It's almost Christmas....

Things have been kind of crazy around here since about the 16th of November... Analeigh had a cardiologist appointment that day that thankfully went very well. They did an EKG and said her heart looks GREAT! We don't have to go back unless the pulmonologist deems it necessary for some reason in the future.

Thanksgiving was a little stressful for me. The day started off badly with the neighbor's dog killing my cat, Screamer. My sister stepped outside to head over to my parents' house and saw him toting her in his mouth across my yard. We never saw her again so I can only assume he killed her. After all that commotion, I had to do baby girl's bath and trach care and get her dressed in her lil Baby's 1st Thanksgiving outfit (a job in and of itself) and then getting her across the street to my mom's was miserable. She didn't like the stroller at all and she was fussy most of the time we were there. We barely got her back home befoe it started raining outside and she, of course, protested the whole way. The funny thing is, as soon as she was back in her own room and her own bed, she was all smiles.

The 30th of November, we went and saw her ENT for the first time. He said everything with the trach is looking good and we're going to leave the size 4.0 Neo trach in for a while longer. We aren't scheduled to go back until the 1st of March at which point he will schedule an outpatient procedure at TCH to get pictures of her airway. We'll have a good idea of her progress then.

December 3rd we went and saw her pediatrician because she's been wheezing a lot lately. He figured it was just allergies so she went back on Proventil and it's seemed to make some difference. She got her flu and synagis shots and I was so proud of how well she did. She barely fussed when they did them and soon after it was like nothing ever happened. I gave her some ibproufen when we got home and she never even ran a fever or became irritated and fussy. We have to go back at the first of the year for the second flu shot and another synagis.

Coming up on December 20, we are scheduled to see her pulmonologist. I'm not sure if we're going to be able to keep the appointment because Medicaid decided to switch her from Traditional to another plan and it requires us to get a referral for every specialist appointment. Hopefully the switch was a mistake and we can get it corrected in time to see him. Otherwise, it will probably get pushed until after the first of the year.

On another note, I enrolled in classes at Lee today... starting Jan 18, I'll begin my semester of pre-requesites for their RN program. I signed up for Human Anatomy & Physiology I, Pharmacology, Intro to Psychology and Health Care Spanish. Should be an interesting semester. Hopefully we'll contine to get 24 hour nursing which will make my going to school much more managable. :)
 

My Baby Girl is Teething!!

Analeigh is growing up sooo fast!! Just the other day, ECI was over and she weighed 13.2 lbs and measured 23 inches long. She's 7 months old tomorrow and I can hardly believe it! She got her first taste of baby cereal in her 6 am bottle and she's teething!! I had noticed she'd been slobbering a lot lately and it looked like I could see some white in her gums but this morning the nurse said she could feel the tooth coming through her gums. WOW!! :)

I don't have much else in the way of exciting news except that I'm happy to report that baby girl has been on 1/4 of a liter of oxygen for the last few days and seems to be tolerating it fairly well. Her sats are not as good as they were on 1/2 liter but an adjustment period is to be expected. Initially I had hoped to have her completely weened off before we go back to see the pulmonologist on December 6, but I really don't think that's going to be possible now. When we changed her to 1/2 liter, she didn't even miss a beat but I can tell that with the 1/4 liter, it's a little bit more work for her. I sure don't want to rush it!

On another note, I am so excited about Thanksgiving! My mom, sister, niece and I went shopping this past Saturday to find the girls matching outfits for the holiday. It's crazy but they're both in 3-6m size now so it was easy just to get 2 of everything. They are going to be so cute, I just know it! :P