Today, we had our follow-up appointment with Dr. Williams, and there were positive and negatives that came out of our meeting:
Positives: Isabel held down all of her food yesterday and this morning, she hasn't had any diarrhea diapers since Wednesday evening, and she has had a few brief episodes of increased interaction with toys and people.
Negatives: She still has many episodes of inconsolable crying, acting as if she is in pain and there is nothing we can do to make her more comfortable or any happier. Her weight was down today to 14lbs 14oz (she lost four ounces since Wednesday when we were in). The weight loss and the irritability/fussiness are Dr. Williams main concern.
So, she sent us up to Children's Hospital in St. Paul to have an X-ray done of her colon and intestines, as well as the follow-up labs that we knew we were getting today anyway. Our experience at Children's St. Paul was INCREDIBLE compared to our experience at Children's Minneapolis. Everyone was friendly and courteous, her records were available in the departments they had been faxed to, and the waits were not long. We were in and out of there in just over an hour.
Results: The X-ray showed that there were no areas in her intestine that had folded in on themselves, which is great news! Her labs also came back with great numbers, her potassium in particular has come up to 4.6.
The doctor will call us back tomorrow morning to check how things are going. We are thankful for these steps in the right direction!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Up and down
Luke and I feel like we have completely missed the first half of November. It is incredibly draining to have a child this ill, and we feel so helpless because there is nothing we can do to help her feel any better. We are always second-guessing the decisions we have made, was it the right thing to do for her or wasn't it?
Last night Isabel threw up two more times (once at the Mall of America, because we were trying to get her out and about a little which had seemed to be helping with her mood). So far, today, she has been keeping down breast milk, half-strength formula, and some baby food bananas, but is incredibly fussy and irritable, to the point of being inconsolable at times. She also seems incredibly hungry, so that is where we hem and haw, how much do we feed her, because last night when we fed her however much she wanted, she threw up twice. Was it because we overfilled her tummy? Perhaps, perhaps not. And today, is she so fussy because she is super hungry? Perhaps, perhaps not. It is an ongoing battle and we just have to continue to trust our parental instincts and pray that God will continue to give us wisdom to make the right and best decisions.
Then, there are some tiny glimmers of light, like earlier today when I had her on the floor of her room to put some socks on her, and she spied the baby monitor on the floor with the green light on the top and practically crawled out of my arms to get it. I set her on the floor and she proceeded to play with the monitor, plus a couple of her animals that were near it, for about 5 minutes. She even went back and forth from on her hands and knees, to a sitting position, a couple of times. That is the most "self-motion" we have seen out of her in 11 days. We are worried at this point, not only about her health, but about her development, because this episode of illness has definitely set her back and she is not doing nearly the same things that she was doing the weekend of Nov 1-2 before she got sick.
We called and talked to Jackie, Dr. Williams' nurse, today, who has been so kind and helpful throughout this whole process. She said to keep doing what we are doing, since Isabel is still having wet diapers and is crying tears, so she is not dangerously dehydrated again. We see Dr. Williams tomorrow morning at 10:30, and if Isabel is still inconsolable by then, Jackie suspects that the doctor will want to have an ultrasound done of Isabel's tummy. I hope she is better by tomorrow, but also am hopeful that if she is not, the ultrasound will maybe show them something that will help them figure out what is going on with our little girl.
Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers.
Last night Isabel threw up two more times (once at the Mall of America, because we were trying to get her out and about a little which had seemed to be helping with her mood). So far, today, she has been keeping down breast milk, half-strength formula, and some baby food bananas, but is incredibly fussy and irritable, to the point of being inconsolable at times. She also seems incredibly hungry, so that is where we hem and haw, how much do we feed her, because last night when we fed her however much she wanted, she threw up twice. Was it because we overfilled her tummy? Perhaps, perhaps not. And today, is she so fussy because she is super hungry? Perhaps, perhaps not. It is an ongoing battle and we just have to continue to trust our parental instincts and pray that God will continue to give us wisdom to make the right and best decisions.
