Snow and hunger

So be it. Abi is like a bear before winter.. eats and falls into hibernation. If she wakes up tonight, I'll be surprised (well, not so much to be honest).. Her last meal was 8,5oz of milk with 5 teaspoons of cereal in it. 1 hour later I had to make additional 2,5oz because she was still hungry. By 7:30pm she was sleeping.


While waiting for dear hubby to finish work, I watched Grease 2. If not for young Michelle P. I would throw out the movie, that I actually own...


After that, rather dreadful movie, I decided to get some fresh air and document today's unique,at least for the South, weather conditions.
In case we won't get snow here in the next few years and we are still living here, I would want Abi to see at least pictures of it.. :) On the second thought, we could always go to Poland....daa!

Good night,


J.

A Mother’s Perspective

Sometimes I wonder what other people think about heart parents and what they have to go through with their CHD babies.. How to describe the daily struggles, feelings, emotions, fears and tears?

I found this beautiful poem written by one of the heart mamas (Stephanie Husted) who captured “it all” perfectly. Literally every single word describes what Art and I have gone and are still going through...

'You passed me in the shopping mall…

(You read my faded tee)

You tapped me on the shoulder…

Then asked…”What’s a CHD?”

I could quote terminology…

There’s stats that I could give…

But I would rather share with you…

A mother’s perspective.

What is it like to have a child with a CHD?

It’s Lasix,aspirin,Captopril…

It’s wondering…Lord what’s your will?…

It’s monitors and oxygen tanks…

It’s a constant reminder to always give thanks…

It’s feeding tubes, calories, needed weight gain…

It’s the drama of eating…and yes it’s insane!

It’s the first time I held her…(I’d waited so long)

It’s knowing that I need to help her grow strong…

It’s making a hospital home for awhile…

It’s seeing my reward in every smile.

It’s checking her sats as the feeding pump’s beeping…

It’s knowing that there is just no time for sleeping…

It’s caths, x-rays and boo boos to kiss…

It’s normalcy I sometimes miss…

It’s asking do her nails look blue?

It’s cringing inside at what she’s been through.

It’s dozens of calls to her pediatrician…

(He knows me by name…I’m a mom on a mission)

It’s winters homebound…and hand sanitizer…

It’s knowing this journey has made me much wiser.

It’s watching her sleeping…

her breathing is steady…

It’s surgery day and I’ll never be ready.

It’s handing her over…( I’m still not prepared…)

It’s knowing that her heart must be repaired…

It’s waiting for news on that long stressful day…

It’s …praying…it’s hoping…that she’ll be okay.

It’s the wonderful friends with whom I’ve connected…

It’s the bond that we share…it was so unexpected…

It’s that long faded scar down my child’s small chest…

It’s touching it gently and knowing we’re blessed…

….It’s the need to remember we’re all in this plight….

It’s their lives that remind us we still need to fight!

It’s in pushing ahead amidst every sorrow…

It is finding the strength to have hope for tomorrow’

J.

A Mother’s Perspective

Happy Half Birthday!

j.

Guess Who's Sleeping?

Mommy?.. No! Daddy? ... No!  Abi? - YES!!!!!

She has made a tremendous improvement in her sleeping and eating patterns. She only wakes up once at night to eat now.

She drinks 5-6 ounces with her eyes closed and is good for at least 5-6 hours! I'm just one proud and rested (well I still need to get up before 6am to go to work) Mama! :)

Way to go, Abi...

J.

Without mommy...

Abi is doing great! Today is her third day without mommy and surprisingly she's not missing me too much. On one hand it's sad, but on the other works to the advantage of her baby-sitter and my best friend. A good thing is that Daddy is just around the corner and gets to see her in the mornings and during the day, before I come back from work. I'm getting my groove back at work again, which is good. Being so busy I hardly even have time to miss A&A, but then there is a car-ride.. 40 minutes of highways usually killed by phone-calls to my mom, if my phone battery doesn't decide to die...like yesterday...



It's already a hump day today and so far so good. Abi's having fun with Melissa and mommy at work...




Thanks you for checking for updates..




J.

Back to work

4:55pm


It's been a couple days with no posts.. days go by so fast and before I noticed it's almost time to go back to work on Monday. Seeing Abi growing and improving so much I wish I was able to stay with her longer, like forever... :)
Abi's last pediatrician visit on Thursday went very well. She skipped 4th and 5th month check-up, so this one was treated as her 6th! What? 6th? Oh goodness, she's almost six months! How is that possible?
Anyway, the pediatrician after applying Abi's weight and length to the system, showed us the chart and where Abi is on it. She jumped from 5th percentile on her 3-moth check-up to 25th this week! She is right back on track, growing some cute cheeks and rolls here and there.


