Sneak peek!

Emmie had her first photo session a couple of weeks ago with Amy Drouet. Check out her sneak peek at http://amydrouetphotograhy.com/blog/ Scroll down below the "c" family and you'll find Emmie's pics! There will be more in the near future and I'll post that link as well.

We are now accessory free! Emmie had her Broviac catheter taken out today and we are all very excited. Now, just two more weeks of oral antibiotics and then, dare we hope, a few normal months!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and to the New Orleanians- Happy Festin!

Fat belly!!!

Milk- yummm!

fat belly!

Emmie is doing great! Her chest is closed and we are finished with iv antibiotics. Tomorrow, she will have her broviac catheter removed. We are very excited about losing our last accessory! We can't wait to weigh her and see how much weight she's gained. By the look of that tummy, I think Dr. Kantrow is going to be proud!

Athletes and Antibiotics

Tanya- doing great in her triathlon!

Keep in mind that all this enthusiasm is after a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and about 5 miles in to a 13 mile run.

Leron Finger- one of Emmie's favorite doctors, also doing great in his triathlon. Her surgeon also completed the race but somehow we missed taking his picture. We had hoped to have a silly picture of him too. Maybe next year.

Emmie enjoyed sitting in the shade in a folding chair. She's getting ready for all the great outdor events in New Orleans that involve folding chairs.

She doesn't even have to bring a cooler- just Liz. Emmie and Liz just bought a new summer weight

wrap and this was their first time to try it out- they loved it.

We've had a great week and a half at home! Emmie feels great and is gaining some weight. Today is her last day of IV antibiotics and we are all thrilled. She has now had her first taste of strawberry flavored pink antibiotics to spit out and she feels more like an average kid with it all over her shirt. The iv catheter will come out in a few days and we won't miss it. Her chest incision has now healed too- so no more packing either. We really won't miss that- it was everyone's least favorite part of the day.

This weekend she saw her first triathlon- not sure if she was impressed or not, but her moms definitely were. Our friend Tanya and all her training team did great and looked great doing it. Could you smile and skip that far into a triathlon? The weather was perfect to sit outside and cheer them on.

Home Sweet Home!

Nonie, please don't go!

glad to be home!

Emmie got a Broviac catheter placed in the OR. She did very well and was discharged home- to our house, not the PICU or the floor!!!!! We are very excited to have her home and look forward to many more days at home and not in the hospital. Thanks for everyone's support.

We are also sad to see Nonie go back to Birmingham, but there's a little grandson that is looking forward to having his Nonie back. Thanks, mom, for everything you did and mainly just for being here. Our stomachs thank you for not making us eat hospital food and the nurses thank you for bringing us clean clothes! Thanks also for staying at night so we could get some sleep! Miss you already!

ag

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Contemplating.....

deep thoughts by Emmie

Well, we are still at Ochsner. We are trying to convince Emmie that we do not really live here. I'm not sure she believes us. She is doing much better. Her wound seems to be getting better every day and all of her "stats" look good. Her last couple of cultures have been negative so it looks like the antibiotics are working. The dilemma is we can't go home with the current access (central line) that she has because of infection risks. Unfortunately, they were unable to put a PICC line (one we could go home with) in today so now we have to decide whether to let them take her back to the OR to place a line that we can go home with. Obviously, we would like to avoid the OR because of risks with general anesthesia and line placement but we can't spend the rest of our lives in the hospital (risks there too). The length of antibiotics needed is constantly changing depending on who you talk to- damn doctors! :) Unfortunately, only time will tell how long Emmie will need antibiotics. If we knew Monday would be it, we could stick it out in the hospital until then but she may need them for 3-4 more weeks. We just want to do what's best for her and right now we are not sure what that might be. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers- we appreciate all of your support!

Thank you Easter Bunny! The many faces of Emmie....

deep thoughts

displeased with her care

Smiling

She's thinking we'll do for now

Sticking her tongue out

We are still in the ICU but Emmie is doing better. Her wound is healing though it's still day to day according to the surgeon. He does think it's getting better though. Dr. Finger thinks everything is going well. Her blood cultures and wound cultures are all sensitive to various antibiotics so that was great news. We will probably be in the hospital for at least one more week to complete the iv antibiotics. That's a little disappointing- we are certainly ready to take her home- but the folks in the PICU have been fabulous as always.

Nonie arrived Friday. She couldn't stand it any longer. She's been staying at night with us at the hospital and letting us get some sleep. Emmie can't possibly lay in her bed for more than 10 minutes (I know- spoiled) so Nonie holds her between feedings and that allows us to get some sleep. It's hard to put her little self down now that we can hold her. We are feeling much better mentally and physically- hopefully we won't wear Nonie out.

It's hard to believe Emmie will be 1 month old tomorrow. Happy 1 month Birthday my sweet girl! I hope your future birthdays are much more fun and not spent in the hospital! She is starting to focus on us and smile. It's the most precious thing I've ever seen. She's a tough little girl.

ag

Bobble and Raah

All four generations: Emmie, Liz, Bobble, and Raah

Making funny faces in pictures runs in the family- Liz always does.

We missed the good quality from our big camera, but we didn't pack the same for this trip as we did for the delivery, but it's great to have all four generations on both sides of the family. Emmie is lucky to have so many loving grandparents and great-grandmothers. We hate that she can't travel, but she is happy to have them visit her.

We are still hoping to avoid more surgery, but trying to take this one day at a time for now. In the meantime, Emmie is feeling better and seems to even be gaining weight. We'd like to see some of those fat rolls she was born with again.

Emmie and Raah in deep conversation

Checking out Raah- she likes what she sees!

Liz, Emmie, and Raah

Still no real camera so the iphone will have to do. Bobble took pictures with her camera so we'll try to get those and post them soon. Emmie has finally awakened from her codeine haze and is doing much better. She is much more alert and happy to see everyone. Emmie and Raah had a fabulous conversation this morning. Emmie apologized for creating such a stir on Raah's first visit. She promises to behave if Raah will come back to visit- especially if she brings her another cute stuffed animal! Emmie is doing well this morning but she's sad Raah and Bobble have to leave.

Her wound infection is improving. It's painful to watch but it has to be done. Thanks to the PICU staff for letting us have our own "suite" in the back. It's much more peaceful. We are taking things day by day. In some ways, this week has been more stressful than our last visit. We finally had a taste of normal and now back to the hospital. It's disappointing and it's heartbreaking to watch her suffer, but we are taking things day by day and trying to stay positive.

ag

Raah

Raah (Liz's grandmother) and Bobble (Liz's mother) came in town just in time for Emmie's hospital admission- not the trip they had imagined.  Raah finally got her hands on Emmie today.  In Emmie's drunken stupor from Tylenol with codeine, she was very happy to have Raah hold her.

Finally, a little good news!!

The surgeon came by this am and changed her dressing on the incision. He thought it looked better this morning so that means no surgery for now! We will continue to change the dressing 3xs a day. He's going to evaluate it each morning. Hopefully, it will continue to improve and we can avoid the OR. Her white blood cell count was also down this morning so that's reassuring as well. We are cautiously optimistic and hopeful that things are going in the right direction.

Appreciate y'all,

ag