2 Kidneys!

Yesterday we went to Springfield again to meet with the urologist. We had an x-ray of Grace's kidney that was taken in Bulgaria after she was injected with some dye. It clearly shows only one kidney on the left and nothing on her right side. The doctor wanted a sonogram to verify that there is no dead tissue on her right side that could cause problems later on. To get Grace all primed for this event we told her that the doctor was going to take pictures of her tummy, so she kept saying, "Ne, boli...No, hurt...Smile!" whenever we talked about the doctor.

When we arrived and checked in to SIU medical center, they reminded us that she was supposed to have a full bladder. Well, for her, full means that she didn't go in the last 30 minutes and she was begging to go to the bathroom. The receptionist took pity on her and sent us to the restroom with directions to start rehydrating right away, which we did.

Grace was really confused when her smiling face didn't appear on the monitor, but she sat motionless while the technician rubbed the sonogram jelly on her stomach. They started with her left kidney and found that it was 7cm x 3 cm x 2 cm which is slightly larger than would be expected in a child her size, but perfectly normal for a child with one kidney. Apparently your body compensates well. The screen lit up in multiple colors which showed the blood flow, and little pulses of urine were entering her bladder...All good news!

Then she started looking at her right side and said, "There is another kidney!" She reminded us that just because it is there, doesn't mean that it is functioning and continued searching. Shortly after, she showed us the bright colors again that indicated that she indeed had blood flowing to that kidney which measured 4.5 cm x 2 cm x 2 cm. She also found urine flowing from her right kidney into her bladder! The right kidney was working, too.

We couldn't stop smiling as we walked to Dr. McKenna's office and we taught Grace to hold up two fingers and say, "Two kidneys!" She was clapping and excited right along with us. Some day she will understand that when it comes to kidneys, two is a really great number!

Dr Saunders met with us and said that she would consult with Dr. McKenna and get back with us on whether we need to do anything else for evaluation...From the information in Grace's Bulgarian medical report, she said she would have expected to see a child in a wheelchair with a tracheotomy...Everyone is amazed at her resilience. She also told us that they are going to treat her as a child with one kidney, with yearly sonograms to evaluate continued function. I asked if the right kidney would continue to grow and she said it was damaged and would remain small. They are watching it to see if it continues to function.

Hmmm...I usually like to look at all possibilities so that I am not caught unprepared. In fact, Adam, Blaise, and Vince would probably say that I am negative because I can always see three things that could go wrong in any situation. I call it realism. Expect the best, but prepare for the worst...but this time I asked the kidney question just to set up the miracle. So far, everything that we were told to expect about Grace has been wrong. She doesn't have vision problems, hearing problems, COPD, asthma, night terrors, hoarding behaviors, unrealistic fears...She had only one functioning kidney a couple of years ago and now...2!!! Next January, I am already expecting that her right kidney will be larger. I think God likes to do miracles like that.

Helping?

I really am having trouble keeping up with the blog. You would think it would be easy since I am home all day now...Gracie loves Mommy's computer and even makes the cutest clicking sounds when she pretends her book is a laptop computer. If I leave it unattended for a second, she has typed strings of letters. I only seem to be able to work on it if she is in bed, but I'm always tired, too.

Grace loves music, but especially the Wiggles. I had never heard of them until I picked up a CD at the library. They are funny and I find myself humming their crazy songs lyrics like "Fruit salad, yummy, yummy" and "Mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes..." I even heard Adam complaining that he was humming one of their songs and couldn't get it out of his head. Grace especially likes to pretend that her little broom is a guitar (she calls it a guitara) and always talks about Vince (who let her play his guitar when he was home). She also asks to watch the "monkeys" who dance around in costumes on the Kid Songs VCR tape that the boys watched when they were her age.

Grace is getting better with books, but she still wants to turn the pages and talk more than listening. Every day she says, "Mommy Daddy, listen" and grabs the book out of our hands. I guess she has heard us say that a few times to her, too. Her favorite book is Go, Dog, Go which was also one of the boys' favorites. She loves to say, "Hello. Hello. Do you like my hat? Good-bye." She also says, "Good-bye" to every character on the pages and points to all of the dogs in the cars and says that they are members of the family..."Twonah (we think that means, "this one is") Daddy, twonah Gracie, twonah Adam, twonah Grandpa, twonah Aunt Terri, twonah Uncle Larry, twonah Paige, twonah Grandma...Some of the pages have 15 dogs on them and she will name every dog on the page.