Since, she hit the magic 13th pound she started sleeping much better and for longer periods too.
For the last few days, she's been sleeping for 5h at a time. Woohoo, welcome sleep!


Abi keeps growing and healing, her scar is barely visible right now:

Thank you for visiting Abi's blog and for your prayers for her excellent improvement and health.


J.

Cardio visit #2

4:30pm
Abi was such a good girl during our second post-op visit with the cardiologist today. Dr Greene was tickled to death, again, by seeing her gaining weight and looking so great and comfortable. Abi gained 3lb in 1 month. She's now over 13lbs.
She didn't cry this time when the doctor came to listen to her lungs and heart. He was astonished how well the incision is healing. The murmur was even less noticeable :) which means the malformed valve is doing better than the last time we visited Dr. Greene, hence there was no need for the echo today. Another good news is that she can drop one dose of Lasix for a week and then stay only on it once a day. Yeey!


I must finish now as my precious cargo is fussing on my lap and won't let me type more...


j.

Dec 9, 2009 vs Today

10:00pm
Exactly 1 month ago, on December 9th, 2009,  Abi had her open heart surgery. 

Today, our miracle baby is having fun on her tummy...

J.

Read to me...

7:55pm
It was a good day today, morning with Daddy and all day with Mommy with small breaks for Daddy's kisses and hugs - talking about advantages of working from home, eh?

It's not hard to figure out, she's Daddy's little girl:)


Apart from still being little congested and with runny nose, Abi did great today. We are going to the cardiologist on Tuesday to check if everything is healing well. 


Funny facts from today: During our "4B" night routine: bath, bottle, book, bed, Abi fussed after a couple of sips of milk, so I put the bottle back on the table. She kept fussing and looking at the table, where the new book, I've started to read to her, sat. When I started reaching for it, she began calming down. She simply wanted me to read to her!! She, then took a bottle. Talking about the preference, right? She is so awesome. 


J.

I'm the coolest...

9:30pm
There are no words that could describe how wonderful babies are. I would never thought I would be enjoying motherhood this much. Abi amazes me every single day with her development and new skills. It seems like the more time we spend, the more we understand each other. It's getting easier and easier to figure out what she needs, and she's getting better at communicating things like: "I'm tired and want a nap - put me in the car seat" when she makes crying noises after she ate, or "Feed me! Oh my gosh I see the bottle!" when she opens her mouth and shakes her hands, or "I want my paci" when she shapes her mouth like she wants to whistle. It's so funny and fun to watch her grow and participate in her first experiences with everything.


She finally warmed up to different people talking to her, touching, and even holding and feeding her! She just needed the time to overcome the trauma of being moved, touched, poked with needles by nurses and doctors who changed almost on the hourly basis.

She's the coolest and I think she knows it....


Good Night,
J.

Great Night

6.38am

We had a really good day yesterday with Abi and in the evening, she had fun with her bath and did not fight sleep too much. Then she woke up only 3 times so far !!!! WOW! She woke up after 3 hours to eat and fell back asleep immediately. Then she woke up again after 2.5 hours and again after 3.5 hours. It's 6.46am right now and she's sound asleep !!!! It's been a while since she slept past 6am.

Isn't this a great beginning of the new wonderful year? ;-)

Art

1st Day of New Year!

7:50pm

What a beautiful first day of the year! 

Abi woke up 3 times at night to eat and then at 5 in the morning because of her congestion she's slowly overcoming. 

The New Year's Eve passed by pretty quickly, accompanied by Skype video conference with our parents in Poland (I was able to see fireworks from my parents' balcony) and our brother and sister who stayed with us and shared a glass of champagne at pretended midnight after Abi went to sleep (around 8 pm). 

We obviously didn't last till 12am. We greeted a New Year after 1am when feeding Abi.

Thank you for visiting Abi's blog, your interest, prayers and support. We deeply appreciate that!
I have already started updating this blog with links to other "heart" babies' (with their parent's permission) that were touched with the Congenital Heart Defects. I hope this blog will become a valuable source of information to all interested in the topic and mainly to the parents who may have just found out about their baby's defect(s) and are searching the internet for some answers. 
  

Happy New Year!

J.