The Final Stretch

Today marks 1 month exactly until my due date!!!!!! Which means Megan will be here very soon! We are so excited and all anticipating her arrival. She's got quite a Christmas layette and her room is all set up. Anna has transitioned nicely to the big girl's room. The only problem we have now is that Megan seems to want to make her entrance into the world difficult. She is currently head-up, so we need her to do some flippin' in the next few weeks. It's hard to believe the time is upon us!

The All Clear!

Anna got the all clear Tuesday from her surgeon to resume normal eating activity, and for Anna, that means eating like a pig. She has been so patient with us as she has been on a liquid, or should I say mush, diet. She ate just about everything we ate, except it was in mush form. I think the hardest thing for her was not being able to chow down on rolls and bread. So last night to celebrate her return to the land of the eating we took her to Cracker Barrell. I have never seen her devour food so quickly and in such great quantity. It was so much fun watching her eat and smile! We are so thankful for her fast recovery and can't wait to see all that she can do now that her palate is repaired!

I stated in my last blog that I wanted to find the time to write down what the Lord has taught me through all of this. I think if there is one overlying theme it would be that His timing is always perfect. I have always struggled with wanting to be a planner and letting God know when it would be a good time to do something. I have some control issues! But, through everything with Anna I can see God putting me in the backseat and tellling me that I'm not driving, He is. I had to accept that all of her appointments were made in His timing, not mine. I wanted all of this taken care of back in June when it was first realized. I was perturbed to not get to see an ENT until August, and then not having surgery scheduled until October. But, I learned to sit back and take the appointments as they came, trusting that God was in control and placing us in front of the exact doctors Anna needed to see at the exact time she needed to see them. Even the day before surgery, after waiting 6 weeks, I knew that if she woke up with a fever or cold and couldn't have the surgery, there was a reason. It's a rather freeing thing to be able to take things as they come and trust that God is in complete control of even the littlest things. You can start to see God working in those little things, where you may have missed Him before. So through this all, I did learn to take it one day at a time and trust that God was in complete control, even of the litttle details, and on the other side of it, we are rejoicing in His faithfulness yet again.

Anna's Surgery

An early morning for sure, but never too tired to play.

Bunny was with her every step of the way, he even went into surgery with her.

I love that she had pants to go with her gown.

Waiting to be taken to surgery.

In the Post surgery unit still trying to wake up from anesthesia.

So sleepy, just snugglin with Maw Maw

Dr. Hoere and Anna

Let's get moving....

Snuggling with her new sleeping bag and special pillow from The Jacksons.

Anna had her submucous cleft palate repaired and tubes put in both ears on Thursday, Oct. 29th. We had been anticipating this day since finding out in August that she had this issue. We woke her up at 6:15am since we needed to be at the hospital by 6:45 for pre-surgery things. She was not very happy that she couldn't have any juice and kept signing for it and wondering why I was withholding.

Surgery started a little after 8:30 and the surgeon came to talk to us at 10:50 to tell us everything had gone perfectly. Anna had a hard time waking up from the anesthesia and would just look at us for a moment and then close her eyes. By Thursday afternoon though she was awake and slightly uncomfortable. Thursday evening she finally finished an entire ice cream cup as well as a jello cup. By Friday morning she was bouncing off the walls and wanted to play. She at another ice cream cup and jello cup. We couldn't believe how quickly she bounced back.

It doesn't appear that she is in too much discomfort. She is very mad at us that we won't give her a normal meal. She has to be on a liquid diet for at least 2 weeks. We're trying not to get ahead or ourselves, but we feel like we're already hearing an improvement in her speech. I know it will take a couple of weeks, but we're praying hard for new sounds and attempts everyday.

Anna will resume her busy schedule this week of 2 speech therapies and we're adding a physical therapy to help with overall low muscle tone and balance. The goal is to discontinue physical therapy by the end of the year and hopefully only need 1 speech therapy.

We also received some outstanding news by letter on Saturday. Anna's bloodwork came back from 6 weeks ago, and the immunologist is not overly concerned about her. Her blood showed only a slightly lower than normal number of T cells (infection fighting cells), and the ones she does have work very well. She also has a great number of B cells (the ones that make antibodies.) So with a new daily vitamin and 2 booster shots to help prevent against pneumonia, her immune system is weaker than most, but not seriously impeded. We will probably still lay low for this winter since we'll have the baby soon, but hopefully in the Spring Anna can live a completely normal life!

I think that is all the details for now. I want to post again in the next couple of days to just lay my heart out there so I can remember how the Lord has brought us through yet another big trial and proven once again how magnificent HE is! Love to you all and many thanks for all the prayers being lifted up for Anna!

Hallelujah Harvest 2009

Fairy Princess Anna and Cinderella Erin

Our friends from Small Group's children

The cousins!

Anna and Blake had the right idea!
Anna wanted to eat everything they gave her...save some for mommy!

Getting the hang of it very quickly!

We attended our annual Hallelujah Harvest on Sunday night. The girls were both princesses! They had a great time collecting candy and then they joined daddy at his "trunk" to help distribute candy. As always, it was a blast!

Countdown and Lockdown

We have begun the countdown - yeah! Anna's palate surgery is scheduled for first thing Thursday morning, and it's so nice to finally be at this point in time. We've decided to put Anna in full lockdown mode this week which means she isn't going anywhere! We want her to be healthy on Thursday and with the outbreak of the flu running rampid we aren't taking any chances. Please continue to pray with us for her perfect health for Thursday. We also ask for your prayers concerning her recovery being quick and as painless as it can be. Our biggest heart's desire is that within a few weeks after surgery we will see a major improvement in her speech. If she does this, they will not "label" her with apraxia and attribute the delay to overall low muscle tone, palate issues and related to her VCFS - all things that can be overcome in a shorter time frame. Thank you all for your continued care and concern for us as we jump over this next hurdle! We can't wait to rejoice with all of you on what's on the other side!

Anna's First Field Trip

Anna and I attended her first official field trip with the Early Intervention Program yesterday. They invited us to go along with other families enrolled in the program to the Pumpkin Patch. Since Anna loved the Hunt Club so much, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to go to Taylor Farm. We had a fun time together looking at the animals, taking a hayride and picking out another pumpkin! She really enjoys being outside and surrounded by animals and she is so fascinated with pumpkins!

Doctors Orders

Anna's therapist wants her to do exercises that bring attention to her mouth. One of the suggestions was giving her thick liquids to drink through straws, like a milkshake. So Anna thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of training, and big sister got in on the action too!