HOME AT LAST!!!!

Mikayla having some apple juice this afternoon.

Incision for shunt in head. Did not take any of her stomach incision yet.

View of our room.

Another view of our room.

We finally made it home today around 4:30pm. Had a not so great night last night... Mommy and Mikayla got very few hours of sleep. For the first few HOURS we had a monitor problem and it was going off every few minutes. The stinkin' thing would not quit beeping until I got up and silenced it. Then, Mikayla's face starting itching so the nurse gave her Benedryl. We think that had a reverse effect on her from most kids, she was wide awake for the REST OF THE NIGHT. Did not even help the itching so for the rest of the night I had to stay up to keep her from clawing her face to pieces. I felt so helpless - nothing I could do to help her. The doctor thinks the itching is from the tape used on her face during surgery- you could see the perfect shape of the tape. We finally got her some hydrocortisone cream that really seemed to work then we swaddled her so she could not scratch her face. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be better. We are still trying to get her back up to par on eating - she has been through so much I bet tomorrow will be a better day. Hopefully, we will all get a good night's sleep and tomorrow will be a better day for all of us. Thanks for all your prayers. We love you all.

SURGERY COMPLETE

Well, surgery is complete and we are finally in a room at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. We got into a room about 5:00pm after waiting since around 10:ooam. Long Day!!! Surgery itself went well. The problem was a blockage in the shunt in her stomach. Dr. Tulipan said since he was in there he went ahead and replaced all the parts in her head shunt as well and made her tube longer. Mikayla had a harder time with recovery this time. Her breathing was off from where they wanted it to be at times and she did not handle the pain as well. Since she got her last round of pain meds at 4:30 she is doing much better and everything seems under control. Not sure exactly when we will be going home tomorrow - hopefully all will go well tonight and it will be first thing. Just say a prayer for our little Mikayla.

SURGERY

Just wanted to let everyone know that Mikayla has to have another surgery this Thursday at 8:30am at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital. We went to Spina Bifida Clinic yesterday and Dr. Tulipan(neurosurgeon) said that her soft spot was a little firm. She had a CT scan and they found that her shunt is not functioning properly. The surgery will consist of them going in and looking at her shunt, finding where the malfunction is, and fixing it. Should not take long at all. We will not know whether she stays overnight until after surgery. If it were up to me I would rather her stay overnight just for observation, but they are the experts. Just when her hair is really growing - they have to shave a spot, just in time for pictures!!!! That's ok though! We will update everyone after surgery. Keep little Mikayla in your prayers.

I think we have found Mikayla's favorite food so far... it is squash. She will eat as much as we will give her of this. Today she wanted to get it all over her face and bib. She also loves spitting her food and milk now. Mommy loves that little trick... I have to admit it does make me laugh when she giggles about it.

Mikayla loves bathtime and LOVES eating the bubbles.

Mikayla with her great-grandfather(Mommy's grandfather)

Mikayla thought it was so funny wearing Daddy's sunglasses.

Mikayla has been learning to sit on her own. She is getting sooo big! She changes so much every single day. Just about every day when Mike comes home from work he says that she seems to have changed or grown. God has really done a work with Mikayla. I know I say it quite often that we are so thankful but I really don't think I can say it enough. Our pastor has been doing a series on Sundays about enjoying life every day even through difficult times. It is a choice that you have to make either enjoy life or don't. We choose to enjoy life and know that every day is truly a gift from God. There will still be some rocky roads ahead for us but we cannot dwell on that, we just have to enjoy each day to the fullest with our little miracle.

Mikayla just looked cute for church this morning so I just wanted to share. It is hard to see but she has piggy tails in her hair. I love that she has enough hair already to play with.

Just a couple of pictures... we all dressed in our Titans stuff for a tailgate event at church yesterday... Mikayla loved watching the game on the VERY big screen. The other picture is of mommy and daddy going to a wedding Saturday night. Also, today is our 2nd wedding anniversary!!!! Time really flies!!! Mikayla now weighs 9lbs, 10 oz. Mommy will have trouble carrying her in the carrier VERY soon. I guess I will have to start working out at the gym again.

FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE

Look how cute Mikayla looks in her UT orange jersey...(for D & A). Mikayla loves watching football...which Daddy LOVES!

Go Titans!!!!!

Smile

We finally got a smile for the camera!!!

3 months old

Cannot believe that Mikayla is 3 months old today! My, my how time does fly. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers for Mikayla. We are so glad you all are a part of our lives. Hopefully, this blog is a way for those not close by to watch Mikayla grow and change. Feel free to leave comments or messages to us whenever you want. Thanks again for continued love, support, and prayers. We love you all.

Rice Cereal

Today Mikayla had cereal for the first time. She needs some additional calories in her diet. She did really well with it-- did not spit it back at mommy or anything. She made some funny faces but seemed to like it pretty well.

In case anyone was curious - Utah is no longer with us. She died about a month ago. I had her for about 10 years. I think I was the only one in the world that Utah liked- except for Mike during the last year.

Return of Pootie

Since her return - she follows Duke around everywhere. This was today in the garage. Before she left when Duke was around she would run - now she can't get close enough. It drives Duke crazy.Pootie has returned!!!! After Mikayla came home Pootie and Utah went to live in the garage. Pootie ran away for about a month and a half, but about 2 weeks ago she came back--VERY skinny. We just knew that she had been taken in by another family but by the looks of her she had not been eating.