Medical Update

A lot of people have been asking about Tabitha's medical issues and what we've found out. Well . . . in day to day life she's very healthy, and most people would have no clue she has any problems! But . . . she does have some pretty serious things that still need to be taken care of.

We finally got her Chinese surgery records and got them translated. You'd think they'd just automatically send those along with the child, but no--that would be too easy. Anyway, Tabitha's urologist (Dr. Gearhart at Johns Hopkins) said the information was very helpful. At least now we know what was done while she was still in China. To make a long story short, she was born with common cloaca (which means having only 1 tube and opening instead of the 3 a girl should have), and it was partially repaired in China. We think that her being unable to urinate was a result of the surgery, because there's nothing in her notes about it until after she had surgery. Dr. Gearhart said that they won't do any kind of bladder surgery to attempt continence until she's 5. So we're hoping and praying that it'll be fixable when she's 5. But at the same time, emotionally I'm going to plan on it being lifelong and just be very pleasantly surprised if it isn't.

The more immediate next steps are 3 surgeries. First of all, the rectum that the doctors in China formed for her is not positioned exactly right in relation to the muscles. So she'll need surgery to move it slightly. We also just saw a neuro surgeon (Dr. Ahn) and found out she'll need surgery for tethered spinal cord. Dr. Ahn explained that the spinal cord is supposed to be free within the spinal column, but on Tabitha there are some fibers holding it down. This isn't causing any problems yet, but as she grows bigger it would. He said this is not a risky surgery and not to worry. She will have to be in the hospital overnight, but after that there should be no further problems caused by it. We still need to see the hand surgeon to schedule surgery for removing the extra digit on her thumb.

So after 31 years of life never going to a hospital except to be born, to give birth to Jesse and to visit a couple people who had babies, this is sure a different experience for me! I think I've been to doctors' offices more in the past 4 months than in the entire rest of my life! Our immediate prayer is that we can get all the doctors coordinated for scheduling these surgeries, and possibly be able to do more than one at a time. Dr. Gearhart had said that may be possible, and we're hoping that it is--much less trauma and stress to do everything at once.

We are very thankful for the doctors we've met with so far. They've been great! And we're very happy that Tabitha is in good health besides these "little" major problems. =) We appreciate your prayer as we get all the surgeries scheduled. Pray for efficiency by the people in the scheduling office. (Her MRI took a couple months to schedule!) Pray for coordination of the doctors and that they might be able to combine surgeries. Pray for peace for Tabitha and all of us in handling all of this, and of course for safe and successful surgeries. I'll update again when we get things scheduled. Thanks!

A Brilliant Idea--Part 2

8:00 to 7:00 WITHOUT A PEEP!

And she even woke up happy!!!!!

Let it Snow!

We may have set a new record for snowfall in the area. I didn't hear the final verdict on whether or not we beat the record, but our town had 33" yesterday! Today it's sunny, and everything outside is just glistening and sparkling like a landscape of diamonds--absolutely gorgeous! Ethan has been out there working right alongside Heath to shovel the driveway and (even as I type) is begging for everyone to come out and play with him. Heath worked all last night plowing a parking lot and plans to do the same thing the next few nights. Maryland is really not equipped to handle this much snow, so the roads are still really bad, and most things are cancelled for the next few days. That kind of drvies me crazy, but (if the kids would stop fighting) I really don't mind being stuck at home enjoying the scenery. It's so peaceful and quiet and clean and fresh outside . . . this is what winter is meant to be!

A Brilliant Idea

We've been having problems with Tabitha sleeping ever since we got home with her. At first we blamed it on jet lag, then on her getting adjusted, but it's still going on 3 months later. Every night she wakes up crying (3 or more times), comes to her door (which is gated) and stands there screaming until we come to get her. If we take too long she sometimes goes to sleep on the floor by the door, but then she wakes up cold and starts the crying all over again. Now, being the "Babywise" parents that we are . . . we have this strange concept that a 2 year old should be able to sleep all night! We worked hard on training our boys to sleep through the night within their first few months. And Tabitha slept great in the hotels in China and only started this once we got home. At the beach house in December she was in a crib and in the same room as us (just like the arrangement in China) but that didn't fix the problem. So we've been at our wit's end trying to figure this out.

Two nights ago we implemented a brilliant idea which I think might have fixed the problem! Ready for this amazing technique? We put her back into a crib, instead of the toddler bed she'd been in. The past two nights she's still waken up a couple times crying, but since she couldn't get out of bed she was back to sleep within 5 minutes all on her own, without us doing anything. I can't tell you what a relief that is! I'm fully confident that soon she'll not even bother crying and will have successfully learned to manage progressing through the sleep cycles on her own. Why oh why didn't we just put her in the crib from the start?!?

Oh well . . . you live, you learn. And I have a feeling we're all soon going to be a whole lot happier with full nights of sleep and a well-rested toddler. Hallelujah!