pre-op and pre-school

As I write this, the clock is turning over to midnight, and a new day. August 14th to be exact. Miss Reese is now 2 months old, well technically 23 hours and 59 minutes from now she will be. In the morning we are headed to see her pediatrician Dr. Moore for her "well baby" check-up. However, instead of getting immunizations, my sweet girl has to have pre-op lab work done. :( I'm feeling so sad for her right now. I know there are probably a million parents out there who would gladly trade places with us, but this is breaking my heart. Reese appears to be absolutely perfect; chubby cheeks, roly-poly thighs - this baby sleeps 10-11 hours everynight...straight through. How could there possibly be anything wrong with her? It just seems so unfair that someone so tiny and innocent should have to go through such a serious operation. I found out the official name of her procedure and I quote "left upper pole partial nephrectomy". I got a two-page letter from Children's this weekend with info regarding her surgery, and follow-up appontments. Mostly, it's a very generic letter letting me know that an anestheiology nurse will be calling 2 days before her surgery. Her pre-op labwork includes a urine culture, CBC with differential, Chem 8, and UA with microscopic. Yeah, I can understand exactly 1 of those things, thanks for the details. I'm guessing that she'll have to have another catheter and a blood draw, but I don't know for sure about the cath, hoping not since she loved the last one so much. I hope this really is harder on me than her. Never before have I so badly wanted to trade places with someone. If only I could just take away all the pain for her. I'm doing my very best to stay strong and steady for Cal and Charlotte. They know that Reese will be in the hospital, and I'm trying to prepare them for that without scaring the bejesus out of them. I feel so bad that this is supposed to be their special time, starting pre-school, and this mess is over-shadowing it. They are so excited to start, not a day goes by that they don't talk about it. I guess the silver-lining here is that I don't really have time to cry over my babies headed off to school. Although, I have found a little! How are they this big already? Such is life...don't blink, right? Thanks for all your kind words, Amy

Sweet Reese

I started this blog to help chronicle the lives of 2 very special little people, Charlotte and Calvin.  Since the last time I posted 1 million years ago our sweet little family has been made that much sweeter by the birth of our own little peanut Miss Reese Madilyn. Her entrance into our world on 6/14 @ 11:59pm was one of the most perfect moments of my life.

Reese Madilyn Parker 



As many of you now know, Reese and I spent most of Tuesday at Children's Hospital in Omaha to check on her kidneys.
*background*

During a routine 20 week ultrasound, Wes and I learned that our sweet baby girl had a dialated kidney. (think pupils, just larger than normal) My wonderful OB (Dr. Ben Ryder [no relation to Flynn from Tangled, Charlotte asked] referred us on to a high-risk specialist Dr. Barsoom who had a high resolution ultrasound machine. We saw Ryder on a Monday 2/13 and Barsoom Wednesday 2/15. At the level 2 u/s we were informed that not only did Reese have kidney issues, it also appeared that she had thick folds at the back of her neck. These 2 "markers" are considered strong indicators of Down Syndrome. We were then given the option to have an amniocentesis (extremely large needle into amniotic sac for fluid containing baby's DNA) to determine if she did indeed have Downs. Wes and I at this time were very distraught, how could this be? Do we take the risk (which was very minimal at that stage of pregnancy)? How do you make an informed decision in 10 minutes? We asked Dr. Barsoom what to do and he explained it to us in 1 sentence (not the best bedside manner). "Is that something you want to find out on when your baby is born?" I decided that no I didn't want to spend her birthday greiving over what might have been, I wanted to be prepared for whatever challenges God chose to give us. The amnio was over in minutes and then the real waiting began, it was an agonizing 24 hours before we got the call that our little girl had just the right number of chromosomes; and that 24 hours has put everything else into perspective for us. After the big scare, we continued to see Dr. Barsoom every 4 weeks to check on what we now knew was a dialted kidney caused by a blocked ureter. The ureter is the tube that drains the urine from the kidney into the bladder. Everything about my pregnancy and delivery was normal, I just had more ultrasounds during pregnancy.

After Reese was born, they preformed an ultrasound on her tiny little tummy to get a better look at what was going on. The report this time said that she had what they call a "duplicated system". Mostly this means she possibly had an extra ureter and that ureter was blocked. At that time the plan of action was to hurry up and wait. Our pediatrician Dr. Michael Moore, World's Best Pediatrician (again no relation, no one asked, he's tiny and bald - not fat and hairy) referred us on to pedatric urologist Dr. Donovan (again terrible bedside manner) the best in Omaha. Dr. Donovan prefers to let the baby grow about 8-weeks before doing another ultrasound and some more thorough testing, which leads us up to Tuesday.
 

