Bronchitis & Pneumonia

Okay, well...here's a little update on our Macy. She has a small amount of pneumonia and a bit of bronchitis. We are leaving Lakeside and are being admitted over at Bergan Hospital. Will stay through the day, possibly overnight, we'll just have to see how she does. Dr. Gina Coffee will take care of us over there and be in touch with Macy's Dr. Keller. Once there, they will give her more breathing
treatments (nebulizer), a steroid shot and possibly hook her up to IV's to pump fluids into her.

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Here, is how it all got started...in case you have time and want to know the minor details...
She was having coughing spells about once an hour or so...deep, wet coughing that would last about 10 seconds or so.

She developed a fever at around 6pm last night of 100.6. It was initially brought down by Tylenol (to 99.1). She had maintained a fever of 101 for several hours of the night and into the early morning hours...Tylenol was no longer bringing it down.

In hind sight, Macy was extra sleepy most of the day yesterday, more so than usual...and I would say a bit lethargic. Slight loss of appetite. The last time she really ate good for me was around 7am
yesterday morning, otherwise, it was just spread out "snacking" through out the day/night.
She has deep, rapid breathing, especially when nursing (she has to
pull off several times to catch her breath) with occasional wheeziness.
We had been in contact with Dr. Keller throughout the night and he of course advised us to come in and see him first thing in the morning.

Dr. Keller immediately checked her lungs and saw that she is very congested...definitely has bronchitis, possibly pnemonia too...
60 breaths per minute (pretty fast, twice as fast as what's normal).


Went down for chest xrays - those confirmed that her lungs are pretty
cruddy & there is presence of pnemonia.
They hooked her up to a monitor to check her oxegyn levels (around 80-85 or so). Lower than they'd of course like.


We gave her a nebulizer (breathing treatment) to get her more comfortable before leaving Lakeside.


How's that for a cute little scary monster mask?!? :-)

We knew and were warned that due to her Down Syndrome diagnosis that she could be more suseptible to getting sick and having a minor sickness turn into something more serious like pneumonia...plus, her narrow airways do not help in the breating arena.

That's all we know for now...we'll keep you posted.
Please keep our little angel in your prayers as she fights off this yucky illness.

Love, Sherri


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Bergan Mercy Hospital

Playdate with Sophie & Vollen!

The girls had such a fun day today playing with Sophie and Vollen!

Little man Vernon has Down Syndrome as well. He is 9&1/2 months old...and will certainly have some good advice for baby Macy! :-) He, too, is very healthy. His parents, Casie and Vernon, are already doing a fabulous job with him, and it SHOWS!! :-)

Mckenzie showing Vollen a thing or two about farming..."the cow says Mooo"

Little Sophie is such a ham in front of the camera...I wish McKenzie were a bit more cooperative!

The babes

Eatin' lunch!

awww, what a cutie-pa-tootie charmer!!

"Hello" or as Casie would say "Hi"! :-)

Macy trying to hog all the camera's attention...do you see little Vollen peeking his head up back there?? He is soo strong!

So nice of McKenzie to share her baby sister with her friend Sophie.

Happy Valentines Day! Love Macy :-)

Playing with big sister McKenzie's big Valentines Bear :-)

Sorry - I couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures...
she was sooo bright-eyed and the sunlight was finally shining in through the windows :-)

Next, she wanted to play dress up IN McKenzie's special dress up box!

I just LOVE this soft cuddly blanket that my Aunt Patty made for Baby Macy. It is soooo perfect! :-)

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Lastly, I thought I would share with you this link to another mother's blog site. My friend Casie posted it on her blog the other day. This mom gave birth to a baby with Down Sydrome just a few short weeks ago as well...she shared the "birth story" of her baby girl. Wow, does she have a way with words! And her photographs are amazing as well...I could not help but cry as I read it. While I did not share ALL of the exact same feelings, I did understand and feel the same as she did on MANY levels. If you have some extra time, please click on the link and read about the day her angel was born. I apologize in advance if this causes you to get teared up as well (you may want to have a box of kleenex handy).
http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html?spref=fb

EPS Early Intervention meeting

We had the very nice ladies from the EPS Early Intervention team over again yesterday for another meeting. They said that they just love coming over to see little Miss Macy, which I thought was very sweet. Here's is a picture a few of them looking at a sleeping Macy in the bassinet :-)Geesh, there sure are a lot of hoops and lots of paperwork and "assessment" stuff to go through in order for a child to qualify for this program. I understand, but it is still all very annoying and tedious. We've set up a plan to have them come to the house once a week. Together, we've established a few short term goals for Macy.

Basically to develop skills which improve her ability to interact with the people and items in her immediate environment through, moving, reaching, and playing, etc... A few of the (6 month) objectives are having her hold her head steady while we support her upper body, lifting her head while placed on her tummy, batting at objects dangling in front of her and raising her head to be in line with her shoulders when assisted into sitting, etc.
All of these minor milestones are taken for granted by parents of "normal/healthy" babies. And these are the types of milestones that are rarely celebrated and do not per-se make the scrapbook. (I suppose I should not speak for other people, but I know this was pretty much the case for our oldest daughter McKenzie) Of course most babies will achieve these goals on their own, in due time. But for us, we need to be sure we give Macy as much of a headstart as we can in order to ensure she simply has the best quality of life possible. That's all.
Joe commented with a chuckle at how funny it is that we are enrolling Macy into school before her big sister McKenzie. It is strange!
Here is just a little bit of proof that we feel Macy is already WELL ahead of the curve :-)

She loves watching and listening to her Baby Einstein "watchya-ma-call-it thingy" :-)

check out that EYE contact! She's mezmerized!

