Birth Announcement...to 3.5 months old~~

Hey,

I know I am behind...most of you know by now that Thomas Harold Guilford arrived on October 7, 2011!  He is precious and looks like he is going to have red hair like his Eleanor!  He arrived via C-section, after a day of being induced, at 11:00 pm.  It was a special day as it was my grandmother's birthday and his middle name was her husbands first name.  :)

Thomas is growing like a weed and he has a VERY PROUD Big Sis!  Eleanor loves him so much!  She wanted to wear her big sis shirt everyday after he was born! I am also happy to announce that Thomas is only a carrier of CF!! Praise the Lord he was born CF free!

Eleanor has enjoyed her baby brother very much.  She is learning the ropes of having a baby brother in the house and for the most part has done very well with the transition. 

As for her CF, we have a new CF doctor and Eleanor loves her!  The doc is very attentive to Eleanor and very thorough.  I cannot complain.  We did leave with some new treatments.  We are now on Xopenex, Saltwater 7%, and the quick start vest treatment.  The vest treatment is definately helping the "little green men" that were in her chest the doctor heard at our appointment.  It is also very vigorous.  She cannot talk very well while it is going but as always she is taking it like a champ.  She takes her "salt" very well.  I have heard it is like breathing sandpaper when you are not used to it but she only mentioned that it tastes really bad.  She takes it twice a day now along with the Xopenex.  She also was on two antibiotics for strep that showed up on her last culture.  She took them like a big girl even though one smelled horrible!

The other challenge we faced was that she only gained .5lbs in six months.  This was not great news but kind of expected by Robert and I since she is not wanting to eat.  We have amped up her diet so we can put on the pounds without other measures right now.  She now drinks supermilk...whole milk with 1/4 cup heavy cream and chocolate syrup.  Bacon, two pieces every morning, lots of homemade ranch dip, and smoothie (more like high calorie milkshakes!)

She is doing good with all the new changes in her life.  Pray for her to have a attitude of wanting to eat and continue to take her treatments. 

She will turn 4 on the 28th of this month!  We are having a gymnastics party and she is super excited!  Hope to do better with the blog and will link some pix of thomas!

Her culture came back normal from her visit and that is a definate praise!!

Coleen

Eleanor is going to be a Big Sis this Friday!

We are pretty much moved in now and a good thing too because baby boy is scheduled to arrive this Friday! I went to the doctor today and my blood pressure was a little high when I arrived but after laying on my left side it went down.  Doctor says when I am this late in the pregnancy (will be 39 weeks this Friday) and the blood pressure starts getting high it is time to have the baby.  So I will report to the hospital on Thursday to be induced on Friday morning. 

I am ready for him to arrive and for Eleanor to see him.  She has been asking when his birthday is going to be for a week now and now we can tell her.  We would have never been able to plan it like this but this Friday is my Grandma Shank's birthday (she died almost a year ago) so this is already a special day and it will be even more special when he arrives.

Keep us in your prayers on Friday and I will do my best to get his name and picture uploaded when we get home.

Coleen

Moved but not quite moved in...

Well, we have moved and are now in Hartford, AL.  This moved happened so fast that it is still hard to believe that we are in Hartford.  Two months ago if you have told me that I would be in Hartford in August, I honestly would have thought it was crazyiness.  Robert was offered a job opportunity in the town he grew up in and after much prayer and wrestling with what we were to do we felt it was the Lord's will that we move back to Hartford.

It was a VERY hard decision to make since it meant uprooting our lives with me being 7 months pregnant. Leaving our church family and friends behinds was very difficult for all three of us, but everything has worked itself out according to His plan.  Eleanor misses her friends but is having a ball up here in church.  There are several girls her age she loves to play with at church.  You didn't think she was going to have a hard time finding friends, did you? :)

Another benefit is that Robert's work is only three minutes down the road.  He was driving 45 minutes one way when we were in Florida.  We get to enjoy much more family time as he comes home for lunch and get home a little after four in the afternoon.  I have to say it is wonderful to spend more time together as a family.  Speaking of family we are now much closer to both set of grandparents and I believe that it makes both sets very happy.  Eleanor is getting used to seeing her grandparents on a weekly basis rather than a monthly basis.  This truly makes my heart happy.

We are settling in up here and trying to get everything in order for baby boy's arrival.  He is doing well.  My last appointment was on August 9 and he weighed 3.5 lbs and changed from head down to transverse (parallel to the ground).  He seems to change back and forth between the two positions making me rather uncomfortable sometimes but what a wonderful feeling it is to feel him move inside of my belly!!  Prayers that he will turn head down and stay that way.  My next appointment with my new OB is next week.  I will let you know how the appointment goes.

Eleanor is super excited about having a baby brother come.  She keeps talking about how she is going to change his diaper and teach him his letter, numbers, and on and on...  It is quite funny to listen to.

Last but not least, Eleanor had a CF appointment at the end of July and she had gained three pounds and grown a few inches.  Her culture came back normal so we are praising the Lord for such a good report.  Keep her in your prayers as she continues to adjust to her new home and surroundings.


Thank you for your prayers,
Coleen

It's been three months!

So after three months of no blogging I thought I would let you know we are still here!  I have not had an abundance of time lately to blog but wanted to update you on several things.

Eleanor is doing good.  She has had a busy summer.  We have gone to birthday parties, the pool, Gulf World, the beach, and spend the night parties.  I think the last is her favorite one!  She starts her round of TOBI tomorrow.  Everyday she talkes about her little baby brother and what she is going to teach him!  What she is going to teach him varies on what mood she is in but all of it is very funny!!

