Might Be A While

Ollie's main Doctor made a visit a few hours ago and through out the conversation he kept saying 2 weeks. YUCK! The problem seems to be lack of medical services that come into the home each day to help administer the drugs. In Andalusia there is not a service of this nature for babies. I want whats best for O and I know that the Doc is doing what he feels he needs to do, it just stinks! I just think that there will be several times in her life when she will be hospitalized due to sickness, but as of now she is fine. Please understand that pseudomonas is very serious and it is important to try and knock it out with these antibiotics, but Ollie is not sick from it, it's just present. Anyway, we will stay and try to take advantage of having absolutely nothing to do besides hang out and play with O.

As for little Ollie, she is a trooper. Her picc line (IV) is in place and we are waiting for the first round of antibiotics. Just to fill everyone in-A picc line is a small, small catheder type thing inserted into a vein and then fed through the vein all the way to her chest. This means no burning at the place of entrance and the drugs can get to the main veins in her body to ensure they fight the infection/bacteria. It sounds and looks worse than it is.....it is in the side of her head. She doesn't even know it's there. Looks like those cute little headbands will come in handy to cover it up.

I've had some people ask for room # and address for where we are and I finally found it-

Children's Hospital
1600 7th Avenue South, Tower 5, Room 545
Birmingham, AL. 35233

Thank you for all the prayers!!!

Well, we're here....

John, Ollie and I made it safely to Children's Hospital this morning. We checked in around 10:00AM and were escorted to our room shortly after. Ollie was examined by a doctor (not her regular doc-we'll see him tomorrow) and he said she looked great and her chest sounded good too. We've been bombarded with questions and all that "check in" stuff and are now just hanging out. Ollie will be getting her IV sometime in the next 30 minutes. I am dreading this!! The good news is that once they get it in, it should last for the entire 2 weeks. Therefore she will only be getting stuck for the IV once. The bad part is that they have to do bloodwork for the first few days in order to get her dosage just right. This mean drawing blood from her tiny arms. They promised to try and do this as little as possible. More good news is that she will only receive the antibiotics 3 times a day for just 2 hours each time. Thank goodness she will not be hooked up 24/7, allowing us to take her on adventures around the hospital during the time in between treatments. The best news is that once they get her dosage correct and she is doing OK, we can go home! Yay! They informed us that we would be able to administer her drugs in the comfort of our home, checking in with her doc in Andalusia for blood work. We are trying not get too excited cause we could still be here for 7 days (maybe longer) but we could also be here for as little as 3-4. Only time will tell. I will post later today after the IV is in and let you know how little O is doing.

Our First Hospital Stay

Ollie had a monthly check up this past Friday. All checked out pretty good. I say this because the main concern for CF patients is bacteria present in the lungs that could turn into an infection. At each monthly visit they swab Ollie's throat to see what grows. Therefore we wait on pins and needles for a few days to hear what is going on. Usually, the longer the wait, the better, meaning nothing has grown and Ollie can resume normal life without inhaled antibiotics. If the call comes within a few days of the visit it's not good.

As soon as I saw the 205 number on my phone screen this morning my heart automatically started pounding, my palms grew sweaty and my voice became weak. I could barely muster out a simple "hello". I instantly knew it was bad. I was right. It was Dr. Hoover. Ollie's main CF doctor. He has never called. It's usually a nurse. Bad, bad, bad! Anyway, the pseudomonas we have been fighting basically since birth is still present. Don't get me wrong, it was gone for a short month, but has returned and has no plan on leaving. Our only option is to admit Ollie into Children's hospital to receive antibiotics through an IV. Our goal is to wipe out this bacteria with a strong 2 week dose. Yes, we will be in the hospital. Dr. Hoover let us know that she would need to stay for a minimum of 5 days with a posibility of staying the entire 2 weeks. If and only if we can leave after 5 days, Ollie will still have the IV. She will just have the IV in the comforts of her own home. We will be checking into Children's in Birmingham this Thursday morning. Keep in mind that Ollie is not sick. She's not on her death bed (I have to put this out there cause of the silly rumor spreading people in our town). She shows no symptoms and behaves like any normal 5 month old.....I hope all the crazy things she does is normal. We just have to be proactive. Please keep Ollie in your prayers. Pray that the pseudomonas will go away and pray for strength for Ollie, John, myself and our family as we try to keep our hopes up while away from our normal and comfortable life. I will keep you updated.



