No more thin liquids!

I took Katie to CHOP today to meet with the ENT doctor and the speech pathologist. This was an "emergency" type visit, b/c they were concerned with her last swallow study. They did a test today in which the doc put a scope down her nose into her throat to watch her swallow. They wanted to see exactly what happened when she swallowed and why she was aspirating. Katie did well. She screamed a bit when the tube was going down her nose, however, once in place, she drank like a big girl! :) Apparently, the test showed that when she drinks, she tends to "hold" some of the liquid in some part of her mouth, and then there is spillage into her airway. We do not know why she is doing this, however, it was not done with thickened liquids. We tried a "nectar" type liquid, however, she was still cou ghing and sounding congested on that consistency. So, we moved on to a "honey" type consistency, and amazingly, she did much better. No congested sounding, no coughing. She sounded great. So, I did get a few samples of thickener that I add to her liquids, and I also found some recipes to make that will make a drink a honey consistency. I went shopping tonight to pick up the ingredients and also to CVS to pick up some "powder" thickener. Interestingly, the speech pathologist mentioned that there has been found to be a link between aspiration AND poor weight gain. Katie is my #1 eater-she eats anything and everything, but does not gain weight like she should. According to the speech pathologist, when a child aspirates, their little lungs are working so hard that it increases their metabolism, and then the kids have a hard time gaining weight. This is fascinating to me----I am curious to see how her weight gain improves. :)

Let's go Devils! :)

Imagine a night FULL of this! :)

A Hockey game with Nicholas....

Nicholas and I joined his fellow Cub Scouts for a Trenton Devils hockey game. He had a BLAST! I'm sure it helped that I bought him a TON of TD stuff I am sure he does NOT need! :) But to see the smile on his face was soooo worth it. :) I think "Let's go Devils, Let's go!" is forever screaming in my head........ :) :) :) (I needed Advil when I got home!)

My 2 year olds.........

Finally, TWO year old pics!

I have been lacking in the professional picture department. I admit it! :) With the babies' 2nd birthday being so close to the holidays, I just never found the time to take them to get their pics done. I did get their Christmas pictures done, but that was it. It's been nagging at me for sometime to get these pics done, but then you know, life happens, Katie being hospitalized and all..........so on a whim today, I called Picture People, made an appointment for tonight, gathered some clothes, and off we went! :) Overall, the babies did well. As you can see, my four still do NOT like to smile! :) They do not look impressed at all with the photographer! :) But they sure do look like some cute two year olds, huh?

Katie's 2nd swallow study

So, Katie and I drove to CHOP yesterday for her 2nd swallow study. There was some issue with what "test" actually had to be done, and after a few phone calls and a WAIT, it was determined that an "esophogram" would be performed. Essentially, the radiologist laid Katie on the table, and xrayed her anatomy as she was drinking some strawberry flavored barium. Katie could NOT drink for six hours prior to the test, and by the time the test began it was nearly 12pm-so my little girl woofed down the barium like it was a milkshake!!! She drank it sooo fast the technician had to make her some more! :)

In any event, the radiologist said he did see aspiration and penetration. He said she clearly does aspirate. However, I did ask if this meant another "tube", and he said he doesn't think so. He mentioned that we would probably have to go back to seeing the Feeding and Swallowing Team at CHOP. Apparently, the Team will be able to teach us some exercises for Katie to strengthen her swallow.............so I am awaiting a phonecall now to see what the next step is....

After the study, I took Katie to Friendly's for some "alone" with Mommy time. We had a blast together! Katie absolutely loved her chocolate milk, and had more fun playing with her macaroni and cheese then eating it!!!! :) I brought it hom as leftovers and Nicholas devoured it after school! What a good treat after a long day at school, huh?? lol

I can't believe they are THREE years old!!!!

Noooooo, not my little ones..............but our friends, the Zerilli triplets! Time really does fly by! :) We went to their birthday party on Monday and had sooo much fun!!!! Even Nicholas was having way too much fun dressing up as a princess! :) (Daddy was LOVING that! :) ) The kids loved playing with all of the different toys and LOVED having all the yummy treats!!!! I think my kids mastered the work "cracker" from the party!!! :) As many of you know, I still feed my kids a lot of their meals, b/c quite frankly, it is just easier onme. So I was pleasantly surprised whenmy four sat down to eat cake, and they all did a pretty good job. Minimal mess!!! I think Mommy has to learn to cut "some" of the apron strings!!! :)

Happy 3rd Birthday to Juliana, Micaela, and Anthony!!!! Thank you for inviting us toyour birthday party-we had a GREAT time!!!!!!! We need to get together again soon!!! :)

New bows

I ordered these bows for the girls online last week-they look so cute!

Nick's prayer service

Nicholas had a prayer service at school last week-the 1st grade "sponsored" it. He did a GREAT job-he had his lines memorized and everything------I'm so proud of him!

Beautiful hair!

Lexi helped me out the other morning by fixing the girls' hair for me...........when I came out from getting dressed, I found my sweet little baby girls with BRAIDS in their hair! :) They looked sooo grown up! Lexi did a great job!

Bathing Beauties.....

More pneumonia???!!!!!

