3 Months & counting

We hit the 3 month mark March 19!

13lbs . 25.5 in .
She was in the 75% in her weight and off the charts in height! She might have Brian's blood type but she's got my height :)

She had her first immunizations. I think all she's been through has prepared her for them because the first shot she didn't cry at all, the second she got a bit irritated and on the last one she was just plain angry! But she got over it fast and never got a fever.

Milestones:
Sitting up real well ... still needs help
Found her hands
Sucks thumb/fist
Rolled over one time but I'm counting it!
Still sleeping through the night
Smiled at herself in the mirror

Clover has two days to herself, her birthday (Dec. 19) and St. Patricks Day of course! So what did we do to celebrate her special day? DISNEYLAND! She got her very own Mickey hat that is green. We went on Snow White, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear. Clover was chalky white most of the day because her mom didn't know how to put sunscreen on a baby ... thank you thank you. But all in all it was a great day, and no one stole our stroller which is what I was worried about the whole night before.

So far, no infection. 1 1/2 days until our MRI ... we can do this!! The MRI is at 7:30am Thursday. ALMOST THERE!!!

Free At Last

Well our 10 days is up. Clover ended up having a bacteria called pseudomonas, which is a pretty serious one. It is only treatable with IV, so we had to stay 10-14 days to get treatments. We got home at about midnight on Thursday. They said we could stay another night but we wanted to get out of there, so as soon as Clover had her last dose of antibiotics from 10:30-11:30, we left. It was rough. Clover was perfect, you wouldn't even know she had an infection. It felt like we were just there to hang out for 10 days. But by the end I felt like I was going to go crazy in that room. The Lord was so good and provided a believing brother in Christ as a nurse on our last day and used him to encourage me. He used to attend Grace.

While in the hospital Clover has perfected holding her head up, watching tv and smiling. Oh and she also has learned to beat the system when they try to catheterize her. While they were spreading her legs she started urinating in a perfect arch, so they were able to get a clean specimen without ever poking her! whoo hoo! Clover's IV stayed in the whole 10 days which was amazing! We covered it up with a diaper so she couldn't hit herself in the face with it, she ended up trying to suck on the diaper! haha Her arm was so stinky when the wrapping came off ... I took her home and gave her a good scrub down in the bath.

We never got the MRI done. Because we were an in-patient at Huntington and the MRI was to be done at Childrens Hospital, we weren't allowed to go. But we have re-scheduled for the 25th. Please pray that we don't get another infection before then. Especially this last bacteria. There is no way to prevent pseudomonas and if she gets it again its an automatic 10 days minimum in the hospital again. I know the Lord would get me through it if I had to, but as of right now I feel like I can't take that again. It really takes a toll on you to be in a hospital for any amount of days.

So for now we are back on preventative antibiotics, and I recently started taking a coconut extract which should help Clover keep good bacteria in her system. We are also starting Clover on cod liver oil which our fellow urology patients say should help prevent UTI's.

Also, Clover is getting her first immunizations on Monday....YAAAAYYYY(full of sarcasm). Poor little girl is having a rough month. Hopefully we will be done with all this soon. Keep the prayers coming!!!! :)

Back to the Future

Okay I don't know if my title totally fits but I always try to make them sound interesting ... we are BACK at the same hospital as we were before with the same infection, but it's the FUTURE. okay now that I had to explain it, it doesn't seem as cool. Oh well, it is 4:30 in the morning.

Well apparently the infection Clover has is a more serious bacteria that can only be treated through IV. Bummer. The first infection she had was E.Coli which is the most common and treatable, then she was put on daily antibiotics (I know that you know all this but Im getting somewhere). They told us that sometimes the bacteria gets "smart" and changes to get around the antibiotics, so she could get another infection. I dont think any of us thought it would happen so quickly and that the bacteria would become this one so fast! Clover just likes to keep us on our toes!

This is the same infection that I wrote about two posts ago, it just never went away. But PRAISE THE LORD Clover didn't get a fever and she is not fussy one bit. Her potty started smelling on Sunday and that was the only indication, so we are treating it before she gets a fever. So Lord willing, it only takes about 24 hours of antibiotic and if she doesn't get a fever than we can go home; in time for the MRI on Friday.

We also saw the urologist today and since she's in the hospital AGAIN! He is just as determined as we are for an immediate procedure after the MRI, the procedure will be determined after the test. We need to get this little girl healthy so we can get her to church to meet everyone that's been praying for her!

and off that note,
ANOTHER PRAISE: The doctor that is on call (who is just a really great woman and so nice). She came in and told us that a couple days, weeks ago (I cant remember) her daughters had a parent career day in their kindergarten class at Mountain Elementary School in La Cresenta. She asked if anyone had questions and a little girl raises her hand and says "Do you know Clover?" and she's not allowed to say because of privacy so she just responded "What a pretty name, why?" and the little girl said "She goes to my church and we're praying for her" so the doctor was impressed that we had a bunch of people and this little girl praying for us. SO NEAT!

So thank you for the prayers, please keep them coming. The Lord hears and has given Clover such peace. She has her IV and is all bundled up and she still keeps smiling. He has given us such a happy baby and we are truly blessed.



Another request, and I hope Im not over stepping any lines by putting it on here, I dont think I am. But please pray for Elyse and JohnDavid, they lost their baby yesterday at 10 weeks and we are all very sad. But we know that the little one is already in heaven with Jesus and that we'll meet him/her one day.