She even bats at the little ball & star every once in a while. I think it's mostly an involuntary type movement, but I still celebrate and give her a high five!! :-)

This is Renee, one of Macy's service providers from the EPS Early Intervention team. She's very sweet :-)

Joe's twin is having TWINS!!

Okay...so they've been holding onto this exciting little secret long enough...
Ja & bethany and are having TWINS!!
Congratulations :-)
We are all soo very excited for them. They are 12 weeks along. These two are going to be amazing parents!
I couldn't help but want to post a few pics of them...

Ja & Joe right after Macy was bornMacy meets Aunt Bethany and gets to see Uncle Ja...again!

awwww

Silly Uncle Ja!

I've always loved this picture of them with Kenzie...

As you can see, Ja is quite the baby magnet, whenever there's a baby around, he's GOT to hold it :-)

In case you couldn't tell...that's Ja holding Kenzie :-)

This was at McKenzie's 2 year B-Day Party

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Please keep Ja & Beth in your thoughts as they await and prepare for the arrival of their very own precious little bundles...
I would like to leave you with this prayer.

This life you have given them
is so tiny, fragile, and vulnerable,
safe in the womb of flesh and hope,
O God of love, creator of life,
hear our prayer.
They want this baby so much.
Please grant this child of theirs
a full term of nurture,
the joy and mystery of life,
and the blessing of your love.
Grant them the fulfillment of their dreams,
a baby to cherish and protect,
a child to teach and guide,
a blessing to our whole family.
Amen.
copyright~Vienna Cobb Anderson

Pictures from Macy's first week in the hospitals

I finally got around to uploading all of the pics from Macy's arrival into the world and her 1st week in the hospital. She was so lucky to have so many friends and family come and visit her :-)
Follow this link if you'd like to see them.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141114&id=502498936&l=09d51390cd

Let me know if you happen to have any issues viewing them...

Prayers for my Sister and Grandpa

This has been quite an up an down last few days for our family...Started Tuesday morning off with an early phone call from my mom informing us that my sister Lisa was taken into the hospital in the middle of the night. She was having severe cramping and bleeding. After several tests she learned that she had an ectopic pregnancy. They rushed her into emergency surgery, I do not know all the specific details but know that she had a blood clot accompanied with a lot of internal bleeding. The doctor said it was a good thing she came in when she did. She is recovering at home and still has quite a bit of pain and is undoubtedly experiencing a lot of emotions. Very sad indeed. My heart is heavy for her. I can not quite imagine how exactly she is feeling, as I personally have not gone through this, and have not experienced this sort of a loss. All I can do is simply be there for her, listen, and offer to help out in ANY way that I can. I have spent some time at her house helping chase around her two active little kiddos. She is not supposed to lift anything over 20 or so pounds for a couple weeks. Yeah, sure, that's easy for a mother of two very active toddlers!! Please, all, say a prayer for Lisa as she and her husband go through this difficult time. Please ask that God look down on them and provide them with some much needed support and warmth. Lisa's facebook status today said "God has a reason for everything. May I some day figure out what his plan is for me". Lisa, you are an AWESOME mommy and a great wife! God's plan is already very much at work for you and you are doing a phenomenal job. Just keep up the positive spirit and everything will work out as it should. You have a lot a friends and family who will always be there for you. Please feel free to call any one of us and lean on us for support, especially as you work through your emotions.

Here is a photo of Lisa visiting us at the hospital after Little Macy was born ... just one of her MANY visits :-)

About an hour within learning of Lisa's situation, we also received not so good news regarding my Grandpa Salisbury. He has been in a nursing home for quite a while. That morning, nurses found him unresponsive, they could not wake him up. Needless to say, we were all VERY worried! He had suffered another stroke the week prior...They finally brought him back around, but they could not get him to eat or respond to therapy for a couple days. He has been very down and out lately, very depressed, we were afraid that he was "giving up his fight". They had contemplated moving him into hospice care... :-( He is doing okay for the time being.
We went to visit him today, he lit up and was so excited to meet his newest great-grandchild! He was in pretty good spirits and we had great conversation. It felt sooo good to be there with him and hug him!It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that our Grandpa's time here on earth may be ending soon. I hope and pray it is not too soon. I do feel in my heart that HE is in control of his destiny. All we want is for him to be healthy and most importantly happy. The good Lord will decide what is best for our Grandpa, and we will all be at peace with the fate that is in store for him. Please, Grandpa, I HOPE you know how much you are loved by all of us! Please also keep his wife (our grandma) Peg in your thoughts and prayers as well, of course this takes a heavy toll on her too! :(

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Here are some pics of one Kenzie and my visits in the fall...I was pregnant at the time and Grandpa was VERY certain that I was having a boy...hehe...he was wrong :-)McKenzie teaching Grandpa how to play "paddy-cake"What a BIG helper she is!! :-) uggggh
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On another note...I wanted to share with you this short video from earlier in the week. This is at Toddler Story Time @ the Elkhorn Public Library. McKenzie had such a great time. She wasn't content sitting far away like all the other kids. As you will see in this video, she had to be right up front soaking it all in! Her friend Lauren came up and joined her for a while :-) what a goof!! silly.silly.girl.

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This morning I was asked to give a talk at a Big Brother's Big Sisters "Mentoring Moments" event. I took macy along and it was a lot of fun. I really enjoy being a big sister and talking about me and Kylie's experience. Can't believe we have been matched for over 6 years. Wow, how time flies! :-) below is a picture of me & Kylie from a BBBS photoshoot several months back...isn't she a cutie?? Sadly, we are not able to get together as often as we used to, now that she is a high schooler and I am a mommy of two. But we still remain close and talk as much as we are able. We will always be friends and she will always be important to me. She is wonderful, I have enjoyed watching her blossom into the beautiful, intelligent girl that she is. What a bright future she has in store!!!!