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Elizabeth Grace - An Amazing Birth Story Elizabeth Grace - An Amazing Birth Story



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Feb 23, 2001 Language Skills

We never really got an actual diagnosis of a speech delay but she continues to border on delayed. She does add words daily and comes up with ONE big word every once-in-a-while. I wrote about her word JUICE. She has never said it again. AND, this week she is saying "MARQUITA" very clearly. She is just beginning to put two words together. TODAY she said "ducky go?" with her hands turned up as she could not find it behind her. She can walk around chattering to herself making others take notice. :-)

Of course she says 'no'. Since she does not say 'yes' it is difficult to tell when "no" means 'no' and when it means 'yes'.

We enjoy playing word games. She says something, I'll do my best to say it back to her. She says SPIDER when she wants me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Marquita and I like to play "1-2-3" games. After counting we do something, the same thing over and over THEN of course she giggles in anticipation as the game continues.

She has not found the "why" word yet. Also, I do not think she has the magic total of 50 words in her vocabulary yet.

I am looking for cassettes of songs that include the days of the week, months, numbers, seasons, shapes.... Whatever will increase her vocabulary in fun a way.

Social Skills
Elizabeth Grace's play often involves imitating adult actions such as feeding a doll, talking on the phone or shopping.

She grows more excited over the prospect of playing with the daycare children. She loves to help the babies. She is always putting paci's or bottles in their mouths, covering them with blankets, patting them or rubbing their heads. She tried to lift a fairly big 3y/o that was sleeping and not responding to the call to snack. :-) She thinks she is one of the older kids and wants to do what the big kids do. :-) It is difficult to draw a line between HOME and DAYCARE so her freedom is different then that of the daycare children. EG wants to sit at the big kid table and do crafts with them. The high chair kids do not usually do crafts but are offered table toys or paper and colored pencils.

When blocks are set up in the making of a fort, she feels compelled to knock them down. I have read that it won't be long before she thinks she should be building the fort. SHE DOES OFFER blocks as others are building but better watch out ...

Emotional
Separation anxiety has not been an issue with Elizabeth Grace. She pushed me out of the door at my friend's house. She has learned the routine that when we drop her off, I am leaving. It's only been TWICE. She learned from the FIRST stay. :-)

The terrible twos are here, sort of. She has begun pushing for independence but if someone does not understand her, she just might bury her head in her arms and put it on the floor in tears. When she comes up from that, I offer hugs and a hand to be guided to her 'want'.

Physical
Elizabeth Grace weighs in at 19 pounds even. She measures 29 1/2 inches tall. Her head circumference is 17 1/4 inches. When I take her to play at the mall "playground" I am approached by mothers of children about 7-10 mo of age asking me how old my sweetie is. I WANT to say she is a genius but I tell the truth. :-)

She enjoys singing songs that have hand gestures. Her absolute favorite is "Itsy Bitsy Spider". EG has a WORD for 'spider'. If it weren't for her hand signs, I would not know what she's saying but I KNOW. She walks around singing the "I LOVE YOU" part of "Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink". I know it is 'I love you' but others would not know. These are the songs that we have song since our NICU days.

She takes time in her bath. Sometimes I just cannot rush her through it. She sings "Rubber Ducky" and our own "Take a Bath" song AND of course "This little pig". It is not unusual for her to dump the cup over her face then gag, spit and sputter a bit. I let her take her FIRST, and only so far, big tub bath about 2 wks ago. I have taken pics and will try to get them uploaded soon.

Her favorite books are made of a foam and have individual sections that come out. I'm surprised that she does not sit much to be read to... BUT I will continue reading to her.

Schedules are a good thing for her. She just flows with them. If we get of schedule she gets irritable. Cleaning up her toys before going to bed is simply expected. She understands and follows the direction to do so. She can keep on task pretty well.

Elizabeth Grace sleeps through the nights most often. My first sign that something is up is sleeplessness. She does seem to dream more now. She'll cry out at night. When I get to her, she is still sleeping under her covers, unmoved from how I placed her in the bed. She asks to go "potty" at about 1/3 of her diaper changes and then potties successfully at about 1/2 of those visits. She seldom has a BM on the potty.

