Friday, December 28, 2007

Bella Update



My mom and I took Bella to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Burn Center this morning (12/28). As far as burns go, it looks good. No sign of infection and it's bleeding now which means new tissue growth! We go back in a week to reassess. After the burn closes up, we will go every week to two weeks to stretch the skin. So far no skin graphs are necessary!!!(Thank you God for answering our prayers) The recovery is a long road of lots of steps but we will make it through this journey with a thankful heart. We are so blessed that it wasn't worse. We hope God will use this tragedy as an opportunity to grow our faith and bring Him glory. I will continue to update the blog with the details of her recovery week by week, so feel free to check in. Thank you all for your prayers and emails it has meant so much.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Watch Savannah-Hope Grow

Savannah-Hope continues to grow at a miraculous rate. We are praising God for blessing this sweet girl.

9/4/07 4lbs 6oz

9/10/07 5lbs 2 oz

9/18/07 6lbs 8oz

9/24/07 7lbs 7oz

10/23/07 10lbs 8oz

10/30/07 11lbs 2oz

11/27/07 13lbs 0oz

**Edited** 12/27/07 13lbs. 2oz

Monday, December 24, 2007

So far so good

Well our night went well, Shane stayed up late and gave her the 12am medicines and I got up early and gave her the 6am. The ER said her bandages would be ok til this afternoon unless they got wet, well some of the blisters on her thigh popped in the middle of the night and oozed so the bandage was completely soiled this morning. I scrubbed and cloroxed the bathtub (infection is our enemy) while giving the meds time to work. she was a trooper she sat on the potty and talked to me. She was very brave until I actually started to remove the dressing and she screamed ..I talked her through and we sang some songs and it was over pretty quickly. I put her on another clean towel on my bed and "prepped" my area :) alcohol,scissors,silvadine cream, gauze,tape, non stick sterile adhesives,etc (I am taking this very seriously I do not want to hurt or or spread infection so I put the ointment on with a clean tongue depressor). Izabella is a very good patient Shane is right beside her holding her hand and looks at him while I am hard at work and says "Dad is Mom playing doctor?" :) he tells her "yeah Mommy is playing doctor and your doing a great job!" She is such a turkey!! Thank you all for your prayers and comments and I hope everyone has a great Christmas.!!!!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Please pray for Bella






Well today one of the worst fears many mothers have came true where in a second things go from normal to traumatic. We were doing some christmas shopping at the mall our big kids wanted to pick out something for Shane and I but did not want us to see or know which store they were in (so obviously that can not happen) we met my parents there who took them while Shane Izabella and myself played in the kid play area. We met back at starbucks and got a little table ... my parents got a cup of coffee each and the kids got some little cookies ...well in a split second while reaching for a cookie the table shakes ..coffee spills and Izabella lets out a blood curdling scream! Quicker than I thought possible I have completely undressed her of the hot clothes and the skin is already blistering (which I know are second degree burns) I am talking less than 10 seconds. I cover her in my coat with a wet towel covering her wounds and ran through the mall to the exit doors ( I knew that I had four kids but nothing else even crossed my mind) until we got to the hospital where I needed an insurance card?? ..what did I do with my purse thankfully Shane and my parents picked up my purse and all the two packages. They immediately bring her back and run an IV where the morphine is given quickly ..(she has screamed the same blood curdling scream up until this point) ..finally she starts to just sob instead of scream and in a few minutes she is hungry and tired. ( good signs) She begins to be a little comical with the morphine drip :0 They dressed the wounds and we will follow up at the Vanderbilt burn center as soon as they open on Wednesday. In the interim I will clean and dress the wound 3 times a day, this is so painful even with the morphine she screamed. The doctor has instructed me to be tough burns are the hardest because the pain is unbearable but the dressings have to be cleaned 3x's a day and actually washed with antibacterial soap. Be tough this is my baby!! but infection is our worst enemy right now! Please pray for her to have as little pain as possible and for me to be strong. I held together pretty well but now she is ok and asleep at home so I fell apart. My mom needed the morphine as much as she did and has really beaten herself up because it was her coffee, so I could not lose it. It was just an accident and we all know this so pray Mimi lets go of the guilt she is feeling. Mimi bought her two my little ponies and the biggest princess candy bar you ever saw while we were getting her medicine filled!! She is asleep with both ponies now and I am going to take a shower and get to bed my self I am unsure how her night will go she has pain meds which we will keep in her system until seeing the burn doctor. I attached a few pictures my camera needs too be taken somewhere for some reason it is blurry so sorry for the poor quality bur you get the idea.
** funny moment we were praying over her before the morphine got in her system and she was hurting so bad and Mimi prayed please God just touch Izabella and take away her pain to which Izabella hysterically sits up and says " No God don't touch it because it hurts!!!" Shane and I lost it!!
The doctor asked me after he checked out Izabella he asked me how I got the coffee on my leg which I had not even noticed.. my leg was burned and from where I was holding her with the wet towels between us I could have won any wet t-shirt contest!! I also had not noticed this either but the guy helping Izabella did and offered me a dry gown.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Fundraiser for Savannah-Hope

SaturdayFun Night


Do you have Christmas shopping to do??

Need a date with your spouse?

Boys/girls night out??

Now you can do all of this…….

5pm-10pm

We will provide movies, popcorn, and other fun stuff!!!!!!!


Please call for reservations (615)223-9398, or (615)944-5047

All ages welcome!! But babies will need food provided.

All adult caregivers, degreed in Child development.

$20 first child

$15 second
$10 each additional child

All proceeds go directly to benefit Savannah-Hope's adoption!!!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Izabella's "BIG SHOW"

Okay so if anyone knows how to flip this let me know, but had to share. Tonight Izabella says mom bring your camera and come here mind you she is "swimming" in the bathtub so I go and see what she is doing and she has opened the curtains in the middle so she could do her "show"!! She is creative and dramatic...Enjoy! sorry it is sideways...at the end she says goodbye to Savannah as we have been making lots of videos for her lately.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

To Santa from Mom






Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and
cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more
than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise
money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping
you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to
write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt
in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find
anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple,
which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze,
but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy
aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh
month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint-resistant
windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a
television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking
animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the
crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes,
Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't
fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without
the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in
the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my
voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can
only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough
time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the
luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being
served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to
brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare
ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would
be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house
without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized
crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my
feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.
Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door.
Come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave
crumbs on the carpet. (you promised me last year you would lose
some weight with me so next year you and
I could be a cute size two blonde...ok, some requests go too far,
but none the less.....

Yours Always,
MOM...

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep
my children, healthy, young enough to always believe
in Santa, and of course to always remember the real reason for this holiday season!!


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5-4