Mag3 Scan Complete

Well we did it. I only knew what the test was going to show us, I didn't know what the test would consist of. I found out this information on our way to get the test done. Clover was going to get a shot of radioactive type medicine then have to lay on a table completely still for one whole hour. WHAT?!?! Did they realize Clover is a 2 month old baby that we can't explain that to?? Well the Lord was so good to us, I was praying fervently that she would just be calm and sleep. First we had to get an IV and catheter in place ... I was not looking forward to that but let me just say I LOVE Children's Hospital! The nurse got the IV in with one poke, and got the catheter in with one poke. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! She barely cried! So then I went ahead and fed her to help her be content with a full tummy. And as soon as I put her on the table she fell asleep and stayed asleep until she had 3 minutes left. God is so good!! They did have to strap her down to make sure she stayed still. So sad.

So it was so neat I got to watch on the screen as the radioactive medicine would light up as it went through her kidneys, to her ureters, and then to her bladder. The test showed no obvious blockage, but it did show that one kidney is doing 85% of the work while the other is only doing 15%. This is what the perinatologist saw when she was still in my stomach. So since it didn't show why, we have to go back in 2 weeks to do an MRI scan which will give them a clear view of everything, but it does require sedation.

This whole process hasn't been fun, but the Lord has been so good to us and to Clover. We have such amazing doctors who care about her just as much as we do. We have seen Him work things out with huge things like her falling asleep for the duration of the test and little things like allowing us to find a parking spot every time(the Childrens Hospital parking is ALWAYS full). Thank you all so much for praying and enduring with us, please keep praying that we can find out the answer and fix it soon and that in the meantime find a way to keep the infections away. The Lord has a plan for Clover, to Him be the glory forever and ever.

2 Months : Clover vs. Bladder Infection part 2

Weight: 12lbs 4oz
Height: approx 23in. (i had to measure myself)

2 months already!? ahh where does the time go! Well, do you like my title? I DON'T! yes, another bladder infection. That makes 1 bladder infection a month since she's been born. I don't like how these numbers are looking! :( Yesterday I was on a walk with my friend and her daughter, Clover was acting fussy which is not like her. I took her temperature and sure enough is was a little high, not too high but since she has a medical past I called the dr. Positive for bladder infection .... BOO! Praise God I caught it so soon, and another praise is that since she is 2 months old we didnt have to be admitted into the hospital! YAY!!!!! Instead we got nice one big shot in the thigh of antibiotics (so not looking forward to her vaccinations!) and we have upped the dosage of her daily antibiotics to 2 times a day, yuck!
If her fever stays down we can still have our test on Monday to see if there is any blockage in the bladder/ureter/kidney area. Please pray for the doctors and that we can figure out what exactly is going on so we can fix it!! It's at 10:30am at Children's Hospital. We meet with the dr the same day to get results (another praise). We have a great doctor, Dr. Koh, so sweet and pro active.


Now on to Clover's accomplishments up to date:
sleeps through the night 9pm-6am (not soundly but she does stay down)
wiggles and squirms to get right up next to ya
raises her head 45 degrees and can hold her neck pretty steadily
can sit up with help (a good amount of help)
she smiles and kinda laughs
can keep the pacifier in her mouth by herself, most of the time
knows my voice and looks at me when I start talking
follows me with her eyes as I walk back and forth in front of her

okay so some of these shes still working on, but I'm so proud of her! God has truly blessed me. I know I know I'm bragging, but this is MY blog so whatcha gunna do? I will make sure to update after her test ... thanks for the love & prayers!!

Happy Valentines Day ... 2 days late

Our Valentines day was low key. We slept in, ate pizza, watched a movie and took pictures. the end. but it was still the best valentines day ever because of Brian and Clover <3

Clover went on her first vacation, Palm Springs! It was a girls weekend, me, Clover, my mom, and my sister. Clover got to see ducks, sit by the pool and went to the outlets for the first time. Lets hope she gets my genes and not my moms in the "outlet area". My mom ALWAYS wants to go there and she'll tell you she just wants to go to 1 store and she'll end up being there all day! Whereas I don't ever want to go ever. NEVER! Clover also found out she's going to have a cousin! Elyse and JohnDavid announced they are pregnant. Her due date is October 5th. The shirt in the picture says Im the Big Cousin (in case you couldnt read it) I predict it's a girl!



Congratulations Elyse & JohnDavid!!

Woes of babyhood ...

Our most recent adventure is a diaper rash ... NOOOO! it's gone now but it tormented this little girl for several days! we have had plenty of air time to help which consists of Clover sitting butt naked in front of an open window :) good thing shes got such a cute butt!

When she was feeling better we had a photo shoot ... because shes just so darn cute!












Which she grew tired of quickly!












Today Clover actually smiled BACK AT me twice for the first time. Every other time she has smiled at us we can't tell if she's doing it on purpose or if she is just smiling. But today there was no mistaking it. I was about to change her diaper and I smiled at her and said "Hi" and sure enough a huge grin lit up her face ... so I did it again ... and so did she! She hasn't done it since but it made my day for sure!

We took her to Americana for her first outdoor adventure. This is the face she makes when I kiss her in public "aww mom your embarrassing me!"












In conclusion, I LOVE being a mom. After I delivered Clover I said I NEVER wanted to do that again! I also couldn't imagine sharing my love with another child, I love Clover so much and I want to spend all my time and energy just raising her. But now that I see how big she is getting & how smart she is getting, I want another baby. They are just so sweet & funny! Oh well, we'll see what happens ;)