Before we left for Children's - my happy girl



Tuesday, August 7th, Reese and I made the trek to the Children's Radiology dept. for 3 tests followed up with an appt with Dr. Donovan himself. The first test was just another ultrasound. Reese relaxed on her back while the tech did her job and then rolled over to her tummy (which she absolutely loves) so the tech could get images from the back side. While this was going on, I was definitely paying attention to the monitor, and I could tell that she had not outgrown the problem like we had hoped. The ureter was HUGE. The second test was to determine just how well her kidneys are working. It basically involved placing an iv (not fun) and catheter (even less fun) and strapping her to a board over some kind of machine that reads nuclear output. The radiologist injected some nuclear reactive medicine into her iv and then we waited to see exactly how well her kidneys and ureters were working. I was told that the medication is completely rejected by the body and will go straight through without causing any harm. The objective of this test was to determine how much of the work each kidney is doing, and then further, in Reese's case, how much work the top of her right kidney was doing compared to the bottom. At this point it looked as though her left kidney was functioning normally (more on this later). The test was fairly easy on my little peanut and she took a little snooze while the medicine did it's work (about an hour and a half-ish). On to test number 3 which I will be referring to as the "terrible-awful" for you Minnie fans out there. The "terrible-awful" test is called a VCUG. The test is used to determine if Reese's kidneys have what they call reflux (think heartburn for kidneys). The concern with reflux is that if she does have it she will be prone to all kind of infections, because the upwards flow could force bacteria from the bladder up through the ureters and into her kidneys. To preform this test Reese was again strapped to a board with huge pieces of velcro. This time though Reese had a little fun with us, she decided that now would be the perfect time to pass a little gas (wood plank, tiny bare bottom, you get the idea...lots of echoing going on in the x-ray room). The tech then informed me that we were now going to strap her arms up by her ears; this is when the sh*t literally hit the fan. My little "lady" pooped all over that awful board! She didn't feed it to them like Minnie in The Help, but she did let em have it. She was MAD, and everyone knew it. The VCUG test involves pushing fluid up through the catheter into her bladder and taking several x-rays of her bladders and kidneys to determine if the fluid was moving in the wrong direction.

sleeping beauty

After all the tests were over, I was sent with a disc containing everything about Reese's condition, to Dr. Donovan's office. The appointment was scheduled for 3:50 the elusive Dr. Donovan made his appearance around 5:15. Dr. Donovan got to work explaining exactly what the results from all the testing were. It turns out that our little peanut butter cup got really excited when it came to growing ureters and grew 2 on each side. Her left kidney, aka the good kidney, has what they call Grade 1 reflux. Dr. D assured me that there is a 90% chance she will outgrow this, and not to worry about it. Apparently Grade 1 is nothing to worry about, it's just something we're going to keep our eye on. The right kidney is the trouble maker. Each kidney is supposed to do 50% of the work. From the kidney function test we learned that the left (good) kidney is doing 52% and the right is doing 48%, so far so good. Where we run into trouble is that the top portion of her right kidney is doing less than 16% of the total kidney workload. That tells us that the upper portion is not as healthy as the rest of the kidney because it is draining into the blocked ureter.
Dr. Donovan, who specializes in cases just like Reese's, referred to this ureter as "ginormous" and "ectopic", meaning it's huge and it isn't connected to the bladder like it should be.  He then told me that our best plan of action is to have surgery to remove the top unhealthy portion of her right kidney and tie off the rogue ureter. He said in some cases he can attach the ectopic ureter to the bladder, but Reese's ureter is as large around as her bladder making it impossible to connect the two. According to Dr. Donovan, this situation is a terrible infection just waiting to happen. His analogy was, "if a doctor notices that a persons appendix is swollen during a different abdominal surgery he just removes it, because the appendix will burst eventually." So even though Reese does not have an infection now, she will inevitably get one. Dr. Donovan, who will also be performing the surgery, explained that the recovery from this surgery will be much easier on Reese while she's young and not as active as she will be when she's older. Reese is currently on a daily dose of amoxicillin to keep any infections at bay.

The "terrible-awful" test



As of now I only know the date of the surgery is August 22 (2 days after the twins first day of preschool and the day before picture day) and she will spend at least one night in the hospital. As I get more details regarding recovery etc. I will try to update here to keep everyone informed. Thank you all for your kind words and support. This week has been overwhelming, and it's nice to know we have so many great friends and a supportive family behind us.

