HAPPY 6 MONTH BIRTHDAY ANNABELLE!

I am pleased to report that my daughter is officially 6 months old! Okay, fine, she will be 6 months old at 11:18 this evening, but close enough!

This has been without a doubt the longest and hardest 6 months in my whole life. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that we would still be here, still in the hospital, six months later, waiting for a heart transplant. We THOUGHT we would have been home… back for our Glenn, and home again by now.

In fact, when I went into labor a week before we were scheduled to induce (2 weeks before my due date) my husband tried to convince me that this was a GOOD thing, that all my well laid plans being disrupted was for the good. He said that this just meant we would get her heart fixed sooner… and be HOME sooner.

Um, yeah, not so much.

But… I can now look back and roll my eyes at how worried I was over piddly things like my flimsy “plans.” It’s amazing how God can change our perspective on things, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, Annabelle isn’t having a stellar day on her 6 month birthday. She was awake pretty much the whole night, crying off and on. She ran a fever of 102… but it came right down when we took her jammies off. But it crept back up to 102.3 this morning, even unclothed, so we’re doing blood cultures AGAIN to rule out infection. We think, though, that it’s from her methadone wean yesterday…. she really likes that stuff unfortunately! She withdrawls almost every time we try to wean it. We’ve been trying for over a month now and have barely made a dent in her dose.

We are still in much prayer over the Boston/new procedure issue. Her MRI is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow. This will either rule it out completely (our Vandy Cardiologists are convinced this is the case), or tell us we have a lot more praying to do about it.

OH! I forgot to mention also!!!

On top of my tailspin that I was in all morning… I got… for the very FIRST time in my 29 years on this earth (I guess only 13 or so of those actually count…) my

Yes, I was going 76 in a 55. In my defense, I could spit on the sign that changes the limit to 65… and a few exits up it then turns 70. Every single person on the interstate was going my same speed at the time, I just happened to be in lane they were pulling over people in. Great fun!

So, I will pay my $45 to help the Nashville economy and do online traffic school so my insurance doesn’t go up. Just what I needed!

Oh, and I’ll have you know, I was good and did not cry or try to use my Annabelle or crazy day as an excuse to get out of it. I chose to smile about it. Because really, what else is there to do? I did the crime. I’ll pay the fine. Life goes on. (I feel a sappy song coming on here…)

And I did congratulate the officer on giving me my very first ticket too. I might very well frame it:-)

OH! Lots of oh’s today… sorry…

After six months of being in the hospital and sleeping on the little pull out chair thingy in the back of Annabelle’s room, I’ve finally broken down and requested a room at the Ronald McDonald House, which I will move in to today. I will still probably room in with Annabelle a lot, but at least I have a place to take a shower, keep my stuff, do my laundry and sleep at night close to the hospital. And it makes it easier for Scott to come up here too, as he can stay at night too when needed instead of driving all the way back home. It’s only a 45 minute drive (compared to many here that live 3 hours or more away)… but still, I think this will help take a little of the stress out of our lives at the moment, especially since the diration of our stay is unknown.

Here are a few fun pictures of Miss Annabelle… None are from today… as she is half naked and cranky and would be irritated if I took her picture in such a state:-)

 Hey everyone! My name is Annabelle!!! I’m cute as a button:-)

 Snuggling with my momma. Ahhhh… I LOVE this! (For about twenty seconds, then I want back down…)

 Momma finally brought my fuzzy towels from home so I don’t have to use those dumb hospital ones! I like this one… it is my FAVORITE color… PINK! Oh, and I have fishys on my head, how cool is that?

Dear Jesus… I’d love to have a new heart… or fix this one, I don’t care which one, just let me go home to be with Mommy and Daddy and sisters soon! I love them SO SO SO much and REALLY want to see my cool pink bedroom! I’ll be a good girl… I promise! Thanks — Annabelle