Emma Laughing

I have uploaded a video of Emma Laughing-She thought it was so funny to hear my mom whistle to her. This just goes to show that she can hear; I just wish that we didn't have all of these appointments to go to.

I did however, have an appt with the ENT (ear, nose and throat) Doctor. To be honest, everything that happened I am a little overwhelmed and so unfortunately, I have forgotten alot of the information given. Dr. Clarke did tell me that it looks like in one ear there is liquid and the other ear there is wax build up. Emma is such a little girl, that Dr. Clarke didn't have a small enough tube to look into her ears to really confirm why she still has not passed her hearing test. He recommended us going to Albuquerque to Dr. Horn and have him take care of it. We do have a consultation visit first and there he might be able to drain the stuff out of her ears then and there... but, we might just have to come back another time. Dr. Horn only specializes in ENT and he has the proper equipment in case if she does have to have surgery.

Dr. Clarke did say that by age 6 months is when they need to have all of their hearing... and if the liquid and wax build up is not what is stopping her from hearing this could affect her hearing of course, but also her speach.... All of this stuff doesn't really bother me, it is just the fact that my daughter might/will have to go through this. He even mentioned it coming down to having hearing aids. You know, when I had taken Emma into the Audiology Dept. at the Hospital and the test was not passing, I saw a poster of two little babies probably around 8-9 months or so that were wearing hearing aids. I just thought, "Oh Emma, please don't put me through this..." This is all becoming a humbleing experience that I need to have and the faith to endure it all.

There is a possibility that they might have to do surgery on her ear; Dr. Clarke believes she has Auditory Canal Stenosis. What I believe it means, is that she has a smaller ear canal than normal. If they happen to request surgery, there is that possibility of Dr. Clarke recommending just doing the lip surgery and ear surgery there in Albuquerque and get it done in one whack! The reason they want to do surgery is so they could do a bone graph. This will take place from her hip to her ear and I believe drill a hole into her ear drum to relieve some pressure; they will also put some tubes in and let them fall out by themselves, which is normal. As Jason says, " I never knew that baby girls could be such high maitenance!" She is definitely becoming our expensive little girl... I just wish that surgery(s) were done and we could move on. Taking in all of this information is like I said OVERWHELMING!

Dr. Clarke also specializes somewhat with Cleft problems and he was mentioning that Emma could grow up and her front teeth might come in and they might not. If they do come in, more than likely she will have to get braces. If they don't come in, they will have to make fake teeth for her....

This is all becoming too much to handle, but I know, I know... Heavenly Father only gives us what we can handle nothing more... Right now, it just seems like way too much!

On the plus side, my mom took Emma to the doctor's to get another weight check... She did alright this go round... She now weighs:

8 lbs 14.5 oz

She is almost 9lbs which means she is almost there for the 10lb mark to get surgery done!!

Kind of Embarrassing....

So... this post is kind of embarrassing to post but the results are worth telling...

Just before I had Emma I had to get weighed... I weighed 200lbs (embarrassing) (I am telling you- I gained 50lbs with Emma and mind you I still had the baby weight when I had Brady... Remember.. I got pregnant just after Brady was 3 months old. The pregnancy with Emma, I ate constantly; I was never full. To this day, I regret it-I should have watched my weight more carefully.) When I had Emma and left the hospital, I only lost 12lbs. It was kind of a bummer when I had Brady I lost 30lbs right after I had him. So, when we went home from the hospital, it looked like I was still 5-6 months pregnant. Pretty sad! :(
A few weeks went by and noticed when I got on the scale, that my weight has been decreasing... One evening while eating Dinner with Jason's Parents, I had told them that I had already lost like 20lbs since the birth of Emma... Jason's mom response was, "Wow! It must be nice to lose weight not doing anything!" I was a little shocked by her response but now Jason and I joke every time I lose more weight.
One morning while preparing to go to the Temple, I was sitting on the living room couch, pumping, and flipping through the t.v. channels. I came across an infomercial (sp?) advertising "Slim in 6." I dont' know what it was, but before I knew it, I was ordering the workout videos. I was really scared to order them, cause I hate to by anything for myself.... But, my excess weight has becoming some what of a problem and I HATE it!
To be honest, Emma will be 3 months old on July 5th and I am still having to wear my maternity pants-on the plus side, I can fit into a pair of regular shorts! And, my hands have lost the swelling and now can wear my wedding ring! Yay!
So, now this is the reason why I wanted to post this.... Since Emma has been born, almost 3 months ago, I have lost a total of 30lbs!!! This is from pumping milk for Emma, trying to watch what I eat (sometimes) and doing the Slim in 6 workout. I will be happy with my weight when I get back to my beginning weight before I had Brady! So... 30 more pounds to go! It can be frustrating at times and overwhelming... but until I can be comfortable with myself: I HAVE WORK TO DO!