Then, there are some tiny glimmers of light, like earlier today when I had her on the floor of her room to put some socks on her, and she spied the baby monitor on the floor with the green light on the top and practically crawled out of my arms to get it. I set her on the floor and she proceeded to play with the monitor, plus a couple of her animals that were near it, for about 5 minutes. She even went back and forth from on her hands and knees, to a sitting position, a couple of times. That is the most "self-motion" we have seen out of her in 11 days. We are worried at this point, not only about her health, but about her development, because this episode of illness has definitely set her back and she is not doing nearly the same things that she was doing the weekend of Nov 1-2 before she got sick.
We called and talked to Jackie, Dr. Williams' nurse, today, who has been so kind and helpful throughout this whole process. She said to keep doing what we are doing, since Isabel is still having wet diapers and is crying tears, so she is not dangerously dehydrated again. We see Dr. Williams tomorrow morning at 10:30, and if Isabel is still inconsolable by then, Jackie suspects that the doctor will want to have an ultrasound done of Isabel's tummy. I hope she is better by tomorrow, but also am hopeful that if she is not, the ultrasound will maybe show them something that will help them figure out what is going on with our little girl.
Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Isabel's update - trip to Children's Hospital
Hi everyone,
We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Isabel. Monday and Tuesday, she was not running any fevers and also still not vomiting. In fact, on Tuesday in particular, she was VERY interested in lunch and ate rice cereal, a whole thing of baby food applesauce, shredded cheese, noodles from chicken noodle soup, and a little bit of raspberry yogurt. She has been nursing pretty well, and on Monday was taking 4-6 ounce bottles of breast milk too. On Tuesday she started to have a little less appetite for bottles, but we thought maybe that was because she was eating more real food.
We were still concerned Tuesday night because her behavior still had not really improved all that much. She was very fussy and irritable, and not really wanting to support her head or her body for very long periods of time. We placed a call to Dr. Williams, and explained all the updates, and she wanted to see her. After examining her, and seeing that her behavior had not improved to where we all thought it should, she did send us up to Children's Hospital, where we were supposed to be admitted for some more IV fluids, lab tests, and maybe some additional tests that they did not initially perform at Ridges.
While we were at the ER at Children's, waiting on the nurses to come in with an IV and some blood drawing equipment, Isabel actually started to do things that we haven't seen her do in over a week! She was chattering more than we have heard her do, she was engaging with us and playing with some toys, and even leaned off my lap as if she wanted to get down onto the floor a couple of times (we didn't put her down on it!) We told the doctor what was going on, and he was very kind and said this does happen sometimes, where kids make an improvement and then do not need to be admitted after all. He did some labs just to be safe and called Southdale Peds with the results to get their take before letting us go. Her bicarbonate came back normal (which meant she was not dehydrated) but her potassium did come back pretty low. Low potassium can cause muscle weakness and achiness, and also lethargy, which are the main symptoms she has been having the past two days.
So, we took her home (THANKFULLY!) and she slept well through the night, then actually woke up on her own this morning at 8:15 to nurse (this was a major improvement from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday when we had been having to wake her up every morning and from every nap to eat). She went back down for another 2 1/2 hours, but this made sense because she had been up until 11:30 last night when we were at the ER! She then woke up on her own, ate a good bottle, and lots of baby food bananas. We took her in for her follow-up appointment at 1:00 with Dr. Williams, and she was pleased with Isabel's progress. They did take some additional blood (and because her veins are so tiny, not much bigger than the needle, it was really hard for them to get into one and very painful for Mommy and Daddy to watch!) and ran the same labs as last night, to make sure her levels are getting better, especially the potassium. We just got those results, and the doctor was thrilled to report better numbers for us! Her potassium is back up to 3.3 (it was 2.5 last night, and "normal" is 3.5 and above). They want to see her again on Friday morning, to run the labs again (and hopefully for the final time!) and make sure all levels are staying normal, and especially to ensure she is gaining back some of her weight (that is the biggest thing they are concerned about right now, because even as of today, she was down 1 oz from yesterday. Not a huge loss, but they would like to see it going UP from day to day, not down).
