Good night!

Last night was good, she slept all night. Maybe they're wrong and she's getting better! Her cough still sounds nasty, but breathing seems good.

Update on cough

Ok so today brought some interesting news, news that i'm still processing, i was confused so if you have advice/help please offer it! Libbi's test came back and this was Dr. Rose.. "She has (hmfhdmnsdns) virus, not what we needed." I said "Huh?" I did not understand the virus, so he says, "well it's a sister virus to rsv, but unfortunately since it's not the actual rsv virus, her synagis will not do any good as far as fighting it off."
Great. Bottom line, she is headed into the worst of it, it will get worse in the next 4 days then start getting better. If i feel like she is breathing heavily, not breathing enough, or if i'm just worried I can take her to the RSV clinic at Mckay (Greatest idea EVER by the way) and they will check her out and see if she needs to be admitted or not. I said, "umm.. so i have to make the call, if i feel like she's bad enough to be seen or not?" He said ya. I don't like being in charge. Cross your fingers and toes and anything else that will cross that she doesn't get real bad in the next 4 days. I'm a little scared but she's a tough girl, she's proven that! For today, she seems pretty good, just coughing alot. But breathing sounds good :)

She is good :)

Yesterday morning i woke up and Libbi was coughing pretty bad and had a runny nose so i called Dr. Rose, her pediatrician. On Sunday when i took her in we had to go to an insta care, so we didn't see him. Well he wanted to see her and wanted to test her for 8 different viruses. We went at 4 last night, she has an ear infection in one ear and too see it better they had to clean out her ears doing a water bath, it was awful! This girl has been through some rough things in her little life and this was bad! Her face was killing me and she was screaming so bad she was turning blue! I hated every minute of it, i wanted to excuse myself but thought that would be lame for an ear water bath :) He then sent us over the Mckay to have her O2 sats done and it was quite the run around but when we finally found the right place, she was fine. They were 83-84 which is good for her. I got home at 6:30, 2 and a half hours later, but was glad to know she is ok for now. He listened to her lungs and thought they sounded good. The results of the test will not be back until tomorrow or maybe even Thursday morning but Dr. Rose agreed, he thinks its croup and not rsv. The last 2 nights have been ok, she's up a little but not all night. Last night Koy, our 6 year old, was up every time she wasn't, i swear they planned it and took turns waking up! He is sick too :( Sorry for the long boring post, to sum it up, she is good!!

Croup

Wasn't it just yesterday i posted how healthy Libbi has been? Well i spoke too soon. She has croup :( It is not that bad, i almost questioned the doctor when he said that. She seems fine in the day but last night had a really hard time breathing. She was a little blue around the eyes and was coughing like a seal. I called an on call doctor that told me to take her outside for a bit so at 1 am we were sitting on the porch wrapped in blankets. I'm sure if anyone drove by they would've thought i was CRAZY! I felt crazy! Anyway, it actually helped alot! We put the humidifier in her room and she went back to sleep til morning. I took her to Kids Care today and they gave her a steroid shot and a perscription for oral meds (prednisol) to take for 3 days then she should be better. Again, i have a hard time believing she's sick, she seems just fine today. Last night I was a little scared though. I guess with croup they will be fine in the day then at night have troubles. Interesting i thought. Also, something i didn't know, croup actually is a virus that effects the larynx, throat area, so it doesn't effect her lungs. That was good news! It can cause rsv or pnemonia if not treated though. These are all facts/opinions i've learned from the internet and 2 doctors i don't know. Wish us luck tonight :)

Olympic dreams!

I LOVE the Olympics! They are so fun to watch. This year I am extremely impressed with Shaun White. First off, he has TOF, a congenital heart disease and had 2 open heart surgeries before turning 1. Wow, that is amazing to me since one of the things i remember when we first found out about Libbi was the doctors saying ..exact words.."well, she will never be an olympic athlete, but she will be able to play recreational sports" WRONG! She can do whatever she wants, if he can do it so can she! He won the gold medal in the mens halfpipe, it was so impressive! His first run was scored at 46.3 and had won the gold before he even did his 2nd run. He did it anyway, just for fun mainly, he pulled out his mctwist super awesome new trick and scored 48.4!!! Out of 50!! That is just insane! Anyway, he is my hero for the time being. He proves that anything can be done, if you just set your mind to it! Go team USA! I will continue to watch in awe!

