Finding blessings in the little things...

Hey Everyone.  Wow, it's been a while, and a lot has happened, but at the same time nothing has happened.  Paul is still stuck in Canada, awaiting the return of his Passport with VISA inserted!  Today (Thursday) marks 11 weeks since they the US Consulate received our info. (This is 7 weeks longer than we were told it would take).  We have called, emailed, talked to US Senators, and other VIPs, and still nothing.  Ah well...we are getting really really good at waiting!  Patience is one virtue we have perfected.
    On to more important information- Claire's Appointment.
     Monday, the 28th, we met with Dr. Maugans for our routine, Neurology, check up.  He said that Claire's head is still growing rapidly- 27 1/2 cm.  At this age the growth of her head should be plateauing.  However, after looking at the growth chart her head is WAY above where it should be.  At the same time, it still matches her rather large body (22 1/2 lbs, and 27 1/2 inches long. at 7 months!)  So, a little alarmed, he ordered an MRI. which we had done Wednesday.  He said again that it could just be that she has her father's head ( i laughed a little on the inside), but it is something that needs to be checked into. He also started talking about her bladder and the results of the 3 Urology tests that we had done last month.  The Urologist never called with the results, which I assumed was a good thing.  We had a follow up appointment scheduled with the Spina Bifida Clinic in mid July, where we would see Dr. Jackson (Urologist), but they did act like it was urgent.  So when Dr. Maugans, asked if we had heard the results of the Urology tests, i knew there was something up.  He said that Claire has a Degenerative Bladder.  I haven't done any research on this yet, but he simply said that her bladder is not working correctly.  There is a 50 percent chance that we will have to start Cathing her.  Also, as of 6 weeks ago her dirty diapers have been slowing down.  She was going everyday, multiple times, and now is going every other day or less. (I know, TMI, right?)  I just assumed this was normal....Ha...i didn't exactly chart Eva's dirty diapers.  Soooo....we might have to put her on some laxatives.   Ha, I must have looked really awful when i was in the office because both the doctor and nurses were really reassuring me when i got this news.  They said , "she won't know the difference, this is just another way of living life!".  So true.  It was a little hard to take when you are constantly getting such great news all of the time.  Even in hard times like these there are always blessings that go along with it.  I've realized that especially this week.  Though we are not all together, and Claire has a few minor issues, we are healthy, I have a wonderful husband and perfect babies,  helpful and loving family and friends just a call away, and a Faithful God to always cry to. We are ok! 
       Please pray for good friends of the family this week.....A former homeschool family, with 4 kids  dad just passed away this week.  There mother passed away about 8 years ago.  Their kids range from 22-11 years. I'm sure they are hurting terribly and could really use your prayers.    Weeks like these really make you appreciate what you have.  So, we are still blessed.

A question....Cute blogs

So I've been noticing that some people have some really cool blog backgrounds, that are not a part of the generic blogging list.  How and where do you get these?

Oh, I forgot...

I forgot to tell you, that Wednesday was the girl's pediatrician check up.  Eva's weight was 26lbs, and 33 inches 50th percentile on everything.  Claire on the other hand was 20lbs 26inch,....she was ABOVE the 95th percentile for weight and height and WAY over the 95th percentile for the size of her head.  She just has a big Rousseau noggin.

"The Doctor Is In"....the Update

Monday: Claire had a Urodynamics done, to measure the pressure in her bladder and the tone of her muscles  surrounding bladder.  This was done by inserting a catheter in her bladder and rectum.  She actually did really well and kept herself busy by sucking on a spinning light up toy.  "Our Nurse" in neurology made sure to tell the people in Urology to keep the same catheter in for ALL of the tests, but they didn't.  I didn't think it would be a big deal since she did so well with the first one, until she started inserting the second one.  Claire started screaming, so then I got mad.  I started thinking, " you were lucky with the first one, WHY did you push it!".  But, the Cath of the second one actually was too big, so she was fine with a smaller one.   For this test everything came back normal.
    Second test, with the second catheter was a VCUG.  They tech inserted contrast into her bladder to be able to see everything.  They wanted to see how long she could hold her urine, see if there was any reflux into her kidneys, and then see if she emptied her bladder out all of the way.  She started crying in pain a couple of mins after the bladder was filled with contrast, because she couldn't figure out to urinate with the catheter in, poor thing.  After squeezing some warm water on her, she figured it out really fast.  She had no reflux into the kidneys, held her urine well, but did not empty out her bladder all of the way.  They said that this might be because she's under pressure, but they didn't same much after that.  So, i'm not really sure what to make of all of that.  No worries here though.
Tuesday: Sonogram of her kidneys and bladder.  She was SO cute laying there on that huge bed getting an ultrasound of her little belly.  It took a pretty long time, and she didn't like it much.  She didn't give me much info, but again this is more of a routine check.
     Visit with Dr. Maugan's -Neurosurgeon.  Claire weighs 20lbs and is 26in long!!  BIG GIRL!  Since the doctor was so worried about us coming down, the had talked about us probably getting some imaging done on Claire's head.  Well, he talked to me for like 5 mins, asked a couple questions, and said, "well she looks good, we'll measure her head again in 6 weeks, and then get imaging done in 3 months".  WHAT DOC?!!  Why couldn't we have done this over the phone!?  They also measured her head at 45cm, not 46...like we had measured.  Dumb sewing  measuring tape.  Remind me not to use that again.  ha!  Soooo...we traveled here with out Paul for nothing!  GR!  Oh well!  It's better to get good news and be down here for "no reason", than to get bad news.  Plus, who knows what God worked in that small amount of time.  We continue to be blessed!  Thank you all for the continued prayers!