Elizabeth Grace cannot walk up or down steps as of yet though she manages them in her own way. I do supervise her stair taking. She would like to just walk down them but is not able yet. If we had a hand rail at her height I'm sure she could but it's an expense that would not be needed one yr. from now.

She likes to "help" me put puzzles together but really does not have the concept. Even her foam books have single pieces that she has not yet been able to put back together but this is soon coming.

Elizabeth Grace loves to set things into piles. She might decide to put the red leggos in a pile then the yellow ones.... She also divides other toys into categories. Of course the leggos are a great "fill-n-spill" toy.

Here is a short list of a few more accomplishments:

· Eat with a fork and spoon
· Drink from a cup (without always spilling the contents)
· Kick a ball
· Build a tower of up to six blocks, and then smash them down
· Beginning to sort shapes in a shape sorter
· Scribble with a pen or crayon
· Turn pages


Challenges
Shopping has become a bit of a challenge. Elizabeth Grace is not always willing to ride in the shopping cart or stroller. I often use her clothes to keep her in the seat. If she is wearing bib overalls, I run the seat belt of the stroller, high chair or shopping cart through them.

At home, I have a head band secured to the high chairs that I put over the heads to help the children to stay sitting.

EG shows a little "stranger anxiety" in the way that she acts shy when others approach her to talk. She quietly puts her head into my shoulder or into her hands.

She has gotten her first time-out. She pouted her way through it but lived just the same. She has seen the daycare children get time-outs so she KNEW it meant that she had misbehaved.

MORE
A couple weeks ago we had warm 50 degree days in which it rained. She giggled so sweetly when the rain hit her face. Usually her face is hidden in a blanket when we go out as a way to protect her "potentially delicate" lungs.

She has a computer program called "Baby Type". The key strokes show up on the screen or they can be geometric shapes. She boots me from the computer so that she can play. (I just recently found some pre-school web sites that I am anxious to show her.)

She KNOWS which toy box each item belongs. If a kitchen toy is found out of place, she insists on getting it back to where it 'belongs'.

Chalk is one of her favorite toys. She'll grab one piece, make a mark on the board and want to trade for another color for another single mark on the board.



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Elizabeth Grace's left eardrum ruptured March 16. She cried all night after I had taken her to the Dr to check her ears. She had fluid but no infection.

I guess all the screaming caused an inguinal hernia to manifest because just a couple days after the ear ruptured she had a terrible day. During her bath she was very uncooperative though not naughty. She just wasn't willing to move in certain manners to get washed.

I rushed her through her bath just to hold her. As I was dressing her she let out the worst scream and grabbed at her groin. She had a swelling in the left inguinal area about the size of a jumbo egg.

I finished dressing her and rushed her to the ER. She is scheduled to see a pediatric surgeon on April 10 for repair of the hernia.




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April 5, 2000

We called the surgeon stating that we feel EG is VERY uncomfortable with her hernia so the appt was moved up. We saw him on the 3rd.

Her surgery is scheduled for the 27 of April at 11:45. Now my biggest concern is trying to keep her from being so hungry and miserable before surgery.

I plan on waking her for a 'midnight snack' of instant breakfast foods.

AND now today . . . Elizabeth Grace has her 100,000th ear infection.

The ear is on the verge of bursting (same one). The Dr gave her the Rocephin shot. I thought this would be great and she will be better shortly.

Since she had the shots, she has a few 'strange' effects. First of all, her legs hurt really bad at the injection sites. Second, she was acting as if she had 25 glasses of COKE! She has never acted so odd. She fell asleep at her usual bedtime.

Now that I have a few min for the computer, I am searching about Rocephin. It says that it is LESS effective than oral meds 80% cure in 3 days as to 82% oral meds. The ratio was the same at 5 days, 7 days, 10 days and weeks/months after the shot.

NOW, what is bothering me is that the REASON for THIS choice of medication. It has to do with parents or daycare providers NOT administering the oral meds correctly.