We realized that Grace is doing more charades and pointing than learning English right now, so we have really been working on getting her to use useful phrases. It is pretty funny to watch her pretend to wash herself with a wash cloth and point to the linen closet; grunt uh-uh, puno, puno (full), and point when she wants a full glass of juice; and make swishing noises and arm circles when she wants to wash dishes, but this isn't going to help her to communicate in English. Right now we are trying the "repeat after me" modeling approach. Any time she wants something we make her say it. So we have been using these phrases a lot:

I want to...(go outside, go potty, water, etc.)
Help me, please.
Please give me...(more juice, a spoon, gloves, etc.)
Come here, please.
I don't want...

She loves to help with everything and wants to do everything that we do, so I'll let the pictures tell the rest of this story... 

Notice how I did such a nice neat job with the blueberry muffins! They were fun to stir but I like plain wheat bread and butter best.

I beg to do laundry every day, so that I can fold it. I folded this whole pile all by myself. She will even tell Mommy, "Vees (look) good job" when she is done.

I help Daddy feed the squirrels, I mean birds. One day we had five squirrels at the feeders at one time. I count them and call everyone to the window to look. Usually all of the yelling and excitement scares them away.  I even ask if the squirrels are sleeping when it gets dark and they aren't there.

I love any kind of eggs...Hey, that party egg is supposed to be on the plate, not in your mouth. Be careful,

that's Mommy's finger...

At least once every day (even Sundays) I beg to go to the mailbox with Daddy while Mommy stands at the front window so that I can wave at her from the driveway. Going outside is always fun and each time I say, "Oooo, it's cold outside!"

I like to shave with Daddy. (No, there is no blade in the razor...) I also like to take a shower instead of a bath just like Mommy and want to read a magazine while I sit on the toilet...Too funny.

Road Trip: College

Since Mark is off work until the end of January, we decided to head to Marion, Indiana to visit Vince at Indiana Wesleyan University. Grace loves to ride in the car, but except for our first trip home from the airport, she hasn't ridden in the car for more than about an hour. We also would be staying in a hotel for the first time, which required packing a blanket, pull ups, several changes of clothes, baby shampoo, swimming suits, and the potty chair. (We learned our lesson after the gas station incident from the last post.) You should have seen Grace's face when she told us she had to go to the bathroom and we pulled off to the side of the road, sat her on the potty chair in the back of the van, and wiped her hands and behind with the baby wipes. She was so disappointed. She loves bathrooms and couldn't believe that she didn't get to try out yelling/singing in a new bathroom to hear her echo or waving her hands to get paper towels to magically appear from the dispenser. Later on she told us, "Ne pishka in the colata!" Which means "No, pottying in the car!"

Although we all loved catching up with Vince and one of his friends, Jake, Grace's favorite part of the trip was swimming at the Comfort Suites. When we walked into the vacant pool area, she squealed with delight. She loved her suit, the steps, the ladder, holding our hands to jump in, kicking her feet, blowing bubbles in the water, and watching Vince swim under the water. The water was really warm, but she didn't want to get out when she was shivering and all shriveled up. She even counted to three with us, went all the way under the water 5 or 6 times and got her hair completely wet. She wasn't afraid at all.

We were told by adoption books and our coordinator that it would take a long time for her to trust us, but as long as we were holding her hands, she would jump right into the water. She even "swam" between Mark, Vince, and I and tried to paddle her arms and kick her feet. She will be begging to go to college everyday now. Mark and I needed to go home to sleep, though. The next time we decide to stay in a hotel, she will not be sleeping in the king bed with us...We woke up this morning (no, we would have to be asleep to do that) with her head in the middle of Mark's back and one foot thrown over my head. She didn't fall out of bed, but we both took a beating. Tea was a necessity with breakfast, an interesting message at College Wesleyan kept us awake at church, and Starbucks and Diet Mt. Dew helped Mark make it home.

Note to myself:  Get a roll-away for the next trip.

Okay, so which one is cheesier?

Where is that Gas Station?

