Good doctor visit

We went to our neurologist today and it went well. Actually, there wasn't much that was said or done. We are going to have to wait and see. He didn't seem all that concerned at this point. We don't have to do any more tests as of now. We are hoping and praying we don't get there.

I had better not say this too soon...

...but I am so glad that this month is just about over. In case you don't remember, let me recap:
It started with a bang. Or maybe a crash. Whatever you call it, it was not good. The lady who did not stop at the red light in Bastrop totaled my pretty SUV, but we walked out without a scratch. It is beyond lucky considering the mechanics estimated the speed of the driver to be between 40 and 60.
We started to bounce back after that and headed off for a great weekend in San Fransisco. The girls were so good on the plane and we had a very special weekend celebrating the Uncle Brians wedding. We packed to head back to Austin, but it was not meant to be. A few days and a hospital stay later we were able to go home.
It has been very scary and very humbling. I was able to think of Natalie's seizure back in May as being a fluke thing, but this proves that it is something more than that. We are going to the Neurologist tomorrow (Man, I wish tomorrow was October 1st!) Hopefully we can find out some answers there.
One of the people Andy works with suggested breaking a plate to ward off the dreaded "bad events happen in threes" thing.
Maybe she has a good idea.

A few more from today

Natalie's 3rd Party!

I will add photos later, but these are a few that a friend took and they capture her little personality nicely. Cracked me up. She had a ball at her party, which was at the local sprinkler park. All of her good buddies were there and lots of family also. We rented a pavillion, which was great! It wasn't terribly hot, but the shade was still helpful.

Oh, and I replaced my poor smushed Pathfinder with another one. It is pretty, but I was annoyed by the whole thing. I guess I should count my blessings; at least no one was hurt.

Celebrate!

The picture below is of Meagan and Lexi. Apparently they found a dog leash and Lexi is a puppy?

Above, you can see Natalie celebrating her **third** birthday! She, of course, was given extra clothing for her Jenny baby. She was overjoyed. I will have to put a video on later of her literally dancing in joy.

Happy Birthday Sweet Natalie! Tomorrow is the big day.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I don't think words can describe how proud we are of Natalie. She is incredible, and I am proud to be her mommy.

Finally some good news!

Natalie had her "well-child" checkup for her third birthday today. We are thrilled to report that her Menigitis tests are ***Negative****! No birthday in the hospital! The rest of her checkup was fine also. She continues to follow her own little growth curve, right along the 20th percentile. She has not hit 30 lbs yet and is not as tall as Meagan was, but they are each their own child.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a person who likes uncertainity. I am the annoying person in class who asks a million questions, and the one who double checks all work assignments. So, needless to say, this has been a rough road for me. We have no idea when the next seizure might happen. I would like to say that it won't happen again, but honestly, I don't really think that. Instead, I am trying to take it one day at a time. This little girl is my miracle girl, in so many ways. Hopefully, I can just appreciate all that she gives me.

Bein' silly with Cousin Julie and Uncle Brian

Sunday

Natalie is doing allright. She is not totally herself, but we will take the way she is right now! At least we aren't at Dell.
Hopefully tomorrow we will find out about the culture done on her spinal fluid. I am praying for a negative because it would break my heart to celebrate her birthday (thursday) at the hospital.

Go Cubs Go

Baseball season’s underway
Well you better get ready for a brand new day
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.
They’re singing …
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.
They got the power, they got the speed
To be the best in the National League
Well this is the year and the Cubs are real
So come on down to Wrigley Field.
We’re singing now …
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.
Baseball time is here again
You can catch it all on WGN
So stamp your feet and clap your hands
Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans.
You’re singing now …
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.
-Steve Goodman 1984

Please, maybe this year???!?!?

The week long hospital visit that wasn't....

So I was about to leave work today when our doctor called us to tell us that Natalie has Menegitious or however you spell that icky word. I freaked out like I always do and called my cousin Rich and friend Daniel and got all upset. We waited to hear from Dr. Eady as to what we should do next. She called us and told us that we needed to go to Dell Children's Hospital and that we would be getting a week long course of IV antibiotics. Off we went. Natalie was happy as can be, twirling around, giggling, and generally the best I have seen her in a week by far. The nurse was very confused that Natalie was the girl she was looking for from the doctor's report. We had to endure 35 minutes of trying to start an IV (we gave up counting the needle pricks after 20) before they gave up. Next Natalie had the joy of her second lumbar puncture in one week. She was so good! I could not believe how great she was. She cried and got upset, but then went back to dancing and singing. The preliminary results were so good that they said that we would be staying for 48 hours to observe her, but then after they got more results the doctor said we could go home! Of course, it was 12:45 AM at this point, which is a bummer, but I am so glad that we don't have to spend a week in the hospital, even if it is a darn nice hospital.

a few photos from the wedding

As you can see, before all heck broke loose, we were having a great trip.

