Long time no blog...lol.

Well only 9 months later and I am getting around to my second post.  Life with two kids has is......  there are so many things I could put there but I just don't know what.  To say the least we are busy!  So here we go a brief overview of where we have been over the past 9 months.


Shortly after my first posting I really settled into my role as a mother of two. In doing so I began to have on of those crazy mother feelings (you know the ones) that something just wasn't right with our new bundle of joy.  I had notice on numerous occasions (90% of the time) that when Lilli was sleeping she would have numerous spells where she would gasp for her breath but I never noticed a color change in her.  When we went for her two month appointment I asked the doctor about it and he said that she would grow out of it.  He said that most newborns have some sort of apneas and will grow out of them in the first few weeks.  With that I remember that Hannah did a similar thing for her first week or two of life and grew out of it.
At home I began to watch more closely as Lilli slept to make sure that she really wasn't changing colors with these episodes.  I never noticed color change but they did continue in frequency.  Another concern I had even from birth was that it seemed like she was throwing up everything she ate.  I would nurse her on one side sit her up and she would get sick.  We would then repeat it on the other side.  It wasn't uncommon for her to soak herself and me to the point where we both required a change of outfit.  I had also asked the doctor about this and he said that if she was formula fed he would have us add a little rice cereal but being breastfed there was nothing we could do.  So I left it at that.  
Around the beginning of October Lilli got sick with a virus and sounded terribly junky.  I took her to the doctor (prior to knowing it was a virus).  They thought maybe she might have RSV which she was tested for and it came back negative.  They put her on abuterol treatments every four hours and told us to let it run its course. So we did. 
She had her four month appointment where I still had all the concerns of her two month appointment plus now this virus that we couldn't seem to shake.  I was reassured that it was just a virus and given the same answers to my questions before.  I went home thinking to myself "Elizabeth, you are crazy!!! There is nothing wrong with your child!" but I still has that gut feeling that something more was wrong.
A couple weeks later her "virus" got even worse and the treatments we were doing a needed weren't cutting it.  I called on a Friday to get here into the doctor before the weekend but our primary doctor was out so we saw his partner.  We went in and I told him about the "virus" symptoms and while I was there went ahead and asked him about my other concerns too (kind of my second opinion I guess).  He put her on a steroid for the virus and an antacid (not prevacid) for the vomiting.  He also said that the gasping while sleeping really raised a red flag for him and she should have grown out of that by now.  He said that he wanted to order a sleep study to make sure nothing was going on.  Finally someone was listening to me! The earliest that Riley could get us in for a sleep study was March 28 just a little over three months away.
Lilli's "virus" got a little better but she was still junky and at this point I had noticed something else.  During our nursing sessions she would choke, gag, and cough while eating.  And during her gasping episodes she would wake up screaming bloody murder.  This occurred around the clock at about 20 minute intervals which meant neither of us were sleeping.
Finally the time for the sleep study came.  We went at 9 pm and she was hooked up to some many wires.  Now it was time to sleep....or not!  She had they worst night of ever.  Finally at 3 am she slept until 6.  They got the solid 3 hrs of sleep that they need to complete the test.  Thank you God! (he was there I know) At 6 the nurse came in and woke me up and told me we could go home they had what they needed.  She also handed me a card and told me that the doctor should call us back in the next 7 to 10 business days with the results and if I hadn't heard back by then to call the number on the card.  I felt like maybe I was nuts and there wasn't anything wrong and that is why we would have to wait for the results.
After such an exhausting night I went home and took a nap.  After being asleep for about 3 hours the phone rang.  My thought was who could be calling?!  I looked at the number and it was the doctor.  I almost started crying before I answered the phone.  I didn't have to answer it to know something was wrong they don't call back this fast with normal test results.  I spoke with the doctor and he informed me that during the sleep study she had stopped breathing 125 times with the longest apnea being 17 seconds.  It told me that he was going to call a doctor friend of his who was a pulmonologist at Riley and that we should prepare ourselves to have to go back.  I hung up and immediately started sobbing.  Some were tears of sorrow, some of joy, but most were tears of fear.  What was going to happen?


More to come later....

Welcome!!!

Okay, so I have been meaning to start a blog well....forever now and I finally broke down and did it.  Lots of exciting things have been happening in the Harvey household.  Eight weeks ago today we welcomed our second little bundle of joy Lillian Claire.  I truly can't remember life with out her and she is such a blessing.  Hannah absolutely adores her baby sister.  When people found out that I was pregnant with her we often got "Oh I hope Hannah isn't going to be jealous of her".  The only problem I have with Hannah is her over willingness to help.  Sometimes I have to ask her not to try and feed baby sister with her doll bottles (especially since she is breastfed), please don't shove baby sister's paci in her mouth she doesn't want it, please don't kiss her so much she is trying to sleep, and the list of helpful things she keeps trying to do just go on and on.

Aside from Hannah growing into her big sister role so well she is also making major strides on the potty training front.  Prior to Lilli we had tried potty training out a couple of different times but in the past week I think she has truly gotten it.  Today she we all day with only one accident that happened while she was playing outside this afternoon.  She still has a long way to go but my first baby girl is becoming a big girl right before my eyes.

Hannah amazed by her new baby sister Lilli!