Cardiologist Appt

We went to Montgomery today for our cardio appointment. Sophie was not happy even though nothing that they did hurt. I guess now she is thinking that everytime she goes to the doctor she is going to be stuck or catherized!!! They did an EKG and Echogram. The doctor said she has two Innocent heart murmurs. He said that she was fine and cleared for surgery. I looked this up on the computer and Innocent heart murmurs are very common and do not cause any physical problems. He checked her PDA and it was closed. So finally some good news with Sophie....now if we can get rid of the bladder infection and get our surgery over with.

Sticker Queen

Sophie had a doctor's appointment today. She was not to happy to go back and sit in the tiny little room. So we played with stickers while waiting for Dr. Freeman to come in. She put at least 25 stickers all over her dress. So when we got home the fun continued. She fell asleep sitting straight up on the couch while I handed her sticker after sticker. I love the one sticker on her head!!!

Sophie's urine was very cloudy today and they are doing a culture. She has not felt too good the past two days. She now knows how to tell me that her stomach hurts and she likes for her Daddy to rub it. Please pray that she will feel well until Dec 2 or that they will move her surgery date up. We are not anxious for her to undergo surgery but this is the only way she will feel better.

Sophie's Dedication

We had Sophie dedicated at church today. She wore her Chinese dress and carried a bag of Cheese its!!!! You don't take the girl's food away from her. I had the Doritoes hid so she would not ask for them. At least the Cheese its aren't so messy!!! She would lean around Justin's shoulder and get her a bite throughout the dedication. I was just glad she was not crying!!!

I chose this day for her dedication because it is the day after my Mom's birthday. She left me 10 years ago to go and be with the Lord. I miss her so much!!! If it is at all possibe, I just know that she helped the Lord orchestrate this adoption. She would have adored Sophie. She died when I was pregnant with Joshua and it makes me sad that she is not a part of my children's lives.

Our friend Tim sang When Love Takes You In by Steven Curtis Chapman to a slide show of pictures of Sophie from the orphanage until now. Thanks Michelle for doing that!!! It was so sweet!! Thanks Cynthia for decorating and cooking!! We are so thankful that God chose this little angel to be a part of our family!

This is the face that Sophie makes when you tell her to smile!! She is such a silly girl. She is feeling much better and has had a really good week this week!!

Dr. Freeman called me today and said that Dr. Joseph does not see the need to move her surgery date up so it is still set for Dec 2. This is probably best. Hopefully the antibiotics will continue to do their job and we can have some good quality bonding time with Sophie before she has to undergo another hospital stay. She is giving me hugs and kisses this week and it feels so good to have her little arms tight around my neck when I am holding her. Now, my back doesn't agree and is a little sore!!!

We have an appointment next Tuesday with Dr. Freeman to check her urine and we go to Montgomery Friday to see a pediatric cardiologist to have her PDA/heart murmur evaluated before they will put her to sleep for surgery. Enjoy the pictures of my silly girl!!!!

More hospital pics

Sophie got very attatched to this wagon in the hospital. Not only did she nap in it, she also slept in it one of the nights that we were there!

Restful Night

We had a very good and restful night last night. Sophie and I were both very happy to be at home. She has played all day and has gotten in the bathtub 3 times today. It is just so much fun to see her enjoying the bathtub since she was so terrified to get into the bathtub while we had her in China.

We have had a productive time of bonding this past week. I just hate that it was under the painful conditions that she has went through. She really leaned to me and Ricky for comfort. I was scared that she would be angry with us and regress. She is now calling me Mommy!!! Such a sweet sound to my ears. I think she finally gets it! She will ask for which ever one of us that is not there. She seems to realize that we are a family. She like to tell me "this is mama's car" "this is GeGe's car" "this is Baba's car' "this in not Daisy's car" She is really taken ownership of all of us being together. Daisy is our dog!! They have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes Sophie tolerates her and sometimes she doesn't!!

Sophie is speaking more and more English everyday. She still speaks Chinese and sings little songs in Chinese. It is so cute. She likes to say "poor little baby" and "naked baby" . She can say Joshua very clearly. She is learing to sing her ABC's minus a few letters.