I have done a very good job with EG's meds. Since January started, about 6 infections ago, I have missed maybe 2 doses of antibiotics. I was not asked if I was successful with her meds or if she was difficult to give them to.

It was THE choice med!?

More about today's appt - We talked about EG's head size but it was pretty much just pushed under the rug. She finally reached 20 pounds and is 31 inches tall IN SHOES.

He mentioned, as if he was thinking to himself, tubes and that THIS infection needed to be cleared before her hernia surgery. I think that he might be attempting to line up a 'tube' surgery with the hernia surgery.

~*~God's GRACE is His most AWESOME gift ~*~



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April 20, 2001
STUCK!!!! EG's new word .. I took a picture so you might want to look. She pushed herself under the gate.


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April 27, 2001
We have been home for a couple of hours. The surgery went ALMOST perfect. The hernia was considered 'large'. The Dr did not see any problem on her other side when he used the scope over to the other side.

The worst news was that they tried to do a 'caudal' for pain but it didn't work. She was in much more pain than she would have been if it would have worked.

One of the nurses thought she KNEW my baby better than I did. She told me my child was not hurting as it seems but that she was afraid of the BLUE CLOTHES!! I let her know that my child does not say OW when she sees blue.

Then the nurse TOOK EG FROM ME to remove her IV. It was time to go home, I guess and I was giving in to her too much. (I am TRYING to give her the benefit of the doubt in that she did not know that the routine pain control did not work.)

She pulled the curtain around us and told me to get her ready to go. When she came back and I had made NO EFFORT toward heading home, she told me that her pain med was at it's 'best' and NOW was the best time to go.

I looked her in the eye and told her "I AM NOT READY TO GO". She backed off after that.

EG's 'primary' nurse knew she was in severe pain and brought pain med three times. She KNEW that 'ow' did not mean, "I do not like blue!"

Right now EG is needing pain med but has gotten up to move AND even asked me to take her to potty! She is feeling much better now than even when we left the hosp.



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April 28
EG required pain med in the night. I think the slowing down allowed for the soreness to set in. Today she has been a little slower than yesterday's 100 miles an hour but no one noticed a lower rate of speed of 99.5 miles an hour.



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April 29
Her scar is about 1/2in on her left upper groin with a poke to the right of that. I do not know if THAT poke is from the scope or the local pain med they decided to add since the spinal one did not work. There is a poke right at her tailbone from the failed attempt at a caudal.

She has been constantly rubbing her ears. I missed 3 of her prophylactic antibiotics. I did not give it to her last night because I did not want to make things worse. She had always started the prophylactic meds AFTER a full force of meds. I was not what I should do. I did ask the pharmacist but was not comfortable with her answer. She told me to double her dose before bed to get her blood level up. When I told her she is a mere 20 pounder she changed her method to one before supper and then resume bedtime.

BUT - what if an infection has started ... My reason to wait.

She has an ear appt for tubes on May 7, 20001



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May 16, 2001

Elizabeth Grace has been up two nights now crying 'owie'. She seems fine during the day, eating and playing without much fussiness. Well, she was a bit of a hold-me-baby yesterday. I intend to call the Dr this morning when they open up.

Her ear surgery is scheduled for May 31. After praying about the decision to have another surgery this close to the previous, I prayed this way, "Lord, if her ears are in OBVIOUS need at her appt then I will agree. If they are healthy for the appt, I will wait until fall or when it becomes obvious that she needs the surgery."

Both her ears had flat tympanograms. The surgeon urged me to agree to surgery at the earliest date. This surgeon's schedule for tubes practically guarantees that EG will not have to be hungry past 9 am in the morning and that we will not be at the daycare watching the kids eat when she cannot.



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April 28

EG required pain med in the night. I think the slowing down allowed for the soreness to set in. Today she has been a little slower than yesterday's 100 miles an hour but no one noticed a lower rate of speed of 99.5 miles an hour.



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May 09, 2001

EG will have her ear surgery on the 30 of May.

Both ears had flat tympanograms BUT had NO infections! This is the longest time w/o infection since Jan.



