LINK TO OUR JOURNEY TO JILLIANA

LINK TO OUR JOURNEY TO JILLIANA
CLICK ON JILLIANA'S PHOTO TO FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY TO CHINA

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Some fun times and precious moments this week

After Daddy comes home from his motorcycle race we can't wait to see him! Emma and Daddy Meilynn and Daddy Daddy makes a great couch! He always takes the time to help us discover new things I'm not sure what this was about, but I thought it was cute.  Oh that is Meilynn by the way. Emma loves to put together her own combinations Daddy with his girls Even with a stool they still cannot reach.  We had little stools built into the cabinets in their bathrooms but they still cannot reach.  I can see this from my kitchen.  It always tickles me to see those little legs.  This is Meilynn. Mommy suggested picking lemons.  (I think I waited to long to pick them.  They were more the color of oranges than lemons.  Meilynn picked almost all of them.  Emma picked a few and then found better things to do. They thought this was great fun Emma trying to get a lemon off of our tree.  We had weather in the high 70's today. The newest thing is posing.  I don't know where they got it from but they always want me to take their picture doing this. Meilynn showing us how old she is. Mommy with her girls Another pose this week Meilynn showing us her pose Princess Emma Meilynn trying to decide which Pez container she is going to eat out of. Relaxing in the playroom The girls had their very first playdate this week.  They were waiting by the window for their friend Zoe to come Watching the clock.  Only 5 more minutes Aunt Debbie sharing a popsicle when we were trying to get Emma's fever down.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Reply to comment on my previous post on Emma's wrist

I would like to respond to the comment I received on the previous post. You are right I am blessed with so much, and I appreciate you reminding me of that fact. But I too at this time was having a health issue that I don't care to discuss and It just felt like more than I could handle alone. I reminded myself continually during this time that God would not give me more than I could handle, and that going through this kind of a dark moment only brings us closer to him. In sharing my true feelings on this blog I realize I become vulnerable. But if it also helps someone else who may be going through a similar circumstance or informs people, then I will continue to do so. I started my blog to remember every detail about our adoptions and to let my family see what was going on. But since then it has become so much more. It is a record of my girls lives since we have been fortunate enough to be their parents. We love our daughters very much and do feel so blessed. We know that we have worked hard for what we have both our family and our marriage. This was not just something that happened. I will accept your comment in the manner in which you gave it, to remind me to look at all the blessings that I have. But I am only human and feel hurt and pain. Vicki

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Emma's Wrist and we cannot get a break!

Here is my little sick baby.  Yes, now she is running a fever.  Emma came into my bed in the night.  She couldn't sleep.  She was so restless and I did think she might be a little warm.  When I took her temperature this morning it was 102.5.   After our experience less than two weeks ago with Meilynn I was scared.  Mike is in Mexico on a motorcycle trip so everything is just worse!
Here is the story of how she broke her wrist.  Mike had a motorcycle trip in Mexico for four days so I thought it would be a fun time to go down to the beach house with the girls and do all the things that we did while we were living there when our house was being remodeled.  We left on Wednesday night after choir practice.  I was 20 minutes down the rode when I realized that I did not have the beach house keys so I turned around and Mike met me with them.  I should have know then that the trip was not going to go well.  We got there late and I carried the girls to bed and then unpacked.  The next morning we went to our favorite bagel store and then shopping.  The girls were great and we got a lot of shopping done for them.  We wanted to get the shopping done because we wanted to go to the museum and the Zoo on the other days.  They have a pair of jeans at the Osh Gosh outlet that fit my girls perfect.  They are almost into the 3t and they fit them better in the waist than any other jeans.  When we came  back from shopping I told the girls it was nap time.  At the beach house they each have a queen bed to sleep in.  At home they still sleep in their cribs.  They slept in the queen beds all of September, October and most of November.  They like that I can lay down with them and read them a story.  So I wasn't really concerned about them being on the big beds.  Meilynn fell right to sleep but Emma was having trouble so I finally decided to lay down with her.  Sometimes she just needs me to lay down with her a minute and then she falls asleep playing with my hair.  So I was pretending to be asleep when all of a sudden I heard a loud crash.  What I think she did was try to put her hands down and flip off the bed not realizing how high they are.  She is always tumbling around our house doing back bends, flips, forward rolls etc.  She was crying which was a sign that she was really hurt.   I asked her what hurt and she said her arm.  I looked her arm over but didn't see anything unusual.   I thought it would be best to just wait and see if it continued to hurt and if she was going to hold it differently.  She seemed to be ok but then she tried to use her hand to push off from the floor and started crying again.  I knew then that something was probably wrong.  I cannot believe that we were down at the beach house for so long during our remodel and did not even know where to go in case of an accident or emergency.  I had met a girl during the summer at the playground so I walked with the girls down to her house to see where she would go if her boy was hurt.  She recommended a hospital down the freeway about three miles.  At this point Emma seemed fine again.  She wasn't complaining of pain or holding her arm weird so I started to doubt that Mommy intuition  We walked back to the beach house and again while she was doing something on the floor she cried.  So I quickly packed a bag to take for the long wait with both girls since I was all  alone.  Our visit to our local hospital by ambulance took us over 5 hours to be seen so I thought I should be prepared.  We found the Scripps Hospital and were treated better than I have ever been treated.  When we walked in someone evaluated her immediately and then we were sent to the Nurse who also evaluated her.  Emma was not crying and she could move all parts of her arm.  So a PA came in and looked at her and thought that it might be a buckle fracture.  So off to X-Ray.  We never waited for more than 5 minutes for anything that we did!  They gave both of the girls stuffed pink bears and apple juice.  X-ray went great.  At this point I thought that there probably was nothing wrong since she was not crying and not complaining even during the X-rays.  Well it turned out she had a buckle fracture and they splinted her with a hard splint and told us to call our Orthopedic Dr.   I want to say that we were treated with the best care and we did were out of there in under two hours doing all of the things that we did.  Emma slept well that night and then I called the Dr. the next morning.  They said that I had to come in that morning because both of the Dr.'s were going on a conference the next week.  I was 2 hours away and all unpacked so I quickly packed it all back up.   Emma was terrible during the drive back.  She was squirming and fussing the whole way.  When we got to the Dr.'s she had the worst behavior I have ever seen her have.  She cried and kept saying, " I want to go back."   The waiting room was full.  I would guess at least 20 people.  She was terrible.  Talking back to me, being loud, etc.  Thank goodness my Mom met me there to help out with Meilynn who was being angel that day.  Finally we got seen and she got a cast past her elbow.  
Today, Sunday woke up with a fever and it is a high one.  I have given Motrin and Tylenol and it doesn't want to change.  I just took it and it is 103.7 an hour after Tylenol.  I am afraid to do the bath thing and with the cast on it makes it even more difficult.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