So, it has been a roller-coaster ride for the Christenson family these past 9 days! Thanks for the prayers, they are really helping with Isabel's road to recovery and also with Mommy and Daddy's patience, peace, and calm spirit (especially when some of the medical experiences are a bit frustrating). We really hope that she is almost out of the woods and that these trips to the doctor's office, ER, and hospital are behind us.
We will keep everyone posted on her progress!
We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Isabel. Monday and Tuesday, she was not running any fevers and also still not vomiting. In fact, on Tuesday in particular, she was VERY interested in lunch and ate rice cereal, a whole thing of baby food applesauce, shredded cheese, noodles from chicken noodle soup, and a little bit of raspberry yogurt. She has been nursing pretty well, and on Monday was taking 4-6 ounce bottles of breast milk too. On Tuesday she started to have a little less appetite for bottles, but we thought maybe that was because she was eating more real food.
We were still concerned Tuesday night because her behavior still had not really improved all that much. She was very fussy and irritable, and not really wanting to support her head or her body for very long periods of time. We placed a call to Dr. Williams, and explained all the updates, and she wanted to see her. After examining her, and seeing that her behavior had not improved to where we all thought it should, she did send us up to Children's Hospital, where we were supposed to be admitted for some more IV fluids, lab tests, and maybe some additional tests that they did not initially perform at Ridges.
While we were at the ER at Children's, waiting on the nurses to come in with an IV and some blood drawing equipment, Isabel actually started to do things that we haven't seen her do in over a week! She was chattering more than we have heard her do, she was engaging with us and playing with some toys, and even leaned off my lap as if she wanted to get down onto the floor a couple of times (we didn't put her down on it!) We told the doctor what was going on, and he was very kind and said this does happen sometimes, where kids make an improvement and then do not need to be admitted after all. He did some labs just to be safe and called Southdale Peds with the results to get their take before letting us go. Her bicarbonate came back normal (which meant she was not dehydrated) but her potassium did come back pretty low. Low potassium can cause muscle weakness and achiness, and also lethargy, which are the main symptoms she has been having the past two days.
So, we took her home (THANKFULLY!) and she slept well through the night, then actually woke up on her own this morning at 8:15 to nurse (this was a major improvement from Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday when we had been having to wake her up every morning and from every nap to eat). She went back down for another 2 1/2 hours, but this made sense because she had been up until 11:30 last night when we were at the ER! She then woke up on her own, ate a good bottle, and lots of baby food bananas. We took her in for her follow-up appointment at 1:00 with Dr. Williams, and she was pleased with Isabel's progress. They did take some additional blood (and because her veins are so tiny, not much bigger than the needle, it was really hard for them to get into one and very painful for Mommy and Daddy to watch!) and ran the same labs as last night, to make sure her levels are getting better, especially the potassium. We just got those results, and the doctor was thrilled to report better numbers for us! Her potassium is back up to 3.3 (it was 2.5 last night, and "normal" is 3.5 and above). They want to see her again on Friday morning, to run the labs again (and hopefully for the final time!) and make sure all levels are staying normal, and especially to ensure she is gaining back some of her weight (that is the biggest thing they are concerned about right now, because even as of today, she was down 1 oz from yesterday. Not a huge loss, but they would like to see it going UP from day to day, not down).
So, it has been a roller-coaster ride for the Christenson family these past 9 days! Thanks for the prayers, they are really helping with Isabel's road to recovery and also with Mommy and Daddy's patience, peace, and calm spirit (especially when some of the medical experiences are a bit frustrating). We really hope that she is almost out of the woods and that these trips to the doctor's office, ER, and hospital are behind us.
We will keep everyone posted on her progress!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Isabel's weekend at home
Praise God that we were able to bring Isabel home on Saturday afternoon! Dr. Williams said that they never send kids home 100% better, but they send them home safe enough to continue their recovery at home. When we were released, Isabel had been holding down breast milk for about 24 hours with no vomiting, and her fever had come down to a reasonable level of 99-100. The last fever she had was Saturday night before bed when it was 100.0. Since then, her temp has been in the 98s or even 97s.