We are back in Austin. The hospital released Natalie yesterday afternoon and said we could fly today as long as we brought a seizure medicine called Diastat. My impression is that it is sort of like Valium, just in a suppository form to be given to stop the seizure. It is not a preventative medicine at all, just something to deal with the actual seizure. We are still trying to deal with all of this, but we have an appt. on Sept 30th with Natalie's neurologist. That should help some.

Scary end to our vacation

I had hoped that today I would be back at work, maybe posting a few fun photos from the wedding this weekend. Instead, I spent the past two days in the ICU at California Pacific. Natalie had her second febrile seizure (the first was back in May) Monday night. My stomach lurches when I think about that night. We had a great day and saw so much! The girls loved the sea lions at Fisherman's wharf and the beach. We went out for one last dinner before boarding an early flight the next day and Natalie was acting totally normal. All of a sudden we realized that she was staring fixedly at a point on the wall. She got terribly stiff and we realized what was going on. Andy ran her to the hospital because it was only a block away. The sweet man from the sushi restaurant even ran with us. Meagan was so scared, asking what we were doing and telling us to put her sister down. The worst part of the entire evening, by far, was the time in the ER. The doctors could not get her seizure to stop and they had to keep on giving her injections. Unfortunately, the nurses also could not get in an IV,so they had to do a direct line in her neck. My poor baby looks like a prizefighter, bruised all over. The ER transported her by ambulance to the Children's Hospital. By the time she got off of the ambulance, she was acting a bit more like Nati. Only Nati would sing "If you are happy and you know it" 5 minutes after a major seizure. The night in the ICU was challenging for me bacause Natalie had a paradoxical reaction to the Ativan given to her to stop the seizure. It was not unlike the reaction some toddlers have to Benadryl; she was all hyped up. She finally fell asleep around 5:00 AM. Our big concern yesterday was that she seemed very unstable and fell down over her own feet. Andy slept over with her last night and when she woke up she was a different kid. Illness has always come and gone very quickly with Natalie, so we are hoping this is an example of the same thing. Neurology had an EEG done, and it appears that she does not have Epilipsy, which is a relief. It is extremely hard for Andy and I as parents, though to know that this can happen at any time. We will be following up with our neurologist (we have one from when Natalie was diagnosed with hypotonia as a baby, but haven't seen him in a year or so) next week
Keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

It has been a great day!

We are in California for my brother's wedding. It was the perfect day! It was outside and there were no clouds in the sky, and the temperature was in the high 70s or so. It was a special occasion for so many reasons, and I am thrilled to have Brian Devine as part of our family. In case you were counting, that means that we have three Uncle Brians!

Be a Sharon Groupie!

Towards the bottom of the page, you will see a "Blog Follower" thingy (right above the Obama sign. The election is 2 months away. I promise that I will stop my Obama obsession soon enough, but it is in full swing right now!) I guess you can sign up. Then I can have groupies. I think that I need groupies. If you look at the stat counter on the bottom of the page, you will see that I have had like 103, 000 visitors. Or something like that. The reason is that Brian felt bad for me when he set it up and put 100, 000 as my starting number.
So in order for me to ever hit 200, 000 I will need each of you to visit my site 20 times a day, at least.

The photo above is of the girls wearing two of Andy's sports shirts. Meagan is wearing his Falcons Tball shirt, and Natalie is wearing the cool old school Astros jersey.

I wanna be a rock star!

How many kids can say that their grandfather has a real recording studio in their house? Obviously, Meagan can! She recorded some true classics when we visited last weekend. I am sure they will be Billboard hits soon.

Crummy weekend

After returning to work, I was really excited for a long weekend. We headed off to Houston and had a good time. The ride home, however, was horrible. We were stopped at a stoplight in Bastrop, just minding our own business, when CRASH!!! Our car was rear ended by a woman who told us her brakes just would not work. I don't know if she just didn't see the stoplight or her brakes really did fail, but either way, it was a pretty serious accident. Andy and the girls are OK, thank God. The car, however, did not fare as well. I do not think that I will be driving it for a very long time. Currently it is down in Bastrop where it was towed, but hopefully we can get the insurance rolling on it soon. We are so thankful to Brian G. who drove all the way to Bastrop to get us! Meagan, to add insult to injury, got a case of the stomach flu yesterday. We are home today, but I think she will be fine to go to school tomorrow. Natalie will be starting the "big girl" room on Wednesday!