Emma's Smile

Don't you just love her smile?!!!? She is such a doll! My mom sent me this picture while I was at work. Emma smiles constantly-It takes her a few seconds to smile and brighten up your day!

Before I left for work yesterday morning, my mom was holding Emma, we were both sitting on the couch and Brady and Tiffany were playing on the floor. They were throwing the wipes package back and forth to each other. Of course, Brady can't catch so it would fall on the ground...This went on for a little while and out of no where-Emma GIGGLES for the first time! We didn't realize it at first, until the throwing of the wipes continued and she continued to find that amuzing! It was just so awesome! My babies are growing up wwwwaaaayyyyy to fast!

Overwhelmed

So today has been a long, stressful, overwhelming day and it's only 1:45pm. My day started at 9am when we had to meet at the Day Surgery in the Hospital. This last wednesday I met with Dr. Williams-As of right now will be doing Emma's surgery for her lip. He told me that when he does the surgery he will take her lip and slice it open horizontally, get the muscle that is formed under the lip and stitch that together and then pull the outer lip and stitch that together. All of this will take about an hour to an hour and a half. He recommended us going to see an Anesthesiologist at Day Surgery to pretty much see if they would be comfortable enough to do the surgery or if they recommend us going to Albuquerque. We got there at 9am, like we were scheduled for and they told us we needed to walk to the other side of the hospital and get registered. It would have been kind of nice to have gotten there a little bit early so we could meet by 9am. Finally at about 9:30am we were able to meet. The reason we have to meet with the Anesthesiologist is because when Emma finally gets to the recommended weight of at least 10lbs we will have surgery on her lip to get it fixed. They want her to be at 10lbs because the surgery and anesthesia will be stressful on her body and that is the recommended weight so it is not so bad. This doctor (sorry I forgot his name) seemed very confident, he just told me he always likes to have a back up plan just in case. It is better to have and not need it and need it and not have it. He continued on saying that they will put a mask on her to put her to sleep and then put a tube down her throat to help her breathe. Although, they will be having her breathe on her own so they won't need assistance. When someone gets an anesthesia there is that chance there might be complications. Complications meaning if Emma does not come out of it after 5 minutes or so they will have to watch her heart monitor making sure it is not beating very slow or pumping less than 2-3 cc of blood. In this case, this is where Plan B takes effect. Because San Juan Regional Medical Center is a level 1 Hospital they dont have the right stuff to care for Babies if something goes wrong. When it comes down to the surgery and this does happen they will be airlifting her to Albuquerque at the Children's Hospital to get her sidated. Thankfully, I will be able to fly with her. When the doctor was telling me all of this stuff, I was getting teary eyed. I was trying to picture my daughter laying on the bed out of it and with tubes everywhere and stitches on her lip. It still breaks my heart; but I have to be strong. The doctor did say that if I do decide to go with the Albuquerque team, I will need to Call Dr. Williams office right away so they can schedule everything...So, I can't wait until the last minute.
Now, I am in that dilemma of what to do...I am really in the need of a Blessing, Emma to get a blessing and to pray about it. From here on out until Emma gets to that recommended weight I have to figure out which hospital to go to. Do I stay here at SJRMC and have that 50/50 chance of:
Everything turning out great with the anesthesia and staying the night in the hospital and then go home and recover OR something go wrong with the anesthesia and get airlifted to Albuquerque and get those Doctors to making everything better?
OR
Making more than one trip to Albuquerque to meet with the doctors, go home and then go back again to have the surgery and know that if something does go wrong we are already there...

