MRSA and thanks!

Many of you may have already heard about MRSA or about Alli's experience with it, but for those of you who haven't after watching Oprah today I decided to do a little blog about it. Please look into it (there are some links below to the stuff on Oprah today or go to her website or just google MRSA) so that we can stop spreading it! First off though I am soo thankful to my Heavenly Father for watching out for us and for our little baby. It was probably the most difficult thing in my life to watch my new little baby lying there with an iv in her head (after multiple unsuccessful tries elsewhere) knowing that surgery was likely going to follow. I am so thankful for Him guiding us to a doctor who knew exactly what was going on and how to treat it. That is such a miracle to me and the fact that she healed so quickly is also a miracle. I am also very thankful for my family, they were such an awesome support for me and Ryan! From sitting with Alli so I could have a sanity break to calling and talking on the phone. Each of my brothers (and their wonderful wives) were soo supportive. Knowing we were not going through this alone was so helpful. Even though they couldn't come visit there were so many phone calls offering information (thanks Bryan) and translating the medical terms into English and telling me that the doctor was giving her the right medicines. This was so calming for me. And my awesome sisters-in-law (I remember Annie and Natalie both) just calling and letting me know they cared and were wanting to know how everything was going. And for James and Natalie to come visit was so nice of them, just to see them quickly. I also remember many conversations with Jason and Christie, who could offer a unique comfort from the experiences he has been through. My mom and Phillip were there as much as possible so when I was falling apart I had someone to keep me together. Just calmly allowing me to cry and being there for me. And Ryan was such a rock for me. He was the one in there with Alli when they did all of the ivs. He was always so concerned that I took care of myself even when I didn't want to eat or sleep. I am thankful for those who brought us food and helped with blessings (Erin, Blake, and Jeremy). I know this sounds so dramatic, but for me it was a really difficult time to have just had a baby and to be back in the hospital so quickly without a break. And I know my aunts and their families and everyone else who was fasting and praying and I KNOW that is why she was healed. I am really just so thankful. As hard as this experience was for me, I learned so much and I am so grateful for all that I have. MRSA is a resistant strand of staph infection so it doesn't respond to normal antibiotics. There were two videos on Oprah today so if you want to check those out they are really informative. Here are the links: http://www.oprah.com/media/20090423-tows-grant-hill and http://www.oprah.com/media/20090423-tows-kristen-hunter One article said, " over a million patients are infected with MRSA every year. A shocking 86% of these infections occurred in healthcare facilities. The mortality rate connected with these infections neared 10%. Simple math tells us that is 100,000 deaths a year from MRSA"
On the Oprah show and in other articles, I have learned that 19,000 people die from this each year in the US, which surprisingly is more than AIDS. Pretty crazy. So imagine our shock when we learned that our 3 day old baby could possibly have this. When we brought Alli home from the hospital we noticed there was a lump under her right eye. We asked the doc about it and he said it should go away on its own, well it didn't. It continued to swell so her eye appeared crooked. We took her back to the doc the next morning to be told it was an eye infection and were sent home with an oral antibiotic and told to get her blood tested. That night a lady came to bring us dinner (which ended up being a small miracle that she was the one who came) and told us maybe we should go to her pediatrician. I figured a second opinion never hurt so I took her in. He was expecting to tell me it was just a clogged tear duct (which usually goes away on its own by about 1 year) but she had the escalated version which is where it is so clogged a cyst forms which usually requires surgery to remove. He didn't know what the infection was so he was going to start her on 3 anti-biotics to try to catch everything. He was hoping she would only need to be there for 24-48 hours. He told me (Ryan was at a bball game) to take her straight to the hospital, that they would be waiting for me. Ryan met me and we took her over. They started the check in process (I remember talking to Jason and him telling me it would be okay, that she is tough) and 5 attempts and an hour of her screaming while Ryan is in with her and me walking the halls sobbing with my mom reporting on if they are done, they finally have the iv in successfully in her head. After her iv treatment that night the vein blew so the solution was going just under her skin so she had a silver dollar sized lump on the side of her head. They removed the iv and started all over in the morning to try another 5 times to get it in again. The next morning the first little miracle happened. We'd been told to try to massage thecyst lightly and to put saline drops to hopefully help soften, just to see if it would rupture. Ryan was holding her (I was actually in pumping) and I remember so vividly him coming and telling me (when I saw him I thought something was wrong) that it had burst. After it burst they took a culture and found out what it was so they adjusted the anti-biotics, but since MRSA is soo contagious (and extremely hard to treat, especially in children) they put a lovely sign on our door that anyone going in and having contact with her needed to wear a hazard suit (like the oompa loompas) so the nurses would come in fully covered pretty much everytime. They also were likely going to put in a PIC line which is a more permanent iv that requires a surgery to place. Talking with Bryan I learned many benefits to these, but also some negatives so I was hesitant and still hoping that somehow her iv would continue to hold. We were assuming that is what would happen, but when her doctor came Monday afternoon he asked if we were ready to go home and we obviously said of course. We took her back in that night to get a shot and some anti-biotics, but no PIC line and she hasn't had any re-occurrences. So a very long story I really just wanted to journal my feelings. I am sorry if we offended anyone while we were in the hospital, but really just didn't want anyone else to go through what we were going through. It was such a stressful time so I hope if we did offend anyone they will see that it wasn't them, but more the situation and the hope that other children wouldn't get what she had.