The Short Story

What's Gonna Work?  Teamwork! - 20 times daily

Cackeroni Lunches - 2

Daytime Pull-ups - ZERO! (even naptime)

Rainy Days - 100 billion

Rooms Painted - 1-ish

Paint Kidtastrophes - 1 (thank you Cal)

Happy Families - 1 (the Parkers)

Parkers who will soon be living on PARK St. - 4

Berry Merry Christmas

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pretend this was posted weeks ago

On a not so recent trip to Minnesota the Parker family took in a fantastic FOOTBALL game (Vikings vs. Seahawks) AND the Mall of America; a partnership made in heaven!

Calvin and Charlotte were more than thrilled to play with Gramma P at the hotel while we went to the game.  Then, Sunday it was ALL about the twins.  Beginning with Nickelodeon Park in MOA and ending with a thunderstorm in the Rainforest Cafe.  The kids got to meet Diego, Charli loved The American Girl store and Cal was in heaven driving anything he could find.

I was personally over the moon to see Brett Favre...a living legend...drop back into the pocket and play some football.  A good time was had by all!

love.

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whoah. this is for real.

love is remembering.

time well spent

As Wes begins his new career path: Truck Driver...duh duh duh...class starts tomorrow, or today...depending on what time I finish this :) We decided to get in one good FAMILY day at the zoo.  The twins were in Heaven...I know I've mentioned the elephant love happening at our house right now, and boy did we ever have some fun on Pachyderm Hill.  Our sweet little girl tried to call the elephants over by lightly clapping her hands and saying "c'mere elephant" over and over.  Alas, it did not work, but I do have it on video and it may be the cutiest video EVER!  I love her!

Cal was the man about the zoo - zooming this way and that.  He is happiest when he's allowed the freedom to explore.  Giving that freedom can be slightly difficult when "zooing" it with the masses in extreme heat, but he had a fantastic time.  He LOVES to watch all the animals.

One of our favorite stops today was the fish bridge.  Both kids were having a blast feeding the fish.  "They're hung-wy Mama!"  What a day for making memories!

Checking out the "Raffes"

Daddy and Cal - doing what they do

Mama and Charlotte - feeding the "hungwy" fish

elephant "glee"

Let me just spread the word:  elephant

Our house is filled with trumpeting elephant sounds and every elephant movie possible right now!  Miss Charlotte has made it her new favorite animal and can't stop talking about: ELEPHANT!  Calvin is of course more than delighted to toot right along beside her.

Also: Can we have some more cuteness than watching your twin 2-year-old sweeties hold hands and dance  along with their new favorite TV show?  That's right...I'm raising "Gleeks"!  You should join the fun :)

(There is supposed to be a video here)

better than all the rest

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The Short Story

Here's the abbreviated version:

• # of "wet" underwear: COUNTLESS
• rooms smelling of urine: 3
• new pairs of shoes for Charlotte: 2 (cutiest EVER)
• baseball bats for Cal: 4 apparently you can never have enough
• on the hunt for: "Cars" Lizzie (the old lady), Frank (the Combine), and Red (the Fire Truck)
• # of nights Cal has gotten into Charlotte's bed: it would be easier to say how many he hasn't (2 that I can recall since we took down side rails)
• # of Cheeto's lovers: 3 (Wes eats them but apparently does NOT love them)
• dr. visits: 1 (foreign object in mama's foot) VERY scary to hold 2 2-yr-old kids on your lap when a dr. is using a scalpel on your body! :)

Flashback Tuesday!

besties from the beginning

chicken nuggets and cheetos

My Monday went a little something like this:

• I did not shut off my alarm this morning and reset it for 1/2 hour later...no NOT me!
• I most certainly did not load up on caffeine to make extra certain I would be a productive employee on this rainy Monday morning...definitely not me!
• There is no way I was the one shamelessly posting our photographers blog all over facebook...I'm 100% confident that was not me! (in case you're interested:  http://creativeimagesandco.com/blog/?p=320 )
• And, you can be certain, I did not look up the previously mentioned website while on company time.  NOPE that was not me.
• I did not bring home chicken nuggets and  baked cheetos for dinner, because that would be VERY unhealthy; I am confident that was NOT me!
• Also, can I just say that I did not indulge in Cookie Crisp for dinner for myself...that would be absurd, and that's why I know that was NOT me either.
• I can tell you honestly right now that I am not going to go upstairs and take a picture of my sweet twins while they are sleeping in the same bed because it is RUDE to use flash photography on precious snoring toddlers.  I would NEVER do that...for sure, not me.
• And one more thing...I am not waiting for Saturday to buy a Father's Day gift, because I am a woman and we are prepared!  Procrastinate....ha...not me.

potty training squared

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 = Parker Potty Training Bootcamp

I was sucked in by 1 Lora Jensen: "Potty Train in only 3 days" she said....This lying snot woman clearly has not met children with the will power of my twins.  We began the big ordeal event Saturday morning with hopes of being fully trained by Monday evening.   Wes and I were totally on-board, we CAN do this. We read every line of the e-book Friday evening, we were armed with 30 pairs of underwear for each kid with super fun characters, bright colors, and even boxer briefs for Cal just like daddy's.  We were loaded up with rewards from stickers to "memmys" (Charlotte's sweet word for m&ms).  I had curly ribbons on the m&m jar, fun froggy soap, and Nemo and "Ween" big kid wipes!  nothing.  nothing. nothing. Nothing that is except for 60 pairs of wet underwear, floors, and dad's recliner to scrub.

