Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Great news!

It seems like forever since the last post because so much has gone on here. Let’s get to some great news first. Samantha had her ABR (sedated hearing test) on Wednesday. I am so proud of our children. We constantly are being told how well behaved they are. Alright to the results…she has hearing loss in her left ear but no where near the extent that we first thought. I was so excited I could have done a cart wheel in the hospital. She has pressure behind her ear drum and they want to retest in three months. Makaila, Makaila, Makaila…Since her normal CT Scan she has decided to explore! Yes, she is a crawler, she skipped army crawling and went straight to palm and knee crawling. She is more attentive and interactive with her sisters. It is so great to see. Sandra decided to not scare me any more in regards to her teeth. Coming from the dental field I am on these girls teeth like you would not believe. She skipped getting her front teeth and got her laterals. She looked like a vampire. She got one of her front teeth this week. Yeah Sandra, congrats on scaring Mommy!
Food, food, food and more food! The girls eat as if it is their last meal. It is amazing how much they eat. I am constantly either making a meal or cleaning up after a meal. I am fortunate so far, that they eat whatever I make. I hope this lasts for awhile! And no I am not buying eight gallons of milk because it is on sale, it is because that is how much we go through. Our dishwasher gets ran at least two times a day. And clothes…I did eleven loads in two days? Yes, the bigger the girls get the more chores there are! But at the same time the more fun they are! The laughs and giggles are abundant!
All this and and I am 95% finished with Christmas shopping! And Black Friday has not even come yet!

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Saturday, November 7, 2009

Results/Reschedule

The four girls helping in the kitchen! Yeah right!

Success! Now with the cabinet empty Samantha finds a great place to hide from the others!

Samantha and Hannah reading a book!


The four girls chatting about the weird green stuff they are sitting on!


Mommy and the girls (and one boy cat) recoving from a crazy few days!

Wednesday I got a call from the prosthetics to inform me that Samantha and Makaila are progressing well. However Sandra has not grown while in helmets. She may be in hers longer than the others. I was worried since she can not wear hers right now afraid that we’d miss a growth spurt. He said that the body will use it’s energy to fight her dots and not grow right now. Once she is better, her energy will go back to growing! We are still having to keep Benadryl in her system but she is gradually looking better!

Thursday morning I brought a sleep deprived hungry Makaila to the hospital for her sedated CT Scan. While getting her out of the Yukon an ambulance was trying to pass us so I was in a hurry. I tripped holding her and fell on my rear into the street. On the way down Makaila hit her head. It could have been worse but she got a large goose egg on her forehead and I got whip lash. As soon as I got her inside I asked for ice! They informed me that they could not sedate her because of her injury. My girls have tiny veins so it took a few tries to get an IV in. The hard part was seeing her crying but she actually was being a brave girl. She was so exhausted from that she just laid on the CT Scan bed wrapped like a Mummy and strapped down.

Friday we got her results! Her scan was normal EXCEPT inflammation on her forehead! I was so excited but had to chuckle that the goose egg was mentioned in the results. She needs PT to help straighten her neck and stretch the muscles. It was the same doctor that sees Samantha for her hearing loss. Josh explained what had happened on Monday when she did not get her hearing test. The hospital wanted to reschedule for Jan/Feb. The nurse was not happy. Two hours later I got a call to schedule Samantha for Wednesday for a sedated ABR. Yeah! So excited but am shuffling to get it arranged!

Our pedi called and asked if we were staying in this weekend. I told her “Yes” and she said “Good”!
P.S. Good news! I got an early Birthday present today! Josh got me a new camera that will take great pics! I am excited! So after I read the manual on how to use it I will practice on the girls! Great pics are just around the corner!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Polka Dots


Samantha and Hannah telling funny jokes!


Makaila checking out her silly sister Sandra and Samantha under the changing table!



Hannah wondering if Samantha has the best seat in the house!

Day after Halloween all wearing polka dots!

