Easter with the Kiddos

I am so sorry that I've neglected my blog.  So, here is our update.  Bella's doing great, as you can see her lip has healed very well.  Her nose has collapsed a bit, but that was really to be expected.  They'll work on it more later, not to mention she'll probably have to have rhinoplasty when she gets older.  You can also see how her lip has drawn up a bit around the scar, that is to be expected with the cleft lip repairs.  We massage the inside and outside twice a day with vitamin E this will help break the scar tissue down and allow the lip to soften and basically fall back into place.  Our next surgery will be at the beginning of May for the palate repair, this is a bit more complicated and painful for the little one.  With her being older, the Doctor said more than likely we'll be looking at about a 2 day stay in the hospital.

As you can see in the photos Bella and her Big Bro Aidan had a blast easter egg hunting.  We're enjoying the warm weather and times spent with friends.

Isabella's Repaired Cleft Lip

Sorry this is so very late getting posted.  It turns out that Eric ended up having to take Bella to surgery all by his self.  I have been having these horrible debilitating attacks of nausea and couldn't even get out of the bed.  Thank God for a wonderful Husband who took such great care of his daughter and thank God for my Mother who took such great care of Aidan and myself during that time.  To make a long story short, I've got to have a couple test today in checking for an ulcer.  So, we'll see.  Anyways back to the surgery, went really well Bella did phenomenal.  She's absolutely amazing, she came home acting as if nothing had happened.  We used the arm restraints only during nap time and bed time, and she does really well with them.  She's been eating a regular diet and drinking normal, she really hasn't even bothered the lip.  As you can see in the pictures she has a stint in her nose that is to hold it in the correct place and it is stitched to her nose.  Once she gets the stitches out she'll have to continue to wear the stint, but at least we'll just be able to put it in and take it out manually.  I'm so thankful it went so very well and she handled it so very well.

Dyna Cleft Strips

Sorry, meant to put this up a while back.  I just wanted to show the tape that Bella wears before her surgery.  This is applied to get the lip use to being together instead of apart.  So, when she has her surgery it won't be so foreign for the lip to come together and won't have that strong pull on the sutures.  She does really well with tape, doesn't seem to affect anything.

Surgery In A Week

This past Tuesday, Bella had her Pre-Op appointment.  Went very well, a little longer than we liked but that's to be expected.  They really just went over her overall health and preparing us for the upcoming cleft repair procedure.  You know it's really weird, because i'm excited to get things going and get our sweet little girl taken care of, but at the same time i'm so used to seeing her with her cleft lip.  It's like I know she needs to get everything fixed and obviously I have full intentions of getting her taken care of but to me what's considered a deformity has become part of who she is and her beauty.  Is that weird??  So, we'll leave for Winston Salem that Thursday and spend the night, get up at the crack of dawn on Friday for surgery.  So far we're extremely happy with the Brenner's Children's Hospital and I would highly recommend Dr. Argenta and his team.  I do not believe I mentioned Isabella's doctor, her name is Dr. David, she's a partner of Dr. Argenta.

Fun Family Time

While waiting for surgery number 1, I thought I would give a quick update and show some of my favorite pictures.  BellaGrace was destined by God to be part of our family.  She fits right in and as Eric would say "she acts, walks, and bosses just like her Mother."  It's amazing, and my favorite part is seeing her and Aidan together.  The adore each other and I couldn't imagine them not having one another.  For anyone considering adoption....it is absolutely worth it.  Keep in mind just like anything else you have ups and downs and you question your parenting over and over again.  I think my questioning came from, how do you take care of an institutionalized child?  After fretting over and over about that I spoke with a dear friend who said treat them like your own child, don't worry so much about the other.  Thanks to my dear friend Deb for the words of wisdom, I miss you:)  Hope you all enjoy some of my favorite moments.

Yes, we're still here.....

Sorry to all for not updating after Bella's surgical consultation.  I've had some health issues going on, to start with had to have an ambulance come in get me when I passed out on the floor from being in so much pain.   To make a long story short, I had a cyst rupture on my ovary and in the mean time got really really sick.  I think on top of that I had a really bad stomach bug and I test positive for H Pylori, which is a bacteria that really messes up your stomach.  I may have brought a little more than I bargained for back from China.  I'm on medicine and doing well and getting back to normal.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for going above and beyond taking care of me, taking care of the kids, and working.  Thanks so much to my mom and mother in-law for taking care of the kids when I couldn't do a thing.

Now about our consults, we went to see Dr. Argenta in Winston Salem for Bella's cleft lip/palate.  Turns out he'll be retiring in about a year, so we're gonna see Dr. David, she's Dr. Argenta's partner.  Very nice doctors and staff, seem to really care about the kids.  We were on the verge of doing a retainer that would be worn like for 23 hours a day for 3 months to help close the palate some to limit some surgeries.  After studying up a little more we decided to fore go the retainer and move along with surgeries.  The retainer is used in infants and not 2 year olds, it really just seemed in humane to even do.  She'll have to go through enough.  They did an ear test on her to see about fluid in the ears and it came back that she could possible have to have tubes in her ears.  This is very common for cleft palates.  The ENT said her ears actually looked pretty good a little dull, and he's not so sure she'll even need tubes.  We'll just have to see during her surgery.  As for the surgery, the big day will be on March 5.  We'll go down on the 23rd of February for pre-surgical  appointments.  We'll go down on March 4 and stay overnight, hopefully at the Ronald McDonald House. We've decided to make Aidan a part of this process, really so he can see and have a better understanding of what his little mei mei (little sister) is going through.  After surgery she'll only have to stay in the hospital for the day/night and then we'll be able to go home.  Oh yeah this surgery will be fixing the lip and nose, which are the most noticeable deformities.  You know one of the sweetest moments is being in the waiting room and seeing other kids that have gone through surgeries already to fix cleft issues, they're the sweetest kids you'll ever meet.  They get so excited to see Bella and are so sweet to her like they've known her forever.  It's like these special children have an instant bond, just talking about it brings a tear to my eyes.  So for now here we are and I'll get pictures up of Bella now, she has to wear a kind of tape across her lip which keeps them closer together so after the surgery, there won't be so much tension.  Tape is fine, she really doesn't even mess with it.  She's a trooper and we're so blessed and moved to have her and to see how strong she is.

Getting Ready For Our First Consult Appointment

First regular doctors appointment under our belt and all the blood work came back completely normal, she had all the antibodies for the vaccines.  Big sigh and big hurdle.  This week we head out to Bowman Gray to see Dr. Argenta for our first consult appointment.  One step closer to starting our Cleft Repair Journey.  It's kind of bittersweet, I feel for her and all the pain she'll have to go through, but I know she'll be so much better once everything is all fixed up.  I will keep this blog updated with all her surgeries and I will post pictures.  I was a little hesitant about posting pics, but this is part of her process and also if this can encourage anyone to adopt a special needs child, well then it will be so worth it.