WHAT DO I DO?

I am also a little overwhelmed and bummed at the same time about Jason. I told him what happened today and he is alittle annoyed that more than likely they are not going to do the surgery on a weekend. He is pretty much sure the surgery will be some time during the week. Because he just started a new job he doesn't think that he will be able to take off. I know he will be able to take off; I really doubt they would stop him from being at his daugther's surgery. Anywho, he is also concerned about taking off and not being paid for it. Yeah, that is going to be tough, but honestly, I know that the expenses will be taking care of some way or another. (I hope) I just wish that he was more supportive and that I didn't feel like I have to do this alone. Thankfully I have my mom to come to these appointments with, but still...

I have been working Children's Medical Services to help out with the cost. Thankfully he did say to apply with Medicaid... I am just waiting to hear back from them to know whether or not we qualify... We might be cutting it close. I know that we qualify for CMS and so if it comes down to just that, after the surgery is done, they will of course Bill my insurance and then CMS will cover the rest. This is all to overwhelming and it is only just a one time thing-thankfully.. it is just getting to that part.

When we were at the hospital, we had them weigh Emma so we can get an idea as to know how much longer until surgery. We layed her in the scale an the nurse was moving the know to the 4 and it would get even... I was a little dumbfounded thinking, she couldnt' have lost 4lbs. It turns out to be in someother metric system. I can't rememeber.. I has been a long day. So, the nurse said you multiply 2.2 and 4 to get her weight, So I was thinking great 8.8lbs! She comes back the results and says she only weighs 8lbs and a quarter... We knew that she didn't just gain over 2oz so we decided before our next appt to go to Dr. Dekay's and get a weight check...

8lbs 9oz

I am so proud of Emma! She is getting better about the weight gain! The nurse at the hospital had no idea what she was doing!

On a good note.. .Emma has an umbilicol hernia (sp?) and luckily when she cries we can push her belly button in. The doctors we have seen have thought about getting surgery done and fixed... Dr. Williams said by the time she is 5 years old, it should be gone. We meet with Dr. Yeats at 12pm and to be honest, it was kind of annoying to pay a co-pay and have the Doctor come in and tell me this hernia(sp?) is nothing to worry about.. She can push it back in to the hole and there is not need for surgery. A co-pay for 2 minutes of her time! Must be nice. I have to think about it logically and realize that I guess it is better to know the results of her hernia (sp?) and know that there is nothing to worry about.

Emma is going to be my expensive child... Goodness!!

We should know the day of surgery in about a month or two...We will see!

Emma's 2 month appt.

Yesterday was Emma's two month appt. We were really excited to put her on the scales because her appetite has skyrocketed this weekend and we were sure she has put on quite a bit of weight! She now weighs:

8lbs 0.5oz and 21in. long

She gained 4 oz in 4 days! My doctor was so impressed, this time he believed me when we told him her appetite was improving! We did go ahead get her shots. I wanted Jason to be there because with Brady he always had to get back to work, so he never got to experience it. Luckily, yesterday was his day off. When they gave her, her shots, I have never seen a baby cry so hard because they were in pain. I am serious, Brady's cry was nothing compared to hers! When she started crying my mom said Jason jumped from his chair so fast-she was impressed. I was so happy that he was there to help me comfort her!

(Before her shots!)

It was nice to pick her from the table and comfort her. It was alittle heartbreaking! I think my mom had to leave the room-I think tears were coming on! Because of the improvement in weight gain, we don't have to come back next week for a weight gain, we get to come back in two weeks! Yay!

I had other appts after her Emma's appt and from the crying and tylenol and the day it has been, Emma slept the whole time until we got home. When i picked her up from her carseat, poor thing had a knot in her left thigh. I knew to message it, but man did she scream. I hated having her go through that. It's better to get it now then when the knot gets really hard! I had to hold her, comfort her and feed her while Jason ate; then we switched! This morning the messaging paid off and she didn't have a knot anymore! She is now a Happy baby again!

