Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Things are looking up!

Mia's lip infection is getting much better! Thank you for everyone's prayers! That was the scariest thing to have to take her to the ER and try to figure out what to do to make sure this infection didn't get worse.

We met with the plastic surgeon yesterday and honestly, I was a bit scared to meet with him. He's a brilliant surgeon, but can be a bit intimidating. He's definitely not the warm and fuzzy type. He looked at it an literally said 5 phrases: Localized infection, getting better, keep it clean, keep on putting the ointment, see you next week.

So I guess that's a good sign that Mia's infection is getting better. He told us that Mia doesn't have to wear her arm restraints (These little velcro arm braces to keep her from touching her face), but poor Mia has a itchy rash on her face as a reaction to the antibotics...so it looks like just a few more days of the no-no's so that she doesn't scratch her face.

This has been a long healing process for Mia, but we finally feel like healing is starting!!

She is still gulping down 5 ounce bottles every 3-4 hours so that's great!! Mia is her smiley and at times fussy self again. When you go through something like this, you realize that all that matters is that the one's you love are healthy. I am so thankful our my amazingly thorough and caring husband and my fiesty and happy baby!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Visit to the ER

Hey everyone,
We are in desperate need of prayer right now for Mia...On Friday she started to develop redness around her upper lip. We didn't think too much of it because we thought it was just some of the brusing showing as her swelling was going down. She had been eating great up to this point and was starting to take about 5 ounces of milk through her syringe (it was still to painful to eat by bottle). On saturday she woke up and along her left lip sutures, there was pus and drainage and what was the start of an infection. We called our plastic surgeon's office and the PA gave us a stronger oral and topical antibotic to make sure it didn't wasn't MRSA. We felt like it was getting better, but when we woke her up this morning, her lip was pussing, yellow, crusty, and discolored (a whiteish tinge).

We took Mia to the Emergency Room this morning. The plastic surgeon fellow on call confirmed that it was a staph infection. The PA said this is VERY rare since the lip usually has such a huge blood supply going to it and babies heal so fast. Our doctor ordered an even stronger antibiotic shot for Mia which is making her legs very sour and achy. We had to put her back on pain meds today which means that she is not having much of an appetite to eat either. We were also given a stronger cream for her mouth.

My heart just aches for Mia right now. SHe's been through so much this week and is just so full of so much medication. She still trying to be in good spirits and is laughing and smiling tons. Luckily, she doesn't have a fever and is feeding ok so that means the infection hasn't spread. We were told that if she does get a fever we need to bring her back to the ER. We're setting up another appointment with the plastic surgeon for Tuesday. If her lip does really affected by this infection we may need additional surgeries to correct her lip even more. I just cant' stand the thought of her going through more surgeries than planned.

It's hard to understand how this happened if this is something that's so rare. Please keep her in your thought and prayers. My mom left yesterday and Jeremy needs to go back to work tomorrow so the thought of having to take care of her by myself is also daunting. Hopefully Jeremy can at least take tomorrow off to help me watch out for her infection. I'll keep you guys updated...

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Possible Infection...

Mia's wounds and stitches had been healing up nicely, but yesterday, the area under her nose and around her mouth started to become red. This morning as Jeremy was cleaning her lip and applying her ointment, he noticed that the left side of her lip where the stitches were was starting to pus. Thank goodness Jeremy was home and noticed this. Immediately worry and panic started to set in. We called the doctor right away and though Mia doesn't have a fever, they started us on a stronger antibiotic and ointment to make sure that it didn't turn into MRSA.

It's been an overwhelming and hard week...We were starting to get so excited that her feeding was getting better...If she doesn't show signs of improving by Monday then we need to make another appointment with the plastic surgeon which may involve removing stitches or another procedure. If she starts to have a fever then we were told to take her to the emergency room.

In the midst of everything we know that we need to just keep on praying and know that God is the creator of Mia's body and the healer. Please continue to keep our baby in your prayers!!!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Day 3 Post-op

Every morning I wake up sooo excited to see my daughter! She's absolutely amazing and I can't believe what a trooper and fighter she is. I remember coming home from the hospital and whining about the pain and recovery and being completely out of commission for a week...but only after a few days, she's starting to heal and show signs of being the spunky baby we know!

Though feeding is still a worry...she's doing much better!!! Her new thing is grabbing hold of EVERYTHING in sight so yesterday when grandma was trying to feed her with the syringe, she grabbed it and tried to stick it in and out of her own mouth!!! She held on to it sooo tight we had to pry it out of her hands. =)

She still on pain meds, but seems to be able to go 6-8 hours on just 1ml. now. So hopefully by today or tomorrow we can move to just occasional doses of regular tylenol.

Today she started to smile! At first it was just smiling with her eyes and cheeks, but yesterday when she was looking in the mirror and playing with her daddy, she used her new mouth to smile as well.

