Trip to Oregon/Washington

I know you are all dying for some Maggie photos or videos due to all the text you've been enduring lately on the blog--- so here you go.

Our trip went great. It was so nice to see Lora, and her wedding was so beautiful. Our stay in Joseph was great too. Some of the most breathtaking views I've ever seen! Maggie was pretty fussy at times, but silly and happy at other times as well. And of course as cute as always!

Here's a video of her and Auntie Sara passing the time on the drive home today.

Watch her eyes! She's so silly!

(I'll try to post more pics of our trip on the blog later--I need some sleep!!)

Yipppeeee!!!

Fever free all day!!!!! I was a little unsure and cautious about going to work this morning, just to see if she was doing a little better, and after awhile I realized it appeared so. I kept calling Zac all day. He kept reassuring me that she was feeling better, no fever, eating well, bowel movements were getting more solid, etc. The nurse called him that afternoon and reported that everything looked good with the blood work, which meant we were dealing with a virus. Of course the other possibility is that we were dealing with a reaction to the MMR vaccine. Of course I can't be positive, but as much as her temperament changed the next day, and with the fever starting in that 7-10 day range for symptoms to occur, I'm definitely going to think more seriously about using the typical vaccination schedule, and research which options we have for childcare. Maggie has been that child who ends up in the "small percentage of children that react" before! Of course then I felt tortured about running all the tests, but many have reassured me that if it was something else timing would have been important, and it's better to be safe then sorry. Sara even said, "she's recovered from getting some blood and urine drawn just fine, if it was an infection or something worse she may have not recovered as well if you'd waited."

I guess the big test will be leaving town tomorrow. We are headed to our friend Lora's wedding in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. We have decided to go ahead and go last second, after thinking it probably wouldn't work out. Sara insists that we NEED a family vacation, and Zac and Sara assure me that Maggie will be just fine!

Of course we'll take lots of photos to share on the blog.

Thanks everyone for the nice thoughts and concern. My Grandma and I talked for a long time last night, and she said my Aunt was sick like Maggie has been when she was younger. She made me feel so much better, she told me she understands how hard it is to balance having a career, being a wife, a mom, and having a child that is just sick a lot. No matter what, watching your baby feel all miserable is just tough! I talked to Chris too, and asked if I'm just crazy, or maybe I overreact. She too made me feel so much better when she told me, yes that Maggie is sick---a lot, and for much longer periods than most children. Of course she would know. She also always validates my advocacy and pure love for my daughter. Maggie and I are so lucky to have her in our lives.

Thank goodness Maggie seems to be much better, and thank goodness she is as healthy as she is---I know way too many parents who have it way worse than I do!!

Thanks again everyone!

She's Hangin in There!

I was so gleeful this morning when I realized her fever was gone. Clear up until 11am, there was NO fever. Even without the fever though, Moo just wasn't herself. Wouldn't crawl off to play, wouldn't even sit up really. She just wanted to be held. She continued to drink a lot of fluids, but didn't seem to have much of an appetite at all. After Zac got home we checked her temperature---back up to 102.5! I left for work completely drained, depressed and worried.

Zac spoke with the nurse, who said Dr. Ally wanted to see her Friday morning. He called me to schedule an appointment, and when I called they said she was booked until Friday afternoon, but I could see Dr. Kissam instead. I mentioned to the receptionist that we really want to know what's going on, if it's something more than a virus, and that we have plans to head out of town on Saturday. She said "Dr. Kissam has some afternoon openings, just come in today." So we did.

Dr. Kissam said with as high as her fever keeps getting daily, and with as long as it's lasted--going on FOUR DAYS NOW, it was time to run some tests. I reiterated to her that Maggie does have some happy, playful moments still. The feverish, horrible moments are far outweighing those happy moments though, and she said we need to rule out infection, flu and strep.

First it was the strep and flu cultures. Not fun for Maggie, but tolerable. Both were negative. Then came in the nurses with a catheter. I never thought I would be "that mom." I was completely "that mom." For lack of a better way to describe it---a complete b-i-t-c-h! In summary I told them that they better be quick, efficient, and patient. Afterwards I realized my reaction was probably not the best approach, just one of my lessons I'll be learning as a mother. I scared the poor girl and it took her five times to get some urine. Maggie was very brave, and did great. Meanwhile, Mommy is about to enter full breakdown mode.

Enters Dr. Kissam---urine test comes back fine. Next step blood work. This is when I ask point blank, "is this a severe reaction to the MMR vaccine?" I mean seriously people...four days of fever, fever over 103, and at times Moo acts like she can't even get herself up. Dr. Kissam replied that she's not going to deny that it is possible, but she doesn't feel it's probable. She said in her 15 years of practice she hasn't seen a severe case like this, if this is a severe reaction to the vaccine. She says if the blood work (which will be testing white blood cells and doing a blood culture) comes back fine we know it's either a virus or a reaction to the vaccinations--then we continue to wait it out.

We figure we've gone this far, if Maggie does have an infection somewhere in her little body we better find out. I guess it's better to be safe then sorry. We head over to St. Luke's Meridian to do the blood work. I'm trying to stay calm for Moo, but I can feel the tears coming. Zac keeps reminding me to stay calm. Maggie's fever has spiked again and she keeps falling asleep in my arms.

The first blood draw went slow. The lab tech looked at us, and said those dreaded words, "I'm not sure if we got enough, and we may have to do it again." I looked at Zac and said, "I can't do it again!" He said, "We have to!" Sure enough, not enough blood, because it clotted in the tube before it could get to the lab. Luckily, second time was a charm. They quickly ushered us out--mommy bawling, baby curled up, angry and very feverish again, and daddy trying to console us both.