We're here to stay

We're here to stay!  We're just waiting for Paul to get here!  At least, that is the plan.  And you know what they say about plans: "God laughs when you make plans".  Well, He has been laughing a whole lot, and we have just been laughing right along with him.  We never know WHAT THE HECK is going on....I'm glad SOMEONE does though.  It does teach you to really go with the flow of things, and not to be so uptight about the things you have no control over.  I'd like to say that it makes me more laid back, and more trusting in God's plan, but I know I still need to work on that. It's a constant growing process, and constant denial of my "control freak" ways.  It's been 6 weeks now, and Paul has been diligently checking the mail for his visa. NOTHING!  It's very very frustrating, and we really don't know anything more than that. 
    On a brighter note, I bought two end tables for only ONE DOLLAR each today, and a 15 dollar Brissel Vacuum, that works really well!  I was so proud of my finds!

A smaller Recap...Grrrr....

After being completely frustrated about my last blog being deleted, I'm going attempt a recreate a smaller version of earlier.  Here is goes....
     So, we have been in Canada for the last 6 weeks.  We've been packing, Paul's been working a lot, we had visitors (YAY LUKE AND RISA, and babies!) and a sick baby (Eva this time....it took us a week of 105 F fever to figure out she had a UTI....that story to come).   Also, we had to travel down to North Bay (4 hours south) do officially sign Paul's military release; an Immigration requirement. After this, we sent in all the ADDITIONAL paperwork that was required AFTER Paul's Montreal interview in March.  So, we have been busy little bees! 
    Dr. Maugans sent us back to Canada 6 weeks ago with good news.  He said he wouldn't have to see us for 6 weeks, and that we could even postpone our visit if we needed to.  We were told by immigration that once we sent in Paul's extra paperwork, that it would only take 4 weeks for it to be returned to us ( We sent in his passport, in order for the visa to be inserted). Well, week 5 rolled around, we only had a couple days till Claire's next appointment, and still NO VISA.  I made the call to our Neurosurgeon's office , where i talked to our favorite nurse.  She has been scheduling all of our appointments, and I inquired about postponing our visit by 1 to 2 weeks.  She seemed a little nervous and asked if we could measure her head.  We did, I measured 46 1/2 cm.  Paul came home later and measured about the same.  We even moved the measuring tape around, trying to see if we could get it any smaller.  The smallest we could get was 46cm. The nurse was very concerned because her head was 2 to 2 1/2cm larger than it was 5 weeks ago.  We talked about possibly getting a CT scan done at the local hospital, but Claire was only covered by our insurance if there was an emergency.  The doctor declared this an emergency.  After talking to the insurance company, they said that we would have to pay out of pocket and would later be reimbursed, and there was no in network hospitals in the area.  That made me nervous, since we could possibly be out $1000 bucks.  It just so happened that Patrick, my brother-in-law, was traveling towards Toronto that weekend.  We instead made plans for Paul to stay back and wait for his passport to come in, while the girls and I drove to Toronto with Patrick on Friday.  (9 hrs, and only one stop!  The girls with WONDERFULLY!) We dropped Patrick of at a rental car place, and then stayed the night with WONDERFUL friends there.  The next morning we left at 7am.  This time we only had 4 1/2 hours....which ended up taken us and extra hour....with our 2 stops.  The border was surprisingly  easy.  Eva actually gave the guard some weird look, and made him laugh...so that lightened things up!  We stayed with Kathryn in Steubenville, OH Saturday night and then traveled to Kentucky after mass and brunch on Sunday (4 1/2hrs).  The girls slept almost the whole way, except for one stop.  WE MADE IT!!  I'm so blessed to have cooperative girls, and really got the hang of contorting my body, while driving, in order to hold Claire's hand and pacifier!  Life is surely an adventure!

Welcome to the U-S of A!

Sooo.....after spending three hours of updating you on my blog earlier, I erased in one single "copy and paste".  I'm completely frustrated, and have tried all that i know how to fix it (which isn't much).  Then i find out that all i needed to do in the first place was push the little curvy arrow in the corner on my blog page.  OH MAN!  If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to post them!


                                                 ~Nomad Momma