Mercedes and Mia...

Mercedes' allergy appointment was a little different than I had expected it to be! Instead of being there for about 45 minutes tops, we were there for 3 1/3 HOURS! If any of you know Mercedes at all, you'd know she's always been deathly freaked out of doctors and nurses and anything they do to HER. If the appointment is for anybody else and she's there, she's perfectly fine. Also, when she gets worked up (crying), she usually tosses her cookies.

All that to say that she was SUCH a trooper!!! She did have a fit when the gal was trying to get her temp in her ear, and when the doctor was trying to see in her ears, but other than that, she did great!

That morning, I had to stop by her doctors' office to get the flu vaccine to take to the allergist's so he can inject it - in case of a bad reaction. I didn't realize he was going to retest her for milk, egg, and the flu vaccine to see how strong she's allergic. She was allergic to all three. They also tested her for shellfish and she wasn't allergic to that, so that's good to know! =) I was always scared to give it to her, so I never had. The good news is that last time her egg reaction was about 2-3'' in diameter and this time it was about the size of a time, so it looks like it's cleared up some! Her milk allergy was about the same size, so that's also decreased (according to the size).

Anyway... since she was allergic to the flu vaccine, they had to give it to her in TINY doses, then wait 15 minutes, check her reaction, then give another shot. Thankfully, after the 3rd shot in her shoulder, I agreed that they should double the dose so it'd go faster. She ended up getting 5 shots in her shoulders as well as 9 pokes on her back!!! She did such a great job!! We bought Mia a little media player and we put a bunch of movies on it for her, so Mercedes borrowed "Mia's Laptop", as she calls it. =) Boy, was THAT a good idea!! =)

Today the ENT came to CRC (where Mia is at) to evaluate the children. After looking in Mia's ears, they didn't bother examining her trach or mouth, because she has a lot of fluid in her ears that it requires surgery to place tubes to drain the fluid. =( So, when they do that, since she'll be under anesthesia, they'll examine everything else they wanted to do today, as well as an official hearing test. If they don't do the surgery, there's a very high risk that she can lose her hearing altogether, because there's so much fluid, they said.

I was bummed when I heard that, of course I was sad and disappointed, I guess. It's always hard to hear that your child is going to need to have yet another surgery. When I put her back in bed, her eyes rolled back, her alarm went off - she was desating quickly, and her lips went totally pale. Mia had another short seizure. It only lasted about 90 seconds, but it seemed like forever. Especially when everybody is busy with normal everyday things, and helping with the ENT clinic... I couldn't find an RT to help the Charge Nurse and Nurse Practitioner. They had to bag Mia back up and once she seizure ended, she was fine. It was so strange. I felt so totally helpless and defeated. As a mother, it's so hard not being able to fix whatever is going on in her body. It's even harder not knowing what the problem is to begin with.

Continue to pray for our baby girl! Mia is getting stronger daily and so much more alert, but we know she has SO much farther to go! Also pray for Mercedes' food allergies to clear up. Next week sometime, she needs to get some blood work done (that one definitely will not be fun!) to test for her milk, egg and nut allergies - to see just how strong they are.

I drive up to Sacramento in the morning, then when Robert comes home from work, we'll head out for Las Vegas until the day before Thanksgiving. Pray for travel safety for us and that we can get everything accomplished that we need to!

My Mom has been fighting a really bad cold, so she's not going to be able to see Mia much at all while we'll be gone and my Dad works nights and sleeps during the day, so he won't have much time to visit Mia, either. Robert's parents aren't close enough to come by daily (they could, but it'd be a LONG trip back and forth!) and since Grandparents are the only people allowed to visit at this time (aside from parents), pray Mia will get enough company, love and touch while we're away. Pray that my Mom will get better, too, so she can visit with Mia.

