Home Sweet Home! How Sweet It Is!!!

First ride in a car seat

 She's pondering when her next meal will be :)  Hmmmm....

        We made it back home yesterday early evening!  Chrissly slept in her little car seat the whole way.  She is such a laid back baby!  Sitting there watching her on the way home...I cannot believe that God has blessed me with such a wonderful little gift!  It's hard for me to believe that she is ours! :) 

The sun is out!!!! And, WE ARE COMING HOME!!!!

      The final word is in!!!!  She has improved greatly!  Her bilirubin level went up a little; but, that is to be expected since she has been removed from the lights and IV.  We are just to keep an eye on it at home and follow up with our pediatrician.

     We have an appointment June 29 with a radiologist here at the Children's Hospital to do an ultrasound and look at her cyst again.  Hopefully, the cyst will have gotten smaller by then, which will indicate that it is destroying itself.  If not, then the next course of action will be discussed.  However, at this point there is really nothing that can be done for the cyst besides surgery to remove it and her cyst is not considered big enough for surgery.  (Thank goodness!  As I said before, the doctors really think the cyst might be dissolving already.)

      So far, the best news yet.................... WE GET TO GO HOME TODAY!!!!!!  Mimi (my mom) is on the way to come pick us up right now!!!  We have her car seat ready, and are ready to head back home!  Finally, Chrissly and Chloe will be able to meet!!!  I cannot wait for my little one to meet her big sister (Chloe).

       Thank you again for all the words of encouragement, prayers, thoughts, etc.  This time would have been unbearable if not for you guys!!!  I do want to apologize...I had many messages, phone calls, texts, etc. asking about us.  Many times I was not able to answer and instead wrote on the blog.  I want everyone to know that I am sorry I wasn't able to call you back or text you, etc.  But, that things got pretty hectic here and so I was doing good to get the blog out sometimes.  Thank you for your patience and understanding!!!!

My First Bath

The Garcia Family

The Sun will come out TOMORROW!!!!

 Just wanted to say hi!!!

Today we got the final word.  Dr. Cox, our WONDERFUL doctor, came by this afternoon.  She filled us in on the following:

- They are in agreement that they think it is a cyst on Chrissly's right ovary.  In the last ultrasound they discovered that the cyst has "debris" inside of it.  This is usually an indication that the cyst has burst.  While that sounds scary, that is actually a good thing.  If the cyst did burst, the debris inside is actually the cyst imploding on itself.  Therefore, it is basically getting rid of itself.  The doctor wants us to return at the end of June for another sonogram to make sure that the cyst has not gotten any bigger, and hopefully has gotten smaller and maybe even dissolved!


- Second, her bilirubin levels have dropped again!!! Yea!!!  Like I said before, yesterday her level went from 13.9 to 12.1.  Today her level went down from 12.1 to 11.1.  Yesterday she was out of the clear as far as the bilirubin is concerned; however, since her levels went down in College Station and then up when she came here to Houston, they wanted to establish a downward trend in her levels.  As long as her levels stay the same or get better then she is good to go!  She has been going to the bathroom more often too, which has helped to lower the levels of bilirubin as well.  As a result, she was taken out of the incubator and out from under the bright lights.  :)  She's so happy!  She is literally sleeping like a baby now because she doesn't have to wear her shades in the bright light.  :)  She was also disconnected from the IV....another wonderful step!

Therefore, Hopefully...TOMORROW IS THE DAY WE GET TO GO HOME!!!!  We would love to take a trip with Miss Chriss; however, this is not the one we envisioned :)  We are currently contacting a new travel agent to select a different destination for us to visit as a family :)  jk

I will let you know what tomorrow holds!  Thank you for your love and support!!!!!

My Future's So Bright, I Have to Wear Shades!!! :)

The surgeon came by this evening and said that the team of doctors felt strongly that the cyst is an ovarian cyst.  He also said that they next step will most likely be nothing, because they usually do not remove ovarian cysts from infants unless they are 5 cm or more.  Chrissly's cyst is only 3 cm.  He said that most of the time, cysts like this degenerate and will go away on their own.  The final word will come tomorrow; but, for now it is looking extremely positive and like we may go home tomorrow or the next day.

     The last worry we have is her struggle with jaundice.  As you can see, her future is so bright that she has to wear shades.  Hopefully, soon we will be able to switch out those shades for some cute sunglasses :)  The last blood count looked really good.  Her bilirubin levels went from 13.9 to 12.1.  This is a great improvement!  We are not out muddy water yet; but, improvement!  We are still struggling to get her to go potty...but, she is being hydrated from me and the IV...so, it's just a waiting game. 

        It's almost time to feed...hopefully I will have more updates first thing tomorrow morning!!!  We cannot wait to take our little angel home and love on her in our own house!!! 

Thanks for all your love and support!!! 

Sonogram Results - Soon to be THE NEXT STEP!!!!

