Emma went to the Beach!!!

Well we did it!! We took our princess to the ocean!! She's a champ I tell you! She was such a great little traveler, I think she did better then the adults! LOL!! We broke our trip up into two parts. We left at 6 am on Friday morning and made it to GA and then on Saturday we made it to FL!! The only times we had to stop was to feed and change our precious girl. She smiled, laughed, slept and cooed pretty much the entire time! There were a few moments of fussiness but then like I said the adults were fussing too!!! We stayed in Sanibel Island FL. Its a beautiful place and this time of year its almost completely vacant! Which is wonderful for those of us who can still travel at this time of year. Albeit its hot but was very enjoyable. I'll leave you with pictures because that pretty much explains our whole trip!

Thank you for your prayers for mine and Peter's peace of mind while on this trip. For us it was a hard call. I know we can't keep Emma centered around Cincinnati Childrens her whole life, so I was glad that we went so she can experience these things!!!! Please continue to pray for our precious baby girl, for her continued health. Please also pray because on Sept 19th she has to have a sedated MRI. I believe I told you one of her doctors is concerned with a decrease in movement in her legs. So the MRI will tell Dr. Stevenson if there is anything wrong. PRAYING that there isn't and that she is just showing us her strong will.

Also, our local chapter of the Spina Bifida Coalition is hosting a Walk 'N' Roll on September 28th at Miami Whitewater Park. We'd love to have you join us for the walk, if you can't join us though please consider donating to this great cause. The local chapter can benefit Emma specifically in many ways, now and as she gets older. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated!! Our team name is Emmavators and if you feel led to donate here is a link... http://www.sbccincy.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=5229. Also if you'd like I am selling t-shirts as a fundraiser. You can contact me if you'd like to purchase one. They are 15.00 a piece!!

Now onto the pics!!!

She was modeling her new ladybug suit!!! 

She was deep in thought! 

This little girl LOVES her daddy!!! 

I promise she didn't help him eat a slice! 

Look at her PRECIOUS facial expression in this picture! 

First look at the ocean! 

So deep in thought! 

Diva! 

Putting her toes ONLY in the water.

Taking her morning siesta on the beach! 

She became infatuated with the palm tree that was right outside our patio! 

I think she wants to eat the burger! 

Baby kisses are the best!!! 

Clinic update!

Hello again, and again I've not held up to my end of the bargain... OOOPSSS... sorry...

Ok so I like this idea of GIF's!! They are fun!!! 

Anyways, where was I? 

Emma is amazing! Like you already didn't know that. We had clinic on last Monday. That went fairly well. Dr. O came in first and said that Emma was looking good. At our last PT appointment Nancy had said to ask clinic about possible OT because she didn't seem to think Emma was grabbing and reaching for things enough. Well according to Dr. O, Emma is doing just fine. In my mommy mind I agree. I think Emma is going to be more social then interested in toys, (save us some money kiddo). I asked Dr. O about us going on vacation and she said she see's no reason why it'd be an issue. She said if her shunt were to malfunction we'd have time to get back to Cincy which has always been my plan anyways. 

Then Dr. Vanderbrink came in. He's Emma's urologist. The week leading up to clinic I am supposed to keep a diary of her output. Well I did that, on my phone though, so while we were waiting for her ultrasound I put it onto paper. Doesn't matter that it was a paper towel. LOL!! Dr. Vanderbrink didn't mind. He said that we should continue on with her cathing every four hours until we have her urodynamics which is in November. However on the flip side, we are able to start cathing her at 9 pm and then putting the little one to bed. Right now she is still eating at 11 pm and being cathed but I have to wake her up to eat so I think she'd be able to eat at 7 pm and then go to bed, but the doc doesn't want her going more then 10 hours with out being cathed so we compromised. 

Last but certainly not least was Dr. McMahon. She is the physical medicine doctor. She also agreed that Emma doesn't need OT at this point. WAHOOOOOOOO, however she did notice that she thinks Emma has lost some movement in her left leg, which could be indicitive of tethered cord or syirnx. Both of which if serious enough could result in a surgery. We always knew surgery was in our future we just weren't thinking about it at 4 months of age. She called Dr. Stevenson, because she didn't know if he'd be comfortable with us going on vacation with this new possibility. It took some sorting out and communicating but it turns out... 