Despite the fact that she has had no fever and no vomiting the past 48 hours, Isabel's recovery has not been as speedy as we would like. However, we are thankful that there have not been any real regressions or setbacks either. Other than the first night, when we tried to feed her "real food" for the first time (a 1/2 of a babyfood container of unsweetened applesauce) and it came back up. I think that we just overfilled her tummy a little bit, because we fed her that applesauce right after she drank a bottle of breast milk. So, we went back to the strictly liquid diet for another day, and then last night for dinner she had rice cereal and some dry toast and kept that down! Same thing this evening - she had rice cereal and some applesauce and so far has kept that down in addition to 12.5 ounces of breast milk (from bottles) and two nursings today.
The only real symptom that continues to concern her mommy and daddy a bit is that she is EXTREMELY tired. Out of the past 24 hours, she has slept for about 20 or 21 of them. We have had to wake her up all day when we want her to nurse, have a bottle, or have a little food. Sleep is important of course for her body to continue to fight off the virus, but it is equally as important for her to continue to get nutrition so that she doesn't get dehydrated again, so we have been waking her. When she is awake, she is pretty fussy and irritable, which could be a good sign, since she has the energy to fuss, but it is frustrating and disheartening for us, because we can't really do much to make her more comfortable. We have both been spending as much time with her as possible so that while she is awake (which hasn't been much today!), she can get the extra TLC that she needs - constantly being held and cuddled. She even fell asleep sitting with me earlier, which is still very out of character for her and a sign that she still doesn't feel all that well.
We have a follow-up appointment scheduled with Dr. Williams on Wednesday morning at 10:45. They wanted her to come in for an exam and a weight check to ensure she is gaining her weight back, and to make sure things are moving in the right direction.
Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers, that she would feel more comfortable, and that we would be able to assess what she needs when she needs it, since she can't tell us of course!
Thanks for your care and concern for our little girl.
I added a photo album from before she was sick (fun Halloween photos!) as well as one from photos of her in the hospital, in case anyone would like to see them.
Despite the fact that she has had no fever and no vomiting the past 48 hours, Isabel's recovery has not been as speedy as we would like. However, we are thankful that there have not been any real regressions or setbacks either. Other than the first night, when we tried to feed her "real food" for the first time (a 1/2 of a babyfood container of unsweetened applesauce) and it came back up. I think that we just overfilled her tummy a little bit, because we fed her that applesauce right after she drank a bottle of breast milk. So, we went back to the strictly liquid diet for another day, and then last night for dinner she had rice cereal and some dry toast and kept that down! Same thing this evening - she had rice cereal and some applesauce and so far has kept that down in addition to 12.5 ounces of breast milk (from bottles) and two nursings today.
The only real symptom that continues to concern her mommy and daddy a bit is that she is EXTREMELY tired. Out of the past 24 hours, she has slept for about 20 or 21 of them. We have had to wake her up all day when we want her to nurse, have a bottle, or have a little food. Sleep is important of course for her body to continue to fight off the virus, but it is equally as important for her to continue to get nutrition so that she doesn't get dehydrated again, so we have been waking her. When she is awake, she is pretty fussy and irritable, which could be a good sign, since she has the energy to fuss, but it is frustrating and disheartening for us, because we can't really do much to make her more comfortable. We have both been spending as much time with her as possible so that while she is awake (which hasn't been much today!), she can get the extra TLC that she needs - constantly being held and cuddled. She even fell asleep sitting with me earlier, which is still very out of character for her and a sign that she still doesn't feel all that well.
We have a follow-up appointment scheduled with Dr. Williams on Wednesday morning at 10:45. They wanted her to come in for an exam and a weight check to ensure she is gaining her weight back, and to make sure things are moving in the right direction.
Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers, that she would feel more comfortable, and that we would be able to assess what she needs when she needs it, since she can't tell us of course!
Thanks for your care and concern for our little girl.
