Surgery....again

A trooper is probably the best way to describe Julianne these days since she has been through more medical procedures in the past two months than most people in a lifetime. At least we can say that we have really only received good news from the barrage of tests that she has undergone. Yesterday she had a test to rule out bladder reflux and thank goodness, it is just fine. Quite a stressful test for her since she was placed under a machine where she could not see me. It was fairly quick though. On Tuesday, we had an orthopedic appt. to be sure that her pin had not shifted and it thankfully is still in place. Also her cast is coming off on June 22, so we'll take all this good news anyday. However, just as soon as one cast comes off, another one is on the way since surgery is right around the corner again. On July 7 (yes, that soon), she is having a 4.5 hour surgery on her fingers. Her thumb will be replaced by her pointer finger. The younger she is then the easier it will be for her to learn how to use it.

Firsts...

Her first attempt at cruising in the kitchen. We better start babyproofing! Her first tea party.

Her first dance recital.

Her first cake....can you tell she liked it??

Citizenship and the Zoo

Seeing the fish and manatee

Waving "hello" to the elephant

"Aren't those from China, Mom?"

Julianne became a U.S. citizen as soon as we touched ground in Chicago back on the first of April, but we now have the document to prove it. She can now apply for a social security number, birth certificate and also a passport for that return trip to China (someday). Unfortunately, she will never be able to be president - not that we would really want to subject her to that anyway.

Julianne is recovering very well from her surgery and is truly back to herself. Before we left the hospital, I pushed for an EKG since her heart rate was so high. For those of you that do not know, heart and kidney conditions usually accompany "radial longitudinal deficiency" but thank goodness, everything panned out ok. As of now, her hand/arm/shoulder are the only affected areas from her condition.

I took Julianne to the Cincinnati Zoo last Friday with my sister and nephews - Heinrich and Peter. I wasn't sure if Julianne would really pay attention to the animals. The facial expressions that she made after spying each animal proved to me that she knew that they were more than just funny looking "dogs".

Post-Surgery

She has no idea what is about to happen. OK...now she does.

Safe in daddy's arms (and Monkey's).
Go Muskies! (Xavier U.)
Feeling better.

Now that all the tears and pain have subsided for the most part, I can now say that Julianne made it through surgery like a champ. Her wrist is now almost perfectly straight due to a pin that is placed in the wrist. She will need to wear her cast for about six weeks and unfortunately about three months later, we will have to endure another surgery to move her pointer finger to her thumb position. Her current thumb is called a "floating thumb" due to no metacarpal so it will need to be removed.

Prior to surgery, Dr. Cornwall had asked what color we wanted Julianne's cast. I wanted a color that would not show dirt due to the fact that she is still using her arms to help her become mobile. So I said, "Let's have the Xavier (my Alma mater) blue color." Dr. Cornwall added his touch by putting a big "X" on the cast with glow-in-the-dark white. Go Muskies! Too bad we're not in the March Madness season.

After surgery, we were called back to her recovery room where we were informed that her heart rate was sky high - hitting over 200 beats per minute. We are still not sure if it was due to pain/stress or if this is an indicator of a heart issue. Currently, as Julianne is babbling, 152 is the current number which is still high. She is now in her crib without me holding her - just amusing herself with her lovies - monkey and blanket. Leah and Natalie had saved up money and bought Julianne a monkey back in November and now she cannot go to sleep without 'the monkey'.
As I sit here with pee and puke on both my shirt and jeans, I am feeling so blessed - three awesome daughters, a loving husband, Children's Hospital, health care, supportive family, and the list goes on.....

Surgery Tomorrow

We leave before the rooster crows tomorrow (5:00am) to get to Children's Hospital for Julianne's centralization surgery. She will be in surgery for 2.5 hours and she will be staying the night so they can watch for any hand swelling under her cast. I believe she will wear her hard cast for six weeks and then eventually transition to a brace that she may have to wear 24/7 for quite some time. So prayers would be appreciated as you wake tomorrow morning. We'll keep you all posted.

Wordless Wednesday - Cleaning the Basement

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day! Quite a big day in our house especially for Leah who is truly our green girl. I picked her up from preschool this afternoon and she asked, "Mommy, what are we doing today?" I simply answered, "Going home like always". She answered, "But Mommy......its Earth Day, how are we going to celebrate the Earth?" Typically, I would make a quick turn to our favorite park but the weather was not favorable for a day there. So we went home and the girls made their own Earth party in the blustery weather. They dug for worms, rolled in the grass, acted like birds (very windy outside), swung on the swings and just took in nature as it was intended. I'd have to say that this was probably the best way they could have spent Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!