We need a rocking chair! Frequently, I am spending 20-30 minutes at night holding Grace and rocking her while I am sitting on the bed. I am exhausted. (No comments about the workout program that I was going to start a few months ago...) So, we checked out the local furniture store, 4-6 weeks to order one...We tried Springfield and found a glider and ottoman at Oak Express...no lifetime warranty, but half the price and it should be here in a week. Grace, like usual, was great on the trip and didn't mind our short stop at Children's Place and the food court at the mall. She loves the garlic rolls almost as much as Mom and Dad do.

Even though we stopped at the restroom in every locale, Grace said she had to go to the bathroom right after the last convenient exit. Sometimes she just wants to check out the hand dryers and automatic faucets, but this time, she seemed a little panicked, so Mark took the first exit we came to, Mechanicsburg. The sign said there was a gas station, but when we turned off and saw the arrow pointing toward a dark country road, we started to worry. A few miles down the road, we were relieved to see lights and a gas station, but as we got closer we realized that it was closed...

Improvise...I took out the fold up potty chair and Mark and I devised a plan. I'd hold the plastic seat by the side of the van and Mark would hold Grace (in the freezing cold) with her pants around her ankles. All Grace had to do was buy into the idea of going potty outside, hanging in the air next to the van...No problem... except for the fact that Mark decided to try to keep her feet up so that she wouldn't potty on her shoes, which made her potty on top of the plastic seat, over onto my hands, and down onto my shoes. Way to go... By the way, she thought it was funny going to the bathroom outside and those baby wipes have many great uses. Oh, and the dark figure going to the bathroom behind the gas station wasn't really making a statement about advertising your store on the highway and then being closed at 9:00 PM, he just had to go, too.

My Own Bed

When we finished bath, teeth brushing, books, a drink of water, and two trips to the bathroom last night, Grace told us "Leka noshte tukay" which means "Good night, there" and pointed to the twin bed in her room. Up till this time, she has been sleeping in a toddler bed in our room and last week she started taking naps with Mommy in her own room instead of in our room. We aren't sure whether she just got confused and thought it was nap time instead of night time, but we decided not to argue. She went right to sleep and slept all night...The only one in the house who got any sleep, though, was Gracie. I listened to her every breath on the baby monitor, checked on her 5 or 6 times, and was sitting in her room when she woke up this morning.

I sure hope that I can stay awake for the post placement visit today. Jane, from Lifelink, is supposed to be here at 10:00. It is funny how stressed I was about the home study visits before we adopted, yet I have hardly thought about this one. Sure, I'll clean the bathrooms and vacuum, but dusting will only happen if I have time at the last minute. Pretty much, that is is how I usually clean. Start with the big smelly parts of the house and work my way to as many of the smaller things as possible. If I'm lucky dusting happens often enough that you can't write words on the top of the shelves. :-) Since our previous 2 social workers with Lifelink quit shortly after meeting with us, I'm wondering if Jane is worried...

More Family

We were so glad that Aunt Kay and Uncle Tom took a side trip from Mason City today. Grace has been practicing recognizing everyone from the pictures on the refrigerator, but even though she was anxious to answer the door, it took a while for her to warm up.

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for lasagna that Blaise helped me make and, yes, Gracie likes it almost as much as bread. No, Tom, none of us got sick on Blaise's pan, either. It didn't take long before Grace was showing off and playing her favorite game, "Where's Gracie" with Aunt Kay. By the end of the visit, everybody got kisses and hugs, and tomorrow we will be bombarded with questions about whether Aunt Kay and Uncle Tom or Grandma and Grandpa will be coming again...She loves visitors!

Mr. Snowman

After this wonderful snowfall, today it was finally warm enough to actually enjoy the snow. Gracie acted like it was going to bite her feet at first, but it only took a few steps in the crunchy fluff before she reminded me of Ralphy in A Christmas Story. She was bundled up in so many clothes that her arms wouldn't even hang straight down at her sides, and she plodded around making tracks all over the yard. Really, I think Blaise and Mark had more fun than she did rolling the huge snowballs for the snowman, and Adam and Blaise had their usual snowball fight/wrestling match...Now her Snowy Day book will actually make sense to her. We all just wish that Vince was here, too.

