Possibly pneumonia or congestive heart failure. I'm going with pneumonia since we know her heart is functioning well. For now - breathing treatments and an antibiotic and re-visit the pediatrician in the morning. She is, however, starting to spike a temp, so we'll see what the night brings.
For those wondering where the sneak peek from the photo shoot went...I got nervous that it was copyright infringement, so if you missed it, sorry. You'll just have to buy a calendar!
I feel like all we do lately is ask for support and money from all of our friends and family, so I have to begin this by saying - please, please, please do not feel obligated to donate.
The Heart of Illinois Down Syndrome Association is having it's first annual Buddy Walk on October 4. Most of the family is walking on "Team Olivia Grace."
In order to register online, we were required to make a fundraising page. Please don't think that I don't feel that this is a worthy cause. We really, really do. It's just that we feel like everyone has been so generous to us lately that we hate to ask for anything more. Feel free to check out Olivia's page! If we have a successful year, we'll be trying for an even bigger team next year!!
Click here to be linked to Team Olivia Grace: www.firstgiving.com/juliechatterton
I decided I wanted to try to get my blog more up to date and try some new things. It backfired. So back to Plain Jane until I figure things out. Bear with me...
Olivia did awesome this morning. Zac said he went in to today expecting the worst and hoping for the best. The best definitely won out! As strange as it sounds, it was awesome to be back up in the PICU this morning. It was fun for everyone to see Olivia "healthy." She is always so sick when she is up there, and today she was happy and playing and even reached out for one of the doctors to pick her up! The biopsy went very smoothly. They knocked her out with some drug that is completely out of your system within an hour. Right about at the hour point, she woke up clapping her hands and grabbing at her feet! Her pressures did drop a little bit while she was out, but nothing major. She was just really asleep. We also saw the cardiac surgeon and he was ecstatic with how well she is doing. I told him I really think he may have fixed her this time. We made a few medication changes and came on home. What an exciting day - the kind of excitement that we like!
Brooklyn started her second year of preschool on Wednesday. She's loving it. She's made a few new friends, and is hoping to learn their names sometime soon.
Jack started soccer yesterday. It's getting much better to watch. The kids actually pay attention to the game this year!
It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but Brooklyn is full of mud. Why you ask?
She, Jack and the neighbor kids picked all of Zac's new fall flowers and planted them in their own little wheelbarrow planter. What a mess! Today - it was mud fights. Yuck!
And, here's Olivia enjoying the weather in her new ice cream truck that she got for her birthday!
Okay, I promise I'm done posting for the night. I'll post tomorrow when we get home from the hospital. It probably won't be until later in the evening, unless something exciting comes from the bone marrow biopsy in the morning (we don't want anything exciting to come from it. so hope for a post later tomorrow). Have a good day - and again sorry for all the pictures, but it's about time I get these up!
Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia Grace!
The Giant Cupcake Cake!
Future problems??
Blow out the candles!
All this for me?
Woohoo!
I love puzzles!!!
New friends!
Emmy, the daredevil!
Love that look, Alaina, but slow down!
Danger Zone.
Anyone for a game of baseball?
How about volleyball?
Girl power...trying to keep away from the boys!
And now...
for a cupcake!
Yummy!
Olivia didn't share a single smile during her entire party. This is a picture taken about 5 minutes after everyone left. Go figure.I am so excited!!! I had worked for hours trying to get this video up. For some reason, our computer wouldn't oblige. Grandpa and Grandma's would though! Enjoy!
Whew. The new computer adaptor came. Yippee! I was really starting to worry about myself. Anyway, I'll try to post the greatly anticipated b'day pics tonight if I can keep the kiddos occupied for long enough.
They have scheduled Olivia's next bone marrow biopsy for Monday morning at 7:00 am. We'll go over the night before and stay at my parent's house since we have to be there at 6:00. They are planning on it going very smoothly! We have two appointments afterwards that we are planning on making it to. I think they said a total of 1 to 2 hours including recovery depending on the type of sedation they decide to use. She is having it done up in PICU as long as there is a bed available, so that right there will make her feel at home - hopefully not too much at home, though! Gotta run - school's out!
The computer is still out of commission. We should hopefully be getting the thing we need to fix it in the mail in the next few days. If not, it may not be good. I really need a computer. Soon. I may go out and get a job that requires me to work on a computer just to be close to one. Just kidding. That would be plain silly. A job. I'm retired?!?
Anyway, I didn't want anyone to be worrying about us. Everyone's doing awesome! I'm still waiting to post those b'day pictures!
I have a ton (thanks, nic!) of pictures to post from the big birthday party on Saturday. Thanks so much to everyone that came over - from near and far! There is really only one way to describe the entire day - it was completely overwhelming. In a good way, of course.
Olivia was overwhelmed with all the people. She didn't give a single smile until everyone was gone.
I was overwhelmed with the how much everyone loves Olivia. I don't mean in the "what a cutie she is" kind of way. Don't get me wrong, she is pretty cute and all, but I mean they truly care for and about her and our entire family.
I extended an invitation to the birthday to all of the blog readers, not knowing what/who to expect. Obviously, many of our blog stalkers are from all corners of the country. Some are right next door. Olivia received cards from people we never would have expected. She received a gift in the mail from one of her nurses in the PICU. My cousin in Florida made a trip back to Illinois to be able to come to the party. Our pastor and his family came over for the party. Zac's secretary brought her family over for the party and brought gifts to the two big kids, too. A friend of my mom's (a parent of a student she's had in the past) sent a gift for Olivia, a wonderful note, and an extremely generous gift card to Zac and I.
The most overwhelming of all, though, is that one of Olivia's nurses from PICU and her little girl came for the party. When she emailed and said she was coming, I was so excited! We got to be so close to everyone up there and it's hard not to see them everyday. So, when she came bearing gifts from the entire staff, it was incredible. As much as the gifts are appreciated, it's the card that says it all. There is literally not an inch of empty space on that card. Everyone wrote the sweetest things to Olivia. Everyone. Her PICU doctors, every nurse, her cardiologist, surgeon, respiratory therapists...everyone. I can't stop reading every word over and over. It's not even possible to put into words how you've all touched our hearts. (Literally for Dr. F. -hehe-sorry -had to throw that in there!) Needless to say, it was an amazing day for an amazing little girl, thanks to a whole lot of amazing people.
So, where are the pictures, you ask? Our computer isn't working and I'm using a loaner. I can't figure out how to get the pictures on here and I wanted to at least post that the party was a huge success. Stay tuned...
