Helmet Head

Lucy had an appointment with her surgeon last Thursday and he said that she should only have to wear her helmet for three more months!  So excited to have my little girl helmet free!

Mommy Manda

So it's been a while since Lucy's surgery, I can't believe that she is 7 months already!  It's amazing to me how much time flies now that i'm busy with her.  Lucy is doing amazingly well.  She's a trooper holding out with her helmet through a very hot and dry summer that came early this year.

one week after Surgery 

yesterday after her bath.

the Easter dress I made for her

worn out at the mall earlier this week

I love this little angel

bouncing is the best thing ever!

or maybe swinging is

After Lucy's surgery Nick and I decided that it was time to act on the prompting we had that I need to be a full time mommy and I was able to quit my job and start staying home full time.  To compensate for my lack of income Nick switched to the night shift at his work that pays 2 dollars more an hour.  He struggles with working nights 3-4 nights a week but he does it because he loves us and he knows how important it is for me to be here for Lucy.  He is AMAZING and I love him even more because of his sacrifice. I know that our tight budget stresses him sometimes but we are loving that we get more time as a family!

I love being a mom.  I love watching Lucy grow and develop and learn new things.  I wish I had been better at blogging or journaling so that I could remember all the amazing things I get to see through her eyes for the first time. I love watching her discover things like grass and sprinklers and animals. Today Lucy discovered her shadow and we played with our hand shadows on the wall.  Wednesday Grandma Gilbert taught her to clap her hands to play patty-cake.  She's trying to learn to wave but I don't know if she's figured out it's supposed to be as a hello or goodbye because she just does it all the time.  We went to visit friends and family in California at the beginning of June and Lucy started scooting.  She is SO close to actually getting her tummy off the ground and full blown crawling!  We have started solid food and she has learned how to do the pincher grasp and LOVES to pick up Cheerios.   She loves avocado, watermelon and pears. We went to the water park that we have passes too last Monday for family night and discovered that Lucy LOVES to swim.  she was splashing and laughing and jumping to her heart's content.  She loves animals, she tortures our cat because she doesn't know how to be gentle and just want's to love it.  She giggles like mad every time we see the Dogs at Aunt Jenny's or Grandma Gilbert's house.  But I think Lucy's favorite thing in the world is her Daddy.  She thinks he is the funnest, funniest most amazing thing in the world.  Nick is so good at making her smile and distracting her when she thinks she wants to cry.  When he comes home in the morning or when he gets up in the afternoon her whole face lights up to see him.  

I'm so happy that we have Lucy and I know that she is a blessing and a miracle from our Heavenly Father.  So many things could have been different and we wouldn't have her.  I love each new thing she learns and I am so excited to watch her grow up (not to quickly though).

Surgery

The Hardest day of my life so far was Monday, February 6, 2012, also known as surgery day. Lucy was born with Cranio Synostosis (her skull was fused prematurely) and she had to have surgery to remove the portion of her skull that had fused so her brain and head can grow properly. Her surgery was scheduled for Monday morning at 8 am. That meant that she had to stop eating at 4am, not an easy task for a 2 and a half month old. So we got to primary children'sat 6:15am and i was already emotional from hearing her scream for food and i had to say good bye to my baby as they took her away to surgery. An hour and a half after she went into surgery they called down to the waiting room that she was done, fine and the Surgeon would be down to see us shortly before we could see her in recovery. An hour later, the Surgeon walked into the waiting room asked to speak to us in one of the consultation rooms, he told us that while they had been removing part of her skull it was attached to the Dura (the protective layer around the brain) and that it had torn so they had to open her up more than they had and repair the damage. He told us that she had lost blood and spinal fluid, had received a blood transfusion and they didn't know if she would have permanent damage and possibly right side weakness or not. They were sending her to the ICU to recover and we would be able to see her there in a bit. We didn't get to see her until almost noon, 4 hours after I had sent her away into surgery. We spent the next 24 hours in intensive care watching her vitals closely and getting her pain under control. It was so hard to hear her wake up and scream out in pain when the morphine was wearing off. By Tuesday Morning they were able to switch her to oxycodone which works longer than the morphine and were able to move her out of the intensive care. During the first night they had to catheterize her because she wasn't urinating, but the second morning they took that out as well as her arterial line that was monitoring her BP. Tuesday afternoon her iv infiltrated and her poor little leg swelled to almost twice it's normal size. But luckily, they took it out and watched her sodium and urine output and she didn't need to have it put back in. Wednesday, Lucy was well enough to come home. Something that Nick and I were really looking forward too. Luckily Lucy doesn't seem to have any right side weakness but when we got her home on Wednesday she did scare us by starting to twitch in her right arm and leg. We got a hold of the nurse practitioner in the neuro surgery department and she said there wasn't any reason for Lucy to be having seizures but then on Thursday she called me back and said she had talked to Lucy's surgeon and he wanted to put her on an anti seizure medicine for a month to be on the safe side while she is healing. All in all I have my happy baby back, she is still in pain every once in a while and groggy from her medicine but she loves to smile at mommy and daddy and play with her toys. I think she has mommy wrapped around her fingers because she's thrown a couple of temper tantrums since she's been home when she doesn't get fed the SECOND she decides she's hungry (I'm talking holding her breath screaming tantrums). But after this week I think she gets to be a spoiled brat for a few days. Boy am I happy that she's home and all right.