March 17, 2008: Annabel's 3rd Birthday

Today was an exciting day for us all. Annabel is now 3yrs. old and we are going to enroll her in school. She did not wake up with her usual happy go lucky smile this morning. After testing her urine, we determined that she has another UTI. This is a discouraging way to start the day off since we have not heard anything about the gastric emptying scan last week to determine if she needs surgery. I am struggling to decide on which doctor to contact about another UTI. It is a daily struggle to find an antibiotic that will get rid of the infection. We went to speech and PT as usual to make sure she gets her therapy in. She dug into the birthday cake that my oldest daughter, Tara, baked for her. It is inspiring to see her eating cake and drinking gatorade like a normal child. She even signed "more" and reached for the drink, which is very unusual behavior for her. It is not typical of Annabel to drink out of a cup or even eat solid foods so she is progressing wonderfully! After discussing with the therapist and explaining my struggles with the doctors and infections, I wrote her urologist an email explaining that Annabel needs a doctor that is going to help her and not treat her based on Trisomy 18. Not but an hour later her doctor, which hasn't had anything to do with her since September, responded and called in a prescription for her infection and is now taking steps in the right direction to help her. It was as if God knew that I was stressed about what to do. Tonight we had a little family party for her with two neighbors that live down the road. Annabel loved to look at the balloons and listen to the singing one. Overall, the day ended on a positive note and she will be off to her first day of school in the morning.