Mama, gushmi! (Pick me up!)

See my snow angel.

The "V" is for Vince...Your brothers really miss you.

Truly a Miracle

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3: 20-21

Miracles, Miracles

Every time I have tried to write this blog entry, I have been unable to find the words--only tears. It is funny how God truly gives you more than you could ever imagine or hope for. When we began the adoption journey, we were worried about special needs. We read about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and institutional delays, so we decided (like most adoptive parents) that we wanted a child as young and as healthy as possible. Through the home study process and years of looking through adoption profiles on Rainbow Kids, God slowly changed our hearts and we were able to ignore the naysayers (our home study social workers) and applied to adopt a child with special needs who was older than age 3. Even though Grace's medical report is lengthy and confusing, we were certain that we were supposed to adopt her...a decision made entirely on faith. I'd like to say that we never looked back, but I remember the day we received a new detailed medical that included several new diagnoses...the fears resurfaced along with the tears. Did she have cystic fibrosis, was her one kidney failing, did she have COPD and permanent deteriorative lung damage? I wish I could say that we knew God would heal her, since this little girl had stolen our hearts, but we didn't really expect that to happen. I guess sometimes my faith just isn't much bigger than a mustard seed...

After our positive experience with the urologist...we headed to the pediatric pulmonologist, Dr. Shafi. The first good news...She is 36 inches tall and weighs 26 lbs. She has grown nearly 3/4 of an inch and gained 1 1/2 pounds in a month! Dr Shafi talked with us for about 15 minutes, reviewed Grace's chest x-rays and the MRI from Bulgaria, and reviewed her medical records. He estimated by her weight that she was born at 26-28 weeks gestation, and fired off a list of questions: Does she have trouble sleeping, does she cough a lot at night, does she choke frequently when she eats, have you noticed rapid shallow breathing, do you know if she or her birth mother received steroids?  No, no, no, no, and no. He also commented on how she followed his directions well, colored with a crayon, and had good coordination, and told us to expect that she will be delayed in development because she is not really 5 yet physically. Then he examined her chest and listened to her heart. He looked at us and said, "I don't hear any crackling or wheezing at all. Most of the children I see who were born this prematurely are on oxygen support because of lung damage." He explained that her oxygen saturation level in her blood was better than his at 99!

I guess he didn't even believe it because he wanted to take a photo of her chest, consult with another specialist to determine her need for more tests, and sent us for an EKG to see if her chest deformity is affecting her heart. They may send us for another MRI of her chest to compare to the one from a year ago to see if her chest deformity is improving. Dr. Shafi thinks that her sternum is in the correct location and that since the ribs are pliable and growing, they may straighten as her lungs expand and grow. He doesn't know if she will even need surgery in the future to correct the deformity as long as her chest is not affecting heart function. Even though it was way past lunch time, we went straight to the SIU lab for the EKG. Gracie was so good, she didn't even fuss when we postponed lunch and only had a few pretzels and water while we waited.

At first, Gracie was a little frightened by the "stickers" that the doctor was putting on her chest for the EKG, but as soon as she realized that they didn't hurt, she was fine and tried to count the 15 or so connections...1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10... Well, she got it nearly right. As soon as the EKG was finished, after about 30 seconds, the doctor said, "Well, her EKG is normal!"

At this point, Grace's diagnoses merely helped us find her on the other side of the world. They seem to be a reminder of how God watched over her and sent angels to Bulgaria while she was alone in the hospital for nine months. He sent caring women to look after her in the orphanage and love her while she was waiting for us to come. So far, her medical report appears to be merely her history and not her future. I can't wait to see what He has planned for her next!

Dressed up to go to the doctor.

We had a great day, and I wore my favorite jacket.

"Potcorn" to celebrate

Mommy and me

Boli Mi!

Today, Gracie decided that she could get loads of attention by being hurt. In fact, she seemed to be amazed that we would give her an ice cube wrapped in a wash cloth for a bump or a kiss her "owy." She complained of "bolis" on her two thumbs and index fingers and wanted to be held or lay on the couch with band-aids on her fingers off and on all day. Of course, she had a miraculous healing at nap time when she wanted to be able to suck her thumbs again. "Nyama boli..."