I added a photo album from before she was sick (fun Halloween photos!) as well as one from photos of her in the hospital, in case anyone would like to see them.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Isabel's second day in the hospital
Well, we are concluding Isabel's second day in the hospital and will be here at least until tomorrow morning. Our baby girl is still not back to her spunky self, but we have seen much improvement through the day today. On Wednesday, when I would try to feed her anything orally, she would throw it up. I started with an ounce of Pedialyte, then an hour later a milliliter, and then tenths of a milliliter, and she could not keep it down. So, the doctors told us we could just stop trying, because she was getting all the hydration and sugars that she needed through the IV, and her tummy was still very upset and needed a good long rest. So we stopped trying to feed her anything from 11 am Thursday until we saw the doctor this morning (Friday) around 9 am.
Our doctor today was Dr. Williams, and after reviewing Isabel's charts and speaking with us, she gave me the clearance to go ahead and start trying to nurse her in short, frequent stints. She said that breast milk is about the best possible thing we could give her right now (God's perfect food, in my opinion!), and she would not have given us clearance to start trying formula (too hard to digest). So, we had AMAZING SUCCESS today with nursing. She nursed 3 minutes at 10:15, 3 minutes at 11:45, 5 minutes at 1:15, 7 minutes at 3:00, took 1 oz breast milk (BM) from a bottle at 5:00, another 1 oz of BM from a bottle at 6:00, and nursed 10 minutes at 8 pm. She has kept every last drop of it down!! Praise God! She also had a couple of two-hour-long awake times today (much better than the 10-15 minutes she was able to stay awake yesterday and the day before), and even though she was not nearly as energetic as she usually is, she was definitely holding on to toys a couple of times, and was very curious about her IV "club" on her arm (as we like to call it) and the IV tube. She had to put in her mouth a couple times to taste it. All good signs that our curious baby is in there somewhere! She also has started to babble a little, mostly "mamamama" in the sweetest little voice like she is trying to tell me how pitiful she had felt while she has been sick. She also says "nynynyny" as it gets to be about 8 pm (she did this both Thursday evening and this evening) and I am convinced she is telling me she wants to go night-night.
Today during her awake times, I have held her in my lap (she lays across the Boppy because it is more comfy and allows me to not jostle her as much which is easier on her tummy), sang songs to her, read children's books and Psalms to her, and we have watched a couple of Baby Einstein videos (a treat for her because she doesn't really get to watch videos at home!) Today is all about passive play, and baby steps in the right direction until the day when she is back to her crawling, rolling, pulling herself up to a stand and getting into everything self!
The prayers and well wishes of our dear friends and family have been MUCH appreciated and felt deeply. Thank you so much and please continue to send them up to our heavenly Father.
We will keep you all posted via e-mail or this website.
Blessings to all!
Our doctor today was Dr. Williams, and after reviewing Isabel's charts and speaking with us, she gave me the clearance to go ahead and start trying to nurse her in short, frequent stints. She said that breast milk is about the best possible thing we could give her right now (God's perfect food, in my opinion!), and she would not have given us clearance to start trying formula (too hard to digest). So, we had AMAZING SUCCESS today with nursing. She nursed 3 minutes at 10:15, 3 minutes at 11:45, 5 minutes at 1:15, 7 minutes at 3:00, took 1 oz breast milk (BM) from a bottle at 5:00, another 1 oz of BM from a bottle at 6:00, and nursed 10 minutes at 8 pm. She has kept every last drop of it down!! Praise God! She also had a couple of two-hour-long awake times today (much better than the 10-15 minutes she was able to stay awake yesterday and the day before), and even though she was not nearly as energetic as she usually is, she was definitely holding on to toys a couple of times, and was very curious about her IV "club" on her arm (as we like to call it) and the IV tube. She had to put in her mouth a couple times to taste it. All good signs that our curious baby is in there somewhere! She also has started to babble a little, mostly "mamamama" in the sweetest little voice like she is trying to tell me how pitiful she had felt while she has been sick. She also says "nynynyny" as it gets to be about 8 pm (she did this both Thursday evening and this evening) and I am convinced she is telling me she wants to go night-night.