IS IT OVER YET?

As you can see from this picture, I am not having a good February!  I will post later when I have a chance.  Please pray that things get better for us.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Thank You! and an update

First of all I would like to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.  Meilynn is fever free now but her cough is still hanging on along with exhaustion.  I saw a little of the stubbornness return today so I think she is getting better.  I just wanted to give a quick update so that you would know that she is better.  I am still scared and will be until she passes that marker of five or six.  Emma and Meilynn have never been left with a babysitter other than family and now I fear doing that.  Here are a few pictures of trying on flower girl dresses the day before she got sick.  We have not decided on one yet.  The wedding is in August and I thought the girls might get bigger but I think I will still be ordering 2t or 3t.
Meilynn looking at herself in the mirror Meilynn and Emma Emma Meilynn Meilynn and Emma

Friday, February 13, 2009

FEBRILE SEIZURE or the Scariest Night of my Life

During the night between Monday and Tuesday Meilynn developed a fever.  On Tuesday she had the fever up and down all day.  Just three weeks earlier we had an episode of fever with her that we could not get to drop.  We did all of the usual things like baths and  Motrin and Tylenol.  So Mike took her to urgent care where they said her ear was red and gave her an antibiotic.  Her fever went away one day and then it was back so I made an appointment to make sure she was ok.  Her ear was still red so we put her on a stronger antibiotic and then her fever went away.  During this time she had a fever over 104 a lot of the time.  When we gave her a shower or bath there was some relief.  I took her back to make sure her ear was better after we were through with the second antibiotic.  All was clear!  So on Tuesday when she woke up with a fever I could not believe that she was sick again.  Meilynn has been healthy since we picked her up in China a year and 1/2 ago.  She spent the day going between playing with her sister or laying on the couch.  She started to develop a tiny cough so I thought it was the beginning of a cold.  She didn't sleep at nap time so my plan was to put her to bed early.  Her fever was between 101 and 102.5 most of the day.  I tried to feed her early but she had no appetite.  I took her temp and it was 103. 5.  I didn't find this too alarming since we just went through an epsiode with high fevers over 104.  I decided to give both Emma and Meilynn a bath early since neither had napped and I thought it might bring down the fever since she was not due for more Motrin for another two hours.  I had new things to play with in the bath so I thought it would help bring down her fever, they would have fun, and then they would go to bed early.  Mike was downstairs finishing dinner and the dishes.  Thank God he was home!  I got the girls in the bath and we started playing with the new alphabet letters.  Emma was very excited but Meilynn was just sitting and not really playing.  I attributed this to just being so tired and the fever.  But after about 5-10 minutes she just started to lean back.  I thought she was falling to sleep so I sat her up  (she did not go under but if I had not been there every second of the bath she would have gone under,  just a reminder to never slip away to get something in the other room or even turn around to do something in the bathroom, because you never know when this could happen.  I certainly had no clue!)  She started to fall back again and then I knew something was wrong.  She had lost consciousness and I could not even tell if she was breathing.  Her eyes were open but you could tell she was not seeing me.  I was screaming for Mike.  I thought she was dead.  Mike came immediately up and I gave her to him and I called 911.  She was in his arms not responding or moving, eyes open, limp like a doll.  I had heard of children getting seizures with a fever, but I thought a seizure involved shaking or jerking, eyes rolling back, etc.  That was not what I was seeing at all.  In fact I would have felt better if that is what I was seeing.  Instead, I thought my baby was dead.   It felt like it took forever for the fireman and ambulance to get there.  It is not easy to find our house and I kept telling the operator that and giving her better directions than mapquest or whatever map they were using would give.  