Surgery Plans

Julianne's x-ray



Julianne and I met with Dr. Cornwall, a pediatric hand specialist, from Children's Hospital in Cincinnati. He did a good job of informing me on Radial Longitudinal Deficiency (used to be called Radial Club Hand). Julianne is completely missing her radius and metacarpal to her thumb in addition to wrist bones. He determined that since she is able to bend her elbow 90 degrees then she is a candidate for the centralization surgery. This will make an attempt to straighten her wrist but it would not be completely straight - probably 60 % better then how it is now. From my understanding (keep in mind I had a 14 month old on my lap when he was talking to me), they will insert pins in her wrist to stabilize it with her ulna. Her arm would then be casted for several weeks. In due time, her wrist may "topple" back near its current position, so he said. Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5. For those in my travel group: there is a possibility that Christy (Grace's mom) will be our nurse during surgery.



Once this is completed then sometime this summer she will have her thumb removed since it is nonfunctional (has bones but are not attached to anything). Here is the cool part: They will take her pointer finger and move it to where her thumb should be. Dr. Cornwall states that it should look like the real deal. Did you know Dora, Diego, Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, etc. all have three fingers and a thumb? She will fit right in with the best.


When Julianne turns around six or seven then they will do a procedure that will lengthen her arm. Amazing stuff.

One of the Girls

Julianne experienced her first Tea Party (not a political one, though) with her sisters today.

The day started off with fingernails and faces being decorated including mine. Oh my...how beautiful (cough cough) I looked after Natalie and Leah took turns making me over (more like coloring my face). We then got into our favorite dress-up clothes and walked the cat walk for daddy. I placed a table cloth on the kitchen floor and we sipped grape juice with our pinkies in the air and delicately nibbled on gummy worms and M&M's (we had no tea cookies). Afterwards, we rushed to the ball as we elegantly danced to the Wiggles. All had a wonderful time including the first timer Julianne.

Side note: This morning after Julianne and I awoke, I was carrying her down our steps when I slipped off the landing and fell hard. I probably tumbled about four or five steps while I was still carrying Julianne. She hit her head so hard against the hardwood that I can honestly say that I wasn't sure if she would ever be OK again. Jon had heard the thud of her head and came running to get ice. She was screaming (good sign) and it was really hard to see if she was ok at this point. I didn't feel any bump or see any bleeding so I got her a bottle to see if she would take it to calm her down enough to check her over. Thank goodness she was fine - amazingly. I, however, am dealing with a good deal of bruising on my thigh and hip.

Life is Good!

Life is good! When we started this journey a year ago, we had no idea what was in store for us. This adoption process strengthened our faith in God and deepened the love we have for each other (Did I ever mention...what a wonderful man I married?). It also brought us to our amazing daughter! As we look at her, we feel as if she has been in our family forever. I have heard this before but it is as if God hand picked her us but oh, how true it is, she fits right in and it is as if she knows that she is supposed to be with us. She brings us such joy and she is so much fun.

Just being on U.S. soil for less than two weeks, Julianne is learning SO much. Being behind in gross motor skills, she is doing her homework and trying to catch up to her peers. She has learned to roll over (yes, roll over) from front to back and back to front. She is starting to pull herself up to sitting position from lying down and is starting to show something that resembles a crawl. Believe it or not, standing and walking are not too much of a problem for her since she started to take steps while we were in China (sorry, Scott, you weren't the first). Each day brings her more confidence in this area. In due time, she will be hanging up her "infant" title and taking on the "toddler" name.

She is doing incredibly in the area of communicating too. On Saturday, she said her first word! We had our suspicions that she had uttered the word "hi" but this time there was beyond a doubt that she said it. She looked at herself in the mirror and as the word came out of her mouth, her hand went up in the air to wave at herself. Today I am almost certain that she said "bye" but stay tuned in for confirmation. She is such a fast learner....she is giving kisses, waving bye or hi, showing us how big she is (soooo big), etc.

Last week we had Julianne's big appointment with the IA doctor which lasted about four hours! They suspected that she might have spina bifida and hip dysplacia but after an xray that was NOT the case. PTL! All of her blood work and other tests came back fine. This was the absolute best case scenario we had so prayed for. God is good. The xray did confirm that she is missing her radius as well as one metacarpal. Since she is behind in gross motor, PT and OT start next week and she sees the hand/arm specialist next week as well to determine if surgery is in her future. I really don't think they will consider it since she uses her hand and arm so well. It amazes me that she was rarely able to use her helper hand while in China (it was kept covered) but yet she uses it like a pro. She is doing a fantastic job of using it and her strength is certainly getting better.

Leah and Natalie are such a help with her. They have each changed diapers (wet), helped her get dressed, fed her, wiped her mouth, etc. According to the girls, she is the best Baby Al*ve doll ever. We have noticed that they both want more "Mommy Time" these days. I received a call from Leah's preschool that she wasn't feeling well, but after I picked her up, she told me that she just wanted to be home with me. I couldn't argue since it was nice having "Leah Time". They are growing into such sweet little girls (too quickly).

Life is good, indeed! We are so enjoying our time as a family of five.

Easter morning.

Julianne loves to pull the books off of the shelf and flip through books.