By Monday, everyone was exhausted; poor little Charli was sobbing she was so tired.  I can say that they Charlotte has learned to "hold" it for hours.  We have toned down our crazy idea of training for nap and bedtime all at once, and have succumbed to the evil empire of pull-ups.  I can't bear to put them back in diapers after so much work.

Today, "happy Tuesday" as it will forever remain in my mind, was quite a different story.  After getting the kids out of bed, and getting Charlotte dressed for the day (in big girl pants) she came running to me "wet...wet...mommy" I found that she had wet her pants again.  I sat her down on her little pink potty chair in the kitchen, and while I was getting clean pants for her...I heard the sweetest sound of the weekend "WOAH!"  My big girl finally figured out what we were trying to get her to do all weekend, and was she ever PROUD!  High Fives all around, she even shared her "memmy's" with her little brother.  (enough to bring tears to my eyes).

With all the quality time / constant supervision, I was able to take some pretty cute pictures of the 2 cutest butts the world has EVER seen!

 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday to the BEST Daddy in the world!!!

Our Daddy is the best because:

W - Wonderful - Our Daddy is so wonderful because he will take the time to let us explore.

E - Easy Going - We are the luckiest kids alive, because our Daddy has tons of patience.

S - Super Dad - Our Daddy is super because he would do anything to make us happy.

L - Love - Our Daddy is the best, because he shows us how much he loves us everyday.

E - Early - Our Daddy is the best because he wakes up very early; and sometimes very late.

Y - Yay - We learned to say Yay! at a very early age, because our Daddy knows how to have fun.

P - Playful - We have the best Daddy ever, because he is never to busy to play with us.

A - Admiration - We really admire our Daddy, and hope someday we can be just like him.

R - Ready - Our Daddy has gotten really good at getting us ready in the morning - ponytail and all!

K - Kisses - We like to give our Daddy kisses - his are the best, because they tickle too!

E - Excellent Eggs - We think Daddy makes the BEST eggs ever; we always eat them all gone.

R - Regular - Our Daddy might seem like just a regular guy, but we know he's the BEST!

The Short Story

Wes got a new JOB!!  WOOO HOOOO!  I'm so proud!

Days until W is my age: 2 (now he can stop calling me old)
Trips to the Omaha Zoo: 2
Days until potty training begins: 28 (AHHHHH!)
Charlotte's newest counter find: Oreo Cake

my silly boy

Calvin Franklin
aka: Cal, Calvy, Buddy, Pal

My Calvy; my sweetie pie boy.  I love his fantastic laugh and the way he can fill an entire room with it.  He is a perfect example of what little boys should be.  LOUD and messy, quiet and sweet.  He is such a small little guy, but boy does he know how to get things done!  We're both convinced Calvin will be quite the athlete, and I know his Daddy LOVES playing catch with him.  Calvy especially loves to swing a bat or golf club, with what appears to be quite good form! :) (to my biased eye anyways)

Calvin is the cuddly guy in this family.  He LOVES his Daddy and pretty much follows him everywhere.  Cal especially loves mowing the yard with Wes.  I think though that if we would let him, he would sit in Wes's old red car all day and "drive".  He's such a curious little person; everything must be turned and pulled and investigated.

It's hard to get any pictures of Calvin, he's an elusive little man when he's awake...always on the go.  There is never a dull moment when this little gift from above is around!

Cal's all-time favorite indoor activity is finding a car, and making anything a road.  He plays all by himself and is completely content to just drive and drive.  No interruptions, PLEASE!!
























Calvy's Main Man: DADDY!!

He loves Wes so completely it melts my heart.  Obviously I would love some Mama time once in a while, but I couldn't be happier that he loves his daddy so much...I do too!  I am very glad that he has a twin sister though, or I might be a very sad mama.

Cal is such a happy boy...he's always giggling about something!  And let me just say...his laugh should be bottled up and sold.  It is the MOST terrific join-in-laugh since his Uncle Paul.  When Calvy is laughing...everybody is laughing!  This little boy is sure to be the life of the party.