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June 1 update

Sorry, I know it’s been a while.  We are doing much better.  After the ER visit, she finally started eating and drinking.  We went back to her post-op visit and the plastic surgeon said it looked perfect.  The only thing is we will not know the true success of the surgery for a few years as her language develops.  He said this is the only surgery he does where looks do not matter. From here on out, everything he does will be cosmetic.

She’s eating great now but we developed some awful habits after surgery because we were just trying to get her to eat.  We are now trying to break those bad habits and Bethany is not happy about it.  The poor baby can’t walk around the house eating a bowl full of blueberries and drinking strawberry milk from a mardi gras cup and it brakes her heart.

We also were finally able to take her to church this past Sunday and she did well.  I am attaching pics this time and hope you enjoy them.

Todd's side Shower

Grandmother and Bethany

The bag IS the present

Oooohhhhh!!!!!

A star is born

Come sit right here

Easter

Easter

1st visit to beach

I guess the karaoke machine sang up a thirst. This is where she puts him all the time.

Yes, I'm cute

Bethany and Uncle Glen

Uncle Glen reading to Bethany

Back to the ER

For the last 2 days, Bethany has had less and less to drink and almost nothing to eat.  She has also not slept very much over the last few days.  We contacted the cleft team coordinator again and she said that it was very unusual for a child to be digressing like Bethany.  She said they had not seen this before and that it would be best if we brought her in for a look.  So we went back to Children's Hospital to the ER.  They had multiple doctors look her over and they ran blood work on her.  They were surprised at how good she looks considering the levels of intake she has had.  Although she has lost a lot of weight, they said she is not dehydrated and that we should continue to try to feed her and get her to drink any way we can.  We still cannot deviate from the post surgery diet but we just have to encourage her to eat or drink anything, even if it is only junk food.  If she starts showing signs of dehydration, we should take her in again.  We have had lots of suggestions but there are certain foods that are banned on the post surgery diet.  We cannot give her grits, any rice product, anything with pepper, or anything that is harder than mac-n-cheese.  She apparently is doing just enough to get by and they said that it may prolong her recovery by about a week but she will still recover.  Thank you for your prayers.

 

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Update

This is to update everyone not on facebook as to what has been going on over the last week or so...

 

May 12,

 

Today was a little better than yesterday. It took several attempts, but we finally found a bandage that we could keep on over her lip. We've also had to make restraints that don't allow her arms to go above her chest. Without them, she can raise her hands above her head and rake her arm restraints down across her face and rip the bandage and everything else off her face. Why she wants to do th...at is beyond us. Her other trick is to bury her face in something (bedding for instance) and rub her face in it until she rips off the bandage.
She started the day drinking a full 8 oz. of milk, but then it just stopped there. She drank a little here and there but nothing that amounted to anything. She ate a few bites of sweet potatoes, crushed carrots, and a few other things but all of it together wouldn't be a fist full. We made the mistake several weeks ago of going against the advice of the international adoption doctors and letting her start to feed herself. BIG mistake! One of the problems that we are seeing is that she will start out willing to eat but (she is VERY strong willed) when she is not allowed to feed herself with a spoon or her fingers, she gets mad and shuts down. She is hungry and her stomach is growling, but when she gets mad, that is it! She is done. We can't let her feed herself because one slip and we have to have the surgery redone.
Please continue to pray for her that she will turn around with the eating and drinking.

 

 

May 11,

 

Please continue to pray for Bethany. Today was a BAD day.....We REgressed instead of PROgressed. She is not eating and drinking hardly anything and if tomorrow is like today, she will end up back in the hospital before the weekend is out. She has also managed to rip the stitches out of her lip even though she is in arm restraints. She can't get to the inside of her mouth where her palate was ...repaired, but she has torn up the outside where the lip revision was done. We talked to her plastic surgeon on the phone, and at this point, if she's caused scarring, the revison will have to be done again when she's older and can understand to leave it alone. Appreciate all of the prayers that have been offered on her behalf and just ask that you continue to pray for her. Her daddy and mama are kind of beside themselves right now.....See More

May 10

 

Todd wrote and thought he posted an update last night, but apparently, it didn't actually post. We didn't know it until a little while ago, so sorry for the delay in getting info out on Bethany's status. We did make it home last night. Bethany began drinking some yesterday afternoon around 3:30, so about 4:30, the doctors decided that she might do better at home. We completely agreed, so we fi...nally made it home last night about 6:30 or 7:00. She did eat and drink some when we got home, so that was good to see. She was glad to be home and livened up some after a little while. She had gotten so miserable in the hospital and was tired of being poked on, so being home was a relief….for all of us. She's had an okay day today. She's still in a good bit of pain, of course, so it's causing her to not eat and drink like she should, but she is doing better. Thanks so much to all for the prayers lifted for her – and our – behalf. We have felt them, and we are especially grateful to our Heavenly Father for His continual care for our sweet little girl.