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May 30, 2001

My biggest concern is her having to be ventilated. Elizabeth Grace is supposed to be 'under' about 10 min.

My second and third concerns has to do with pain, pain control and being returned to Mommy ASAP.

~*~God's GRACE is His most AWESOME gift ~*~
God is good and I am glad,

.· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-
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EG's ears were puss filled and will require drops for a few days.


She woke up MAD! She scratched me and bit me!
As soon as we pulled in the driveway, she decided life was OK. Since she was still rubbing her ears and such, I decided to give her a dose of her Tylenol/codeine from the hernia surgery.

20 min after that, she started eating and is now quietly playing with the daycare kids.



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May 31, 2001

EG played quite normally all day. She required a dose or 2 more of Motrin.

She enjoys her ear drops because we watch TIGGER. This was a routine started when her ear ruptured a few months ago and she required drops.

It was quite a surprise when I set her on my lap and grabbed her blankie with ear drops in hand. SHE SAID, "TIGGER"! She remembered. We were so blessed to see that Disney channel had Winnie the Pooh on at that very moment. The Tigger movie was borrowed and is not here now.

OH, I wanted to share another blessing too ! !

I got to KISS ELIZABETH GRACE TO SLEEP! I carried her to the OR and kissed her until she was out. :-) MMMmmmmm, maybe she was so mad since she figured I PUT HER IN THAT SITUATION! Well... What's a mother to do? %%%%%%% Swappie NOTE %%%%%%%% Many Swappies believe that the anger is a side effect of the anesthesia esp. for toddlers and teens.



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July 3-9

Mamaw and Aunt Cheryl came to visit. Elizabeth Grace showed to be her most adorable self during their visit.



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July 10, 2001

Elizabeth Grace has been on antibiotics twice since her ear surgery. When she had her surgery post-op check she had been having difficulty sleeping and experiencing sleep apnea. Mark explained that to ear surgeon. He checked her ears, which were in expected condition for tubes post-op. Her tympanagram was low but it was supposed to be and there was no infection. BUT, she did have a mild case of tonsillitis with swelling of the adenoids. The dr said that THAT was what was causing her sleep apnea and that we might have to have them removed! Oh, how I wanted to scream, NNNNNNNNOOOOooooooooo!!!!!!

She recovered quickly on the antibiotics but has been on antibiotics again since due to her left ear draining. I did not have to take her in to see the surgeon. He ordered the antibiotics from my phone discussion.

EG has had at least another episode of sleep apnea that I have detected. She did not seem to have any infections going on.



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Elizabeth Grace had her tonsils and adenoids removed on March 6, 2002. She took nearly 2 weeks to begin to sleep through the night. The first day was her best. She did sleep though THAT night but not following ones. You could see the huge white scabs in the back of her throat and her breath was bad just as I was warned it would be.

I had to wrestle pain medications down her every three to four hours day and night. She did not want the medications or anything to eat or drink. She lost some weight as she recovered. Then 3 days less than 2 weeks after surgery, she slept through the night and woke up announcing, "I feel better now." And, she did! I had to give her one or two more doses of ibuprofen over the next day or two but that was all.

Her snoring is almost completely stopped. I've not detected any sleep apnea but really have not had the opportunity.

Her post-op apt went well but the Dr told me that EG has small nasal passages. I'm praying that THAT does not lead to more surgery!



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March 31, 2002

Elizabeth Grace had her 3 yr check up today. She weighed 24 pounds. I've already forgotten what her height was. We were able to get 3 immunizations since she's been doing so well since her Tonsil and Adenoid surgery.

The Dr checked her back as it was one of my concerns and told me "all the kids complain of knee pain" when I told him that she frequently complains of her right knee hurting. (I hope so.) *******************

March 31, 2002

Elizabeth Grace had her 3 yr check up today. She weighed 24 pounds. I've already forgotten what her height was. We were able to get 3 immunizations since she's been doing so well since her Tonsil and Adenoid surgery.

The Dr checked her back as it was one of my concerns and told me "all the kids complain of knee pain" when I told him that she frequently complains of her right knee hurting. (I hope so.)


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