I had to get Emma out and do something with her.  I wrapped her in her towel while talking to the operator.  I was running frantically up and down the stairs hoping to hear the trucks.  I opened the front door and turned on the lights and ran back up.  Meilynn was still out.  Mike was holding her in her room on the floor.  I kept telling the operator they were not there.  Where are they? She kept saying,  "Calm down they are on their way"  It felt like forever.  Finally they arrived and I got them upstairs.   My neighbor came over and took Emma to her room and talked to her while they worked on Meilynn.  They gave her oxygen and she still was not responding.  Finally when they tried to get an IV in her she started screaming.  They tried to find a vein in her arm and both feet but were unable to find it.  I was just glad to hear her crying even though I know they were hurting her.  She has tiny little veins and they have trouble finding her veins when she gets a blood test.  We were taken to  the hospital by ambulance and then because it was so crowded we waited in the waiting room for over 5 hours.  During this time she slept but I could tell she was ok.  She would wake up and cry a little and then go back.  After seeing the Dr. she said it was a Febrile seizure brought on by fever.    It is brought on by a sudden spike in body temperature, this can be up or down, usually due to infection.  The Dr. told us her ear was pink and gave us another antibiotic with instructions to see our Dr. in two days.  
Daddy with Meilynn in the waiting room of the hospital
I found out that loss of consciousness is a  symptom.  Not all children shake, or tighten muscles or roll their eyes back.   Other things I found out are that they aren't as dangerous as they look and typically does not indicate a long-term or ongoing problem, although their is a  chance that she could have more (one third of children who have one will have another).   They usually are outgrown by six.  A Febrile seizure most often occurs during the first day of a fever or before we might even know she is sick.  (This is scary)  I found out that about one in twenty five children will have one.  That is why I am making everyone aware of this.  Between 6 months and 5 years is when they most often occur.  It is rare before 6 months and after three years for the first one.  Meilynn will be four at the end of May.  There is often a family history of Febrile seizures.
We decided that as long as she has a fever she will sleep with us.  I really cannot tell you how scared I was.  And I am scared that it will happen again.  Meilynn continues to have a fever.  This morning at 5 am it was 103.9.  Today so far though it has remained below 101.  She has had no appetite and those of you who know her know that she is already tiny.  She weighs only 25 pounds.  I am pouring the liquids in her.  She ended up developing a cough on Wednesday night that would not stop.  All night and the next day she continued to cough without a break.  We had her Dr. appointment on  Thursday so the Dr. heard her coughing.  I cannot believe that cough medicines are no longer available for children this young.  I remember giving cough medicine to both of my older girls.  I tried honey but no relief.  Today things are better and she is coughing less and her fever is better.  I hope it stays down tonight.  I am sorry this is so mixed up and jumbled but this mommy has not had sleep and I wanted to get this down before I forgot the details.
tired little baby the next day
Exhausted
It's nice to have a sister when you are sick
Emma felt so sorry for her sister.  She kept saying, "I don't like my sister to be sick!"

Monday, February 02, 2009

Motorcycle Riding

One of the things that we enjoy doing as a family is going out "camping" in our motorhome and riding on motorcycles for Mike and Rhino and Quads for us girls.  We have a lot of friends that enjoy the same activity so it is a lot of fun to go out in a group and round up the motorhomes just like they used to round of the covered wagons and have our campfire in the middle.  Daddy bought the girls new riding clothes for Christmas.
Emma on the left trying to give Meilynn a hug Meilynn and Emma on their "quads" This trip one of our friends brought things to make Gingerbread houses with.  It's hard to believe that even out in the dirt you can find time to do fun activities. Learning to work together As you can see we had a nice group to work with.