Today during her awake times, I have held her in my lap (she lays across the Boppy because it is more comfy and allows me to not jostle her as much which is easier on her tummy), sang songs to her, read children's books and Psalms to her, and we have watched a couple of Baby Einstein videos (a treat for her because she doesn't really get to watch videos at home!) Today is all about passive play, and baby steps in the right direction until the day when she is back to her crawling, rolling, pulling herself up to a stand and getting into everything self!
The prayers and well wishes of our dear friends and family have been MUCH appreciated and felt deeply. Thank you so much and please continue to send them up to our heavenly Father.
We will keep you all posted via e-mail or this website.
Blessings to all!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Isabel is in the hospital
Our baby girl is sick! She threw up on Monday night and we thought it was just a fluke, like from some bad baby food or something, because she was acting completely normal. But then on Tuesday morning as I was standing in line to vote, Jenna called me and said that Isabel threw up again, and was currently sleeping in Jenna's arms. This was a huge red flag to us, because as good of a sleeper as Isabel is, she definitely does NOT sleep while being held. It is just not something she has ever really been able to do, at least not since she was under two months old. So, of course, I went home immediately to be with her. She couldn’t hold anything down all day Tuesday, was acting scarily lethargic and listless, so we brought her to the ER on Tuesday night. They gave her Zofran to ease the nausea and we were able to get her to hold down 5oz of Pedialyte. She started to perk back up a little bit so they let us go home.
Then yesterday (Wednesday), with the help of the Zofran we were able to get her to hold down 8oz of Pedialyte total, but she still was not acting any better. So we called the pediatrician. They had us come in, and after the doc saw her and found out she had lost 1.5 lbs since Tuesday night, and saw how lethargic she still was, they wanted to admit her to get some fluids in her through an IV. She has been on an IV since last night and as of this morning, has gained back about 1/2 a pound. They also did some basic blood work last night and that all came back NORMAL! Praise God!
I wish I could say she was back to her normal self, but she isn’t. All she wants to do is sleep (she is in fact sleeping in a brightly lit room right now and was also doing so last night when we were in the room talking...very much against Isabel’s normal personality and sleep needs, which is the scariest part). They gave her Zofran twice in her IV overnight, and so this morning, wanted us to try some Pedialyte. I gave her an ounce at 8am, and 10 minutes later, she threw it up, so she still can’t hold anything down, even with the help of the Zofran.
We saw Dr. Westland from Southdale Peds around 10 am today, and she is very convinced that this is just a nasty virus that has attacked Isabel's GI tract. Nothing more serious (thankfully!) because all the labs came back normal, and there is no distension in her abdomen that would indicate any sort of a blockage. Her hydration has improved, but she still has not been able to keep anything down all day orally, so they are not discharging her tonight because we have no way to hydrate her at home. She has to be on the IV. She has pretty much been sleeping all day, I would say she has been awake maybe a total of 1 hr. I hope her sleep is fighting a good battle with this nasty bug!
So, we will be here at least one more night and will see the doc tomorrow morning again. Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers.
I still think it is just a stomach flu, or possibly Rotavirus (even though she has been vaccinated), but I just want the poor little peanut to feel better and start acting more lively so we can go home and she can rest in her own bed. But, we are getting excellent care here and have had great nurses.
Thanks for the prayers!
Then yesterday (Wednesday), with the help of the Zofran we were able to get her to hold down 8oz of Pedialyte total, but she still was not acting any better. So we called the pediatrician. They had us come in, and after the doc saw her and found out she had lost 1.5 lbs since Tuesday night, and saw how lethargic she still was, they wanted to admit her to get some fluids in her through an IV. She has been on an IV since last night and as of this morning, has gained back about 1/2 a pound. They also did some basic blood work last night and that all came back NORMAL! Praise God!
I wish I could say she was back to her normal self, but she isn’t. All she wants to do is sleep (she is in fact sleeping in a brightly lit room right now and was also doing so last night when we were in the room talking...very much against Isabel’s normal personality and sleep needs, which is the scariest part). They gave her Zofran twice in her IV overnight, and so this morning, wanted us to try some Pedialyte. I gave her an ounce at 8am, and 10 minutes later, she threw it up, so she still can’t hold anything down, even with the help of the Zofran.