We are home!!

We left the hospital around 6:30 this evening. We had to finish a round of IV antibiotic and wait for the doctor to come and release us. Thank you all for your prayers and concern for Sophie.

Hospital Update

Sophie is feeling so much better this morning! Praise the Lord!!!! She perked up at 2:30am this morning and wanted out of the room so we went for a stroll and ate some ice cream..yum!!!! She is up and walking around the room and they are going to disconnect the fluids this morning and she will only have to be hooked up when she receives her antibiotics. This will give her much more freedom to move around. It is so wonderful to see her back smiling and talking. She never sat up yesterday. She was so pitiful. Dr. Freeman came in this morning and said that x-ray and ultrasound looked fine and she hopes to send us home some time tomorrow. She is going to be in contact with Dr. Joseph and see if it is possible to move her surgery up. She will be on antibiotics everyday until she actually has the surgery. This bladder infection is mostly the result of the VCUG that we had in Birmingham. They catherized her and ran a dye up through her bladder and kidneys for that test and because of the seriousness and abnormalities of her condition, it has resulted in another severe infection. We are thankful that the antibiotics are working and that we are moving in the right direction to get healed!!!

Seeing how much better she feels this morning with such a bladder infection encourages us all that she will be the happiest girl when she is completely better!!! Once again, thank you all so very much for your prayers. We are blessed to have all of you in our lives!!!!!

Pray for Sophie

Please pray for Sophie. She has been admitted to Flowers hospital room 223. We had a bad night last night with what I assume to be bladder spasms. The medicine they gave me for that didn't seem to help her last night and then this morning she had blood in her urine. We spent the day at the ER and got into a room around 4:30pm. I am not sending out an email so I am hoping that everyone will get this post and pass the news along. Her whtle blood cells were elevated to 28000. They have done an abdominal xray, and bladder ultrasound.....more blood work and she is on IV antibiotics. She is so pitiful. We are so thankful that the Lord gave her to us at just the right time to get her the medical care that she needs but our hearts are heavy tonight as we see our little girl suffer the fear of strangers poking her and seeing her regress. She is allowing us to comfort her though. Thank you all for your love and concern for our little princess.

Appointment Updates

We are back from our Birmingham trip. Sophie had a busy two days of doctors. She is going to have surgery Dec 2. We met with Dr. Joseph today and confirmed that the right kidney does not have any function and it is backing up with urine. They catherized her today so they could run die through her bladder and take an xray. They collected 750cc of urine. I was amazed!!! And so was everyone else!! Her right kidney and ureter are extremely large and this is causing her belly to look so large and feel so hard. This is pushing on her bladder and her left kidney causing other problems as well. He said the only way to fix this problem is to remove the kidney. We scheduled the first available appointment. In the meantime, we will be checking on the heart murmur that the doctors at the International Adoption Clinic found. They will not put her to sleep until this is seen about. While at the IAC, they had to stick her in both arms to draw blood because her tiny little veins roll. They took eight different vials of blood. My poor baby!!!! It was a great time of bonding for us though, she allowed me and Ricky to comfort her and that is a very good sign that she is progressing in a positive way. She was ready to see her GeGe though!!!!!

Birmingham

We have appointments in Birmingham on Wednesday and Thursday. We will be visiting the doctors and therapist at the International Adoption Clinic on Wednesday and then we will go and see Dr. Joseph (pediatric urologist) on Thursday. It will be a long two days for the princess.

More Beach Pictures

Sophie had a great time at the beach!! She did not enjoy posing for the camera. She was too busy playing.

Day at the Beach

We are at the beach this weekend and the weather and water is beautiful!! Sophie loves the ocean and the pool. She was not too sure about walking on the sand but just like everything else, once she got used to it she was walking and throwing sand everywhere. She is having a great time and feeling much better!!!