Yesterday, Mom, Mercedes and I were able to meet Danny Gokey (2009 American Idol finalist - Top 3 - totally deserved to win, but he didn't need to!) Our local country station hosted a private concert and signing at Armadillo Willy's, so it was a great honor to meet this wonderful man of God! (www.sophiasheart.org)

Blessings to you all,
Rachael <3

All moved in!

We're all moved in now!! And can I say... massive garage sale?? haha We have so much stuff we don't want or need - it's crazy!! Of course, since the Military was moving us and they pay by the pound, we didn't have an incentive to get rid of anything. Good that we got paid for the weight, but total bummer that we have to go through everything now to get rid of it. =)

My in-laws drove the first load of our things on Saturday morning, then when Mercedes and I arrived, in parents-in-law; Robert; and Isaac already had almost everything unloaded. Two of my friends came to help unload, but the truck arrived about 3 hours earlier than we had originally planned, but at least they were able to help Robert and Isaac with the table saw! =)

While they went back up to Chico to bring back the second (at least) load, Mercedes and I went for a drive to find Target (which I never found because I didn't read the directions correctly) and got to know Arden street VERY well! :-P We found what we needed at a different store, though! Renee was coming up to help with the second load and when she got off the freeway, I just happened to be 3 cars behind her! She was able just to follow me to the house instead of bother with directions, so that was pretty handy! =)

Renee was a HUGE help with hanging up the hardware for the curtains in all of the rooms. I definitely need to build more arm strength! heehee

Our next door neighbor, Chris, was very kind in letting us fill up some buckets for water so we could at least flush the toilets (because our water turned off on Friday - it turned back on today.) =) Mercedes has been so used to flushing the toilet after she's done using it that I kept scaring her when I'd tell her not to flush! "Mercedes, NO!! Don't flush it!!" That was pretty funny. =)

Mercedes LOVES her new house!! She's so excited!! I got her bed set up and she was having a blast in her bedroom. =) After I tucked her into bed, she called me back into her room and she told me "Mommy, now Baby Mia has to come in an ambulance to our new house in Las Vegas!" I thought that was so sweet that she knows Mia belongs at home. =) She's still confused about what city our new house is in, though. =) She thinks Sacramento and San Jose are buildings, I think. So she keeps saying our new house is in Las Vegas. =)

Mercedes did NOT want to go back to San Jose! She was so sad to get our things packed into the car again. She keeps asking when we're going to go back to our new house. She says "I wuv my new house! I wuv my room!"

Tomorrow Mercedes sees the allergist for the first time. Pray, because they're going to attempt to give her the seasonal flu shot. She's never ever had one before because of her egg allergy (the vaccine is egg-based.) Mercedes is terrified of doctors, and she's actually going to get stuck, so it's not going to be a good experience. Even if she just gets her feelings hurt, she'll work herself up so much that she'll end up throwing up from crying. So, please pray!!! Her appointment is at 10:00am PST.

Mia is doing really well! Oh my goodness she's so beautiful!! =) They weaned her by one breath today, so now she's set to 22 bpm and she's usually breathing anywhere from 22-35bpm, so a little above the vent! We're very excited! =) She's doing so well in her physical therapy, too. I need to take a video of it one of these times... she really enjoys her tummy time and is doing REALLY well bobbing her head around. It used to just hang and she was so weak that she couldn't even move it. Now she's moving it all over!! She's so much stronger!! =) Keep praying for her!!

As for me, for whatever reason, I can actually smell!!! For those of you who don't know me very well, I've had 3 sinus surgeries and have been feeling miserable for about 6 years. Always congested, always sound like I'm sick, but it's just me. My sinuses are abnormally small and other crazy stuff going on in there, so it's just soooo strange and wonderful that I've been able to smell for about 3 weeks now!!! I'm trying not to be negative about it, but man, it was a whole lot easier when I couldn't smell when I was cleaning the kitty litter box! heehee I'm just sooo grateful I can smell!! I'm not sure why it's changed all of a sudden, but I'm glad it has. Keep my health in prayer, too. I'm also going to see the allergist soon at some point. I'm basically allergic to everything environmentally, just very mildly. Medicines don't work, so, we'll see what happens!

