8 more days, but who is counting??!?!?

ME! If I would allow myself I would be counting the hours and minutes. Next week I will probably go there, but for now, I will just count days. One week from today, we will be on our way to Omaha! Although I am not excited about the 8 hour drive with Caroline and a bladder that can't contain itself, I am super pumped about Caroline getting a clean cast! Bless her heart, she stinks! As of yesterday, she is officially a stinky baby. Baby powder used to help me control some of the smell, but we are past that phase. Yesterday, Caroline woke up soaked. Soaked to the point that I had to strip sheets and mattress pad! Had to give her an early morning sponge bath, which she was not happy about, plus put the hair dryer on cool to dry her up. The inside of the cast is totally soiled and there is nothing we can really do about it. I change her diaper as often as possible, even if she has had nothing to drink. Better safe than sorry.

I feel bad for the surgical nurses that have to clean her up next Thursday before her new cast is put on. Luckily they have masks to help with the smell!

Our hope is to have her procedure at 9am, under general anaesthesia (boooooo, I hate that stuff), and be in recovery by 11ish. There is no cutting in this procedure, just a big needle going in her hip to make sure all her tendons, muscles, tissues, etc. are doing what they should be doing, then clean her up and put the new body cast on. THEN, 6 weeks later we should be done and done! I cannot tell you how long this 6 weeks have been to me. I start having my own pity party, then I think of Caroline and what she must be thinking and feeling. Poor thing, she is trying every maneuver possible to get herself out of the cast. I am going to ask Dr. E if he could at least let her see her toes in the next cast, maybe even her feet? Then she could have a little grip when we put her on her belly and maybe, just maybe she could crawl a little. She has definitely tried to crawl, but she has no help with her lower body and it's just close to impossible.

It would also help me out tremendously! I am 26 weeks pregnant right now and her little 18lb+casted body is starting to wear on me a little bit! So if she could CRAWL to the diaper change all the better!

Well, that's really all I can think of for now to update. Many of you have asked if this was it for her casting. And as much as I would love to say YES, it's not. 6 more weeks. BUT, she is a trooper and a heck of a lot more patient than me!

I will update you all once we are home from Omaha. It will be a quick trip so chances are we will be home late Friday or early Saturday! Whoah hoah!

Love to all!

1/2 way through the 1st cast!

As of today, we are officially 3 weeks into her 6 week cast. So we are 1/2 way there! It's amazing how you look at things from a date perspective. I could tell you what every day of the month is in May. If you say, "I wonder what day May 24th is?" I would say without a moments pause Tuesday. I am sure the 6 week mark I will start the hourly countdown!

I am sorry I am just now updating. It's amazing how much time it takes caring for a child in a body cast. Poor Caroline was so mobile and independent before her surgery. Now she can only sit up if we have her propped up and if a toy, sippy cup, food, etc falls she cannot reach it. So guess who gets to reach for her? Yep. Me. She does try, and if I step away for a minute, she will scream and let me know. The girl has got a great set of lungs! She also hates being stuck in the house. Every morning she says, "ready, go". Sometimes I just put her in the car and I make up errands. Instead of putting letters in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up, we'll drop them off at the post office. Or, I will go get a Sonic or McD's drink! Anything so she can GO. I did learn that she fits in a Sam's shopping cart! It was one of the best days! We went up and down every aisle. This week I stayed pretty busy with my own doctor appointments, so we didn't make a Sam's trip, but it will definitely be on next weeks agenda. Needless to say, we will be stocked up on toilet paper and paper towels!

Besides being bored out of her mind, C is doing great! I would say 5 out of 7 nights she is sleeping through, with a little help of Tylenol Codeine. When she doesn't it's mainly because Web and I have messed up her nightly routine, aka OKC Thunder basketball games! She is not a fan of Web being gone both day and night. One night when we were home and she was uncontrollable, she wouldn't let me near her, she only wanted her daddy. Which was fine by me. Guess who got sleep that night?!? We introduce her to new toys or books almost on a daily basis. But who can blame us? She is BORED OUT OF HER MIND!

We did find a stroller that works, so that has helped me during the days. Anything to keep her occupied. Any and all ideas are definitely welcome!

We go back to Omaha 3 weeks from yesterday! May 25th. We are driving this time. 8 hour drive, with a 27 week pregnant mom, who constantly needs to go the bathroom, and an 18 month old who is in a body cast. Should be fun times! On May 26th, Dr. E will take off her smelly cast, do an arthrogram (http://arthritis.webmd.com/arthrogram-joint-x-ray), then if all is well put a new cast on her. I have thought about paying a nurse under the table to clean her smelly body, even more so than they usually do! Trust me, it would be worth it. We are 3 weeks into this cast and she stinks. There is no way around it.

BBB is doing well! I think, hope, pray, fingers and toes crossed, that today was my last high risk appt! All looked well. We are 24 weeks pregnant and he is measuring 25 weeks. Hooray! His heart looked great today. The high risk dr. suggested maybe coming back in 4-6 weeks to make sure he is still growing and on track. But he said that is up to us and our regular dr. I guess if she wants us to do another one we will, but as of now I am going with the thought that we are DONE! Thank goodness. Not that I feel any more at east, because as we all know anything can happen, but at least I can say we did what we were supposed to do.

That's all I can think of for right now. If you are still praying for our little family, our biggest prayer is comfort for Caroline and a healthy baby boy!

Love to all.