Chrissly had a sonogram done this morning around 9:30.  Poor baby wasn't allowed to eat since 6 this morning.  In order for the sonogram tech to be able to get a good picture, her belly and everything needed to be empty.  It seemed like it took forever in the room.  They led Gabriel and me to the bottom floor behind Chrissly.  We waited in the room and were able to watch and see the images the sonogram tech was taking as she was doing it.  We got to see all of Chrissly's little organs and finally got a good picture of the cyst.  Afterwards, the doctor came in.  Upon entering he stated that he thought the cyst might be an ovarian cyst.  He asked for the tech to show him a couple more images...he went through a list of possible cysts that it could be and then looked at the pictures to decided if that might be the type of cyst.  After looking at the images, he said that he does believe that it is an ovarian cyst.  This was music to our ears!!!  Of all the possible things that it could have been, this is the most common and is not life threatening.  The next step is for the team of doctors to discuss what they feel is the next step...and so that is what we are waiting on.  Dr. Cox is the lead doctor of the team and will be coming by here shortly to discuss THE NEXT STEP :)

Update 5/26/11 6:13 am

Chrissly's bilirubin levels went up.  She has been under the lights for her levels (jaundice) but her levels still went up.  They believe that this is because she might be dehydrated.  I have been nursing her, and she has been nursing very well.  But, right now I am only producing colostrum...so, she is not getting enough fluids.  She has not been able to urinate for 12 hours.  She has been put on an IV and the hope is that once she gets some fluid in her that she will be able to urinate and flush herself out; therefore, lowering her bilirubin level.  Hopefully, this will improve her status and she will get to experience life out side of the bright lights :)  after this :)  I will post a picture of her in her little lights later, if I get time.

Thanks!

Update as of 10 pm Wednesday 5/25/11

The pediatric surgeon came by this evening.  He examined her and said that he could only feel the cyst because he knew there was one there...otherwise, he would not be able to feel it.  He decided that the best course of action is to have Chrissly undergo another sonogram.  She had one in College Station; but, the doctors here are so good about doing sonograms on just infants and children that they know exactly what they are looking for and what they want.  The radiologist may be able to give the doctors a better idea about where the cyst is coming from.  After that, they will determine if she needs an MRI or what course of action is next.  When I have news in the morning I will let you know!

Again, thank you for the many prayers and words of encouragement!  They mean the world to Gabriel and me as we are going through this time.

Update on Chrissly

Chrissly was born May 23, 2011.  She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 inches.  Everyone always says there is nothing like seeing your baby for the first time, and holding her for the first time.  I have to say that, it's not that I didn't believe everyone; but, that it never became real until she was born.  I can honestly say that I have never loved anything as much as I do her.

I'm going to make this short and sweet for now...it's almost time to feed her again...

2 weeks before she was delivered an ultrasound was done at my doctor's office.  It was determined that there was a fluid filled sac in her lower abdomen; but, they could not determine where it came from or what it was.  They told us not to worry about it for the time being because nothing could be done until she was born.


When she was delivered she was and is a happy baby girl!  She is eating very well and going to the bathroom when "a newborn should."  Everything seems normal from the outside.  She is having a bout with jaundice; but is being treated with light therapy and is improving.  But, the hospital did another ultrasound and was not able to determine where the cyst was coming from.  They don't believe it is close to her ovaries (which would be what happens the most); but, they do not believe that it is attached to her kidney or liver.  That being said, they are not sure where it came from or what it is.  The neonatalogist at The Med determined that it would be best to send her to a hospital that a pediatric surgeon.  We were given the options of the big city hospitals in Texas (Temple, Houston, Austin, Dallas, etc.)  The doctor said that she could run more tests on my angel; but that most likely they would need to run the same tests at the big hospital and it would be pointless and put Chrissly through more tests than needed if we just had her tested at a large hospital.  Therefore, we chose Houston.

The Texas Children's Hospital here in Houston (The Kangaroo Kare Team - some of the most wonderful people I have ever met!!!) came to The Med and transported her to the hospital here in Houston.  It was originally thought that she would travel by jet; but, instead we were transported by ambulance (I got to ride with her).  Once we got here they set her up in the Level 2 NICU.  The doctor's have examined her here too and determined that she is the happy and healthy little girl that we see...she just has a little cyst inside her.  She has been placed under light therapy again; but her levels are improving.  The doctors will be doing more testing (MRI, etc.) tomorrow morning.  At that time we will have more information about what she needs and what will be happening.

I will keep everyone updated on this blog; because sadly I do not have the time and energy to text, email, and call everyone (please do not take that the wrong way...I feel TRULY blessed by all the love and support that we are being shown, and cannot say how much it means to us to have all the prayers that are coming our way.  That being said though, it is hard to maintain a feeding schedule, a sleeping schedule, worry about our little one, keep everyone informed, etc.)  Please check this blog and I will keep it updated as we find out more information.

Thank you again for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers!  It means the world to us and keeps us going!!