4 Months & counting

Month 4
13lb 8oz . 26in .

Milestone:
sits up for a few seconds WITHOUT help!
grabs EVERYTHING! especially my hair
found her feet and plays with them
plays with toys and puts everything in her mouth

Clover is doing great ... health wise that is. Attitude wise, she has turned into a little miss priss! That's for sure! So after the surgery I went easy on her for awhile, but then when I was sure she was fine we started crackin' down on the "tude"(attitude). We spend most of our days with Clover fussing at me while I practice letting her cry it out in her chair and then when she stops crying, I reward her with being picked up. Who knew they would be like this at such a young age?

We went for a check up appointment yesterday, Monday. Clover fell asleep sitting up in daddy's arms in the waiting room, so cute. We had an ultrasound and met with the urologist. Everything looks good. Her ureter is a little swollen, which is completely normal after a surgery. The incision is looking better and better, and it doesn't scare me to touch it anymore! :)

We go back in 2 months for another ultrasound.

So out of everything we've done, I've got to say that Clover's fussing these days is worse than any of the procedures/surgeries we've done! crazy clover.I still love her, I figure the Lord has taught me to trust Him and grow in faith, and now He wants me to learn patience!! :) But I thank the Lord everyday for my little lucky clover, she is one of the best things that has happened to me!

the surgery & an infection ... boo

Okay before I tell you about her surgery and infection let me just say I've got a bone to pick with some of you! I put up THE CUTEST video of Clover laughing and only a couple of people commented on how cute she is. That will not do, so before you read the rest of this post you must scroll down and watch the video of the cutest little girl in the whole world laughing!! DO IT!!

Okay, I hope if you're reading this you watched the video. On with the update :)
First things first . THE SURGERY .
It went well considering that we had to do a surgery. We had to be there 5:30am again, but that's actually a good thing because she isn't allowed to eat 4 hours prior to surgery. So at 5:30am she is still pretty tired. The surgery was a success, the urine is flowing good out of the little incision. The incision is about an inch long and at first looked really gruesome, but now that it's cleaned up and has had a couple of days to heal it looks good. We had to stay overnight in a room with 2 others patients ... NOT FUN! Let me tell you. And Brian wasn't allowed to stay with me AND I wasn't allowed to use the bathroom in the room because it is for patients only. Of course at 3am when I really needed to go to the bathroom and I'm by myself with my baby, I did use the "restricted" bathroom. But only once!!! :) We were discharged before noon with a prescription for antibiotics for a little while longer and a Neosporin type cream that I need to put on the hole ... now THAT is gross. I don't like touching it, it gives me the willies. ESPECIALLY when I'm about to put it on and Clover pushes her butt up in the air making me touch it when I wasn't expecting it... ewwwww. :)
Clover did great though. She didn't sleep well the first night but only because she wasn't swaddled and when she isn't swaddled she is C-R-A-Z-Y! So I held her most the night. We only had to give her Tylenol twice, once the day after and once 2 days after. You wouldn't even know she had surgery. The day after she was already trying to roll over onto her stomach and stand up and push up against you. She's amazing!

The whole next day I was going around jumping and singing about how we are done! no more infections! whoo hoo a normal life!

..... BUT THEN .....

The Lord had other plans, He was like "Kenzie, you still have a lot more to learn!"

Yesterday, Saturday. She was really fussy and her urine was yellowish (which it is supposed to be clear) and it stank. Oh no ... not another ........ BLADDER INFECTION!! The day before the surgery her urine started smelling just a little bit, but she had no other symptoms. I called the surgeon and pediatrician and they said that as long as she didn't have a fever we could do surgery. The day of surgery, they tested her urine before to check and it came back negative for infection. Well yesterday when I called the hospital the surgeon told me that her urine cultures eventually grew a bacteria. And what bacteria is that, you ask? Psuedomonas, AGAIN! NOOO! I thought we would have to go back to the hospital for a 10 day stay again. But the doctor said that the first time we had this bacteria it was resistant against the oral antibiotics, but this one isn't. So we were able to get a oral antibiotic for her and stay home. I've got to say though, usually when I'm right it feels good, but now I always hope I'm wrong and just being paranoid! So here we are, dealing with infection again. Although yesterday was rough, she had a fever of 100.1 all day and night, so she cried and cried and cried and slept and slept and slept. ugh .. I'm exhausted just remembering it. But her fever broke last night and she's back to normal today. YAY!No worries though, just because she has an infection, it is not going to affect her incision at all. We will see the doctor hopefully this week just to be sure and check up with him since he was on vacation and didn't do our surgery.

The picture to the left is how Clover is repaying me for taking her to the hospital so much.

All this has taught me so much though. I've really had to mature and grow up to be the mommy I need to be for Clover. He's teaching me patience, trust, strength, courage, how to call and ask questions (which I HATE doing), and how to do things myself that I don't want to do and usually pass off to Brian :) (sorry Brian). But I'm still learning and there's still a lot more sanctification that needs to happen. Thank you everyone for praying, you don't know how encouraging it is to hear! Please keep them coming, we aren't done yet :)

Easter!