Trip to AZ

This last weekend we took a trip to Flagstaff, AZ to visit with family and celebrate my cousin, Chesea's big day-Graduation Day! I am very proud of her.. She was 2nd in her class!

My parents went up Thursday afternoon and they took Brady and Emma. (This video is of Brady saying goodnight to me-Don't you just love him!)

It was really nice to sleep through the night, but for some reason, I woke up more tired than I do when I wake up with Emma. Weird! Terica and I traveled up to Flagstaff after work, fortunately we made it in time for the party! Terica drove half way there and then when we got to Kayenta, I drove the rest of the way. Poor Terica being pregnant it was alittle uncomfortable for her. When we switched places, she fell right to sleep. We were about 45 minutes away, and I was following this car, when the opportunity came to pass him, I took it. The bummer part, I got pulled over! The officer asked me for the usual.. License, regisitration and insurance.

Officer: The speed limit is 65 mph and you were going over that.

Me: I'm sorry, I not from here, I am on my way to my cousins graduation.

Officer: Do you have any questions for me?

Me: No I don't.

The officer came back with a Warning-Hallelujah! (Sp?) He then told me to slow down. Before we got back on the road, I asked Terica to look at the ticket to see how fast I was going... The notes said, "The speed limit is 65 and the driver was going 65+" Are you kidding me? Apparently in Flagstaff you have to go the speed limit or else you get pulled over.

It was nice to see family again. Thankfully we were able to get a 5 generation picture done.(Mom, Great-Grandma Nana, Emma, Grandma Nena, and Me)

On Saturday, it was getting alittle boring just hanging out and not doing anything... All the guys went 4-wheeling and the girls-stayed home. So, we decided to go to the mall and walk around. They had great sales at JCP-I have been wanting to get Emma this jean overall dress for a long time and finally they had it on sale! I couldn't resist! Brady was getting a little fussy, but when we found a play area for kids, he was so happy! Poor Dad, brady only wanted to be held my him.. I know he was getting tired; Brady is not a little baby anymore! He just loves his Papa!

On Sunday morning before we left, my Aunt Juju gave us a bread making lesson. When it came down to putting it in the pans, the boys decided they wanted to play with some.. Aunt Juju gave them a ball full to play with and then Brady decides he wants to play as well. So, I just gave him a little piece. Aunt jen interupted and said "give him a bigger piece!" I gave him a bigger piece and it went straight to his mouth! Just about everything goes to his mouth.

It was definitely a nice weekend to get a way, but I was ready to get home. I don't know what it was, maybe cause my life is not the interesting and I never do anything, so to do something out of the ordinary was a little rough. Hopefully that will change! I wished that Jason could have been with me and my family, but o-well. Abencense makes the heart grow fonder! It was nice to get back home and see him. Although, I was alittle bummed the house was not cleaned up. (He is getting better!) Thanks Aunt Jen for your hospitality! Love Ya!

Emma 2 months old

Can you believe it? On June 5th, Emma turned two months old. Emma has become more alert and I just love it when I come in the room, and let her know that I am there by talking to her... Her response is a smile from ear to ear. The other day I was talking to her and for her smile at me let's me know that she can hear and becoming more alert. I almost started crying! She is also staying awake more, only wakes up once during the night and her appetite is increasing. I am so blessed to be a mommy!

Another weight check

We had another weight check this morning... It sure is becoming some what of a pain to have to go in every week and check Emma's weight. Today she is 8 1/2 weeks and weighs:

7lbs 13.5oz

My doctor is recommending we give her formula with higher calories, but I'm being a little selfish and just want to continue to pump and feed her that way. Formual is just too expensive! I think I will feed her some formula; maybe once or twice a day... We will see.

Holding Emma and knowing how much she weighs makes me realize that I was still pregnant with Brady when he weighed that much... Remember, when Brady was born he weighed:

8lbs 8.2oz

Thanfully Emma is gaining weight each week, just not the 8oz like they would like...She has been gaining about 4-6oz a week. She is very healthy and all in all a Happy Baby... I know she is not starving! We will see how it goes next week.

P.S. Thanks mom for helping me