 

May 8,

 

Bethany still won't eat or drink, so the doctor just came by and said we'll be here another night. She hasn't had anything all day - well, one bite of scrambled eggs and nothing to drink. She only had 2 ounces of apple juice yesterday. Appreciate all of the prayers for her. We still need them.

 

 

May 8,

 

Bethany is looking a lot better today. The swelling has gone down a good bit and she was awake most of the morning. The doctor looked her over and said everything looks great. We just have to wait for her to eat or drink something. She drank about a half a cup of apple juice last night but will not eat or drink today. They will not send her home if she doesn't start eating or drinking. We'll keep you posted.

 

 

May 7,

 

Bethany is in recovery and everything went great. Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray as she recovers.

 

 

 

 

 

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more pics

 

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Who's @ da zoo

Fun at the Zoo!

 

We took Bethany to the zoo yesterday, and she had a great time!  Her favorite animals to watch were the sea lions and monkeys.  We had fun watching her!  J She also loved the ducks and turtles and had a blast in the misting station.  She was drenched, but she loved it. 
 

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Saturday - April 21

 

As always, we've had a busy few weeks.  Our biggest news from the past few weeks is that Bethany had her appointment with the Cleft Team at Children's Hospital this past Monday.  We had a good – but long – visit and met her doctors and other specialists that will be working with her through the years.  They were all really good with her, and we were grateful for that.  Her plastic surgeon, Dr. Moses, will be doing the surgery to repair her palate on May 7.  We are glad to finally have a surgery date, but were surprised it would be so soon.  Dr. Moses could do surgery May 7 or July 2, so we opted to go ahead and get this out of the way.  Of course, we're thrilled that her palate will finally be repaired so that she won't have so much trouble eating, but we're also nervous.  It's a big surgery and is going to be so painful for her.  Dr. Moses will be repairing her hard and soft palate and also tweaking her lip to minimize the scar.  The doctors in China did a really great job with her lip repair, and even Dr. Moses was impressed when he saw her in person, but he feels that he can make it look even better, so we're on board with that.  We'd just ask that you continue to pray for Bethany – especially with the upcoming surgery.  We're trying not to be anxious about it, but it's definitely a battle.  J

 

Other than that, we really haven't done very much other than visiting family here and there.  We were really busy the weekend and week before Easter and also the weekend of Easter.  We think we were doing too much because Bethany started having a lot of nightmares that week, not night terrors, but she woke up crying every night of the week.  Finally, the Saturday night before Easter, we had apparently done way too much with her and she was hysterical that night.  So, the week after Easter, we did very little.  I kept her in and we didn't do much visiting or have anyone in.  She needed down time, so I made sure she had a very laid back week.  After that, she's been fine.  Sometimes we still forget that she gets overwhelmed after too much activity, and she'd had WAY too much for way too long.  Other than that one week episode, she's doing great.  She's so sweet and continues to show us that she's attaching with spontaneous acts of love. 

 

I've worked my final day, last Friday, April 13.  I went in for the day to clean out my office and process out.  I haven't worked since December 30, so it was quite an adjustment to leave my little sleeping beauty home with her Daddy and go to work.  It really cemented in my mind that I made the right decision in staying home with Bethany permanently.  I just couldn't imagine having to leave her every day when we've already missed so much.  She sure enjoyed her day with her Daddy though.  J

 

Guess that's all for now.  We're planning a trip to Audubon Zoo later this week, so we'll post pics from that day.  Thanks again to my friends at CNMOC for a gift we'll enjoy all year!  J 
 

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Fun with Cousins

These are some pics from the other week when Bethany's cousins from Atlanta were here.  Wish they were closer - she had so much fun playing with them!

 

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Aquarium visit

Our first visit to the Aquarium in New Orleans!  Thank you CNMOC!  :)  We're looking forward to a year's worth of fun!
 

