Our Christmas Miracle

Our Christmas miracle is...Emily isn't having seizures. They've been doing great for about 3 weeks now. This is a huge deal, because for 4 years she's been having dozens of seizures a day. Since Emily's been out of the hospital this week we've seen huge changes. The biggest is that she's keeping her head up, even when she's sitting up straight or standing. She's just doing fantastic. It's such a huge blessing. She's also staying awake and keeping her eyes wide open, even when she's sitting up or standing. She used to shut down whenever we tried to get her to do these things. We started her on a new diet October 1st-a combination of the Ketogenic diet and a modified Atkins Diet, and after about 6 weeks we started noticing a difference. We're just praying it continues.

We're home!

After a week in the hospital, Emily came home today. She started doing much better yesterday afternoon, came of oxygen at 5:00, and never had to go back on. She hasn't slept much in 48 hours-2 hours of sleep, so hopefully she'll crash soon. She's been having muscle spasms in her back, and we're sure that laying down all the time did not help. Hopefully her back will feel better. Lily has been in 8 or 9 different homes the past week. She's done great. If you look at her she'll smile and laugh, so everyone who had her was pretty entertained. We are very blessed to have such a laid back, easy baby. She rolled over for the first time on Saturday. Robby got to see it-I was at the hospital. She hasn't done it for me yet. We canceled our first flight to Washington for Wednesday, and have booked a flight on Southwest for Monday the 22nd, coming back on the 1st. So hopefully we'll still be going home for a bit. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Hospital Stay

Emily's in the hospital with more lung problems. I got a call on Tuesday from her school saying they'd called 911 because Em wasn't breathing. She recovered on her own-they never had to do anything to get her breathing, but her oxygen never recovered. We're not sure what happened-if it was lungs, a seizure, choking, etc. I got to the school pretty quickly, and she was on oxygen and okay as long as she was on the oxygen. So we rode with sirens blaring to the hospital, where we've been since Tuesday. She's in the PICU at North Central Baptist. She's on bipap, which we've had at home, too, and it helps open her airway. They said she had pockets of lung collapse and pnmonia. Since they started her on the bipap, her chest x-rays have improved. We're not sure when she'll come home, or if we'll be able to go home on Wednesday for Christmas or not. But she is doing much better than 2 days ago. So that's what's going on with us. Lily's been a trooper, being passed around from family to family and person to person. We're hanging in there. Robby's here this time, which makes a big difference! Em's a trooper too. Her seizures have ben much better recently, which is a big blessing.

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving break with Robby's parents, who came for Lily's baby blessing, which was on Sunday. This was my first year making everything myself, and it actually turned out pretty good. Everything was edible, anyway! Thank goodness for meat thermometers, is all I can say. We all would have ended up with food poisening without one! Let's just say, the turkey wasn't finished when I thought it was. I enjoy cooking, and it was nice to have help in the kitchen. We took family pictures on Saturday, at the Japanese Tea Gardens. There's someplace free to go in San Antonio! I was very excited to visit it-it was pretty and there were flowers. And, did I mention it was free? Saturday night we had fantastic Rudy's BBQ (it's worth coming to Texas just to have Rudy's) and then to a little town that had a Dicken's Christmas. Emily slept through that , and Lily was wide awake. On Sunday we blessed Lily, which was of course a great experience. And Grammy didn't feel like it was right that Lily be the only one with the new dress, so she got Emily a pretty purple one. Sometime we'll get a picture of her in it when she's awake!

This and That and Oh So Sad!

Well, life's been moving along the last 2 weeks. Emily is doing much better. Hopefully we can stay healthy through Christmas, at least! Lily is a very cute, smiley, bald little girl. Well, not totally bald. But the dark hair she had when she was born has rubbed off considerably, and is coming in much lighter. Emily's did the same thing. We're blessing her this weekend when Robby's parents are here (yeah for Grandparents!) So she'll be smiley in her pictures, but with not much hair. I gave Lily my bracelet today at church, and she promptly put it in her mouth. What do I do? I've never had to deal with this before! Her fist is constantly in her mouth, so I knew this day was coming. Lily also loves the TV. It doesn't matter where she is, she will find a way to watch it. If she's on her back, she will scoot herself around and then crank her neck to watch it. It's quite funny-we try not to let her watch it, but she seems to figure out a way!
I saw Twilight last night, for those Edward fans out there. I enjoyed it. Good clean entertainment. And then, last night. Oh So Sad! We had friends over to watch the BYU-Utah game. Robby is much better than he was when we were first married about not acting super upset after we lose. Either that, or I'm just better at not talking to him about it! He's moved on, and is planning his trip for next September to go to the BYU-Flordia game. He truly bleeds blue. I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving. And I need more help at figuring out backgrounds. The one time I tried to change, it got rid of everyone I was trying to keep track of with their blogs! So help!

