday and being told I needed to come in Thu between 6am and 3pm, no one knew anything about it. Such a frustrating situation. I still can't believe that not one of the 3 associates that I spoke with today in the customer service apologized at all for the mistake, at</span> least I got my money back, but there have been times where I wouldn't have been able to go a week missing $50 from my acct.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:verdana;" >After that drama I took Fi to Chuck E Cheese for about an hour. She had a great time and it was a good time to go since it was all little kids since the big ones are all at school. It was really calm in there which I appreciate because my nerves were a little frayed from Walmart. Since then we've just been running erands, and Fi is supposed to be napping now. I'm a little concerned that she has not peed yet today, but she has been drinking so hopefully it's no big deal. Now I feel like I need a nap just from typing that and we still have a ton more to get done!</span><br /></div>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-17500536121493728782011-10-03T16:29:00.003-05:002011-10-03T17:11:54.050-05:00GI Visit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_hyJwBRKIM6_n7pRaDYl5npfoh-k28Dz7lfhopxI6Oijkm5afWsMA-_EW3H4nbwVBPUifdoQ7o-0bYmtl5cDBm62kDkUzYFpaCH0isYZrvSP1Yp705d7y7IThcKDwUhFLz61BbAI4MQ/s1600/036.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj_hyJwBRKIM6_n7pRaDYl5npfoh-k28Dz7lfhopxI6Oijkm5afWsMA-_EW3H4nbwVBPUifdoQ7o-0bYmtl5cDBm62kDkUzYFpaCH0isYZrvSP1Yp705d7y7IThcKDwUhFLz61BbAI4MQ/s320/036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659389842804760258" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">Fiona had her 2 month follow up with Dr Charles at Children's today. I was really anxious to see how she's growing. We had cardiology on Sept 22nd she was doing awesome, but in the past couple weeks she didn't really want to eat much, so I wasn't sure whether she'd lost any weight. To my surprise she's actually gained another 6oz (in less than 2wks), she did have a full diaper, but I'll take it :-) Thank you Breeze and Scandical for chunkin this girl up.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">Fiona is doing really well and we're rarely struggling with constipation anymore. Upping her miralax was a the best plan. She's been on a full cap daily for the past 3 months and it's been like night and day for her. We even briefly discussed weaning her a bit, but we're going to hold off on that for now since we don't want to mess with a good thing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">Another concern I had going into this apt was Fiona's odd behavior lately. She's been chewing up food and spitting it back out for no apparent reason. I also noticed her sounding like she was going to vomit and then choking after eating last week. I brought these issues and Dr Charles feels that it may be Rumination Syndrome, a behavioral issue where kids spit up undigested food. They're not sure what causes it, but it is usually well controlled by positive reinforcement. He said that punishing usually only makes it worse so we need to praise her when she chews and swallows her food.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">We discussed her previous swallow issues, so while the issue isn't a big one now he wants us to watch her closely. His concern is that we may need to do another swallow study if encouraging her to swallow her food doesn't work, if the symptoms get worse, and especially if she begins gagging or choking while eating. Overall good apt and we'll follow up in 2m.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">Not specifically related, but I also tried to schedule Fi an apt to get her flu shot. I've been calling about it every week since the beginning of Sept. Well I was told late sept, then I was told 1st week in Oct they'd definitely be in. So after hearing that last week, I called today and they said they're not in yet. Let me also mention that the new phone system at Tulane blows! Instead of selecting speak to a nurse, make an apt, get a refill etc you have to talk to an operator, who then takes a message and passes it along and you have to wait for a call back. I know there are many times when you have to leave a message anyway, but I'd rather select my own department...anyway I digress, after 2 phones calls (missed the call back during GI) we're no closer to getting a flu shot then we were before. Again, I asked why they don't have them when everyone else does, and they told me they don't know, but I can check back next week or take her to Walgreens. So I looked into Walgreens and CVS and neither will do kids under 7, yeah so that's not going to work for us. I wouldn't be as concerned, but last year she got the Flu days before the vaccine came in for her age group at the ped. I'm not sure what I should do, do I call random ped offices and ask if they can do it...ugh.