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April 8 - Easter

Today, we're thankful for a risen Savior, an empty tomb, and the sweetest little girl in the world.  She has made our Easter even more special.  She seemed to really enjoy Easter.  Of course, she doesn't understand anything about it, but she loves all of the candy, hunting eggs, and the general "stuff".  We have laughed at how much candy she can actually fit in her mouth.  Her cheeks were about to bust at one point from all of the candy that she was hoarding in her mouth.  J

 

We've had another busy several weeks.  Busy, but good. We had a surprise shower at CNMOC – my workplace – a couple of weeks ago.  They were so sweet and generous to us.  The office went together and gave Bethany, Todd, and I a year's membership to the Audubon Institute which encompasses the zoo, aquarium, and insectarium in New Orleans.  We are so excited!  The zoo is right by Children's Hospital, so when we take her down for doctor's appointments, we'll get to take her to have fun too, so the day won't be quite so bad for her.  Thank you again to my friends at CNMOC!  J

 

Bethany attended her first birthday party a couple of weeks for our good friend, Ms. Presley, who turned one.  It was a really fun afternoon and Bethany loved being around the other kids – even if she won't play with them.  J  She loves to observe.  J  She had a really great time being outside for the afternoon, and she got to pet a horse for the first time.  Crystal, Presley's mom, had cheese puffs, so our little girl was in paradise – outside, other kids, and cheese puffs.  What more can a little girl ask for?  We also had a really good friend from Orlando come and the same weekend as the birthday party.  We really enjoyed getting to see her, and finally on the 4^th and last day of her visit, Bethany warmed up to her a little bit.  Enough so that she finally let our friend kind of halfway kiss her cheek.  It takes her a while to warm up…….Be warned!

 

Todd's dad and stepmom came back into town for awhile, so Bethany and I went to see them.  Her 3 cousins from Atlanta also came down last week for their Spring Break.  She had never met them, but she loved playing with all 3 of the kids!  They were so sweet to her, and we got some good pics of them playing with her.  We were amazed at how fast she warmed up to them.  My grown niece, Sarah, that lives here locally took our 2 nieces and nephew to Chuck E. Cheese last Thursday, and Bethany and I met them there.  Again, Sarah and I were both so surprised at how fast Bethany started enjoying Chuck E. Cheese.  I was concerned that the high noise level might scare her, but she loved it.  Her favorite things to do were the rides – she didn't want to get off, so we had some fit throwing at times.  It was so much fun to watch her having fun, so we'll have to go back soon.

 

Bethany has really started becoming a lot more affectionate in the last several weeks.  She'll walk up to Todd and I and grab onto our legs and hug us, and she has started giving kisses and hugs.  She also has gotten to the point that she will lay her head on our shoulders.  Before, she would only lay her head on our shoulders when she was tired or asleep, but now she lays her head on our shoulders for no reason whatsoever.  That is HUGE, and we are so excited!  Before, she would reciprocate some love, but now, she is showing love and affection without it first being shown to her.  It probably sounds crazy to be so excited, but we finally feel like she's starting to love us back.  She would never let us rock her before, unless she woke up in the middle of the night, but we've been rocking her to sleep for her nap instead of laying her in her crib.  Again, it's a huge step and really shows us she's bonding and attaching to us.  Of course, we've been bonded and attached to her, but it has taken her a little while, which is very normal for her situation.  We are so blessed to be at this point – God has done a miracle in her little wounded heart and soul, and we pray He continues to heal her emotionally and physically.

 

Bethany has also made lots of progress with hearing and speech.  She is imitating lots of sounds and words.  Every day she is saying something new.  It's hard to understand a lot of it, but we can tell by the inflection in her voice when she's repeating something.  Our favorite thing she's learned to say is her first sentence that she learned from her toy cell phone:  "I Love You".  J  I can't remember who gave her that talking cell phone, but I am so thankful for it.  It's worth a million dollars to us to hear her say that.  J  She also got a great report at her ENT visit last week.  He was very pleased with her tubes and their function, and he also ordered a hearing test while we were at Children's.  When we first went to the ENT back in February and she had a hearing test, she had hearing impairment, but this hearing test was normal!!!  J  We knew she was hearing so much better, but it was good to have it confirmed with an actual test.  Her appointment with the Cleft Team at Children's is next Monday, the 16^th.  We're anxious to finally get the ball rolling, but at the same time, really dreading her surgery as it gets closer and closer.   We'll post more on that after her visit.

 

Guess that's all for now.  Thanks for keeping up with Bethany!
 

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Updates through March 18 - More to come......