Speaking of her little brother he is due on October 14 and right now I am currently 25 weeks.  His ultrasound for his growth back at 16 weeks showed everything was on track and looking good.  We do have one glitch.  For some reason I only have one artery and one vein in the umbilical cord.  You are supposed to have two arteries.  They say it can cause slow growth but he has always measured above average at every ultrasound.  Please help us pray that this will continue to not be a problem and this little boy in my belly will be big and strong.  We know the Lord has good things for him just like he has for Eleanor.  My next appointment is July 19 and will have another ultrasound.  I will update everyone then.

One more piece of exciting news!  We raised over 51,000.00 at the Destin CF walk this year!  Thank you for all of your support of not only Eleanor but of all of the kids and adults who suffer with this disease.

Coleen

Easter crafting with Eleanor

Easter crafts!

Today we went to our favorite craft store, Hobby Lobby, and hit the sales on Easter eggs.  Tonight after supper Eleanor and I did some crafting.  Eleanor told me what she wanted and mommy cut and hot glued!  We have an Easter Cow, Bunny, Moose and Chick.  I know that cows and moose do not really fit the theme but she was sure that was what she wanted to make!  This is such a fun age.  I love being able to craft with her like this.  It adds another thing for us to look forward to!  We even manage to get this in on TOBI nights like tonight.  Like I have said before Eleanor has CF but it doesn't have her.  We will never let CF define who she is or control what we do.  I love that she received some of her mommy's genes and likes to make things.  This is going to be fun!

Other news

Tomorrow (april 8) we will be thirteen weeks!  So excited everything has been going well.  I just seem to have to pace myself because I tire out much faster than normal. Eleanor is cute and continues to talk about what she is going to "teach" the baby when it gets here!  LOL!  It will be a sight to behold.

Thank you for the prayers and continue praying for us it is felt daily!

Coleen, Robert, and Eleanor

Updates, News and stuff!

Updates:

We are still in the midst of doing our TOBI treatments.  She is doing well most of the time.  We are starting to encounter the I don't want to's.  Right now we just change up her routine and let her paint or play with playdough while she is doing the TOBI.  It seems to have worked as today she didn't want me to take the TOBI off because she wanted to continue to paint!

She is now on Prevacid once a day for her reflux.  This is a result of her bronch.  Found out that she has very bad reflux.  Interesting as she never seems to complain about it but who know that she is dealing with that she doesn't tell us. :)  She is a strong little warrior.

News:

Robert and I went to the doctor yesterday and confirmed that we are pregnant!!

This is our baby #2.  She/he measures at 3 inches and will be twelve weeks tomorrow (4/1)!  We are due on 10/14/11.  Isn't it amazing how meticulous God is??  What a precious sight it was seeing this little one kicking, stretching, and dancing around.  The doctor says everything looks normal and healthy.  "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ~Ps. 139:13

It is not wonderful that you can see the profile of the little face the nose, lips, chin, forehead.  The little legs.  You cannot see the arms because the baby was moving so fast.  We are very excited and would ask all of you to pray for a healthy baby and a smooth pregnancy.

Eleanor doesn't quite understand.  When we told her she was going to be a big sister she did a little dance and screamed, "Yeah!!"  She told us that she can teach it numbers, letters, and to help it drink.  I will update you with her other interesting insights as we get them.

CF Fundraising

We are in the middle of our fundraising.  I have tshirts for 15.00 and we have raffle tickets.  If you would like to just make a donation please click on this link:

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/ColeenGuilford7495

Thanks!
Coleen, Robert, and Eleanor
  

Bronch Results

We received the Bronch results in several different batches so I have waited to post until we know all of them.  The day of the bronch went well.  Eleanor only had a little anxiety...mostly about seeing the guy who does her throat culture.  She was very happy when we said that she would not be seeing him today.  We saw our doctor and all the pre-op nurses.  Eleanor even walked off with the anesthesiologist without even looking back.  So before the procedure Eleanor did wonderfully.  A wonderfully comforting thing happened right before she was taken down.  The doctor came in and talked with us and said, "Do you mind if I pray?" "We would love that!", was our reply!  How awesome...to know that the person whose hands she will be in wants to pray before the procedure...calm and peace were given to us from the Lord.
We waited about 30 minutes and the doctor came back up and said that she looked better than he expected.  (Yeah!) He saw no signs of any problems and what secretions she did have; he sucked out.
Now we were led back to her room where she was waking up.  This part did not go as well...the meds made her a little angry.  She was not happy to have an IV in her foot.  She tried to pull it out several times.  Let's just say that when we left the hospital and finally got in the car we were wondering what child that was that woke up from the procedure.  She did start acting normal when we got to the car and proceeded to talk and tell us she was hungry.
That afternoon she was on the couch playing with Bubs Ipad when she just up and fell asleep on me.  THIS NEVER HAPPENS.  We figured it was just the after effects from the procedure.  Well, she got goosebumps all over her then proceeded to get hot...like on fire hot.  We took her temp and it was over 102.  So we called the doctor and were instructed to give her some tylenol to help.  We could definitely tell when it kicked in.  She was up and talking again like her normal self.  The fever went away with the medicine and when she woke up the following morning she pronounced herself well!

RESULTS
The results of the test were really good.  Her first culture came back normal...this would have been the one to show if she had any pseudomonas.  The second culture which would have told us if she was growing any fungus or mold came back normal!  The third one which tells us if she had acid reflux came back positive.  It measure 4+ which is on the high end.  It is weird because we have never noticed it but then it was mentioned that it can cause a cough.  Hmmm...wonder if that is what causes the unexplained cough sometimes.

Her labs came back good except her Vitamin A level was low again.  We will be taking an extra dose of the vitamin to help bump it up.

Those are our results!  Praise the Lord we received a good report.  It could have been must worse.  We are very thankful.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  We are already back on our 28 days of TOBI.  She is handling it really well.  She is such a trooper!

Coleen