WE'RE FLORIDA BOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I mention that I love GIF's!!! Emma will have to have an MRI when we return but we have his blessing to go on vacation!!! 

Like always we ask for your continued prayer. We ask that you pray for Emma's health in general along with her SB health. Please pray that her shunt continues to function as it should and that she doesn't get an infection. Also please pray that she doesn't develop symptoms from her Chiari, and that she doesn't have anymore seizures. Also please pray for traveling mercies as we venture to FL and that Emma stays healthy and happy all the time but specifically while we are so far away from our beloved doctors. 

Thank you everyone for your continued support. It means the world to us!!! 

She loves her fingers. 

I was making our bed and sat her in my body pillow. I think she rather enjoyed herself. 

All clean!

We stopped at the Nike store just to check it out, I think these are a little big! LOL!!!

An update from the Hendrickson's

Ok... so I didn't meet my goal of every two weeks, not off to a good start here. We have just been enjoying the summer. Hanging out. Since I last wrote there really hasn't been to much happening on this side of the web. We haven't really gone anywhere. We did however just have a HUGE festival pretty much in our backyard. Every year our township hosts a festival with a really nice fireworks display. With the way our house is in relation to the park sometimes you feel like your the one lighting the fireworks. We kept Emma inside though for fear that it would be to loud for her little ears.

On the doctors note, we saw Dr. Pan for one last time. There was a pesky stitch that just wouldn't dissolve. He gave me a couple different options. 1) I could just let it dissolve on its own (annoying) 2) I could cut it myself to make it flush with her skin (UHHH..... NO) or 3) we could just go in and he'd remove it (ding ding ding, folks we have a winner). He gave her a once over and said she looked great and that he didn't need to see her again until her 1st birthday.

We also had an appointment with her regular pediatrician. Our little chunk weighs 15 pounds and 13 ounces, which is the 83%, but she is 24 and 3/4 inches long, which to her credit is in the 61%. So she's not to disproportioned, lol. She also got 4 shots :( although I guess on the bright side of SB she didn't feel it. The nurses always comment on how they'd love to have her as a patient all day, she's such an amazing baby. The good doc also noticed that she is beginning to get her front teeth. This makes it very apparent that my little newborn baby girl isn't so little, or newborn anymore. She will always be my baby girl though, even when she's 30 I'll still try to cradle her, have you read that book I'll love you forever? Well in there is a picture of the mom sneaking into her son's room as an adult and holding him. That'll be me although less creepy. LOL!!

We have a vacation planned for our family at the end of August. This is very gut wrenching for us. We want to go to FL, we want Emma to have her first beach experience, but at the same time we are kind of struck with the what if's. What if her shunt malfunctions, what if she gets an infection. What if this and what if that. We know that God is in control and he is going to provide and take care of our girl but as her parents its our job to worry and to try and plan for every scenario. Her neurosurgeon said that he doesn't need to see her before we leave either (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH), we'd feel 10 times better if she had an MRI right before we left, but that's why he gets paid the big bucks, because he knows what is good for our girl. So if you all would say an extra prayer for this, just that our hearts are calm and that we make the right decision. I know we can't spend our entire lives around Cincinnati Children's and I know that Emma needs these experiences, but could Dr. Stevenson (neurosurgeon) just come with us?

I probably sound like a broken record with our prayer requests but these are what we weighs on our hearts. Please continue to pray for Emma, for her general health along with her SB health, that her shunt doesn't malfunction or get an infection, that she doesn't suffer with symptoms of her Chiari, and that she doesn't have anymore seizures. Also please pray for mine and Peter's vigilance as it relates to Emma's needs.

Thank you all for your love. support and prayers they mean the world to us.

She loves her bumbo! 

This is just to show that she is such a wiggle worm. She starts over to the left and somehow in the middle of the night works herself this way. 

Loving her fingers. 

Just chilling.

She is loving life in her exersaucer. 

Had to get a few with Charlie. 

She is LOVING her fingers!