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">On a brighter note...Cuteness!</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNntuZk7kVRCsnRSMLXFGxuGsJpLGWGes2w8Wkov96VkKmfS6-N1lPdN_ESwdbi7ehnlRIw9PaIFubazCjH92UUfm2BWZh3CXej6LMfdbrTVGXURH9BmN0iNeIfexOTyDWS7PgFxYOTYc/s1600/006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNntuZk7kVRCsnRSMLXFGxuGsJpLGWGes2w8Wkov96VkKmfS6-N1lPdN_ESwdbi7ehnlRIw9PaIFubazCjH92UUfm2BWZh3CXej6LMfdbrTVGXURH9BmN0iNeIfexOTyDWS7PgFxYOTYc/s320/006.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659389832366270866" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSkZIISz5Vcs9O1Og3lFyTqWe5hXfNcA4ZIL30pyvczy5qbYNdJwxuSW6iyrklmTMxnaL492Sze40Fw2ERtXR764L3NkVgUvanD2KB90mcJxFnyIhtQe3o91oQKSJwo_UtOoAkAKztK4/s1600/004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSkZIISz5Vcs9O1Og3lFyTqWe5hXfNcA4ZIL30pyvczy5qbYNdJwxuSW6iyrklmTMxnaL492Sze40Fw2ERtXR764L3NkVgUvanD2KB90mcJxFnyIhtQe3o91oQKSJwo_UtOoAkAKztK4/s320/004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659389830075558242" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">Lion King in 3D...lovin the shades</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg1vIuZoMiYOsAxcx3CLEVylW0VtpR_RnpvdBPkV5XQtWZWBybdI-dyXzxJv89_D8ecV7eQzYCK8CCCmId6Sx_TP9EvXzYvGpVp9TIvomkamnj7zGklxiWGFs0lQk1UJorHZ-FiX_2Oo/s1600/029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrg1vIuZoMiYOsAxcx3CLEVylW0VtpR_RnpvdBPkV5XQtWZWBybdI-dyXzxJv89_D8ecV7eQzYCK8CCCmId6Sx_TP9EvXzYvGpVp9TIvomkamnj7zGklxiWGFs0lQk1UJorHZ-FiX_2Oo/s320/029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659389839775575394" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0); font-family: verdana;">adorable little fall jacket (thanks uncle Jake and Rachel)</span><br /><br /><br /></div>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-26220564731164416972011-09-22T11:14:00.008-05:002011-09-22T11:53:23.219-05:00Awesome Cardiology Visit!<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Today was Fiona's 6 month follow up for cardiology and it went amazing. First off during triage we found out that Fi finally grew. Yes, you read that right, she is now 26lb 8oz and almost 35in tall. That means she's gained 4 oz and almost an entire inch in the last 2 weeks! After that we went to sit in the little regular room and waited to have her EKG done. She was such a good girl. When they came in and put on her stickers she just sat there and watched. She sat stil</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">l and after she had fun putting the sticke</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">rs on me.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpq4aL1U-5P6eJCmUcANa1hk3WrWtHiKW7LckYd6pXdadkO83d3KA47Mn13KlQBS7r4jiy8o4zwfMzfuVbJLvWcTanSpuzmgLprCFfVxKs65rpKvvLLjvcVO5Q5JkypfYNdoBfLZYe6A/s1600/044.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpq4aL1U-5P6eJCmUcANa1hk3WrWtHiKW7LckYd6pXdadkO83d3KA47Mn13KlQBS7r4jiy8o4zwfMzfuVbJLvWcTanSpuzmgLprCFfVxKs65rpKvvLLjvcVO5Q5JkypfYNdoBfLZYe6A/s320/044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655225052730865746" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">After her EKG we went to the echo room. We brought her monkey pillow pet today, thought it would help her to be calm and relaxed for the echo and I think it worked. She chilled there for Miss Sarah, sometimes giving her some funny looks, but mostly she just laid there. She did have a mini-meltdown when they were looking at her aortic arch, she absolutely hates when they do this part of the exam. She started wanting to sit up and saying all done, but Daddy calmed her down with some Mickey on his Iphone.