More surprises...

Let me start by saying it is never, I mean never fun to go to the hospital. But I guess if you have to go, then this is the way to go.

Last night I was going to knit night in honor of this sweet girl named Allie who is graduating. Most of the ladies in our group are just that ladies! But Allie is 18 years old and such a breath of fresh air. We will surely miss her sitting there in her corner of the couch with her sweet smile. We may have to take our knitting on the road to College Station. Ok, Allie we would ask first I am sure! After everyone gave Allie her gifts, then Rainy (owner of the shop) presented me with a gift. Actually, it was another gift for Annabel. The ladies in our knit group all knitted Annabel a square with a heart in the center of the square. Also, there is a butterfly sewn on the blanket on the corner of one of the squares. This blanket is so soft and snuggly! I bet I will be snuggled up right next to her under her sweet blanket that are made with so much love.




The Quilt...
Then remember my friend Lisa who has 6 little precious hospital gowns made for Annabel, then her seamstress who made Annabel a sweet rag doll with 2 pairs of matching P.J.'s and two matching hospital gowns??? Well today I received a call from Lisa saying there was one more surprise. So this evening Annabel, myself, and Tara went to Lisa's house. Gramma, a.k.a. Mrs. C, a.k.a. Lisa's neighbor, decided to make Annabel a quilt with the leftover fabric of her gowns. I was so glad I brought Annabel with me as Mrs. C had not seen her in a good while and couldn't believe how grown up she has become. The quilt is beautiful and so colorful. It touches me that they all chose something to do for Annabel. All of the children in the photo with Gramma, a.k.a. Mrs. C are not Lisa's. They are friends of her children and Annabel loved all the attention and activity. Also, for the record Lisa is not in any of the photos. She would not allow me to take her picture. I am going to research in my picture history and see if I have one. I'll show her!(JK)






With all this fun, the fact is that we will be leaving tomorrow to be admitted to the hospital. All these fun things have served as a great distraction, since I can tend to worry. I know it is totally out of my control and not in my hands, Thank you, Jesus!

Annabel's new hospital gowns...

Well I think we all know that Annabel has many angels watching over her. Tonight a very sweet friend, Lisa called and said she had a surprise for Annabel. When we arrived she presented Annabel with six, yes six new hospital gowns. During Annabel's last hospital stay at our local hospital, I made the comment on the blog about how her yellow hospital gown made her look washed out. Lisa is always wanting to help us in anyway she can and jumped on this comment I made and came up with these precious, colorful gowns. She found a seamstress, picked up the fabric, requested the hospital gown to copy it (ties and snaps included for IV purposes), and even bought her matching bows for each one. I guess if we have to be in the hospital, we will sure be the cutest, most colorful patient in the house, right? I don't know the seamstress name so I can thank her and out of respect for Lisa' privacy I won't mention her last name. But a huge Thank You for this sweet gift for Annabel and myself. Can you see me each day giving her bath and then deciding on what precious gown we will be wearing?

Also, in one of the pictures Annabel is sitting on a beautiful blanket that Rainy (a friend and owner of our local knitting shop) made for Annabel. It is super soft and cozy for Annabel to have with her at the hospital. Again while I was at the knit shop knitting with friends I made the comment about how I love to make Annabel's hospital bed colorful and more like home. Rainy took off with this comment also. I have to watch what is coming out of my mouth. But a huge "thank you to Rainy for the time she took and the thoughtfulness that went into making this beautiful blankie.

I do know that Annabel touches many peoples lives and for this I am grateful. Also for all the friendships Annabel has brought into my life. There has been some names that I have not seen before, or that they have commented they have read the blog but not commented. They have said some very sweet things and I just wanted to make sure that they know how much their prayers and support are appreciated. We all continue to know that Annabel is still with us today because of God's mercy and love. I can tell you that I have done nothing to deserve this but she does make me want to be a better person and do better things each day. Do I fall short or right on my face, almost daily. It is also due to all of the prayers that are offered up on her behalf. I continue to say this because I don't want anyone to think that I take it for granted for one second. Annabel may not have a voice but I know if she could talk she would shout a huge "Thank You!" For now we will just look at her smile and let it speak a million words of Thanks to everyone.






Just wanted to add some pics of this weekend. Sunday evening we went out to watch my oldest son Derek play baseball. It is a men's league 25 and older hardball league. We enjoyed watching him play when he was younger and now get to watch him again. The biggest differenc is that all the parents are not yelling at the coach like when they were younger. So it is a relaxing way to spend a Sunday evening. He loves sports and it keeps him strong and healthy.



