Maggie's a big girl!

Barbara's father came to visit us this week both to and from his trip to Florida. He bought Maggie her own chair for the living room and helped us move Maggie into a full size bed. The first night she slept in it, she actually went to her room before falling asleep on the couch (the first time ever) and proceeded to sleep throughout the night without waking us up even once. Maybe we should have thought about that earlier. She looks so tiny in the bed, but cute at the same time. We went for a follow up appointment to the ear nose and throat doctor on Thursday. Her hearing test passed in the right ear and was borderline on the left. Before her surgery, she failed her hearing test in the right ear and passed in the left. The doctor said he wasn't concerned about any hearing loss as the numbers can be kind of sketchy after tubes are inserted. She doesn't have to go back for a retest for six months.

Maggie's Baptism is scheduled for next Saturday, June 7th. Barbara's cousin Lauren and her husband Shaun are Maggie's god parents and will be flying in from Wisconsin on Friday and are staying until Monday. Also next week, my father and step mother will be visiting from Tampa. They left for my brother's home in Navarre, FL today to attend my nephew's high school graduation on Monday (congratulations Shawn!) and will be arriving here on Tuesday. They will be leaving on Thursday. We thought about going down for Shawn's graduation, but I'm not sure a 6 1/2 hour car ride would work for Maggie.

It's hard to believe we've been home for 2 months now. In a way it doesn't seem like we've been home that long, but on the other hand, it seems we've always had Maggie. Looking through her pictures, we can see a big change from the day we got her. Her hair is getting longer and fuller, and she is starting to look all grown up.

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great weekend and Maggie is doing wonderful. Last night she fell asleep at 7:25 PM and woke up after 7 AM. She did not cry at all during the night. On Saturday we went to a pool party at a friend's house. Maggie wore her bathing suit and LOVED the water. The party was fun and it was a beautiful day. Yesterday Maggie played in a pool we bought for her last month and she had a great time. The water was freezing cold, but she went right in. We cooked out today and got to play in the pool again. We had Barbara's mother, aunt, and cousin over and had ribs and brats. Maggie and Barbara baked a cake for dessert. Maggie actually cracked open the eggs, helped mix the batter, and helped Barbara with the frosting. She was quite proud of herself.

Doctor visit/Cousin Julie

Maggie went for her follow up appointment with Dr. Sargent yesterday. He looked in her mouth and said everything looked great. He said to continue her on a soft diet for 4 or 5 days and then gradually increase her diet from there. We meet with him again in 60 days.

Barbara's cousin Julie came to see us on her way to Montana. She stayed from Thursday until Saturday morning and Maggie really loved her. They went to the aquarium and shopping yesterday and Maggie was asleep by 8:30 PM.

Maggie continues to be doing great and has been sleeping much better. Her mouth looks great and her smile gets brighter all the time. She has started saying "I will be right back" (with a finger point), "I got it", water, and a few other things. She sings and dances all of the time and continues to amaze us.

update

It's been 11 days since Maggie's surgery and she is doing great. She has never put her hands to her mouth so she doesn't have to wear the no-nos, she is sleeping in her own crib, and is eating just fine. The liquid diet was tough, but we managed. We have allowed her to eat some soft foods as well. We have an appointment on Friday with Dr. Sargent so we will know more about how her mouth is doing at that point. Hopefully she can resume a regular diet. Maggie is still not sleeping well, and we had a very restless night last night. Thank god it was the weekend. The amazing thing is that she still wakes up with a smile on her face and is in a consistantly good mood. She started saying "thank you" this week, and uses it appropriately. She can pretty much sing all of "old McDonald" and is getting better at her ABC's. She also likes playing ring around the rosie, followed by a verbal "one more time". It is precious. My niece Kristin and her son Skyler, and her boyfriend Tommy drove from Tazewell, TN and spent the day with us yesterday. It was the first time Maggie has spent any substantial time away from home since her surgery and she did really well. We went out to lunch, to the zoo, to a local park, and had some ice cream (Maggie's FAVORITE). She took a short nap between the zoo and the park, but otherwise was great. She took to all of them great and seemed to have a great time. Today after church we went by Barbara's aunt's and ate lunch with her and Barbara's mom. Maggie is really taken to them, and asked for "nana" when we left. It was cute. Our friends Debra and Chad and their 5 year old daughter Grace Claire came by this evening and brought all kinds of stuff for Maggie. It's not like she didn't have enough already, but we think nothing is wrong with spoiling a 2 year old. Thank you Grace Claire!

Maggie's back to herself

Recovery

Maggie seems to be adjusting pretty well to her liquid diet. She has been drinking alot of "gogurt" and, of course, ice cream. She also likes blended spaghettios and ate some onion soup and blended creamed corn I made for dinner tonight. She is not sleeping well, however, and was up half the night crying last night. I'm not sure if it is because she is in pain or just uncomfortable. She still doesn't put her hands to her mouth. We will give her some stronger medication tonight and may just put her in her own bed. Barbara wasn't feeling well this morning so I stayed home with them. Maggie seemed to be her old self this afternoon, but is very cranky this evening. I'm guessing she is overly tired as she didn't have a nap today either. Mother's Day went well yesterday. Both of our mother's came for dinner, as did Barbara's aunt. We ate well and had a great time. Maggie has taken to each of them so well.