We saw Dr. Westland from Southdale Peds around 10 am today, and she is very convinced that this is just a nasty virus that has attacked Isabel's GI tract. Nothing more serious (thankfully!) because all the labs came back normal, and there is no distension in her abdomen that would indicate any sort of a blockage. Her hydration has improved, but she still has not been able to keep anything down all day orally, so they are not discharging her tonight because we have no way to hydrate her at home. She has to be on the IV. She has pretty much been sleeping all day, I would say she has been awake maybe a total of 1 hr. I hope her sleep is fighting a good battle with this nasty bug!
So, we will be here at least one more night and will see the doc tomorrow morning again. Please continue to keep Isabel in your prayers.
I still think it is just a stomach flu, or possibly Rotavirus (even though she has been vaccinated), but I just want the poor little peanut to feel better and start acting more lively so we can go home and she can rest in her own bed. But, we are getting excellent care here and have had great nurses.
Thanks for the prayers!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Isabel has a new friend!
Ever since I returned to work, Isabel has been cared for on the days I am in the office by one of two people: our dear friend Catherine, and our friend and next-door neighbor Kat. Catherine watched Isabel two days a week in our home and Kat watched her in their home on Fridays (sometimes with some help from her kids Kayla (9) and Jack (6), and our across the street friend Kyla (13) :). These two women have been SUCH A BLESSING to us, as it made being away from Isabel so much easier.
In about the middle of August, we found out that we were going to have to find new care for Isabel. Our close friend Catherine ended up getting a teaching job beginning in September, so while it was sad to see her go, we are so happy that she is back in the classroom more permanently, as teaching is a passion of hers! She is also getting ready to welcome her own little bundle of joy into this world (due December 31). Kat also began working in the school district with special needs kids, and we are really happy for her as well.
So, our search began for new child care, of course with some anxiety but trusting that God was going to work it out. I visited one in-home daycare and knew (while there was nothing wrong with it), that was not going to be the right fit for Isabel and for our family. She is still a pretty high-needs baby who needs two good long naps every day, and for her to be one of 10 or 12 kids was just not going to work! A huge blessing to us came in the form of Jenna, a wonderful girl who my best friend Brenda referred to us. She and her husband are a Christians, and Jenna graduated from Bethel University. They have a daughter, Camille, who is 2 1/2 months younger than Isabel. If you want to know more about Jenna and see some adorable photos of Camille (and Isabel), visit their blog here.
Jenna began caring for Isabel at the beginning of September, and brings Camille with her to our home when she watches Isabel. The two girls have such fun together! It is amazing to me how much interaction there actually is between a 9-month old and a 6.5-month old. They just light up when they see one another, and when they play with toys on the floor together, they pass toys back and forth (or, yank the toy out of the other girl's hand! ) They also are constantly trying to touch one another, especially faces and heads! There is a pretty cute video on our computer of the two sitting next to each other, and Camille reaches out very deliberately, places her hand on the opposite side of Isabel's head, pulls her head toward her open mouth as if to take a bite! Too cute! I have added a photo album called "Isabel and her friend Camille" so check out the adorable photos!
Tonight we are having dinner with Jenna and Aaron (her husband) and Camille, so we can get to know their whole family a little more. But needless to say, we are very thankful that the Lord brought them into our lives. Jenna and I were chatting the other day and we think that both girls are going to develop faster because they have the other one to try to keep up with!
A quick note on Isabel's size and development. At her 9-month appt last week, she was 15 lbs 5.5 oz (just a smidge above the 3rd percentile), and 27 inches long (25th percentile). She is definitely turning out to be long and lean like her daddy! She began sitting up unassisted (for long periods of time) at 7 months, cut her first two teeth (the bottom middle two) at 8.5 months, has been creeping/scooting/rolling all over the place for the past month or so, and can crawl backwards a few steps. On Monday of this week, she learned to get herself up into a sitting position from her tummy (the first time, it was via the center splits, and Jenna is convinced we have a future gymnast on our hands. Hey, I will take it!) She sits herself up all the time now, and looks so proud of herself every time she does it! She also pulls herself up to a standing position every now and then, so we immediately lowered her crib mattress once she started doing that. She will be crawling forward any day we think...so watch out! The house needs to get baby-proofed!
