Addendum to Sidebar

I can't believe I forgot this! Add this one to the list below: one member gave birth to her second child just a couple weeks ago. Days after he was born, her husband got shingles. Then last week, her 2 year old fell & broke her arm, which required surgery! Mercy!

Sidebar

Ok, sidebar for a moment... This idea has been buzzing around in my head for a while, but after the info I received this morning, I just had to voice it. Back in January, after having taken a break for various reasons, I started the new Ladies Bible Study at OC. I felt really compelled to do so because of the topic: Cultivating Contentment. Since I had been out for a while, I was put in a new small group, which has been just awesome. It's been a great study, but after a few weeks we began to notice that our ideas of contentment were being challenged. I know of several tough situations that have arisen during these few weeks, even in other small groups--major health problems, etc.--and I'm sure there are many more I'm not aware of. At first, I thought, that's just life, I'm only more aware of it now b/c of the study. However, in my own small group of about 15 women, here's what's happened since January: -Caroline's hip issue -another member's young son had 2 surgeries and potentially faced serious heart problems. -one member lost her only remaining sibling -2 members lost grandmothers and the one that just pushed it right over the edge -one member (6 mos. pregnant) was awakened at 3 a.m. by a car crashing into her house! There are more; many "minor" health issues & job situations, several women are pregnant and several are moving, things that although they are difficult I would not consider unusual. And there are other more sensitive issues that I will not discuss. But the list above, by itself, is pretty crazy. I know that you could look at it & explain it away as bizarre coincidence or even just a run of "bad luck." But as a group of women struggling & striving together to understand contentment, it's much more than that. I wonder if God is honoring our pursuit by allowing these situations to destroy our worldly concept of happiness? Whew, that's a tough one. I wish I had some profound word of wisdom with which to end this post, but I don't. I'm still working on this one. I would be lying if I said I had this contentment thing all figured out, but I know that "He who began a good work in me will finish it through to completion." That's a relief.

Tuesday

Hello all-- Sorry it's been so long since the last post; now that my little munchkin is home I am finding it hard to find time. We are doing well. With the exception of one night, so far she has slept great. We have found a few more ways for her to sit, and Keely actually made an awesome chair for her this weekend. (Pics below) Caroline is completely off pain meds, not even taking Tylenol except at bedtime. We are getting the hang of diaper changes, not as bad as I expected. Baths are ok too, she doesn't love getting her hair washed. She has to lay on the kitchen counter while I wash it in the sink. Seems like a salon treatment to me, but she's not crazy about it. I guess I understand though, yesterday after we were done she pointed to the bathtub & said "splash!" while waving her arms. She misses her regular bath. We ventured out on Saturday & she did fine. We went to toys r us to find some things she would fit in. It was rather discouraging b/c at first we couldn't find much, and to add insult to injury, the place was chock full of sand & water toys. Made me a bit sad... then we went to the park yesterday and I was pretty rueful that all the other toddlers were running around. But the truth is, she didn't care! She had a ball, and hopefully before long she'll be out there with them. She's fallen asleep in her carseat twice, so she must be pretty comfy (though she doesn't look it!). Her appetite is back--she ate a ton of taco meat on Friday, and chowed down on chicken/broccoli/rice casserole yesterday. The big sisters are doing quite well. They are very concerned & helpful with Caroline, with just a few signs of jealousy. They have enjoyed blowing bubbles for her, which delights her. We have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of help we have been given (and are continuing to receive). I want to post more about this later, but for now just let me say that we absolutely could not do this without all of you. For now I'll leave you with some pictures of Caroline at her various "stations." Melissa Camp chair At the kitchen table On the couch, with her laptop & cell phone (hmmm, wonder where she gets that???) In her pink & purple custom made Spica chair!

Home

We are home! Caroline was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and we made it home at about 5:30pm. She slept great, in her crib (hooray!) all night. We are slowly adjusting to life at home. Caroline fits in her stroller, so she sits there a lot right now. Other than that, she is mostly being held. We have tried some other ideas but she is not too keen on them yet. I'm sure she will adjust in a few days. Our big task for the day is the sponge bath & hair washing. It's a new adventure every day! Melissa

Quick update

Good morning! We are still at the hospital for now, but we may be able to go home later today. Caroline is cord-free; they took out her epidural yesterday morning once they knew she was tolerating oral pain meds well. The pulse ox was next, then the Foley catheter last night (which began our diaper changing journey!). Last was the IV, this morning, although the port is still in just in case they need it. She is doing great on the oral meds, doesn't seem to be having any pain. We are getting better at moving her around and becoming comfortable with the cast. Honestly, it's quite a lot like being a first-time parent with a newborn. It's intimidating & scary at first, you're so afraid you'll hurt them, and you just have to figure it out as you go. It reminds me too of how much more complicated it is at first with a newborn--cleaning the cord, sponge bathing, etc. But it gets so much simpler with time. I'm sure it will be that way for us too. Right now we have pain & incisions & swelling to deal with, but soon that will be gone. Just like the cords, and it's already so much easier without those. She does seem to have her days & nights mixed up like a newborn too! She was wide awake from 12:30 last night till about 10 minutes ago, so we are pretty sleep deprived right now. All in all though, it has been a much smoother process than we anticipated. Thanks for all your comments & prayers-- Melissa