Pictures!

Our neighbor is interning for photographer and she had a great deal on her pictures so yesterday we took Alli to get some pictures taken so here are some of our favorites, we had a hard time picking them out so there are still quite a few. It was pretty fun, Alli did great so all 50-100 pictures were taken in about 10-15 minutes so then she loaded them on the cd and we were done. She did a great job!

Funny Girl!

So lately Alli has been sick and I think getting her molars.  Two nights ago during the night we could hear her crying so Ryan went to get her-she sleeps on a bed in our room on the floor because she is a little too active for her crib and would get stuck-but she wasn't in her bed. Earlier in the night she scooted off the bed so he started feeling around by the bed. She wasn't there. Finally he reached clear under the nightstand and he was all the way back in the corner against the wall.  She just scoots in her sleep and we think she woke up because she couldn't scoot anymore. So last night I put her down in her "bed" by the frog blanket.  After I was ready for bed I went to check on her and she was not in her bed.  

So I started looking by the nightstand and sure enough that is where she was. 

So after laughing and taking pictures Ryan carefully extracted her so she wouldn't wake up.  I just love that she moved that far in her sleep without waking up and I had mostly blocked that off so she wouldn't be able to scoot off. And just because I think it is a cute picture of our cute little girl in her favorite place: 

Tagged for Kristen

So here we go.  This is fun tag.

4 jobs I've had:

1. MOM

2. 2nd grade teacher

3. piano teacher

4. Moe's Southwest Grill

4 Movies I've Watched More Than Once:

1. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

2. Australia

3. Monster-in-Law

4. The Notebook

4 Places I've Been:

1. El Salvador

2. Canada and Mexico

3. Church History-New York and Nauvoo 

4. Columbus, Ohio

4 Places I've Lived:

1. Provo, Utah

2. Indianapolis, Indiana

3. Albuquerque, New Mexico

4. Salem, UT

4 people who email me regularly:

I don't get too many emails regularly so I'm going to skip this one.

4 Favorite Foods:

1. Salads-Cafe Rio, Rumbi Island Grill

2. Magleby's Fresh-stuffed breadstick and their rolls

3. Most Desserts-especially with chocolate.

4. Barbequed, Marinated Chicken

4 Things I'm Looking Forward to this Year:

1. Warm weather-spring/summer

2. Taking Alli to the pool and park

3. James and Natalie (and Scott) coming out (and seeing Bryan and Annie and their girls)

4. Watching our flowers in our yard bloom and having a garden

4 T.V. Shows I Watch:

1. Criminal Minds

2. American Idol

3. The Unit

4. Biggest Loser

4 People I Tag:

1. Natalie

2. Annie

3. Cori

4.Erin

Pop Culture Girl!

So here are some of Alli's latest tricks.  She has recently figured out texting:And she loves having "conversations" on the cell phone.  

My mom gave her this really cute dress for her birthday so this is her all ready for church last Sunday.  They aren't the greatest pics, but we thought she looked pretty dang cute anyway. Then earlier this week during American Idol she got pretty excited and we got a clip of her so that is at the bottom.

 

Daddy!

Ryan has been quite busy lately. For the past few months he has been working two jobs-he wanted to make sure the new job was solid before he quit the first job so it meant a lot of hours for him and I think ultimately he overworked himself because just a few weeks before he was going to be done he got sick with the flu-the cold, aches, chills, etc.- and sadly enough it was right over his birthday.  I think he still managed to have a fun birthday with an amazing breakfast (if I do say so myself) which sadly only half of it got eaten because he felt so rotten, a trip to the driving range to try out his new golf clubs, and a trip to Rumbi.  I had the local gas station put a birthday wish up for him, but I think they made a little mistake or they decided to combine two birthday wishes into 1!

We realized that we needed to get a lawnmower so after doing much research, Ryan decided on one so now our lawn is nicely mowed-just before the snow storm . :) It is exciting to have a yard to work in and I am finally understanding why my mom enjoyed yard work so much.  

So Alli and I just wanted to wish daddy a belated Happy Birthday and thanks for all he does.  He is so determined and works so hard, he is always successful at whatever he sets him mind to do.  He is great at keeps his priorities in line.  He always has time to watch and play with Alli, and she gets so excited when she hears the garage door open.  In the morning she will watch as the garage door closes and try to see him for as long as she can.  He is such a great husband and is so supportive of me and the things I try to do! He makes me laugh when I am sad or stressed and I am soo thankful that I am married to him!  P.S. Happy anniversary a few weeks ago-another post that somehow didn't happen.  Most of our wedding pictures are actual pictures and I haven't scanned them in so that post got bypassed.