Robert and I are heading for Vegas on Friday and will be there until Wednesday, the latest. We'll be there to fix up the house and get it ready for renters. Lord willing, we'll be able to rent it out! Pray for our protection driving out there and back!

Again, I haven't transfered the pictures off of the camera yet, but I will soon! =)

Love to you all,
Rachael <3

Moving day!!

Well, it's time for our empty house to become an official home!! Mercedes and I are leaving early in the morning for Sacramento to help unload and set up the house as much as possible. Yes, she probably will be "in the way" at times, but I want her to be able to get a visual grasp on what's really happening. I want her to see that all of our things from Las Vegas are being moved into the house in Sacramento and that she'll have her own bedroom again for a week out of the month when we're up there, etc. I can't imagine how confused she must be with all of this craziness from picking up and moving out here; to staying in Auntie's bedroom; to Daddy only being with us during the weekends; Mommy sleeping outside in the trailer; etc. =)

It'll be good! Pray everything will go smoothly and that nobody gets hurt in the slightest.

One thing that our realtor neglected to inform us of until today was that our water was being shut off today! Robert called the water company, but apparently they can't disconnect and connect in one day, so we have to wait until the next business day - Monday - to have water! It'll take some getting used to not having water readily available, but I know we'll manage! =)

Mia is doing great, aside from the fact that she's a growing little 9 month old who just cut her first top tooth!!! You can tell she's in terrible pain - her gums are so swollen and red, as well as her cheeks. Her heartrate is really high compared to her norm, so that's basically the only way for us to know when she's in pain. She just looks so out of it when she is. This morning she actually looked really good, though! No redness in her cheeks and she was so bright and cheerful! Be praying for comfort for her as she continues working on getting her tooth all the way in, as well as her other top tooth coming in.

On another note, Mia had, what appeared to have been, another seizure last Friday. Her body went totally unresponsive and her eyes were totally rolled back for about 4 minutes. During that time, she either fell asleep or passed out or something, because she was totally out of it, but her eyes finally came back down to where they should be. About 12 hours later, they raised her Phenobarbital level, and that totally knocked her out. She was getting it once daily at 9am, but it was knocking her out all morning and afternoon, so they now changed it to 9pm and that's working much better for her! She's now able to be awake for her group developmental therapy time and her physical therapy time, so that's great! She's now really active again playing with her toy bar and looking around - we're definitely happy to see that again!

I know Mia is pretty stable now compared to where she was 9 months ago, plus life is busy and such, but please whenever our family comes to mind, pray for our precious Mia Amore! God has brought her so far and we know He's not finished yet!! He's doing a mighty work in her beautiful body! She's taking more breaths on her own and the RT's have been able to wean her breath pressure settings! She's still not tolerating weaning from her breath rate quite yet, but they said her lungs are getting much stronger! They're not requiring so much force from the machine to give her the breath, so that's why they're able to wean her pressure setting. Praise God! =)

Well, 6:30am is coming quickly, so I must say goodnight.

Keep praying for Mia's Miracle!

I'll post some more pictures soon. I just wanted to be sure to write at least an update for now!

Goodnight,
Rachael <3

Huge progress for Mia!! =)

Hi Everyone,

Just an update on Mia...

We are SO proud of her!!! She starting to take a few breaths on her own now, which we haven't seen in a long time and now she's really starting to play with her toys and be so interactive!!

In this video, Robert is holding up the suction hose to her and before I started recording, she grabbed the hose with both hands! We've never seen her do that before. She's always touched things, but never held on before. Sure it was only for two seconds, but that's progress!! =)

For those of you who are reading this update via email, you'll have to go directly to the blog website to watch the video. www.theadamisfamily.blogspot.com

Enjoy! =)

Rachael



I also added MANY pictures from October and November to my facebook page. I'll enclose the link here. Check them out! =) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=131783&id=614762171&l=0948264cc1