A Day for the Record Books

This may have been the longest day of my life. We really only had two things to do today, but they were big things.

We started out the morning by getting the kids up and dressed and heading over to Methodist Hospital. There we met with the Director of Public Relations for the hospital, as well as the news crew from KSAT-12. Nancy Gonzalez, the morning news anchor, as well as one of the news photographers, joined us in the Antepartum unit where I spent six weeks of my life. It was strange going back there, but pretty heartwarming all-the-same, knowing how beautifully our story turned out.

As we were setting this whole thing up, I gave Methodist the names of my two favorite nurses, Kecia and Paula, in the hopes that they would be able to join us for the interviews. I was told that neither one of them were on staff that day and I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to see them again.

Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner to see Kecia standing there. Despite having the day off and being able to spend the day with her ten-month-old daughter, Kecia still came to the hospital to greet our family. Talk about a gift from God.

So we sat in one of the Antepartum rooms and Nancy interviewed me about the girls' story, my stay at Methodist, the girls' stay in the NICU and the Times of Your Life contest that I entered. We talked for about ten minutes and then it was time for Kecia to give her professional thoughts on the whole situation.

Afterwards, the photographer shot some footage of the girls playing in the room and then we moved to the Children's Hospital lobby where there were plenty of places for them to crawl, run and just be cute. Devin got into some of the shots, as well, and we are all looking forward to our 15 minutes of fame. Maybe tomorrow night? I'll be taping the news until it airs!

Todd went onto work and I took Devin to school. I got the girls home for a quick lunc and then down for a nap. Now I am a napping sort of girl, but lately I've just been so busy that I have gotten out of the habit of taking a nap during the day.

So knowing I wouldn't fall asleep, I laid down on the couch for some quiet time before taking the girls' to their 1:15 GI appointment.

I woke up at 1:20.

ARGH!!!

I bolted upstairs, got the girls out of their cribs and tossed them into the car, without even putting shoes on them. We made it to Dr. Elizondo's office in record time and I dashed in, begging them to see us and apologizing profusely for my oversight. I knew if we didn't see Dr. E today, it would be another six weeks before we could get into see him.

Luckily, someone had canceled their 1:45 appointment and they were able to get us in. Whew!

Since Grace was doing so well at her last appointment, Dr. E didn't really need to see her. So we got into the room and got Faith weighed and measured where she rang in at 22.1 lbs and 32 inches. That's the 3rd percentile for weight and 12th for height.

This made me very anxious.

So Dr. Elizondo came in and we talked about how Faith is doing on her new formula and about the allergy. I asked him to clear some things up for me about what she can and cannot eat. I also told him that I was worried about how much Faith didn't weigh.

So he left the office for a minute to check her growth curve and returned a moment later to say, "I'm not concerned! She's still growing and she's growing proportionately and while she's still small and underweight, she's moving up the curve and that's the most important thing."

I decided then and there that if Faith's GI doctor wasn't going to worry about her weight, I wasn't going to either.

We went on to talk about Faith's diet and I was totally prepared to hear all of the things that this cow's milk protein allergy was going to exclude her from. I just knew life was going to change drastically from that moment on.

Surprise again! Faith needs to avoid milk (done!), yogurt (she never eats the stuff because it's too messy!) and cheese. That last one will be difficult, but soy cheese is acceptable because Dr. E believes she's already on her way to growing out of the allergy. In his opinion, she'll have grown out of this in three to six months.

*Big Sigh of Relief Here*

I walked away from this appointment with a big smile on my face and a dramatic realization: This was the first and only time I have had an appointment with the twins that ended happily. Every appointment I've ever taken them on has ended in bad news: prematurity, staph infection, intubation, low weight, failure to thrive, asthma, cystic fibrosis, ear infections, strep throat...the list just goes on and on.

But today -- FINALLY -- an appointment ended happily.

It was a long day but I'll always remember it as a good day.

Thanks to all of you who sent good thoughts, prayers and well wished our way. It worked and I am blessed to have you.

Woo hoo!