Test Results

We got a good report today!! Praise the Lord!!! Her kidney function test came back normal. This is great news that there is no damage to the left kidney and now we will go and see the pediatric urologist to see what needs to be done to correct the abnormalities. We don't have our appointment yet but I will let everyone know as soon as we do!!! Thank you so much for the prayers and sweet comments and emails. I am blessed to have wonderful friends and family!!!!!!

Kidney ultrasound

Most of you know that Sophie's special need has to do with her kidney and intestinal surgery. It was our understanding that she might be missing her right kidney or just have a portion of it. We went yesterday for her scheduled ultrasound and there is a right kidney but it is nonfunctioning and filled with fluid. They sent us to CT for a full abdominal scan. We then had to go to the pediatrician's office for blood work and a urinalysis. These results show that she has reflux into her left kidney, enlarged ureters, a severe bladder infection, a distended bladder and right kidney...this is why her little tummy looks so big and tight.

So with all that said, we are waiting for our blood work results and this will tell us if there is any damage to her good kidney. This will determine if we go to a pediatric urologist or nephrologist. Our prayer is that there is no damage to the left kidney and everything can be fixed surgically and she will live a normal life. She got two shots of antibiotic, one finger stick and two sticks for the IV during the CT scan...she had a rough day...but she insisted on going to the ballgame with her Daddy last night and so off we go across the street and I could tell she felt much better and the antibiotics must have started working. She was very happy and running around and even sat in the lap of one of my friends!!! My poor baby has been through so much over the past month and all this with a yucky bladder infection that she has most likely had for a while!!! She is a strong little girl. God has great plans for her!!!!

Sibling Love for the moment!!

Preschool visit

Sophie and I visited the preschool today for chapel and she even went into her room for a good 15 minutes and painted with her classmates. She even let one friend be attentive to her without pushing him away. Progress!! I am so excited to think how much she will change with another months time. Not sure when we are going to actually go back to work and school but we are hoping for it to be sooner than later!! I think she will learn a lot by being around other American children. She might even teach them a little Chinese!! :)

A friend emailed me this verse today and I want to share it with you. This is what I have been clinging to for the past month and I really didn't even know what book of the Bible that it was in. I just knew it to be a verse in the Bible. It was sweet confirmation to receive it in an email today! "Weeping (grieving, my added word) may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning!!" Psalm 30:5
Our morning may be several months away but I know that it is coming. The Lord brought this little girl into our lives for a plan and a purpose. She and I have both weeped and grieved together over the past month and we will probably weep and grieve many more days but the joy of the Lord is forever!!! I can't wait for her to experience this joy!!!!

Friends

This is a picture of our travel mates from China, Lily and Gracie. They emailed them to me today. I think that Sophie has changed so much from these pictures. We very rarely see that scared little face anymore. I can tell that her hair has grown too. We miss you Brannons!!!!

Spaghetti and Tomatoes

One Month with Sophie!!!!

Wow!! I can hardly believe that our little princess has been with us one month today. A lot has changed since she was thrown into our arms. She was such a scared baby but seemed to recognize the picture book that we had sent her and found some comfort in the fact that we were the people that she had been looking at. She is doing so much better in our home and interacting with all of us, even me, I am still last when everyone else is at home though!!! She and I are getting along very well when it is just me and her. I get an occasional kiss depending on her mood. I still get the occasional pinch too!!! LOL!! No hugs or any lap holding but she will let me hold her a little longer when I get her out of the bathtub now. I wrap her up in a towel and we sing and dance around. She has come a long way and I am so looking forward to the future. She is so loved by so many people and once she realize that she is going to be such a joy to so many others!!!! God has a plan and a purpose for her. He never promised it would be easy but He has promised to provide our needs. I hope that He uses her in a big and mighty way. I stare at her all the time and still can't believe she is ours and that she is here!!!! Yes I remember how horrible the first week was and how desperate we all were to catch up on our sleep, but I am finally seeing that it is getting better every day. We have a long road to travel and I still appreciate all the prayers lifted up our our behalf. When Sophie crosses your mind or you read this blog just pray that her heart would continue to soften not only to her family but to others that want to be an influence and part of her life. Thanks friends!!! Be patient! She will love everyone soon!!!