Tyler also came by and brought Annabel out to sit on his murdercycle, excuse me, I mean to say motorcyle. (Please don't take this personal to all the motorcyle enthusiast out there). Just as his mommy, I worry more about the other person than I do about him. He loves to ride so I will just pray that he be safe. Also, I promise Annabel was not and will not be riding any motorcyle ever! Her hair was not acceptable for photos, so therefore, the doo-rag (sp). Yes I know that it doesn't match, but I don't have doo-rags just sitting around.



Lastly, this weekend Annabel modeled for the organization called ARC. They had a dinner and syle show with all its memeber modeling or waiting on table. It was a very nice night and the food was excellent. She was not feeling so great (tummy) so we had to ask to be first so we could get off the stage and put our jammies on. Of course, the minute she saw her teacher she was all smiles. So guess what, next year her teacher get to walk her out unless Annabel decides to walk before then. The outfit in the picture was the one she modeled from Dillards. This is Mrs. Ann, her teacher in the first picture. The second is of myself and Annabel. She didn't smile the whole time unless she saw Ms. Ann.

The goings on....

Sorry for the lack of post but I think sometimes the stress takes it toll on me. Went to the dr. today and he believes I have shingles. I have not been feeling so great and that is hard for me to relax. The kids help me when they are playing with Annabel, but instead of relaxing I need to wash, clean, etc. I have not been resting with Annabel on the bi-pap and she was not able to clear this mucus thing up while on the bi-pap. It was as if she was trying to get the mucus out but the machine was pushing it down. She can not get the mask off herself and so there is the worry that she will choke, so I must tend to her every noise. I am convinced she breathes and sleeps better with it, but she was staying congested or her airway blocked. On Friday night I made the decision to just turn off the pulse ox and the bi-pap and see how she did. She slept and I slept and I noticed in the morning she was not coughing and choking on all the mucus. Therefore, I repeated it again Saturday night and again she was sounding so clear Sunday morning. Yesterday was our appointment with the pulmonologist to clear her for surgery and she was not making noise that I could hear. Of course, with the stethoscope he said she was noisy in her airway. He told me to keep doing what I was doing until the surgery since the coughing and breathing overall is better. He cleared her for surgery and I have been really at peace with my decision. She has had some really painful nights that she won't even allow us to hook up the tube to feed her. Her tummy is like an empty drum that sounds like it is full of air. So for this I am grateful that God has given me the confidence that the surgery is needed and has taken the choice out of my hands. We also saw her ENT on Tuesday in Houston (new dr.) and he suggested to remove her tonsils and adenoids for her airway issues. I was so glad the next day when we saw the pulmonologist that he addressed this issue and he agreed with me that the findings didn't support his thinking to remove the tonsils. I couldn't understand why the ENT thought this was necessary. He even said tonsils on children with airway issues is very hard for them. I was not for this surgery as we don't believe this to be a problem causing her airway issues. Again, God took that choice away when the pulmonary doctor said he wouldn't ok that procedure.

For anyone that has known Annabel for a while, she has been so healthy considering the trisomy 18. She has amazed many people along her path and done so well. This tummy issue is just a bump in her journey and I do believe she will be back to her old self soon after the surgery.

Some of the pictures below are with my family celebrating Tara's 25th birthday! Boy, am I getting old! The good thing about being my age is having wonderful children and being blessed six times over!

I have been following 3 precious little girls with Trisomy 18. Shane has gained her wings this past Saturday night. Her aunt contacted me soon after her birth. She and Shane's mother are so close and Shane's aunt had been through everything with the family. We talked a good while and then she passed some information along to Megan, Shane's mom. Then Megan and I began talking. What a beautiful loving family Shane has. They wanted to do everything they could for precious Shane. It broke my heart many times over when Megan could not get the medical help and support she needed. They are from Florida and sometime this happen, well most of the time this happens. This is becoming such a passion for me, to educated and show these people that some of these babies do survive and have such joy. Anyway, after struggling for two months and many request by Shane's mom to do scans, test and whatever, they found out she had no bile ducts. They also found she had many heart issues. It broke my heart that she had such little support from the medical community. Please, please pray for this beautiful family as they hold her services this Saturday morning. Megan was the kind of person that when you talked with her you felt as if you had know her for a very long time. She had such a gently, loving, sweet soul.

The other two little girls were both born on April 30th. One little girl is Lily and she is from Georgia. The second little girl is Annabel and they are from Texas. I have visited their blogs and exchanged comments and emails with their parents. They are in the very early stages of their journeys. I am going to put their links below and if you would like to visit and offer prayers for their families I know how much this is appreciated. Again, thank you for visiting Annabel's blog and being so faithful in offering your prayers. Also, I will be posting on her blog from the hospital as things unfold.

Lily: www.iseeloveblog.blogspot.com
Annabel: www.sweet-annabel-leigh.blogspot.com