11 months!!

Holy cow! 11 months? Are you sure??
Libbi is getting to that stage where they are soo super fun! She crawls everywhere, even up the stairs! Not sure how that happened, one day she just did it, all the way to the top of 14 stairs without blinking an eye. She stands on her own for a bit but not much. She is so fun and cute! We love her to pieces. No health news, all is well with her! We are so lucky and happy that she hasn't got the nasty cold going around. Both Grandmas have had it, lots of cousins and even sister Jerzi. Lets just say we are extremely blessed, Libbi has put up a barrier and nothing is gettin through it!
Here are some pictures of her smiling, FINALLY! They are few and far between, i try all the time i promise!



....and she's done. Sorry she's got messy face in all of them, but hey, i do what i can to get a smile picture!

Happy 11 months baby girl! You can NOT be almost 1!?!

Why?

I had some feelings to express, i am not a poet, but this one came out as somewhat of a poem? As i started writing, it just happened :)


Everyday day i think O my
i often asked God why?
I don't understand the
reason, i usually always cry.
I don't want a sick baby
My thoughts are filled with "maybe"
When times get tough
i blame and think, did i not do enough?

How is this fair?
What did I do to deserve this?

Then i stumble across a friend,
It's becoming quite a trend :)
That reminds me life isn't so bad,
there life is so much more sad
Families losing their babies,
or not, but still wondering "maybe"
Having to leave their families for a while
for a chance, a risk, but yet they still smile?
I stop to think about my little one,
about what she's overcome.
We've been so blessed with her,
it has tested my faith for sure.

How is this fair?
What did I do to deserve her?

CHD Awareness week Feb 7-14

With it being CHD awareness week i wanted to share the actual definitions of Libbi's condition along with some interesting statistics.

Ebstein's Anomaly - a malformation and displacement of the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. An ASD is sometimes present with this defect. While there is free flow of blood forward across the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle, the deformed tricuspid valve allows a large amount of blood to flow backwards from the right ventricle to right atrium when the right ventricle contracts. Surgery may be required and the repair may involve a Blalock-Taussig shunt or a repair to the tricuspid valve and right ventricle.

Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS) - a condition where the right side of the heart is underdeveloped, typically the right ventricle. Pulmonary atresia and/or tricuspid atresia are also present with this defect. There are two main options to correct HRHS - one is a "one-and-a-half ventricle repair" and the other is a three-stage surgery. The first stage is a Blalock-Taussig shunt, done soon after birth. The second is the Glenn, which is usually done between 4 months and 6 months of age. The third is the Fontan, which is usually done before the child enters kindergarden.

Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) - a hole in the septum of the lower left and lower right heart chambers. This allows blue blood to mix with red blood, causing the heart to be overworked and possibly enlarged. A small hole may not need to be closed, a medium-sized hole may be closed during a cardiac catheterization and a larger hole may require surgery.


CHD Statistics


*Every fifteen minutes a baby is born with a CHD.
*Congenital heart defects are America’s #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 125 babies is born with a CHD (almost 1% of all children born each year!).
*Congenital heart defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths. 1 in 3 children who die from a birth defect have a congenital heart defect.
*This year almost 40,000 babies will be born with a congenital heart defect.
*In the U.S. twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined. Yet funding for research of pediatric cancer is 5 times greater.
*From 1993 to 2003 death rates for congenital heart defects have declined by 31% due to advances made through research!
*There is not yet a preventative cure for any type of congenital heart defect.
*Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding, only a fraction of a penny is directed toward congenital heart defect research.

I knew this and still got a little quesy reading it again. It's important to be aware of these types of things. Spread the word!

Dish duty!

Libbi likes to hang around while i load the dishwasher, she pulls things out and i put them in. This has been going on a while.
Well yesterday she wanted more! I found her like this!

"What mom? I'm just doing my chores" She has NO expression ever! It cracks me up!

.. i know what you're thinking and i'm wondering the same thing? Why did i leave the dishwasher open when i wasn't doing dishes? I have no clue. I get distracted easliy, just ask Kurt. He has to keep me on task or i get nothing accomplished!

Twinkies and donuts!

This was by accident...
Mess by Twinkie!

...but this one i gave to her. She loves donuts! The kids love to watch her eat them too!

I could just eat those cheekers up!

Hey, whatever is going on in her diet it is obviously working :)