YUP, you read it right............we took another trip to the pediatrician's office today. Katie had to be checked b/c she was discharged from the hospital, and Lexi was sick, too. Matty was up SCREAMING last night for hours..........I could not figure out what was wrong with him. Well......................Matty NOW has right sided pneumonia!!!!!!!!! Is this ever going to end???!!!! He is also has a really bad right ear infection, and I am positive that is why he was crying so much last night............soooo lo and behold, we now have a ton of ANTIBIOTICS in our fridge now......... :) Lexi had a stuffy nose and sore throat and is also on antibiotics.........As for Katie, she got a "SUPER!" from the pediatrician; she still sounds "junky" but her lungs are fine, it is more related to her tracheamalacia, not pneumonia. It "sounds" worse than it is. Katie did also have a weight check, and my little pumpkin is only 21.8 lbs! YIKES! I need to fatten that girl up........ :)

27 month checkup.............without Katie

Yes, also last week was the babies' 27 month checkup. Since the kids were sick, I decided to bring them in anyway, let them get a weight check, along with getting them looked at for being sick.

I still have to bring Katie for her weight check, but here are the stats on the other three kids:

Matty 22.8 lbs
Emma 25 lbs
Austin 28.11 lbs

Not too shabby, right????

Emma and Matty's FIRST trip to the dentist!

So, with all the stuff going on with Katie, I forgot to mention that Matty and Emma had their 1st dentist appointment last week. The dentist only allows 3 siblings at a time, so I decided to break up the quads into two. The two oldest, Matty and Emma, then Katie and Austin will go another time. I was most concerned about Emma's teeth......they are chipped already! The dentist did take a look and had NO concerns about both of their teeth. Good news! :) Matty and Emma wanted NO part of a cleaning, however, they both did allow the hygienist to brush their teeth-so it was a start! :) Afterwards, they each got to pick out their own tooth brush.......funny enough-Emma picked out a hot pink toothbrush, while Matty picked out a blue one. So funny how th ey are so gender specific already!!!???!!!! :))

Beautiful day outside.............

It was a beautiful "spring-like" day here, even though it was February. I HAD to get the kids outside for a few minutes. I took them for a quick walk around the block, and they LOVED it. Austin kept saying, "Oooooooohhhhhh!" when he saw new t hings! Super cute! By the time we got back towards our house, only like 1/4 mile, Matty got tired and literally just sat on the sidewalk and would NOT get up. Needless to say, we were done with our walk, and off to naptime we went! :)

Back home where she belongs........

and from the looks of things, she never left! lol.....Yes, there she is, in the striped pj's, all snuggled with her sissy and bubbies (brothers!).

Tom brought her home about 330 this afternoon. The other 3 babies were napping. She was very unsure of the house and even Lexi!

When the kids got up from their nap, Austin went up to Katie and kept getting in her face, saying "hi"...........too cute! Then Katie went to each one and hugged them. It was very sweet!!!!! But you can tell that a certain little girl got very spoiled while in the hospital for a week. She is not liking having to share her toys at all! She got mad quite a few times tonight------but we are sooooo happy to have her home with us!!!! Here's to NO MORE HOSPITAL stays!!! :)

Nebulizer anyone???

Just one more night?

I *think* Katie will be coming home tomorrow. We were finally able to take her off the O2, and she did GREAT. I bathed her tonight and put some fresh pj's on her. Since she wasn't hooked up to so many wires, she was able to wander around the room a bit............even playing in Daddy's shoes! :)

Home with Daddy

Here are some pics of the kids getting into trouble without Katie! :) And of course, our runway model, Emma! :) LOL....

Hospital pics

Katie is still at CHOP. She is still requiring 1/2Liter of O2, so we are hoping to wean her off tonight, so she can come home tomorrow. They did take the IV out yesterday and FINALLY allowed me to bathe her! She was having some major greasy hair! lol

Here are some pics:

Katie's STILL in the hospital

Just a quick update from CHOP's computers............we are still here. Katie is getting better, but still requires O2 help. She is on a steroid, antibiotic, and breathing treatments, along with the O2. She is improving, but not 100% yet. It is my understanding that the doctors will NOT release her until she does not need the extra O2 for an entire night. And as of tonight, she still is wearing a nasal cannula.............so I am hoping over the weekend she will be home.

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers for my little girl. :)

PS-Emma and Austin have also tested positive for RSV........

Katie's back in the hospital......

On Sunday, I took Katie to the ER at Mercer. She had been coughing for a day or two, but I didn't think much of it. But on Sunday, she was just NOT herself. She was running a fever, still coughing, somewhat lethargic, but what really caused me to bring her to the ER was the "rapid breathing" she was doing. It was very concerning to watch how quickly her chest was going up and down. I attempted to call the pediatrician, but after 30 minutes or so, I decided to just take her to the ER. Mommy instinct was RIGHT! Her O2 levels were in the low 80's, so she was definitely in need of some oxygen. The triage nurse even mentioned that her nostrils were flaring-a sign of Katie trying to get oxygen. The docs put her on O2, and things seemed to be ok. They did a RSV test and a chest x-ray. Results were RSV was positive and she did have right sided pneumonia. While Katie was still on O2, her O2 level dropped to the low 70's. At first the nurses thought it was just a "lead" problem, and tried on new leads and what not, but no, it stayed in the 70's. It was very scary to watch. I felt like I was reliving that November night back in 2006 when she crashed. After a very tense five minutes or so, the docs/nurses were able to get her #'s back up to an appropriate level. They proceeded to move us to a room closer to the nurse's station...............seems Katie is always doing something to get attention! :) I have to laugh b/c the ER nurse came to me afterwards and said, "She scared the SH*T out of me!" That is my Katie-ALWAYS keeping the nurses on their toes! :) After talking to the pediatrician, we decided it would be best if Katie was transported to CHOP. She is doing okay. She is still on O2, taking Orapred, breathing treatments every 2 hours........and we're still trying to keep her temperature down. Tom has stayed there the past two nights w/her........and Nick and I visited tonight. I miss my little girl.............I hope she comes home very very soon! :)