Progress

Well, I don't have any pictures to post of Ellery & Lauren's visit. It was way too chaotic to worry about cameras! They were great, though, & Caroline was happy to see them. We managed to get Caroline in a wagon & take her for a ride. She enjoyed watching the model train city and saying "choo choo." We finally met the famous Kathy, who is the resident guru on living with casts of all types. She helped the Browns when Ansley was here. She was very helpful & showed us how to get Caroline comfy on her tummy. Caroline promptly fell sound asleep and it was obvious she had been missing her tummy time. Kathy assured us that the spica may slow her down, but definitely will not stop her. She will figure out how to do everything she did before, including crawl, roll (ok)and even stand up (not ok). Later today we will bring in her carseat and Kathy will adapt it to fit the spica. Apparently she has been to the MacGyver school of equipment modification. Caroline has decided for the time being that she is very mad at me & just wants Daddy all the time. It's actually much harder on Daddy than on me! I'm happy to be the scapegoat for her anger. This morning she ate a little bit and is pretty talkative. They turned off the epidural and started giving her oral pain meds, so we're waiting to see how that goes. The dr. is still happy with her progress, so we will probably be released as soon as her pain is manageable without the epidural. That's all for now. Thanks for all of your sweet comments. Melissa

April Fool's Day

I kept hoping they'd come in yesterday & say April Fool's! She doesn't need surgery after all! No such luck.

We arrived yesterday at 5:30 a.m. and did the necessary paperwork, etc. Caroline played happily, but didn't like the fish tank! One last trick...

They took us back to the holding room around 6:30 or so. Caroline was calm & happy, which was so wonderful. We were next to a little tiny baby who was screaming his head off, because of course he was hungry. I felt so badly for his poor mommy. While in holding, we talked to everybody & their brother--nurses, residents, anesthesia, etc. and of course our surgeon, Dr. Martus. He went over the plan one more time, adding that he thought there was a pretty good chance we'd have to correct her right hip at some point. As for the left hip, they would keep us updated during surgery, but "this is probably not the end of the story" for that hip either. Child Life came in and brought her some toys.

They took her to surgery at 8:30 (she didn't even fuss) and we were off to the waiting room. The nurse called to update us every hour, and the first call was to say that after doing the arthrogram, they were proceeding with an open reduction. An epidural was placed at that time, and we waited for the next call.

Meanwhile, we were surrounded by many wonderful people who brought us coffee, doughnuts, snacks, and most importantly, love. The next update was that she was doing fine, and they were proceeding with both the pelvic osteotomy and femoral shortening. However, after another hour, we were told they may not do the femoral part after all. The next couple calls just said that her vitals were strong and Dr. Martus was still working in the hip joint. Finally, at about 1:30, we were told that they were closing her up and getting ready to apply the cast.

Dr. Martus came out to talk to us around 2pm. He said everything went very well and he was pleased with the results they were able to achieve. He explained the procedures in detail and showed us some x-rays. (We nodded & pretended we saw what he pointed out.) He decided the femoral shortening was not necessary at this time, but he is fairly sure this same pelvic osteotomy will have to be repeated in a couple of years. Apparently that is just due to her growth. If that's the case, they may need to do the femur surgery at that point. On the bright side, he said the arthrogram showed that her right hip is not as dysplastic as it appeared on x-ray, which is promising.

We waited again until about 2:45, when they finally took us to see her in recovery. She was awake and groggy, but calm, unlike many of the sweet babies in the room. It was quite a relief to see that she wasn't distressed. She drank some juice and I got to hold her for a bit.

Anesthesia came in and said she'd done great, and they'd had to give her very little narcotics during surgery. She also didn't require any blood transfusions which was great.

We went to our room a couple of hours later. She slept on & off, and got pretty alert around 7p.m. She was scared & frustrated when she realized she couldn't move around, but settled as soon as we held her. Of course, it takes a few minutes to pick her up, what with an epidural, IV, pulse ox monitor and Foley catheter. Not to mention a spica!

Last night was pretty uneventful. We all got a little bit of sleep. Today has been up & down. Thankfully she hasn't been in any pain. Every couple of hours she gets mad & tries to pull out all her tubes. She really hates the IV and she pulled on it enough that they had to restart it this morning. She ate breakfast well and mostly seems comfortable, except for being itchy because of the epidural. But overall it has gone much better than I had expected, and thankfully when she does get agitated she is easily calmed when we hold her. Here she is with Daddy. Welcome to Spicaville!

Lauren wanted to know what color it was ("pink"). How pink? ("really pink!") Why? (I don't know) Does it have sparkles??? :)

Speaking of the big sisters, they are coming to visit this afternoon. I will try to post some pics later. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers & words of encouragement!

Melissa