Our Amazing Daughter

Well we were allowed to leave the hospital today at about 5:30 PM. The doctor told us this morning that if Maggie drank enough liquids and used the bathroom enough, that he would let her go home. She actually drank as much as a child her size would drink without the surgery and she went to the bathroom plenty (she didn't even wet her diaper through the night - she just woke up crying twice when she had to go to the bathroom). They permitted her to have tylenol with codeine every 4 to 6 hours. She had a dose at about 8 last night, and a dose at about 9 AM this morning. She didn't nap all day and was back to her normal self, especially after they removed the IV machine. We did not make her wear the no-nos all day and she did not put her hands to her face even one time. The doctor told us that she only had to wear the no-nos at night, and would have to sleep in her car seat. When we got home tonight, I put the car seat in the living room. We sat on the couch for awhile, and when Maggie got tired, she pointed to her car seat and wanted me to put her in it. I did, and she fell asleep within minutes. I then carried her and the carseat upstairs to our bedroom, and we put on her no-nos - without her waking up. This may be easier than we thought!! A funny thing about the whole repair is that we don't think she is in any pain from the actual palate surgery or ear tubes. I think that she thinks that something was done to her left arm, as that is where they put her IV in. Maggie made sure that Barbara kept the no-nos on that arm, and has continued to favor her right arm to do things such as write (she is left handed). The doctor was amazed at how well she did and the nurses said that they never had a child Maggie's age be so compliant. She will be on a liquid diet for 2 weeks and it is going to be difficult. But with Maggie, things always seem to go so easy.

Maggie's surgery

Maggie's surgery went off as scheduled yesterday morning. Her ear tubes took about 15 minutes and her palate surgery was over just past 10 AM. She was pretty groggy all day and slept for the most part. She was up last night crying on and off until about 3 AM when they finally gave her some tylenol w/codeine. She slept until 7 AM and has been doing pretty well today. The doctor said she can go home tomorrow if they are satisfied that she will/can eat drink on her own. She did drink juice today and ate some soup broth, so I think that won't be a problem. She has to sleep in her car seat for the next 2 1/2 weeks and will also be on a liquid diet for that period of time. That is going to be the hard part. She also is to wear what they call "no-nos". No-nos are kind of like braces that are put on her arms (they are velcroed so we can take them on and off) that will keep her from bending her elbows, which in turn will keep her hands away from her mouth. Maggie DOES NOT like the no-nos. When we hold her, we can take them off, otherwise she will have them on. I have a feeling that we may have little sleep the next couple of weeks. The doctor who did her ear tubes said that her ears were in pretty bad shape, but he got them all cleaned out and she should do fine. We have to put drops in them twice a day for about a week. We will have follow up appointments with both doctors in a few weeks, at which time we will discuss speech therapy. Thanks for all the calls, emails, and prayers - they all worked. I am unable to respond to emails from the hospital for some reason, but will do so when we get home. Although having Maggie go through this is difficult, the procedures are needed and she won't remember them.

Are we ready?

Well Maggie's surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. We have been told by the ear/nose/throat doctor that he will be doing his part of the surgery at 8:30 AM (placing tubes in her ears), so we are anticipating being at the hospital by 6:30 AM. We assume that her palate will be repaired shortly thereafter. We have been told that tthe tubes should be done in less than 30 minutes and the palate surgery will take about 1 1/2 hours. Barbara has already packed a bag as we plan to stay with Maggie until she can come home. During the middle of last week, Maggie started coughing alot and her eyes were watery. Barbara took her to the doctor on Thursday and she has the beginning of an ear infection. She is taking antibiotics and should be good to go on Wednesday. Maggie stayed home most of the weekend for precautionary reasons. We did go to Church this morning and were going to venture out to the playground this afternoon, but she was running a slight fever, so we kept her home. She does seem to be doing better, however - she's not coughing as much, she's not as congested and she has been sleeping through the night.

On Friday, two of Barbara's closest friends threw a "welcome home" party for Maggie. The weather was beautiful and we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Maggie had a wonderful time and smiled all night. It's amazing how well she is adjusting. She is also feeling more comfortable with other people.

Yesterday Barbara called and spoke to a friend who has two adopted daughters from China who underwent the same surgery and asked for some helpful advice. Among other things, she suggested getting Maggie a portable CD player. I did just that, and she LOVES it! Hopefully it will help a little when she is in the hospital. We also purchased a child size table and chairs for Maggie, and it has now become the best seat in the house.

We are worried about Maggie's diet after surgery. She will be on a liquid diet for a week or so and then on soft foods after that. Maggie (like her dad) likes to eat, and eat, and eat. I foresee many angry moments from her in the coming weeks. I hope she doesn't hold a grudge.

Please keep Maggie in your prayers and I will try to update as soon as I can to fill everyone in on her surgery Wednesday.