***It is now March 27, and I just never posted this blog.  We've had a busy week and a half, and I'll post more about that later.  Just wanted to get this out there with some updated pictures.  We'd had several people asking about an update, so here it is up until March 18.  It means so much to us to know that so many people are so interested in our daughter and want to keep up with her progress.***

 

It has been a busy 2 weeks since we last posted.  Bethany's tube surgery went so well.  Her ENT said afterwards that he was very happy that we made the decision to go ahead with tubes because her ear drums were very thick (apparently, that's a bad thing).  Anyway, he said we definitely made the right decision, and we agree.  We could tell the night of the surgery that she can hear much better.  Things she didn't respond to before, she could hear after surgery.  We can already tell a difference in her speech too.  She's imitating a lot more sounds and trying to say more.  She started "Mooing" like the cow Friday.  J   She did wake up with an ear infection this past Thursday morning in one ear, which was a little disheartening, but the ENT said the infections should be less frequent.  She's using ear drops now that will clear it up.  Children's Hospital in New Orleans is just awesome.  They were so good with her – and with us – we just can't say enough good things about them and our experiences so far.  It makes us more comfortable about her palette surgery coming up.

 

Thursday morning, we took her for her first haircut, as much as we hated to.  She had never had a real haircut, and she had a lot of little "scraggly" pieces that were uneven. We think her last "haircut" was when they shaved her head, sometime around when she was 14 months. So, it was time to get all of the scragglies cleaned up; we're hoping that her hair will grow out fast now that it's been trimmed.  Her hair has thickened so much since we got her in January.  She was so malnourished when we got her that her hair was incredibly thin.  Now that she's taking vitamins and eating better, her hair is growing more and thickening up.

 

Friday afternoon, she had her 2 year well child visit.  Her pediatrician's office also does ear piercings, so while we were there, we got her ear's pierced.  Poor little thing can't catch a break with her ears – we just won't leave them alone.  J  Todd says she's going to develop a complex, between us constantly putting drops in her ears and now getting them pierced.  She really does hate having her ears fooled with.  J   She looks adorable though – not that she wasn't already adorable.  She loves her earrings; she'll point at hers and then want to play with mine.  She's a little girly girl – she loves having on jewelry and is so prissy.  Anyway, she had a good checkup.  Her pediatrician said that she's doing really well and that she's progressed and doing a lot of things that a 24 month old should be doing.  We knew we had seen so much progress in her development in the last 2 months, but it was good to see "on paper" that she really has made such huge strides.  She's still behind in some things, especially related to speech, but we've come a long way in 2 months so there's no reason to think that she won't continue to progress – especially after palette surgery.  The one thing we were disappointed with was her weight.  Before when she's been weighed, it was fully clothed.  At this visit, they did a "nekkid" (as our friend Christy likes to say) weight measurement and she was only 19 pounds.    We know she's gained about 5 pounds since we've had her, so that puts her weight when we got her around 15 pounds.  We knew she was pretty malnourished – literally nothing but skin and bones.  We thought she was around 17 pounds when we got her and that she was 21 pounds now, but we wrong.  Amazing how much of a difference clothes, a diaper, and shoes make.  We've got to get her fattened up so that she can at least get on the growth chart for her weight.  Her height is at least on the growth chart – 5^th percentile – but her weight is still too low.    Everything else was good news, but we were discouraged about her weight.  And for those of you who know me well and my lack of cooking abilities, yes, I do cook for her, in case you're wondering.  J  She gets to eat all kinds of things that Todd and I can't have – real butter, whole milk, etc.  She gets all kinds of high calorie food that are off limits for us.  We eat Kashi cereal and she gets to eat Froot Loops as an after dinner snack.  J

 

Speaking of Bethany's progression and all that she's accomplished in the last 2 months, Todd and I made the decision that I won't be returning to work.  As I've mentioned, she has come so far since we got her on January 8, and we can't set her back by me leaving her.  More than anything, she needs stability, and she's used to me taking care of her and always being with her.  I'm amazed on Monday mornings how she wakes up looking for Todd after waking up and him being here Friday thru Sunday.  She gets used to that after 3 short days and is unsettled when she can't find him in the house.  She does fine after a little while, but it always throws her off.  On top of that, I really don't want to leave her; missing 2 years of her life is so eye opening in the sense that for all of the money in the world, we can't buy back those years.  We missed everything for 22 months of her life, and I don't want to miss any more minutes.  So, it was a hard decision to come to - my job with CNMOC  was the best and most enjoyable job I've had, but, we love Bethany so much more and her well being is priceless to us.  So for all of my Stennis friends reading this, I will miss you.  PLEASE keep in contact – you can always call or come for a visit – consider this an open invitation.  We're home most of the time and would love to have visits whenever you can come see us.  We're planning to make visits at Stennis too, so we'll try to catch up at lunchtime.

 

I guess that's all of our big news.  Thanks for your interest in Bethany!
 

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A few pics from Sunday

 

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