Life as a Leach

Welp, the vent is gone, and it just as exciting as I thought it would be!!  Abby and Caleb called out, "Bye, bye vent!" as our respiratory therapist drove away.  Here are a few pictures of our celebration. Bye, bye vent! Medi-Rents, please take me! Abby liked her cake! She started out timidly licking the icing... ...but quickly learned to dig right in!  (She missed out on the real smash cake for her first birthday, so she's making up for it now!) The cake was a hit! I think this says it all. :)

Today was an emotional day, and I have been a bit "leaky."  But it's all happy leaking! Our speech therapist saw Abby for the first time in a month, and she was very excited about Abby's progress.  When I asked what we needed to focus on now, she said nothing.   She said Abby is doing just what a child her age should be doing, and she is a typically developing talker! So what do you do when a professional speech therapist with whom you've been working closely for the last 18 months   tells you that she no longer has any concerns about your child???? I cried.   Very happy tears!!! Then I asked in a worried tone, "You're not going to dismiss her, are you???"  The answer is NO.  Yay!  Abby has a diagnosed medical condition that puts her at risk for delays, so she will remain in early intervention until age 3.  We'll have to see what the IEP process holds for us after that.  For now, I'm very happy to stay under the very knowledgea...

I'm a planner.  Have I mentioned that before? I like to have a plan.  So imagine my discomfort in not really having a plan for getting Abby's trach out.  To avoid false hopes, we would answer, "Ohhh, after she goes to school" if someone asked when she might be able to get it out.  It was just easier that way. Well, noooooooooow, we have a plan . And I. LOVE. IT. After Abby has been successfully off of the vent for a month, we'll start capping her trach.  This is when we put a little plug in it so that it's not being used at all and she has to do everything through her nose and mouth.  It's awfully nice to know you can just pull the plug out if she struggles though!  I have strategically scheduled her ENT appointment for almost exactly a month from today so that we don't waste any time! Once she caps successfully while she is awake (which depends on Abby, but our ENT thinks this will be a quick process), she will go for another sleep study whe...

Sorry for not posting while we were in the hospital.  Turns out, MW does have wifi (thanks Gila!), but it took a day for someone in IT to come approve my laptop, and when Abby went to sleep and I had time to post, I discovered that Blogger is not an "approved" site.  Scandalous! If we're Facebook friends, you already know most of the story.  Here's the condensed version.  :) We get there and it turns out that "they" (still not sure who "they" are) forgot to schedule the sleep study, which is the entire reason we are there.  She's on the waiting list, but we may have to wait until the following Monday to do the study...which means being in the hospital until Monday...which means exposing Abby to unnecessary germs.  Ugh.  Not too happy!  We found out Tuesday afternoon that she would have it that night, which was perfectly fine with me!  We actually ended up getting out a day early.  Woo hoo!  Abby did great the first night off the...

My little doll baby loooooooooves  her doll babies!! The other night, she went to the stairs to go up to bed with her beloved Beth (the one with the brown hair who looks an awful lot like Abby!) in her arms.  As she got to the gate, she let out a loud, OH!  and ran back on a mission.  She found her little soft, pink, no-named baby and came running back to me with the cutest little grin I've ever seen!  I had to help her up the stairs because her arms were so full of babies!! I made sure that Beth got packed after Abby fell asleep, because it would be so sad to leave her here!  She literally goes everywhere with Abby.  We "feed" Beth when Abby eats (which definitely helps with the feeding!!), Beth comes in the bathroom when Abby takes a bath, we have tea parties with Beth...so it's only natural for Beth to be there for the vent weaning!!

Here's a really quick weaning update: We are officially going in on Monday!!  We've got a whole lot to do between now and then, and we'll actually be staying at RMH on Sunday (we were already volunteering, and we have to be back the next morning anyway!)  I've got a box full of toys packed for Abby to play with in the hospital, and I've started gathering up the medical supplies I need to take with me. We're really excited about this.  It's been a looooooong time coming, and I know Abby is ready!  I may not post too much between now and then because we'll be at Relay tomorrow, furiously packing and cleaning on Saturday, and celebrating Father's Day on Sunday.  My laptop will be going with me to Baltimore, so I'll try to update when I can. Thanks for all of your prayers!  My prayer warriors were working overtime last night, because the insurance company approved our vent weaning a whole lot quicker than anyone thought they would!  Keep it up!...