An Inconvenient Birthday

When Phoebe was born, exactly one year ago today, I tried so hard to have her on my sister's birthday (which was yesterday) or mine (which is next Wednesday), but in that funny way that all babies have, she decided to make her appearance when she was ready...not one minute before or after! I thought at the time it was cool to have her birthday kind of wedged between mine and Carrie's, but right this second it's a little inconvenient. Not that I don't want her to have a birthday or her own special day or whatever, but my blog is suffering! I had intended to write a very special "Happy Birthday Phoebe" post late last night or early this morning. It was going to include pictures of her birth and of her now...really a lovely, "make you cry" post. Well, you can see how well that turned out. I can't find her newborn pics. When our computer crashed this summer most of ours were lost and so my sister and mom downloaded the ones they took onto some CD's. I'm not sure where they are off the top of my head. More than likely they are in the cram-it-all-in-there-because-it-closes-and-the-Huddle-kids-will-be-here-in-five-minutes computer armoir in our bedroom, but I haven't had the time to look. Then, the only picture I have taken of her in the last few days was this morning while she was wolfing down waffles. "Why did you not write her special blog yesterday and just save it until today to post?" you might be wondering. Here is why: We took Phoebe to her pediatric cardiologist appointment yesterday. We spent our entire morning there waiting and doing EKGs and chest x-rays and meeting with the doctor. Phoebe DID NOT like her EKG and chest x-ray. For the EKG, I had to hold her arms and legs and head still for a minute! She was less than thrilled. Then for the chest x-ray, the nurse had to completely restrain her which is standard practice for a x-ray on a baby that little. I realize that it didn't hurt her, but it made her hopping mad. I had to stand at the door (because of the radiation) and watch while they trussed her up like a rotisserie chicken (literally) and then flip her all around to get the right scans. Not a great experience for either of us. We were supposed to have a echocardiogram later that afternoon at the hospital. So I met my friend who was keeping Eli for lunch at McDonald's and then headed over there. More waiting. When we finally went for the echocardiogram, Phoebe was having none of it. It's only a sonogram, but she screamed like they were cutting off her foot. When you scream like that, it messes up the "echo" in an "echocardiogram." Needless to say, we didn't get the test done and had to reschedule. I'm a little frustrated because I don't think she is going to do any better another time. She doesn't like people to mess with her...diaper changes, nose wipes, clothes changes, whatever. I don't know if they will sedate her or what, but I am not looking forward to it. The doctor did say that everything he did hear and see was what he expected. Her heart is a little big, but due to the hole, that's expected. She didn't have any pneumonia (he didn't think he would see any), her heart rhythm hasn't changed any, and the blood vessels around her heart are not inflamed. So mostly good...you know, expect for the hole part. In the long term, they are looking at doing surgery to repair it when she is between two and three years of age. It all depends on what changes the hole has made, how big her heart is, how big she is...yada, yada, yada. The surgery will be done either at Cook's Children's in Fort Worth or Children's in Dallas and the timing would all depend on the surgeons there. Developmentally, she'll be fine. He did say that it is not uncommon for babies with these heart conditions tend to have less energy than normal babies. So that's why she is so lazy! After they do the surgery, she'll probably have a lot more and he joked that parents sometimes ask the doctor to reverse it! :) Down the line, she'll probably be more like Eli and then you should all pray for my sanity. It was after 4:30 when we finally made it home and then I needed to get ready for Huddles. Then after Huddles I was tired, then this morning was a mad house...so, no special "Happy Birthday" blog for Phoebe. I'll wait until tomorrow when we have pictures of her eating her very own special birthday cake. The one I need to go bake. The one I am putting off baking because my kitchen is clean and I am completely unable to cook without making a monstrous mess. Oh well, we have to eat again sometime...might as well be cake!