Ongoings and Such

First and foremost I would like to celebrate that a) Eric is done with all his school work and b) I am done with his dumb online art appreciation class! Lilly was so kind as to snooze here with me while I typed the final paper for the class and listen to her classical music. Lilly is also responsible for Eric's B in his engineering class. He was supposed to have the exam last week, but because all the hospital drama his professor was going to have him take it this past Thursday. Well, Eric called him Thursday and the professor told him he could come take the final exam or just take the B for the class! How awesome is that! Thank you Lilly.




Now for the Lilly update. Certain Grandma's have been reprimanding us for taking so long to update; it's only been a couple of days! Well, little Lilly has been doing awesome! She is eating great and is putting on some chub. It blows my mind how fast they can gain weight! She left the hospital at 5 pounds 13 ounces, at her pediatrician check up the next day was 6 pounds 3 ounces, and at her cardiologist appointment yesterday was 6 pounds 11 ounces! Holy frijoles, that's like me gaining 100 pounds in a week. (Okay, I don't really know what that compares to, but still!).

So the cardiologist appointment, that is what we've all been holding our breath for. It was a very positive appointment and checkup. She was born with a PDA (a shunt between the 2 major vessels still open) and an atrioventricular septal defect (a hole between the 4 chambers of her heart). They repeated an echo on her heart today. The PDA has closed up on its own - way to go Lilly. The septal defect is still present but as far as size goes, only in the mild to moderate range. She is starting to show signs of her heart defect - mainly just breathing heavy and fast, especially when she eats. The doctor said that he likes to see these signs develop because when they do it means surgery will be less risky to perform (something about there being less pressure in the heart/lungs). Though I hate to see her pant, I guess it's a good thing. If it starts to interfere with her eating she will be put on some medicine to alleviate it. As far as surgery goes, she is not in dire need at the moment since she is eating great and gaining weight. He gave her a 50/50 chance of needing surgery, but I got the impression he was still leaning towards her needing it. The good thing is that if she needs it, it will most likely wait until she's 6 months to 1 year of age. She will have another check up in 2 weeks and then once a month afterwards. If she does need the surgery its got excellent results and a super quick recovery time (only 5 days!). There is a state of the art pediatric cardiac surgery facility just 2 1/2 hours away in Charleston. Eric and I have prepared ourselves for the fact that she will probably need surgery. If she doesn't need it, then hurray; if she does then we'll be prepared at least.

Lilly's next appointment is at the pediatrician's again this coming Tuesday. Then we have an appointment Thursday here at the house with some people from a organization called Babynet. I don't know too much about this service, but I think it's a service that connects you to all the resources you need for kids with disabilities. Things like physical and speech therapy and other sorts of specialists she may need. Also they hook us up with things like medicaid to help supplement our current insurance and such. They also connect you with other families in your situation and there are fun events hosted. So that appointment will be interesting to see what's in store.

Also, big thanks to everyone who has been coming and feeding us and cleaning our house! We really appreciate it. I don't know how I've managed to lose baby weight with all this food! But, hey I'm not complaining.

Here's a few pictures to make your day!




Suey here DYING to play with her new baby. She is such a kid loving dog and she just doesn't understand why she can't play with her already! I keep telling her she must wait.




Here is George Porge finally not terrified of our new addition.




Grandpa Jones




Aunt Lindsay

Stay tuned for more pictures to come. Lilly will be having her first photo shoot today at the house by yours truly Melissa Devoe (check out her photography blog). Also, just wanted to note I added a blog to our list of "Rad Blogs". It belongs to Melissa Pelly, she left us words of encouragement on our blog when we found out about Lilly and her Down syndrome. She has walked in our same shoes, just 6 weeks ahead of us! It is amazing to follow her story as well and see how crazy similar it is to us, good to know we're not alone.