Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Heading home to Xian

I have been in Shanghai since December 21 and I am sssoooo ready to go home. Helping the babies to get surgeries is such an important part of what I do but I have to tell you I do not like being in the hospital. I am always so happy when the babies are ready to go home.

As you know Dr Bao wanted me to bring both Kaitlyn and Jack up to Shanghai so he could do the surgeries. They had been at Starfish only 10 days. On this trip I have been reminded of the importance of betting the babies ready for surgery by helping them to get strong and healthy through nutrition.

This was surgery 8 and 9 with Dr Bao and we have not had any problems so far but this time Jack got an infection. After the surgery to remove the sack he also had a shunt put in. After surgery, he had a high grade fever which later went to a low grade but it did not go away. Dr Bao had to take the shunt out again yesterday. The plan is to keep him in the hospital for a while longer and so I decided to go home with Kaitlyn. Jack will then be at home until March and then I will come back with him for a new shunt. Kaitlyn did well in spite of her low weight. The MMC circumference was 38 cm when she had surgery and her head almost 33 cm so you can have some idea of how huge the sack was. She continues to wriggle around, more so than any baby I have ever seen. We decided to do an EEG to see if she could have cerebral palsy but the test came back negative. She has been really hard to feed when you hold her and two days ago I discovered that she loves lying in the stroller and will drink 3 or 4 ounces at a time even though it takes her a while. Kaitlyn also had a shunt put in but that has not caused any problems. We measured her head and after almost a month with me her head is now 34 cm. She has this really long little body and I am hoping to see some significant weight gain in the coming months.

Christopher is doing really well. He is getting so big. He got a chest infection while I was here and he fought it of with some medication. He did not land up in the hospital and we were all so happy about that. He continues to see the doctor regularly. The critical time is 6 to 9 months for him and so far he is doing. I am not sure what the next steps are but we are going to need to find out how we can help him.

Thank you so very much to my motley crew who are always so supportive when I am in Shanghai. You help me so very much and I am so grateful for all your love and care. I makes such a difference to me.

Dr Bao is going to be with Dr Lazareff in LA for a month in February and I hope that he has a wonderful time there.

I am eager to see the babies at home and I have missed them so much, especially my little tail. Antoinette. I know I am going to be mobbed when I walk in the door. I am always amused when people want to take pictures of the kids when they pile on me. We justt do group hugs!!

Life, Love and Laughter,

Amanda
Starfish Foster Home

1 comment:

Paula said...

Thanks for the update. It just breaks my heart to see those little babies in hospital beds. I pray that they will gain weight and get strong.