Janica's visit

Hospital Stay and Janica's visit

Wow! A lot has happened since Thursday night! Emily, who I said earlier was wheezing on Thursday, ended up in the ER Friday with asthma. At school she was coughing so they checked her oxygen levels, and they were low, so they called me, and when the nurse told me how low they were (in the mid 80's instead of 90's) I knew we'd be heading to the emergency room. So I grabbed the diaper bag with some extra milk for Lily and took off. I hadn't even showered yet, from running. At school we called the doctor, who told us to go to the ER. They had her on oxygen at school, so I ran over to my friend's house, who lives next to the school, fed Lily, took a shower, and went back to Emily. Jill was a saint. She made me lunch and kept Lily Friday night.
Robby had left the day before to go to the BYU football game on Saturday with some buddies. At that point we didn't think Emily was that sick. He felt really bad that he wasn't here to help me and cuddle with Emily. When he got back on Sunday he stayed with Emily at the hospital and took care of the girls Monday and Tuesday so that I could do things with Janica .
They put Em on oxygen and eventually took us up to a private room, where we could see the San Antonio Temple! They started Emily on breathing treatments, antibiodics, and steroids, and that was what they did the entire time we were there.
On Saturday the doctor came in and said some not very nice things. I won't go into them, they're not worth mentioning, but they were very negative towards Emily and her mental state. We will be switching pulminologists in the near future. He's waiting for Emily to fail instead of hoping she'll succeed.
Lily spent the afternoon and evening with me. I had been starving and was a little bit discouraged when I talked to my visiting teacher. A half hour later she showed up at the hospital with homemade food and a chance for me to go get out of the hospital and walk around. I was surrounded by angels this weekend in the form of friends and my sister! I cried when Cindy got there-I really needed a break!
Janica and Akaila came in Saturday night. Janica had been planning this trip for several months. When it was determined that Emily didnt' have the flu or RSV she decided to still come, and was a huge help. She made dinner and muffins, did my laundry, stayed with Emily Sunday afternoon so that I could have a break, and gave me lots of hugs!
Emily came home from the hospital yesterday. Janica and Akaila helped us leave. Em got a flu and pnmonia shot before we left. Then last night Janica and I went shopping and got some tasty Rudy's BBQ, and today went to the Alamo and Riverwalk, so we still were able to do some fun things. She was a great help, and it was so fun to visit, and I loved having Akaila around. I know this is long. I'm going to try to put up pictures next. Em has another doctor's appointment for her kidneys. They've always looked okay, but they keep an eye on them, so hopefully they'll continue to look good! I'm tired, I'm going to bed!

Lily Video

Okay, I posted the vidoe on youtube. If you type in this URL, hopefully it will send you there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjn8h81PU5I

Long Day, but Happy Ending

Today Emily had therapy at 10:30, then school, and then Lily and I took Robby to the airport. He went to the Utah-TCU game tonight in Salt Lake City, and on Saturday is going with his college buddies to the BYU game in Provo. After we dropped Robby off we picked Emily up at school, and went to get Emily a flu shot. I had both the girls in the double jogging stroller. It was my first time using it for a doctor's appointment, and it worked pretty well. However, at the doctor's office the doctor listened to Emily and determined that she couldn't get a flu shot because she was wheezing. Her asthma has been fairly bad the last few days. So, needless to say, I was not happy! We came home for awhile, and then went to our friend's house for a Pampered Chef party. There are too many things to buy! I think I'll reward myself for my hard work while Robby's out of town and get something. When we came home Lily was being very cute, so I recorded her with the camera. I just tried to upload it, but it didn't work, so I'll just put up pictures for now. If anyone has any hints for putting videos on, let me know!

Okay, I'm trying this again. Our Halloween was pretty good. Robby and I have been eating Em's candy-not good for a post-baby diet! Hopefully I'll figure this thing out.

I just tried to put on pictures, and it didn't work, so I will try again. For Halloween we went to our ward Trunk or Treat. Robby was a University of Utah football player after they were done playing BYU. Most people got the joke, and he won a prize for funniest costume.

A day in our life

So, our blog looks kind of boring compared to most of yours. How do you do the cute backgrounds? Today was a typical day in the life of Emily, lily, and I. I got up, tried to exercise, never quite got it done before Lily needed to eat, got the girls ready, and took Em to an appointment to have her AFO's (ankle feet orthotics) looked at. That was at 9:00. From there it was on to physical therapy, where Emily was awake, which consistutes a successful therapy. Then it was off to school, where Emily goes from 12:00-2:45. By then, Lily had had it. She's a great sport. We rewarded ourselves by taking a nap on the couch together. Then it was back to pick up Emily, off to visit a friend (it's the end of the month-got to get visiting teaching in!) then back home to feed the girls, teach piano, make dinner, and then the reward...I got to watch the Office. Yeah for Thursday night TV! Actually, today was a little busier than most days. We usually have 1-3 days a week like today. Happy Halloween!

The Girls in October

Photobucket Album

Well, I've started a blog. We'll see if I can figure this thing out.