Sisters

I thought I'd post a little update to show Rachel's progress toward healing.  Now that the secondary stuff is under control (did I mention the strep throat, stomach bug, and molars last time?) her body can concentrate on the most important thing!

We are doing well and preparing for our post-op check up trip.

Next up, baby sister will be getting ready to turn 1!!

Rochester Recap

Here are photos of Rachel the day after surgery until we came home.  The big one was taken on Thanksgiving morning.  I thought she looked really good that day--she looks much better now!  The swelling goes down a little each day. 
After a checkup with our family doctor on Wednesday, we were blessed to have several days of Thanksgiving celebration. This is our first full day at home.  Can I just tell you how great it is to not have the surgery lurking in the back of my mind or to not have to mention "Rachel's surgery" in the future tense anymore????  It is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!  I don't think it was an accident that our journey with Rachel's craniosynostosis from diagnosis to surgery covered an entire GROWING season.  Our faith and trust certainly grew in those months.  Again, we are so thankful for all of the prayers said for our family along the way! 
We will return to Rochester for her post-op check up on Friday.  We will be taking all four kids so they can see the hospital and Mayo Clinic, and meet one of Rachel's surgeons.  I wonder what kinds of questions the boys will have prepared for Dr. Bite! 
As promised, here is a photo of the hospital chapel.  It was quite a walk from our room to the chapel, but I still managed to get down there a few times and attend Sunday mass.  What a blessing to have such a beautiful place to pray right in the hospital!

Matt Redman - 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

I am working on a photo collage from our time in Rochester.  Until then, I wanted to share a song that was a big part of my week.  In all things, give thanks.  We all have 10,000 reasons.
God bless your Thanksgiving!!!

Going as Planned

I have been updating in short bursts via Facebook since we arrived in Rochester.  If you are interested in the vital information prior to surgery (Jimmy John's did NOT put mayo on David's sandwich when we were actually on the Mayo Clinic campus!) or during (procedure times, etc.), check my page or send me a friend request if we are not yet "friends."  :o)
It is true--God gives us the grace for WHAT IS.  Handing Rachel to the doctors on Wednesday morning happened without a tear shed on any of our behalfs.  We saw most of our "people" on Tuesday, but the surgeons and anesthesia team stopped in again before the surgery.  I felt completely safe sending Rachel in, and after the Valium they probably could have taken her to the moon and she wouldn't have cared! 
We received updates about every 2 hours and the surgery actually was a little shorter than anticipated.  Dr. Bite (plastic surgeon) had told us a couple of times beforehand that if it went longer, we should not worry.  He was just making her head the best it could be.  When the Child Life Specialist (staff members who keep the hospital environment as home-like as possible for children) found out we had Drs. Wetjen (pediatric neurosurgeon) and Bite, she said we were in the BEST possible hands.  Good to hear even if she was just making a nervous mama a little more calm!
In the midst of surgery, my FB friend Sarah became a real friend when she met us in the cafeteria on her lunch break.  It was a very welcome diversion and so nice to finally meet her!  There are a couple of other Rochester FB Catholic Moms that I still hope to meet before we leave.  We also wandered the halls and checked out the gorgeous St. Mary's Hospital "chapel," which rivals the St. Joseph Cathedral in Sioux Falls.  I was able to get some great pictures with the light streaming in yesterday afternoon and will post those sometime. 
We were also told about the hospital library and I checked out a book there.  Back in Junior High, we were assigned a historical book report and my mom suggested a book called The Mayo Brothers.  I remember reading it and being fascinated by these doctors I previously had heard nothing about.  That book is the reason I STILL always buy iodized salt because I learned from that book that it can prevent goiter!  Who wants a goiter if you can prevent it? :o)  It was probably also the reason that the day our family doctor suggested a CT scan last spring that my first thought was, "If there is a problem, we will go to Mayo."  Can you believe it?  That book was right inside the library entrance.  Totally unexpected, I know!  I re-read it to refresh my memory of Rochester's medical history.  I actually remembered parts of it from the first time.
I was glad when we got the call that closing started at a little after 3pm, but it was still about 8-9 hours total until they were ready to bring her into the ICU.  Rachel didn't have any recovery room time, so she arrived plugged into a lot of things.  They decided to keep her intubated through the night to help her rest and she did just fine getting extubated yesterday morning. 
I finally got to hold her mid-morning yesterday, but she didn't really wake up until afternoon when she cried, rolled over in her crib, stood on my lap, and started playing with my sticky name tag.  It only lasted a few minutes until she was tired again, but it was a glimpse of our Rachel.  Her swelling increased throughout the day (as Dr. Wetjen told us it would way back in July).  She could still open her left eye last night, but it looks like today will be the day when they are both swollen.  Even with her swollen little face yesterday, everyone (even the young male residents) were saying how cute she is.  I just told them to wait until she looks like herself again! She's at least in the top 4 of the cutest babies ever in the world--I am sure. :o)
We were moved to the regular Peds floor yesterday afternoon, so I slept (actually quite well) in Rachel's room last night.  David came back at about 6am this morning and we had a changing of the guard.  Our hotel is literally across the street, so I came back for some breakfast and to throw in a load of laundry.  That being said, it is about time to throw it in the dryer!
Thank you for all of your prayers.  Now we just sit and rock and wait for healing.  Please also send up a prayer for the families who are struggling with critically ill children who will be in the ICU for much longer!!
  

