Jet Lag, Phone Calls, Strep Throat and an ER visit

That pretty much sums up our first two weeks home!

Well, we made it home! The flights from Hong Kong to Chicago to Greenville/Spartanburg were fairly uneventful. Rebecca squealed loudly a couple of times and slept maybe 1.5 hours in a 24 hour period. God, of course, heard our prayers and our flight landed in Chicago one hour early so that gave us even more time to make it through Immigration. Everything with Immigration went quickly and before we knew it, we had our luggage checked again, made it through US security (by the way, having a baby prevented me from having the full body scan! Bucky was not so lucky), found our gate and ate an AMERICAN meal...Chili's never tasted so good.

It was so good to see my mom and our boys when we landed at GSP airport. We had a crew of church members waiting for us at baggage claim as well. We made it home about 5:30 and Becca was asleep by 6 and me and Bucky were not too far behind. Becca's first few nights home were rough. She would go to sleep between 6 and 8 pm, wake up at midnight and play in her crib til 5am and then I would get up with her and give her a bottle and start our day. Thankfully this only lasted two to three nights. Her normal routine now is to go to bed between 8 and 9pm, wake once in the night and need a little comforting and then sleep until 6:30 or 7am. I can't complain about that schedule.

Becca is a sweet, precious baby girl! We have seen her transform from a scared, overwhelmed and confused baby to a peaceful, relaxed and happy baby. This past week heard more jabbering, noticed her copying us (she mostly likes to fake cough if she hears us cough), received an unsolicited smile and today Sasha taught her how to make the Indian sound by patting her hand on her mouth. He showed her how to do that in the car today and tonight, while getting her pajamas on, she began to do it.

I have spent a lot of time on the phone the past two weeks. I have been speaking with our insurance agency, BabyNet (South Carolina's early intervention program), Children's Rehabilitation Services (service providers for special needs children), and the pediatrician's office. We have many evaluations and doctors to visit in the next few months/years. My calendar is filling up and I am trying to not get overwhelmed with all I still need to do to get her the help she needs.

On Saturday my throat began to hurt and I assumed it was just sinus drainage. When I arrived home from church on Sunday, I was running a 101 degree temperature and feeling BAAADDD. I felt so bad that I told Bucky he HAD to take ALL the children with him to church that night because I just couldn't care for them. I was in to see the dr at 9am Monday morning and I tested positive for Strep Throat. I was secretly relieved that it was something as serious as Strep because then Bucky would know that I was not kidding. The doctor offered several days of antibiotic pills or one big shot. I took the big shot and was feeling much better about 36 hours later.

On Tuesday, Bucky and I took Becca to her first pediatrician appointment. Her head circumference and height are in the 5th percentile and her weight is in the 3rd percentile. Because of her small head size, developmental delays and other concerns, the pediatrician is scheduling a sedated MRI on Becca's brain. We will hopefully have that done in the next month. The pediatrician also said she had a double ear infection. We knew she would have ear problems because the her plastic surgeon told us that 100% of his cleft palate babies have tubes in their ears because of chronic ear infections. Becca was prescribed Amoxicillin. WELL, we now know she is allergic to Amoxicillin. About 45 minutes after administering the first dose the porcelain skin on her ears, cheeks, nose and chin turned bright red and hot. I called the on call nurse at the pediatrician's office and she called the on call dr. The dr said to give her Benadryl and take her on to the ER for monitoring. So, around 9pm me and Becca left for the ER. The ER monitored her for a while, prescribed her a new antibiotic and released us around 11:30pm. I am beginning to wonder if my life will ever settle down.

Bucky and I really appreciate everyone who has brought us a meal, folded laundry and bought diapers and wipes. We are truly blessed to call you all friends. Please continue to pray for us!