After we got home, Maggie and I took a bath together, she got more Motrin (which she is now refusing to take easily), and she got that "I'm okay wind" again. She decided to eat, and even got down to play before bed. She's now fast asleep.

We should get a call tomorrow morning about the results of the blood test. We'll keep everyone posted.

Really?!?! Sick Again?

Monday August 3rd: We notice some slight congestion (aka some boogers in her nose) at the doctor's office. Ears are checked--good! Immunizations are given (this included MMR). Fever this night around 101 degrees.

Tuesday August 4th: Irritable, irritable, irritable!! Fever finally goes away this evening.

Wednesday August 5th: Not herself. More sitting and watching then moving.

Thursday-Sunday: Still not quite herself. Wants to cuddle a lot, but has fun play moments.

Monday August 10th: Still not herself at school, doesn't eat much. Fever begins that evening at 102 degrees. After Motrin, fever goes down---seems to be just fine. Dr. Ally calls about introducing soy, and says the fever is probably another ear infection (that yes, it can happen that quickly). She tells me to call the next day if she still has a fever, and that the MMR won't give a fever.

Tuesday August 11th: Wakes up with fever over 102. Fever goes down with Motrin. Schedule an appointment to see Dr. Ally. Dr. Ally says ears are still clear, must be viral. Call back Wednesday evening, or Thursday if she still has a fever. Fever throughout the day, but for the couple hours after the Motrin is given the fever goes down and she plays. As the dosage of Motrin wears off her fever spikes to 103.5. We try Tylenol to change it up--doesn't reduce fever below 1oo degrees, back to Motrin.

Wednesday August 12th: 3:30am fever is 103+again. We give her Motrin and put her back to bed, she falls asleep quickly. Mommy lays on her bedroom floor for awhile to make sure the fever goes down more so she can feel better about going to bed herself. 7am fever is 103+ again. The day is apparently miserable--fever all day!! No playing, just lying there looking so sad.

Wednesday evening: Doesn't want to eat at first. Dose of Motrin, some milk and ready to eat a little bit. Finally starts to get up and play a little bit. Then seems to be back to herself to play for quite awhile with occasional fussiness. Grandma Crist comes over, and sees that Mommy and Daddy haven't done much for themselves, and helps Daddy make some dinner.

To bed late (for the second day in a row, since the entire day was nap time).

I am really, really hoping there is NO fever tomorrow.

Thanks Grandma Crist for the visit, and helping with dinner. You probably haven't seen our house so messy, and us so scattered and tired!

We'll keep everyone posted, I know Chris is super worried about Miss Moo!

Congrats to the Luangaphay Family!! Little Pennington Cooper was born yesterday evening, and is doing well. We can't wait to meet him (when Moo is feeling much better of course!)

"Nigh Nigh Peppa"

I captured this video just this morning...enjoy Magnolia lovers!

12 Month Vaccinations Are HORRIBLE (for Mommy and Daddy)

I don't know why it was so hard to watch this time. Maybe because she completely trusts me as I lay her down on the table---knowing they are about to stick 4 needles in her cute little chubby legs. And really, does it have to be 4 shots this time?!?! I realized after it was over, and she wanted to get down to play again, and I was holding back tears, that this was maybe once again a "mommy issue" and not so much a Maggie one.

The good news is that her ears are CLEAR!!!! That's right people, no fluid at all! I'm just a little bit excited about this if you couldn't tell. She's been poking at her left ear for a couple weeks now and I was really starting to get concerned. Her last ear infection was in June so we are about to reach two months without an ear infection, or any illness at all. This is quite the feat for Miss Moo. She does have 2 molars coming in though--this may explain the ear poking. If her only response to getting two molars at once is ear poking though, I'll take it!

So, onto allergies. Well, to start we just finished our LAST can of Neocate. At least Neocate "Infant" formula. We have decided to just do rice milk until we know the status of her soy, then dairy reintroductions. If she is still allergic to dairy and soy we will start her on Neocate for children older than one year. Although we don't like the idea of her continuing on formula, especially elemental formula, Neocate 1 is much cheaper than Neocate Infant--it will be like a nice big bonus!

Our plan is to introduce soy first, then dairy. Remember it takes 2 weeks to work soy and dairy proteins out of your body, and usually 4 days to see any symptoms of the allergy(this would be diarrhea, stomach pains and then blood in her stools), so this isn't going to be a quick process. I assume it will take us a good month to make sure she has outgrown each of them. Of course if she appears to have outgrown the allergy (remember most children do around one year of age) then it won't be like she can eat all sorts of dairy and soy all of a sudden. We will slowly increase the amount she consumes, to make sure there aren't any negative reactions.

Dr. Ally went ahead and wrote an order for a RAST test. This is the allergy test completed with a blood sample. It will check for around 25 food allergies, and may give us a better understanding of her reactions to the egg yolk and strawberries that occurred recently. Zac and I are thinking we'll do the RAST test after we've completed the reintroduction of soy and dairy.

We'll keep everyone posted, and please send happy thoughts Maggie's way; that she doesn't have to experience any yucky allergy reactions, and that she gets to try a few new foods that she can enjoy!

A Saturday Story

Here she is at the bookstore--more interested at this moment with climbing on the chair than looking at books!

(If anyone sees some chairs like this anywhere, let us know, we need two of them for our living room!)

Oh great! She feel asleep. This is never good because now she won't take a "real" nap.

Routines are as important for parents as they are for toddlers!

On our way to lunch. Oh, and Auntie Sara showed up, how exciting!

She decided that she needed to get out of her stroller and push it to lunch. All the way from the Grove to Cafe Ole, well almost.

So excited to be at the market! The water! The kids! The dogs! Yippeee!