Two Parts Excitement/One Part Fear

We made it!  It's my birthday week.  Tomorrow I will be 34! 
More importantly, tomorrow is the day David, Rachel and I leave for Rochester for Rachel's surgery on Wednesday morning.  When we chose Nov. 14, I wasn't sure it was going to be a good birthday present to leave on my birthday for such an occasion, but now I feel that it is a great gift from God.  Today I am two parts excited to have this experience behind us and one part scared, but I think that's just part of being a mom. :o) 
I was thinking the other day, 1 year ago, I was becoming VERY anxious about giving birth to my fourth baby. I was more anxious about labor and delivery with Rachel than with any other of my children.  I had already done it three times and I knew it was going to hurt.  Bad.  To add to it, we knew this baby grew a bit bigger than the rest.  Even so, I didn't want to have an epidural.  I had one with Teresa that didn't really work and for some reason I just wanted to do it on my own.  My birth plan became prayers and I asked for them wherever I could get them.  We all know how it turned out.  Our baby girl came in just 4 hours with only prayers as pain medication.  Oh, it wasn't pain free at all, but they got me through.
So, today I guess I'm just excited to see how God's grace will become apparent to us this week.  He led us to our doctors in Rochester, let Rachel grow a bit more before surgery, and every single time I have felt scared or overwhelmed these past several months, He always send me encouragement in one way or another.  If you are reading this, you were probably one of the people God worked through to comfort or encourage me at some point and you didn't even know it. 
I know that this could be a much more serious surgery and I am thankful that it isn't.  I always have been thankful for that.  It doesn't help that I have a general fear of surgery anyway.  I'm not sure what the technical phobia is for that, but I have it.  At least we know that I don't have Munchhousen's by Proxy (sp?) (where a parent will put his/her child through medical procedures for attention) nor will I seek out extensive plastic surgery when I am older. 
(Well, maybe I'll keep Dr. Bite's card handy for a few birthdays down the road . . . just in case.)  :o)
I'd like to leave you all with a quote from our good old furry friend Grover.  "Hey, do not shout!  This kind of situation does not call for freaking out!  Wabba, wabba, wabba, and a woo, woo, woo!" 
See you next time from Rochester . . . .