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VFiePydo-U37atizCSpHQRnLJvH-LGqMtXLIV_IX6BHxm8Z2R-yulpotPFVvpPOxu4HKbIAcggA5-ZT9cYTFId-nPRWQ1GdUlsk7nq_KFyJKHhrxZSsdLmKYD1tGOMJk8yaSHqGuolQ/s1600/045.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VFiePydo-U37atizCSpHQRnLJvH-LGqMtXLIV_IX6BHxm8Z2R-yulpotPFVvpPOxu4HKbIAcggA5-ZT9cYTFId-nPRWQ1GdUlsk7nq_KFyJKHhrxZSsdLmKYD1tGOMJk8yaSHqGuolQ/s320/045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655225057368848930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">When the echo was done Dr Yang came in the room to review the images and was really impressed with how well she's doing (although Fi was not impressed with him). He didn't feel that the weird heart beat sounds I heard were anything to really worry about since she's so active and everything else looks good. Her aorta looks good and pretty much everything is about the same as last time. The only iss</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">ue that he mentioned today was that her BAV is about 10% more restricted than at our last visit, but since she won't have any intervention until it's in the severe range we get stick to the 6 month schedule. Everything went better than I could have imagined, I feel like we're finally in a calm stage and I'm so happy tha</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">t surgery won't be any time soon</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">. We are so bless</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">ed.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xJ7D2dIDV-MaA6ECHQq_kA3nEfXDxi7k2h2aH0r0XoGGCmXX2cO7PP8Q5tc6ucIY_nBl0Vq8f7-2sT5-TtmLou6wr2qNB9boRhWhkLv5fRORPHaRYKHnFiuc5iTI1-RpLaijOWeYqzk/s1600/049.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xJ7D2dIDV-MaA6ECHQq_kA3nEfXDxi7k2h2aH0r0XoGGCmXX2cO7PP8Q5tc6ucIY_nBl0Vq8f7-2sT5-TtmLou6wr2qNB9boRhWhkLv5fRORPHaRYKHnFiuc5iTI1-RpLaijOWeYqzk/s320/049.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655227323781515106" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkml8wwAPUAXQLrBkVMUPPSxNpFSH3LwB9Jjg17IKfNjy_eDzm9dsjERv1Bhmf-UFmxzhMyHtMeIC2bjjBCzzYukJhbtoFnATjnHn6Mxw__Aj-lYLUvjXiOB8xCESPE7C-BV0HYUr3cRc/s1600/044.JPG"> </a><br /></div>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5795133158357073902.post-50290460549304217822011-09-14T12:20:00.004-05:002011-09-14T12:41:58.817-05:00The Great Baby Dance Debate<div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);">For a while I've gone back and forth on this issue myself, but given Fiona's exceptional attitude lately I feel like she could really use an outlet. For her age it would still be a mommy and me class, but I thought it would be good for her to get to spend some time with other kids her age. She's not in daycare so she doesn't get much interaction with other toddlers.</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><br />For a while I had come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the cost, and that we should just wait until next year. Then I realized she will be preschool age next year and I think that enrolling her in dance now will help social skills and make the transition easier.<br /><br />Well I talked with her dad about it and he said, well she's got so much going on already with her heart, growth problems etc that he doesn't think it's a good idea to put her in dance yet. He also mentioned the obvious germ issue (esp w/flu season just around the corner). While I see where his thinking is I don't think that a dance class for 2 year olds will be that strenuous, I think it's more for fun. I'm just really surprised by his reaction because he's always the one saying that he just wants her to have a normal life, isn't this part of a normal life? I mean we can't put her in a bubble and lock her up because she has some medical issues.<br /><br />I don't want to go against him, I just don't think that his concerns are very legitimate. Especially since even if we wait a year she will still be a heart kid. Realistically I think that everything that goes on with Fi really does bother him and that he is scared for her even though he always says that he's the optimist and isn't worried. His fears only come out in little bursts when a specific situation arises and makes him think about the fact that she is not a "well baby" .</div>Ashley Mommy to Fionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10172195645273200758noreply@blogger.com0