She has been speaking in consonant sounds for about a month as well. She started with hi and mamamamama but then added dadadadada and babababa soon after. She has since dropped the hi, and her favorite sound now is one that sounds like ooowa ooowa ooowa (and an extremely ear piercing blood curdling scream (both happy and sad) that we are trying to ignore so we don't reinforce it. We think she knows what she is saying when she says "mama" because she will say it directly to me, just those two syllables, and she will say it in an angry voice when I walk away from her or am busy with something else and she wants me!
We are truly enjoying her.
In about the middle of August, we found out that we were going to have to find new care for Isabel. Our close friend Catherine ended up getting a teaching job beginning in September, so while it was sad to see her go, we are so happy that she is back in the classroom more permanently, as teaching is a passion of hers! She is also getting ready to welcome her own little bundle of joy into this world (due December 31). Kat also began working in the school district with special needs kids, and we are really happy for her as well.
So, our search began for new child care, of course with some anxiety but trusting that God was going to work it out. I visited one in-home daycare and knew (while there was nothing wrong with it), that was not going to be the right fit for Isabel and for our family. She is still a pretty high-needs baby who needs two good long naps every day, and for her to be one of 10 or 12 kids was just not going to work! A huge blessing to us came in the form of Jenna, a wonderful girl who my best friend Brenda referred to us. She and her husband are a Christians, and Jenna graduated from Bethel University. They have a daughter, Camille, who is 2 1/2 months younger than Isabel. If you want to know more about Jenna and see some adorable photos of Camille (and Isabel), visit their blog here.
Jenna began caring for Isabel at the beginning of September, and brings Camille with her to our home when she watches Isabel. The two girls have such fun together! It is amazing to me how much interaction there actually is between a 9-month old and a 6.5-month old. They just light up when they see one another, and when they play with toys on the floor together, they pass toys back and forth (or, yank the toy out of the other girl's hand! ) They also are constantly trying to touch one another, especially faces and heads! There is a pretty cute video on our computer of the two sitting next to each other, and Camille reaches out very deliberately, places her hand on the opposite side of Isabel's head, pulls her head toward her open mouth as if to take a bite! Too cute! I have added a photo album called "Isabel and her friend Camille" so check out the adorable photos!
Tonight we are having dinner with Jenna and Aaron (her husband) and Camille, so we can get to know their whole family a little more. But needless to say, we are very thankful that the Lord brought them into our lives. Jenna and I were chatting the other day and we think that both girls are going to develop faster because they have the other one to try to keep up with!
A quick note on Isabel's size and development. At her 9-month appt last week, she was 15 lbs 5.5 oz (just a smidge above the 3rd percentile), and 27 inches long (25th percentile). She is definitely turning out to be long and lean like her daddy! She began sitting up unassisted (for long periods of time) at 7 months, cut her first two teeth (the bottom middle two) at 8.5 months, has been creeping/scooting/rolling all over the place for the past month or so, and can crawl backwards a few steps. On Monday of this week, she learned to get herself up into a sitting position from her tummy (the first time, it was via the center splits, and Jenna is convinced we have a future gymnast on our hands. Hey, I will take it!) She sits herself up all the time now, and looks so proud of herself every time she does it! She also pulls herself up to a standing position every now and then, so we immediately lowered her crib mattress once she started doing that. She will be crawling forward any day we think...so watch out! The house needs to get baby-proofed!
She has been speaking in consonant sounds for about a month as well. She started with hi and mamamamama but then added dadadadada and babababa soon after. She has since dropped the hi, and her favorite sound now is one that sounds like ooowa ooowa ooowa (and an extremely ear piercing blood curdling scream (both happy and sad) that we are trying to ignore so we don't reinforce it. We think she knows what she is saying when she says "mama" because she will say it directly to me, just those two syllables, and she will say it in an angry voice when I walk away from her or am busy with something else and she wants me!
We are truly enjoying her.
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