Monday Samantha had her sedated echo cardiogram, EKG, Xray and ABR (hearing test) scheduled. I was to bring in a sleep deprived one year old on an empty stomach to the hospital at 7:30 AM. No food was not an issue since she doesn't eat until 8:00. We kept her up two hours past her bedtime and woke her up at 5:00 am (3 hours early). Keeping her awake on the way to the hospital was fun! No really it was! Since I was also sleep deprived the cold weather helped. Once in the car I sang to her and played with her feet the whole time. One hand on the steering wheel and one on her feet in the back seat. After a long day, lots of confusion and dragged from one end of the hospital to the other Samantha was a patient and brave tired girl. Her ABR was not done and she passed all cardio testing. Yeah! She will have one more echo/EKG/Xray one month prior to moving and then she will be cleared from the cardiologist forever!
On Sunday, I dressed the girls in polka dots to continue with the dot theme from Halloween. I guess Sandra decided she like the polka dots because Tuesday morning she woke up screaming and covered with thousands of tiny red pin point dots throughout her entire body. I brought her to the pedi and was told that she had a reaction to her MMR shot a week and a half ago. She is uncomfortable and fussy, who would not be? She is not allowed to wear her cranial helmet until the dots are gone. Thinking that she did not have enough room for more dots she proved me wrong Wednesday morning there were dots on top of dots. She was so miserable that she did not want to eat or drink. Pedi recommended I make a Benydryl/Milk of Magnesium mixture and swab the inside of her mouth. Wouldn't you know, it worked! Remember when she had a allergic reaction to chocolate? Well it was a "Jello" brand. Sunday night I gave her Jello. We now believe that she is allergic to Gelatin. Gelatin is used in vaccines as a stabilizer. So between the Jello and MMR she got a serious rash.
Last week we started to bathe the girls in the big tub without bath seats. I was petrified! But now I just laugh (along with the girls) when they fall in. It is difficult and so much fun. The difficult part is that they are mobile and it is hard to catch one and clean them. Also, if one falls it causes a domino effect and they all fall in. I get in the tub with them and we splash each other. They stand up and crawl around. We used an oatmeal base to help Sandra's rash. But she just would not sit down. So Daddy had her lay down in it and she loved laying down in the water.
The girls are so funny! Samantha has gotten into the kitchen cabinets. She will drag out a kitchen appliance play with it and then hand it off to someone else to play with it. It is so fun to watch her empty my cabinets and share with her sisters. Hannah learned that if she hits her head on the feeding table the other three will laugh at her. Where do they come up with this stuff? Hannah has a high pitched shriek that she does that causes the others to laugh at her. So Mommy does the shriek and all four laugh and giggle. Oh the fun we have!
Baby proofing...I have been pro active in regards to baby proofing. However, we are constantly being showed ever so nicely by the girls what needs to be baby proofed. Here is a perfect example...The feeding table legs are made of metal. The girls would knock their heads into them and after a LARGE goose egg on Hannah's head I came up with the ingenious idea to cover the legs with swimming pool noodles. We put a slit in the noodles and wrapped them around the legs with lovely duct tape. So today, Makaila was in the kitchen with me and she starts to choke. I hadn't given her anything to eat so it boggled the mind. I did the quick finger swipe of her mouth and out comes some blue foam. It took me a minute to realize where it came from....she has been eating the pool noodles. So the point is; I baby proofed the table to prevent head injury but added another hazard in the quad house!
Tomorrow Makaila is scheduled for her sedated Cat Scan. Again I need to bring her hungry and sleep deprived! I am a bit worried because if she wants to sleep, she will! Due to recent concerns the pedi wants the results tomorrow. So, I am hoping that we get some answers and not have to sit on pins and needles waiting. Some good news is that she is showing signs of trying to developmentally grow. This is huge for her. She can get around a little better now. She will traditionally crawl a few steps and then sit up and repeat until she gets to where she wants to go. She is trying to stand up by pulling herself up. It takes her more attempts than the other three girls until she accomplishes tasks but in time she gets the job done. I am so proud of her!
We are having technical difficulties in regards to the camera and computer. So, not a lot of pictures lately!