The swelling should go down in the next 2-4 weeks so we're excited to have our post-op meeting with Dr. Burstein in 2 weeks to see how he thinks she's doing.

Thanks everyone for your love and support. Jeremy and I are blown away by everyone who has called, emailed, facebooked and shown love and concern for our precious baby.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Day 2 post-surgery

We thought we would be able to go home, but we're waiting till about 3pm and one more feeding to see if Mia will eat more. If she is able to eat more we can go home!!!

YES!!! We have poopy diapers! Poor Mia has been backed up since Friday and has been sending everyone running with her stinky farts!

We can definitely tell when the tylenol with codeine is running low in her system, but Mia doesn't seem as sleepy and dazed anymore. We've been taking walks in the hallways and she's back to her curious self. She's twisting and turning around to see all the thing that are going on as we walk around. We can hear her starting to coo again!

Thank you everyone for your continual thoughts and prayers...hopefully our next update will be from home!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Surgery Day

Thank you everyone for loving Mia and for all the prayers that you have been sending her way! She is truly blessed to be surrounded by love during this hard time!!

Last night was amazing...our fears of Mia having to go 9 hours without feeding turned out to be fine. We woke her up for her last feeding at 11:30 pm and after she fell right asleep until 5:oo am. We then gave her some apple juice and pedialite to keep her hydrated. Mia slept on the ride to the hospital and in my sling when we got to the hospital. Our smiling and rested baby was taken to surgery. Though it was emotional seeing her go, we knew that she was in great hands.

After 15 minutes, her ENT doctor came in to tell us that her ear tubes were already in and that the plastic surgeon was starting his leg of the surgery. Dr. Burstein took about an hour and 15 minutes and came to tell us that her surgery had gone well and that she was in recovery. We were then taken to the recovery room to meet Mia.

Our beautiful, but pained Mia met us with a new mouth. My first thought was that we missed her cleft smile...Her face is still so swollen and full of stitches and blood...so it's hard to tell what her new smile will look like, but she's adorable already!

Our strong girl had her IV put into her leg after she was put to sleep, but afterwards, while she was mad and in pain, she used the heel of her other leg to kick of her IV. We watched in tears as the nurse had to repeatedly stick her trying to find another vein. She was so full of fluids that it was hard to find another vein...plus her chunky arms and legs made it hard to find a vein. They had to bring in an ultrasound machine to find and vein and then reinforce it to her leg with a whole roll of tape!!!

Mia seems hungry, but is not yet taking a bottle...we're trying to feed her with her bottle and with a syringe.

Though she's being given morphine, and tylenol with codeine, she still cries in pain and has not slept at all! She closes her eyes and then is immediately woken up by every sound she hears.

Thank God for her miracle blanket so that we can swaddle her and not put her in arm restraints.

We're looking forward to having our smiley and active Mia back. Though the next few weeks will be hard for Mia, we know that she will be back to her self soon!

We'll post pictures soon!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Mia's beautiful smile...















We can't believe that Monday will be Mia's surgery...This is the beautiful smile that Jeremy and I have come to know over the past few months and it's strange to think that in a few days Mia will have a different smile. We've always left that Mia is perfect just the way that God created her and part of me questions why she even has to go through these surgeries, but we know that in the long run, this is best thing for Mia.

Please keep our little one in your prayers...she will be checking in for surgery at 7:25am and will go into surgery at 9:25am. We'll definitely keep everyone updated through our blog and through facebook.

Our little chunky monkey won't be able to feed for the 9 hours before the surgery which is such a worry for us. She's so used to eating every 3 hours! We'll be able to give her other fluids such as water, apple juice, or pedialite up to 4 hours before her surgery...

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Pre-Operation appointment...

This Tuesday, Mia went in for her pre-op appointment. I've been a nervous wreck about her surgery...they explained that they will be bring the three parts of her lip together and will be bringing the spaces in her gums together. They told us that her nose will probably flatten a little bit because the distance from her lip and her nose is so short and the height of her nose is low. She may need to get some plastic surgery done on her nose before going to school around age 4-5. Of course, I had a meltdown about that because that's just another surgery that we were hoping Mia wouldn't have to have.

My major worries about the surgery: Mia having to go under anesthesia, her recovery, the pain she may have afterwards, her feeding, and how to comfort her after the surgery. She has discovered her hand in the past few weeks and absolutely loves sucking on her 2 fingers. She also loves sleeping on our chest and will often rub her face into our chest when she gets tired. She won't be able to do those things after the surgery and will have to wear arm restraints for the first week after her surgery.

Mia's palate surgery has been scheduled for mid-January as well.

As a parent, it's so hard thinking about our little baby having to go through so much...but in the end we know that it's what is best for Mia. Please continue to keep Mia in your prayers and we'll update as much as we can! I'll post some adorable pictures of Mia with her hands stuffed in her face!