First off let me just say that if you were an official follower of my blog you may need to re-follow because I was trying to be computer savvy and make my blog look cool and somehow ended up disabling my comments and making my blog post twice ... so I tried fixing it and couldn't. So pretty much a made a new blog with the same address and just imported all the old posts. I just didn't want anyone thinking I somehow deleted them from following my blog-I appreciate those that read it to keep up with my family and Clover!

Okay on with the Easter update! We started by going to church to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Clover had the cutest little pink outfit on, but before the family came over she decided to poop all over that outfit. SO! We changed into her pink ballet outfit decked out with a tutu and ballerina socks.

We had my mom's side of the family come over which is the BEST FAMILY EVER!! (they read my blog :) Clover is the only girl, she has 2 boy cousins Ben and Christopher who like to play rough and tough. Maybe one day (soon) she will have a little girl cousin to play with ;) No pressure guys!

Clover had her first Easter egg hunt but slept through it ... party pooper. But all in all it was a goodfirst Easter.

This has nothing to do with Easter, but Clover had her first laugh this morning! It's such a cute laugh!

Urology Visit

Today we met with the Dr. He is going out of town and his schedule is also super busy but his boss who has done way more ureterostopy's is here and he is available right away. So Clover is able to have her surgery WEDNESDAY!!! AH! so soon. It's the weirdest feeling right now. I'm so so happy because we are getting this taken care of, but at the same time I'm so sad because she has to have surgery.

The doctor said that we will do an ultrasound a month after surgery, then 6 months and then at the year mark. And after one year they will be able to determine if the kidney is able to be reconnected or needs to be taken out. And if the kidney does need to be taken out, after a year the other kidney will be much more mature and able to handle it.

So she is having the ureterostomy and we will finally be able to have a some what normal life. This should fix the UTI problem and she will be able to come off antibiotics. And even though she'll have this little hole in her lower abdomen, she will still be able to take a bath and go in a swimming pool like a normal person. And because she is still a baby, it will drain directly in the diaper, so there wont be any maintenance really.

The Lord worked this out so perfectly. At first we thought it would take 3-4 weeks to get a surgery, leaving time for a UTI. But this other doctor is able to do it in 2 days, and not only that but he is a more experienced doctor in this type of surgery. And then we also thought that this would take 2 years to find out results, but it will probably only be one, just long enough that Brian can get one more degree in theology. He's also provided us some family friends whose daughter has been through a similar procedure ... so they have been a huge encouragement and help to us. Even in times that we feel like are bad times, we see how the Lord guides us through to show us what we need to do and how to do it and when we look back we always see why those times were the best thing for us to go through.


Easter update and pictures coming soon......

Poor Babycakes

Well MRI results weren't the greatest new. We went in on Monday to find out the results and the doctor decided he needed to to a cystoscopy. So Wednesday we went in at 5:30am! ah! this time I wasn't allowed in at all. They did anesthesia again but this time they had to do a breathing tube in her throat ... but I didn't get to see any of this. The procedure was about an hour long total.

Results were not so fun either. BOTH of Clover's ureters are tortuous. The left kidney is still working at about 78% so it's not our primary focus right now but it could be an issue in the future. Each kidney is supposed to do 50/50. The right kidney is doing 22% and since its doing more than 10% they always try to save it. But this kidney is almost half the size of the left and the kinks in the ureter are so bad that he couldn't even stick the dye up into it.

He gave us 3 options.

Option 1: Do a ureterostomy which would involve taking the ureter and making an artificial opening on her lower abdomen which will allow the kidney to constantly be draining directly into her diaper. Thus, giving her kidney a rest and chance to heal. It could heal fast ... or it could take up to two years to heal. We will be doing ultrasounds every couple of weeks/months to watch it. And once it is healed they will reattach it to her bladder. The doctor recommends this one, and we are going to go ahead with this plan at the end of April.

Option 2: Try to straighten out the ureter and then reattach it right away. But it wouldn't give the kidney a rest, so it wouldn't necessarily help the problem.

Option 3: Take the kidney out. They don't recommend this because the other kidney isn't in the best shape. If it was then yeah that could be the answer ... but its not.

I don't know if many of you knew, but we were planning on moving back to Georgia in the fall so that we could attend our church in Georgia, Faith Community Church where Brian would eventually become the youth pastor. We can no longer do that with Clover's health and so we will be staying in California for as long as it takes for Clover to heal. And because of that Brian will be staying in The Masters Seminary to get his Th.M.

Please keep us in our prayers. It's hard to watch this all happening to my baby girl and not get overwhelmed. I just want to fall asleep and wake up to realize its a dream and the results came back that shes fine. But the Lord is faithful and I do know that. Here are some verses I've been meditated to keep my mind set on the things above and not on the things of the earth.

Hebrews 12:5b-6 "My Son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

Psalm 27:13-14 "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord."

Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

I've also been reading the book Damsels in Distress by Martha Peace. very encouraging.

thank you.