During bath time, she even took her rubber ducky, wrapped it in the wash cloth, and found imaginary "bolis" on Daddy and Mommy's arms that she could put the fake ice pack over. She even kissed the hurt places and made sad faces while she said, "Oh, boli...." What a sweetie.

Note to myself: Buy more band-aids.

A Visit From Baba and Diado

Gracie loved church today since Daddy was singing on Praise Team! She liked watching him, but really she liked seeing him on the monitor more. There is something about his face on the screen that she found fascinating.

She is so good in church! She sat on my lap most of the time and drew on the bulletin until she got the idea that she could leave early if she went to the bathroom. Mommy has figured this one out now, though, so for the first time I told her "later" and hoped desperately that I wouldn't end up with wet corduroys. Yippee! She made it. The trick is going to be to figure out when she really needs to go and when she is just bored. Good luck with that...

Since Mark had to sing in the next service, too, I decided to take her to Sunday School to see how she would react and she loved it. It was obvious that she is used to being around lots of children and even though she didn't understand much of what was being said, she copies the actions of the people around her very well. When the other kids sat on the rug for the story, so did she (as long as I sat next to her). When they went to the play area, she loved the slide and followed the helper to try to catch the kids coming down the slide who were twice her size (even though we went to the 3-4 year old class.) When they said it was time to go back to the room for the snack, I interpreted for her and she went right to the table and sat down. Boy was she confused and disappointed when they passed out a paper and crayons first. She asked me where the snack was, too, but she sat and colored until the leader started collecting the crayons. Then she was finished and walked around the table to "help" collect the crayons. When it was time to leave, all of the other children left the toys on the floor, except Gracie. She walked around and picked up all of the fishing pole toys and put them back into the little treasure chest container. I think she is going to love going to school once she gets over being scared of being away from me.

After going out for Chinese, Grandma Baba and Grandpa Diado came to visit and brought her belated birthday present, a wagon filled with blocks! She liked pushing, pulling, and sitting in the wagon and the blocks were a real hit because she can build these huge (gulyam) buildings with flowers on the top. She loves Baba and Diado and even started calling them both Grandpa...Oh, well, she also says "There she is!" anytime she looks for and finds something...She is really picking up English more everyday. In fact, she is mixing English and Bulgarian so much that you have to really listen carefully to see if there is anything deciferable in her speech. It goes something like this: Blah, blah, blah, tomorrow. Blah, blah, shoos (shoes), aaaaaa, blah, blah, bath ootray, later. Oh my goodness! Blah, blah, blah, molia pleeeeeeeease...nahsdraveh, bless you...Blah, blah, washing machina, dah? Ootray? Dah? Blah, blah, blah, blah, Blaise ee Adam ee Vince otivame in the car, Baba Diado, to dom Gracie Daniela, potcorn? Neskum (no more)? In fact, I just read this aloud to Blaise and Gracie said, "Ne, potcorn...Baba Diado, ne potcorn..."

I'm 5!

Even the winter storm warning and the 7 inches of snow didn't keep us from celebrating Grace's 5th Birthday! I'm not much of a party person. The boys will testify to the very few "friend" parties that we ever had as they were growing up. Just like I remember from my childhood, birthday parties are family affairs. Grace's first party was no different. Vince was going to leave on Friday, so we had to have the party midweek, which excluded my sister's families since both of them are teaching. The storm kept Grandma and Grandpa away, too. We just didn't want Vince to miss it, so we had a small group...Mom, Dad, Adam, Blaise, Vince, Aunt Terri, Uncle Larry, Aunt Sara, and Rachelle.

Mark picked up the cake and called me from Walmart...the face on the cake doesn't look like Mickey Mouse. Somehow, the lady (who said she could put Mickey Mouse's face on the cake) thought that Mickey had pointed ears like a rabbit. I wish I could have seen Mark (who hates conflict) trying to explain to the lady that he wanted her to make the ears round. Mental Note: Don't get a cake from Walmart next time...It really didn't matter, because when we asked Grace who it was, she told us "Mickey Mouse" so at least she recognized him.