As for the walk....

I will try to be there. I want now, more than ever to kick CF butt!! If I am not able to make it, please go and walk for Ollie. We need your support now more than ever. My sister Lesley will be there to lead the way. I want everyone to realize now the importance of raising money, awareness and finding a cure!

Newest Hobby

Most of you know that due to CF, Ollie is unable to attend daycare. John and I decided, along with our doctors, that it is not worth the risk. Especially in her first years of life, we want her to remain healthy so she can grow big and strong. Without daycare, I cannot work. Besides the few days a week Ollie and I venture to Elba to help my mother in law at her Real Estate business, we stay home. This has been wonderful! Ollie and I have formed the most amazing bond. We sing and play all day and she has become quite the mama's girl....I love it!! Although, I love spending every moment with her, I needed something else to do. I wanted to try and earn a few bucks of my own (without asking the husband), that I could use to buy "fun things". This meaning clothes for me and Ollie, shoes, purses, etc. I have come up with a way to hopefully make a little money as well as enjoy doing at the same time. You all know that I love, love, love hair bows and Ollie ALWAYS has one in her hair. I have a hard time finding those "special" bows to match her outfits or the season or our favorite football team (Auburn ;). Therefore I decided to give it a whirl and make em myself. I got a little carried away and made a ton! It is my mission to accessorize all the BBG's! (Big Bow Girls). I have created an easy way to coordinate several outfits at a low price......mix and match. I have headbands of all sizes and beanie caps. You simply buy a headband or beanie and buy a few bows or flowers to match. Each bow and flower comes with a clip that can either be worn in the hair or attached to a headband or beanie. The beanie caps are for small children (think NB-2 yrs), and the headbands fit all sizes. I will soon have caps for older children as well. Please take a look at some samples below. My darling Ollie was really not in the mood for a photo session, but you get the drift. Let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions as to how I might sell these or if you are interested in taking a look, let me know. Keep in mind, that because I am doing this for fun and am not trying to turn into a big bow distributor, the prices are a 1/4 of what they typically retail for.

Headbands & Bows

Halloween

Beanie Hats & Flower Clips

Andalusia Bulldogs or Alabama

Auburn-War Eagle!


Headbands

Beanie Hats

Funny Mama and Yummy Squash

Ollie has begun to laugh but usually by the time I can stop laughing at her and round up the camera she stops. She has the cutest laugh I have ever heard. Here's Ollie enjoying her squash and laughing at me, her funny and always entertaining mama.

Baby Divided

War Eagle

Roll Tide!

War Eagle!

Roll Tide!

War Eagle!

Roll Tide!

What's it gonna be? I'm guessing Roll Eagle or War Tide!

Green Bean Girl

On a whim today I bought some solid food for Ollie. At her last appointment with Dr. E, the nurse asked if we had given her any food. That got me thinking....guess we could try some. Ollie has been eating applesauce and enzymes before every meal since she was 5 weeks old so we knew she would know how to eat it. We just had no idea if she would like it. Her first taste of real food (besides applesauce) was green beans. She loved it! This is what she looked like when she was done. She almost ate the entire jar and then went on to finish an entire 5 oz bottle. Although it's apparent that O likes veggies, we will need to discuss her calorie intake with her CF doctor and her nutritionist. Her next appointment in B'ham is this Friday. When we first learned of Ollie's diagnosis, we learned that she needs more calories than other babies. We were told that adding melted butter to her food is the best way to add some good ol fat to her diet. (If there is a perk to CF, this is it....YUM!) We will just need to learn how much to add and so forth. Hopefully her doctors will be happy with her weight gain and her progress. We also pray that the pseudomonas will be gone and stay gone! I'll keep you posted.