Fun with Words

I acknowledge that my blog writing has been a bit light as of late, but I've been busy with some new words in my life.
I still love you, my little blog, don't worry.  :o)
When I returned from the MN wedding, I suggested to my husband that a Kindlefire would be an excellent birthday present for his wife.  He agreed!  As luck would have it, the HD was available the week I was ordering it!
I had to download Angry Birds, just because, but my favorites are still Seven Little Words, and now, Words with Friends.  I am good with words, but not particularly good at Scrabble (as the scores on my various games will prove).  I'm still having fun being challenged by my friends and learning how to be a more competitive player.
When I haven't been playing around with words on the Kindle, I have been playing Grammar Police.  I applied for a freelance copy editing position last month and Dakotafire Media wanted me for the job! 
I am such a grammar/spelling/punctuation nerd.  As soon as I received my online copy of the AP Stylebook, I was like a farmer reading his new tractor manual.  Copy editing is actually something I have wanted to do for some time, but thought I would have to be a reporter first.  I still may do some freelance reporting, but the copy editing will come first.  I've only worked a few hours so far.  I am excited for my future responsibilities with their print magazine and website.  If you'd like to see the work they are doing from Frederick SD, check out www.dakotafire.net.
By the way, I only copy edit when I am on the job.  I do not edit any e-mails, letters, cards, or any other notes you may send me!  I would also appreciate it if you returned the favor and didn't copy edit my blog.  I know I can get kind of sloppy sometimes (and I don't always follow AP rules). :o) 
Until next time, feel free to challenge me to a game of Words with Friends.  You will probably win!

Nathan's 7th Birthday

Nathan turned 7 on Saturday!  We celebrated several times.  Grandma Melius made him a pile of birthday "cakes" for this birthday--complete with trick candles.  He LOVED it!  Later that night, we had his "angel" cake for dessert.  On Sunday, we had a joint birthday dinner with grandparents, aunts & uncles, and godparents. 

It was a feast fit for my 7 and 5 year olds and inlcuded all of their favorite foods . . . hot dogs, macaroni and cheese (boxed, of course), sugar rice, deviled eggs, tomato soup (out of a can), cheesy chips (Doritos), and jello. 

Nathan told me it was the best birthday dinner ever!  He said there were so many of his favorite foods, he didn't know what to pick.  It was quite a combination, but I had a hunch that it would make his day.   

Happy Birthday, Nater!  You still bring the life to our family party and we're thankful for it.

WWBD (or What Would Brick Do?)

 

Whew!  We made it through the Teresa's birthday/Halloween combo with sufficient happy memories made once again. 

Teresa opened her Barbie and Barbie car before brothers went to school.  Grandpa and Grandma Melius joined us for birthday muffins later in the morning.

Costumes were pretty easy this year, thanks to a large supply of FREE choices: a past costume (skunk), a handmade item my aunt Paulette had made for her boys (mummy), a well-timed birthday present from grandparents (Tinkerbell with a tutu extension we found in storage), and a little creativity from mom (road atlas/GPS).

Landen has issues with costumes.  He's not big into Homecoming festivities either because he is opposed to looking "ridiculous."  We were two days out from Halloween and he still hadn't decided on anything.  I told him he had to be SOMETHING, but I was not going to spend a lot of money on a costume. 

Farmer?  Golfer?  Old Man?  No.

He didn't even go for covering himself in fake spider webs and calling himself "Spider Man."  I was sure he would go for the clever word play on that one!

So, I turned and thought about Brick.  (You know--the bookworm from The Middle.)  What would Brick do?

He would dress as his obsession--a book. 

What is Landen's obsession?

Maps.

So, I turned and asked, "How about we cover you with maps from an old road atlas?"

He thought that was a GREAT idea!

Thank you, writers from The Middle, for creating a character who can be so much like my son!

And, so, our costumes were done.

After birthday observations in the morning, the rest of our day was spent at Nathan's 1st grade Halloween party, doing a little trick or treating and playing at Uncle Daryl and Aunt Darla's house after school, attending All Saints Day mass, and then trick or treating in Cresbard with the boys.  (Teresa's behavior at church earned her an early bedtime--even on her birthday. 

"Don't worry,"  I heard Nathan whisper to her, "I'll get you some candy.") 

We went to bed happy and with tummies full of chocolate, thanks to my boys!