This girl learns really fast. At Christmas time, she only wanted to throw away the wrapping paper. But this time she saw the stack of presents and wanted to unwrap them. We had been singing the Happy Birthday Song all day and practiced so that when you asked her how old she was she would tell you 5. She liked the "Happy Turay" song and even blew the candles out one at a time to applause. Adam looked up in the phrase book to see how to say "Happy Birthday" in Bulgarian and we tried to explain to her that it was "Chestita rhazden den." She always smiled, but we don't know if she just thought we sounded silly or if she understood. Grace liked blowing into the party favors and spit through about 4 of them during the party. I'm sure she will finish off the other tomorrow.

She loved her presents: Beanie Baby turtles (in honor of her first English word, "turtle) a fancy sticker book and an Alvin toy, Duplo blocks, a wooden puzzle, a new matchbox car (to replace the car from Dustin that she lost for a couple of days and finally recovered), a play Leap Frog cell phone, and a push popper. She is so expressive, so her facial expressions in the pictures really tell the story. She loved everything from her outfit (she tells us she is beautiful all the time) to blowing out the candles one at a time. She pretended to vacuum with the popper while she was multi-tasking and talking on the cell phone. The cake and ice cream were okay, but she really doesn't love to eat a lot of sweets.

She traded her play phone for Terri's real phone during the party and figured out how to call Penny on her own. Then she babbled on and on in Bulgarian, put her hands on her hips, said "ummmmm," and walked around like Mommy. What a hoot! No, boys, she won't have her own real cell phone at age 10...

After everyone left and Terri almost got stuck in the snow getting out of the driveway, Adam helped Grace build a "structurally sound" building that allowed for the lego man to stand on the balcony. She loves playing with her brothers, but she really didn't seem to care whether the guy fell and crashed down 10 stories. He is made out of plastic, you know...

I hope she has happy memories of her first party.

First Haircut

I just couldn't stand those uneven bangs, so we got a hair trim. Even in pink, she has been mistaken for a boy a few times, so we want to grow out her hair a little bit. Hopefully this will help it to be more manageable. She has a really thin spot in the back where she rubs her head on the headboard of the bed when she rocks that gets tangled easily into a knot, so we will have to see if we can get it to grow out. I wanted to save some locks of hair, but there was so little cut off, that we couldn't put together a lock. It does look a lot better, though. What do you think?

The Urologist and Pictures

Grace had her first pediatric specialist appointment today in Springfield. Dr. McKenna's nurse practicioner met with us and did a quick examination of Grace and reviewed her urinalysis and blood work. This is the specialist we were most concerned about seeing because the Bulgarian reports about Grace's kidneys were conflicting. The orphanage director said that she had a laser procedure, but no surgery and the Embassy physician said she had reconstructive surgery on her urological system. Big difference! We may be getting more tests later on, but the NP said there was no urgency at all. She said that all of the tests looked good. In fact, she said that from the x-rays and tests results from Bulgaria and the US show her kidney is functioning well. She thinks that Grace had a kidney stone in the middle of the kidney that required surgical removal. She is going to consult with a surgeon and the doctor and will get back with us for a follow-up appointment.

I feel so relieved. She suggested that Grace refrain from boxing and football, but said that other sports were fine. She also was really pleased that Grace is doing well with toilet training and said she did not expect that she would be dry at night now anyway because of her size.

Well, to celebrate we went to the mall for Italian food and stopped at the play area. Grace loved going down the slide and kept putting her hand out for other mothers to help her and pay attention to her. When we told her it was time to go, she said "bye-bye" to everyone and walked away with us without a fuss.

We also finally got her some more clothes (I love sales!) at the Children's Place. She was really tired of having clothes pulled on and off over her head, but we actually found out what fits her: She needs a 3T in a blanket sleeper because she is fairly tall, an 18 month size in a skirt, and a 24 month or 2T in a dress. She really needs 18 month size pants, but they are all capris on her, so maybe dresses are the best bet. She has started being very opinionated about what she wears and begs for "roklia" which are dresses. Maybe she is sick and tired of tugging on her pants, too.

After shopping and the playground, we decided to go ahead (since she was all dressed up) and see if we could get some photos at the Sears studio. No one was waiting and we didn't even have a comb, but the photos are really cute. This is what she really looks like. Of course we bought so many photos that we now own the copyrights, so I can share. Don't bother trying to print your own copies, because we bought quite a few to pass out anyway.