In the Beginning

I have been thinking about the blog a lot lately.  I remember when Bella was first born, I went scouring the internet looking for others who had been in my situation.  I went desperately seeking success stories.  If this blog can help just one other like me then it has been worth it.  But....I think I need to start at the beginning.  So, here is part of how our miracle, Bella, came to be.

It really starts 5 1/2 years ago with the birth of our son Dallin.  I know what you might be thinking, how does it have anything to do with Bella.  It has everything to do with Bella.

Dallin's birth was by far my easiest delivery.  I had 3 hours of labor from the first contraction to his birth.  I pushed for 15 minutes and got to see my chubby 7lbs 10.1oz, full head of black hair (I know crazy) baby boy!  I had some memorable (not all great) moments with him but went home from the hospital feeling pretty good.  Until about 1 week later.  It may get too graphic for some of you so be forewarned. 

I started having abnormal bleeding and a general sense of something not being right.  At 10 days postpartum I went into the doctor and had an ultrasound done.  My uterus, which should have been nice and small, was enlarged with blood and retained placenta.  It was infected beyond infected.  A d&c was immediately scheduled for that afternoon.  I simple procedure, 20 minutes and I would be done and home by dinner.  Uhm, no!

 I was just going to have light medication so that I wouldn't really remember the procedure.  Thankfully, the good doctor giving the meds was listening to the promptings from God because he insisted on knocking me all the way out.  Apparently I had (I refer to had because my uterus is now gone) a vein and artery that were connected in my uterus.  The dr clipped this as he was doing the d&c and I started to bleed out.  In an effort to stop the bleeding and save my uterus the dr scraped the lining of my uterus to deeply.  This right here, is where the miracle of Bella begins. 

After this procedure, life went on fairly normally.  I was at this point oblivious to what the future would hold.  It wasn't until my son was done nursing at 16 months that I started to wonder if we had a problem.  I hadn't had a period this whole time.  The dr. was sure it was the pill that I was on, and once I stopped that and stopped nursing things would go back to normal.  Nope, about 1.5years later, I was diagnosed with Asherman's Syndrome (scarring of the uterus).  I had a sever case.  Over 3/4 of my uterus was scar tissue.  I didn't have a period because I had no lining to build up.  I was given the news that I was infertile.  My heart was broken.  For a whole year, I cried and questioned why I felt like our family was incomplete.  I was devastated to say the least.  However, I came to realize that I had been blessed with 3 beautiful children.  I was lucky beyond measure.  I had decided to go back to school to get my RN license. 

Almost a year to the day of finding out that we couldn't have any more children, I  got pregnant.  It wasn't until a few weeks later that I took not 1 but 4 pregnancy tests....confirming that our miracle was on it's way.

MORE TO COME LATER>>>>

Dallin Eli born 10-16-06

Isabelle Grace born 5 years later on 12-11-11

Update from Facebook

I tend to be on facebook more often then not.  I decided that I would randomly cut and paste some of the posts to the blog:

Having Bella has opened my eyes to many things. One in particular is how I see others. I admit I used to be the one who looked at someone with disabilities with pity. Shame on me! Now when I see someone who may appear different from me, I ask myself..."If this were Bella, how would you want people to treat her?" Guess what, they don't need our pity! They need us to love them and celebrate the little things with them. They need us to see beyond the body that may limit their spirit. We need to see them as God sees them. 

 The other day at therapy a little boy with crippled arms and legs learned to drive his motorized wheel chair.  He was maybe 4 or 5.  He wasn't my son but my heart swelled with pride and tears ran down my face as I watched him smile at the therapist as he tried to run over her toes. I clapped with joy and became a silent cheering section for another little guy trying to learn to eat. I did a little dance of joy when Bella laid on her tummy and lifted her head for the first time. I am humbled and honored to be her mother.  

I am grateful for the moments I have to teach my other children about how they see those with different abilities then what we consider normal. A wise person once said, "people don't really have disabilities, they just have the ability to do things differently."

July at the Price house

Bella celebrated her first 4th of July.  We went and saw family in Paradox.  Abigail turned 9 this July.  Oh where did the time go?  I still remember reading Harry Potter and waiting for the contractions to get strong enough to go to the hospital.  And that I had to shower and do my make-up before we left....crazy!!

Bella has had a tough time gaining weight.  We have started fortifying every bottle again, which she doesn't like very well.  I have also been slowly losing my milk supply so we are trying to get her to nurse at least a few times.  She is strongly apposing this idea but I will keep at it. 

We head to Salt Lake this week to see the neurosurgeon there.  I think he will say......lets give it another month.  Therapy is going well, she has several areas that we are working on but I can already see improvement.  She lifted her head while on her tummy for the 1st time today.  Yeah Bella!

All in all we are plugging along.  Thanks for your love and support.

Having Fun with my uncle Matt and his two girls in Paradox

Just hanging with my Uncle Matt from New Mexico while visiting Paradox, COLORADO this weekend. What a beautiful place. Really enjoyed some time with family-many who had not seen this miracle baby up close and personal yet. She's so beautiful! Becky will be posting some more pics and an update soon on all the positive/negative stuff we are experiencing right now.
Sometimes you just wonder where all the energy comes from to be able to sustain the speed at which we are cruising through life at this time.....ZOOOOOOM! There goes another day, another weekend.
Thank you all once again for the prayers, the fasting, and the emotional lifts and physical project helps to get our house and family in order! We really do appreciate all of you!

Another Update

I am happy to report that Bella's Prilosec is working well.  She is like a whole new baby.  She smiles and coos and eats her bottles.  She will still fight us a little sometimes but for the most part she is eating like a champ again.  Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that this continues.  She is also willing to take larger amounts per feeding.  We are up to 90ml (3 oz) almost every feeding. 

We have also started with a new therapist who I LOVE!!!  She was impressed when she first saw Bella.  She said she never would have guessed that Bella had been through so much just by looking at her.  We knew, but had it reaffirmed that Bella has some pretty significant tightness in her legs.  We are working daily on helping her so that she can continue to grow and meet milestones on her own time frame.

While we were at therapy we saw 2 other kiddos that had serious brain trauma at birth.  One little girl was 6 and she walked with a little limp, BUT she was walking and talking (things they told her mom she would never do).  The little boy was 18 months and walking and starting to say cute words and blow kisses to Bella.  Again, his mom was told he would never do those things.  I teared up right there in the office.  I wanted to go squeeze both of them and their parents and tell them how happy I was.  Bella will walk and talk and be a happy girl.  I know it!!  It might take time and not come in the way my other kiddos did it but it will happen.

In other medical news, Bella is NOT having seizures (yipee).  We do have to go see the eye doctor soon because her eyes, well, they shake or quiver for lack of a better way to describe it.  And she has a lazy eye.  So we will get that scheduled soon.

We will continue to have weekly head ultrasounds and visits with our neuro dr here in town.  Then another follow up in Salt Lake later in the month.

I know I say this every time but thank you, thank you, thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  They mean so much to our family.

I will post some pictures soon.  We have a new pool in the back yard so my three oldest children look like little lobsters (yes, I get the mom of the year award for not remembering to sunscreen their faces).  We even let Bella get her toes wet.....she didn't like it, not one bit!

Prayers continue for her to eat and grow!!