kristaphillips 
On Monday, Annabelle gave Momma a scare.
She decided to “hold it” and not pee.
I went to change her diaper in the middle of the night Sunday, and it was dry. Not usual for Annabelle. In the morning, still dry. Before nap, STILL dry.
Now, let me explain. It is very important to make sure Annabelle has sufficient urine output. (my attempt at sounding professional about the TMI subject…) If she is not peeing it usually means a.) she is retaining fluid or b.) she is dehydrated.
And retaining fluid could point to congestive heart failure which could point to rejection. And dehydration is yucky in its own way.
For the most part, Annabelle was acting normal. I did have to go up on her oxygen a little, and she’d been gagging even more than normal on her feeds, so everything together made this Momma VERY nervous.
We’d gone to the ER on Memorial day. I really did NOT want a holiday repeat!
Talked to the doctor, we tried a few things including giving her pedialite, and she finally peed a little, and then she started to perk up and be REALLY happy (was even laughing for Grandma Phillips) so we all felt okay staying put.
The next day, she was peeing like a champ again. So the thinking is that my normally fluid overloaded little girl was actually dehydrated for once!
Went to clinic yesterday. Her labs were wonderful!!! And the echo and EKG looked “is looking better every time” to quote the doctor.
Those words are better than all the chocolate in the world!!!
I was also relieved to see her O2 SAT. It was 97% on 1/8th of a liter of oxygen. When I plugged our O2 sensor in from home (I’d taken it to clinic so I could compare), it read 91.
So I’m pretty confident that for some reason, it is reading a little low, so I am feeling better about continuing our oxygen wean too. (See picture of her after a bath… we were changing out her cannula so took the moment for a no-oxygen photo-op… won’t it be nice to have these kind of pictures ALL THE TIME!?!?!)
Our biggest hurdle right now is still FOOD. Both by mouth and Gtube. She’s still gagging and throwing up at about 50% of her feedings, if not more. She only vomits a little bit because of her Nissen (the surgery she had to prevent her from throwing up/having reflux) but it is still frustrating, and it scares her every time.
We were scheduled to try new formula, but it never came. Come to find out, our medical supplier was refusing to supply us this new kind because of cost. So the insurance people found us another supplier, and we should have it tomorrow. PLEASE pray this gives my little girl some relief! If it does, we will be able to get her on a much more normal feeding schedule (no night-time feeds.) And that will be good for ALL involved, including Momma who would LOVE a whole nights sleep!
*** Other stuff ***
It’s turning cold. Well, colder. I am SO SO SO thankful for the relief from the heat (as will be my poor electric bill!) However, the September weather means we are nearing the time for….
PTL! Rejoicing over your good news! 🙂 Hooray!
And I'm with you on this cooler weather; it is oh so nice!
Oh Krista you made my day!
First with good news of Annabelle and her beautiful smiling face! We continue to pray for her and especially her feeding. And second "The Switching of the Clothes"!!! I am still laughing at the image of shoving the summer clothes in bins and yelling for there removal because it is an image that occurs at house of four girls (8-2 yrs) every season! And yes I too have a basement filled with overwhelming tubs and boxes. A blessing, yes, but wow – what was once an afternoon project has now become a 2 day event complete with girls trying on everything and trading(and arguing over)items (the oldest two are a year apart and wearing the same size!). So thank you for the smile and laugh as I too am gearing up for this event. On the bright side there is the Fall citywide garage sale schedule beginning in our area! More to fill the tubs! God's been awesome at supplying the girls with clothes on our tight budget! We may never meet on this earth but in heaven we can sit down and laugh together at the hectic days of "The Switching of the Clothes".
Angie
Oh wow, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that pic of Annabelle! Loving all the good news and seriously cannot wait for all kinds of 02 free face pics – you are sososososo close! xoxo
Glad things are going soooo well! Still LOVE checking the blog! As for fall, always loved the feeling of putting on those first pair of jeans to head back to school (way back in those days!) As for SOC, I have 17 children and we live in central Mexico. We don't really have four seasons – we have rainy season and dry season (six months each) and temperatures range between 55 and 75 all year round. So, my SOC only happens when the kids need to change into a new size of clothing and even that is something that I dread and know will take at least a whole day. I try to wait until several need a SOC so that it is worth dragging out the same famous plastic bins from the warehouse (of which I think we have over 20 with used clothing waiting whoever may need it!) I tried voting for your blog, but the website wouldn't allow me to because I am out of the country! But I am rooting for you! Love, Julie Zaragoza
I thought I'd share this SOC comment. (It does get better btw. My older girls are 20 and 16 so they don't outgrow much anymore, and when my youngest one gets done with an outfit I no longer have to store it. Your day will come!)
Anyway, a handy trick someone shared with me. I mark daughter #1's clothes with a single dot on the tag (I even mark socks!). When daughter #2 gets something new it gets two dots and something handed down from #1 gets a dot added so it has two dots. Daughter #3 has three dots on her clothes. That's worked out very nicely for us.
I am so happy for your family, Annabelle and you for all the good news.
My favorite thing about fall is when the football games are over (one son in the band) and cross country is over (another son in cc). Our schedule will slow down and we can enjoy the weather together. I do not like how effects our allergies. Be careful packing up all the clothes, I think there is some warm weather coming back. Have fun swapping clothing & good luck with Annabelle new formula. Praying ya'll.
I love the fall but I hate SOC. I have 6 kids and therefore a LOT to drag out. However there is a 8 year difference between the boys so I give the big boys clothes away and the little guys too since he is the youngest boy. That always makes me feel so much better!
Yay for a canula-free picture! (I'm getting a hankering to make something with canola oil all the sudden.) 🙂
Oh, and switching out clothes…ugh…that's on my to-do list too. Thankfully I shoved the fall and winter clothes to the other end of the kiddos' closets, so I can get by for a while.
Annabelle is so awesome! And beautiful! So glad to hear that she doing good. And I love the cool refreshing weather and being able to play in the yard with the kids- it's just not happening in July and August! And I also HATE SOC. I have 5 kids and 1 on the way. We have an abnormal, horrible number of totes and I am about to begin this dreaded task this weekend! But I have to say, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I will take comfort knowing that we are soldiering on together. 🙂
Favorite fall thing – the changing of the leaves!
Least favorite thing – searching for my warm jacket and finding a pair of matching gloves. (I've got plenty of mismatched ones…)
So just a wee suggestion to make the switching of the clothes a little easier…I've found that as I get closer to a season change, I start sorting their clothes during laundry…for example, when I'm folding an item and decide that it is time for it to "retire" (such as the uber short skort that my youngest has worn all summer and now her legs are so long it looks inappropriate on her), I just pull it aside and don't give it back to them to go into circulation…it has really made it easier and helped me avoid that dreaded "why did I save this shirt??" moment.