Finally rolling over!!!

Mia has been doing great!! Her eating is back to normal and when she eats, it's amazing to hear the sucking sounds she makes when she eats now. I think we may try to use some regular nipples after she's all healed. I know it may be a bit late to be introducing her to a totally new bottle now, but I feel like it'd be great to build suction to help with her speech development. Her palate looks amazing! It looks like a fully developed palate. She still has white stitches that have yet to dissolve, but it looks amazing! It's a wonder what doctors can do these days!

So...Mia is finally rolling over. Problem: I've never actually seen her in the act. Our little Mia is a sly little one. I've been COMPLETELY obsessing over her rolling since she was 4 months old. No matter what I tried, she refused to roll. She'd get sooo close then not go through all the way. She's been sitting up since she was 4.5 months so I know that there are some things that she's way ahead in, but rolling was something that looked like it would never happened. Everyone assured me that it's normal and that some kids just never roll and they just skip to sitting and crawling.

Yesterday, while Mia was napping, I all the sudden heard a frantic cry! I walked into her room and from the door of her room, I saw a foot sticking up. How can this be possible? Mia sleeps on her tummy. When I looked in her crib, she was sideways in her crib belly up!!! She was so surprised, she woke herself up from her nap and was crying! I was laughing so hard!

However, this is not so fun. She flipped over in the middle of the night and during today's nap and keeps waking up! Hopefully, she'll learn to roll herself back. She looks like a turtle that has been flipped on it's shell!

Too bad I've never seen her do this and she refuses to do it when I place her on the floor!

It's good to be home!!

We're back at home! Mia was drinking about an average of 2 ounces every 2 hours and was able to take oral pain meds so they let us go home! We won't have minded staying there another day if Mia needed the morphine, but it's hard being in a crapped hospital room. It makes me really thankful that we were able to leave so soon. There are many kids on the surgical floor who are there for weeks at a time.

Mia tries to suck her bottle because she's hungry, but ends up crying because it still hurts. We are just squeezing milk into her mouth and she swallows. She's definitely handling the pain meds better than she was at 3 months. She tries to play and coo and is taking 2 hour naps in between. She has been kind of maintaining her normal schedule.

Mia is definitely a fighter!! Our surgeon said that he wants to do another surgery in about 9 months to touch up her lip and some of the scarring under her nose...I guess we just have to take things step by step!

Out of Surgery...Houdini!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers!

Mia is now out of her palate surgery and in the recovery room. Jeremy is holding her right now as she rests. Mia went into surgery around 10am and came out around noon. Dr. Burstein told us that everything well very well! They basically closed her soft palate and the muscles towards the back of her mouth. Her breathing is a little bit labored because she has to get used to breathing with a closed palate and because things are a little swollen, but she's doing well.

Mia has officially been dubbed as "Houdini" by the hospital staff because she once again attempted to escape from her IV that was placed into her right ankle. Last surgery we had major problems because she had kicked out her IV and wasn't able to get pain meds for the first 4-5 hours post- surgery. When meeting with the doctor beforehand, we had warned them about securing the IV and taping it really well so that she didn't kick it out. This time she almost did it again!! She tried to wiggle her toe into the place where they inserted her IV and almost succeeded in kicking it off. Everyone is on high alert to always check Mia's IV line...=)

Mia is receiving morphine every 2 hours and if her pain management and intake of fluids is good we can go home tomorrow, but we're in no hurry to go home...we want to make sure that she's comfortable and able to manage the pain on oral pain meds.

We'll continue to keep you guys updated!!

Mia says "Hello"

This was taken a few weeks ago when we were visiting grandparents in Virginia...
See if you can hear her say "Hello"
(ok...maybe I'm just hearing things!)

Nerves...

Mia's new thing is waking up in the middle of the night to just talk and play. She hasn't been waking up crying, but I'll hear her through the monitor or from the living room. If I leave her alone sometimes she'll fall back asleep and sometimes she'll realize that she's hungry after being up and playing for 30 minutes.

I just finished feeding her and am out in the living room. I know I should be sleeping, but I can't help but be nervous about Monday morning. My sweet sunshiney girl has no idea that Monday is going to be a pretty hard day for her.

The timeline for palate surgeries varies greatly from surgeon to surgeon. We've heard of some doctors who won't do surgeries until a child is off the bottle and able to drink out of a cup so that a bottle will not hinder the healing process of the palate. Our surgeon believes that earlier is better so that speech development will not be affected. Mia coos, screeches, and even growls all day, but has yet to babble (dada, mama, baba) probably because her palate is still open. Hopefully, her speech will start to really take off after her surgery. We're just hoping for the best.

Even before Mia was born, I had always wanted to teach my children baby sign. Just in case Mia has a speech delay, we've started baby sign with her. Right now we're just doing things like more, milk, all done, bath (her FAVORITE time of the day!) and although she's too young to sign back, I think she's starting to recognize some signs. She starts waving her arms and legs when I do the sign for milk! =)

Please pray for a speedy recovery that is infection free! We may be in the hospital a night or even two nights depending on Mia's feeding and pain management. Feeding was rough last surgery for about a week especially since she refused to take the bottle and the pain meds were an appetite suppressant. We're hoping that fistulas (holes in the palate) do not develop so that we won't have to have further surgeries on her palate.

Thanks for your prayers and support! Hopefully, Mia will be out and about for play dates soon! We can't wait to recover and start music classes soon too!! =)

Here's our beautiful Mia giggling...(too bad it's not in HD, it was taken from our camera not our video camera)

No more orange boogers!! Palate surgery...

Mia is almost 6 months!! Time flies! My little cuddly girl who lived in my baby sling is now a big independent 6 month old who always wants to be sitting, playing and sleeping by herself. Even when I try to cuddle her, she tries to inch away...=(

At her ENT appointment last week, she weighed in at 17 lbs. and 8 ounces!!! (Well, she was fully dressed and had a full diaper!) We're also happy to report that her ear are fluid free and she has passed all her hearing tests after having her tubes put in! YAY!

Our palate surgery will taking place on Monday, January 11th. Of course, I'm a total wreck this week. I can't help but be worried after all the complication we had at her last surgery, but it's comforting to know that hardships pass...All we can do is pray and know that everything is really out of our hands.

Good news is that Mia will no longer have green and orange spewing out of her nose...=)














We've had quite the adventure with solid foods! Although Mia LOVES avocados and sweet potatoes, she was not a happy camper when they were stuck in her nose! Because her palate is not closed, food often goes through her nasal cavity and out through her nose. We would all have to run and duck for cover when we knew she was going to sneeze while eating...=) I have many shirts that have been stained by sweet potatoes.

We fall more and more in love with our little girl everyday. She continually amazes us with her bright spirit and her spunky personality. We'll hopefully be hearing her first babbling words after her surgery...hmm...should we take bets...will she be saying "mama" first or "dada"?

Please keep Mia in your prayers...We're hoping to keep her healthy before her surgery and praying for a healthy, quick, infection-free recovery!