A voicemail I got at my lunch break the day after our first ultra sound:

"Mrs. Olmstead we need you to call the office as soon as you can."

Ummmmmm - can we say FREAK OUT!! I just found out I was having a little girl- I should be able to love and enjoy that moment.. well I did, for 16 hours and then my WHOLE world came crashing down on me.

Kate:  "Hi this is Kathryn Olmstead, I just received a message...."

Nurse:  "Oh yes Mrs. Olmstead, is there any chance you have time to come to the office today.  Dr. -- would like to speak with you."

Kate:  "Is there a chance he can talk with me over the phone?"

Nurse:  "No, he would really like you to come to the office."

Kate:  "Ok I will come right now."

Kate:  "Mom, Dad, where are you?"

Mom and Dad:  "We are on our way to Massena... what do you need?"  (as they can tell I am crying!)

So my parents came to the office with me.  We sat and waited for a bit, and then we were called into the office.  My doctor proceeds to tell me that "the ultra sound is showing what appears to be a congenital diaphragmatic hernia."  I instantly start crying- no I have no clue what this means, but I cry anyway because I know it's not good.  He explains everything, and my first question was- "so she will need a ventilator at birth?"

I left the office really confused but still crying.  I had my father explain it to Jerry over the phone and he thought, easy fix.  He was wrong.

I went back to work, full of tears, and told all my co-workers (who are in my office) and they all tried to listen and console me.. but this was way different for them too.  Jerry immediately started researching stuff on CDH.  He came home and I told him NO don't tell me as I can't handle any more information right now.

Our next step was to go to Syracuse for an expert to look at my ultra sound.  They verified the CDH and told me I SHOULD get an amnio.  I was scared - 1. for my baby! 2. for me who does not like needles!  But I did it anyway- and had to wait TWO weeks before we got the results.  That was the worst two weeks of my life. (at that point!)  Everything else was fine, just 50-70% chance of survival... no small deal!  I proceeded to have many ultra sounds, NST's, doctors, nurses, trips to Syracuse.. and you know the rest.

I am reliving my diagnosis this month, every single day as last year at this time, I cried EVERY SINGLE DAY!  There was not one day in October that I went cry free.  It took me a long time to come out of depression from this diagnosis and I even had a little melt down last night from it.  Just reliving how it all played out- and how I was told, what I did, how I took it.. and none of my preparation was good enough for when I actually got to the hospital and lived it.  I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.

Oct. 1st - ultra sound (it's a girl!!)
Oct. 2nd- appears to be CDH (ps- she may not survive!)
Oct. 9th - it's def. CDH and we recommend you get an amnio! (yikes!)
Oct. 9th-22nd - No other problems! (phew!)
Oct. 22nd-31st Just deal! (which I could not do! took me about 3 months and I didn't talk to my family for quite some time.  My rents went to each appt. so they could relay info to my siblings and friends!)

ugh! Stupid October!

I guess we are still in a little eating slump.. she won't take more than 5, and that is a surprise.  She mostly eats 4 oz.  She does however eat her whole jar of stage two foods.  Near the end she gets a little fussy- and mostly on JUST the last bite she purses her lips at me... but um, Kayla, I can't stop with ONE bite left... :) haha So she gets that bite whether she wants it or not!  She eats breakfast and a dinner, so two 4 oz jars and I'm ok with this :)

She is getting the RSV shots- 6 of them, at $30 bucks a shot- Not bad considering the shot without insurance.  We hope to start that very soon- just waiting for a call from our ped's to say come and get it.

K loves her Let's Move Baby Einstein DVD- there is a cute video of her watching it- yes I like to catch K at every moment I can on camera or video. :) I think it will be neat when she is older and can see all of this too.  And in the background you can hear the tv say Stand up Tall- and a few seconds later, K does.. lol yes she is in her walker- and there is a pillow underneath so she can touch the ground.. but she does :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We did a fall photo shoot on Columbus day- we went to Nina and Papa's as they have nice big trees that shed a lot of leaves.  K LOVED it.. there was so much for her to look at. :)

Fall into love.. <3

I guess K does not like Mac and Cheese (stage 2) ... she would eat from spoon but always take forever to swallow it. So I stopped after a quarter of a jar and switched to Sweet Potatoes, one of her favorites, and she ate it with no whining! :) Silly girl!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Naps:  The video shows K crying (bc she doesn’t want a nap) and Dakota (one of our cats) coming over to check on her (as if I wouldn’t).  And the other one is of K waking up from a nap and watching Daddy.  She makes this hissing sound, so when Jer or I do it, she does too. You can’t really hear it on the video but she was cute! J

Cookies:  She does a great job getting the cookies out, but won’t put them back in.  And I really think she gets mad when she doesn’t grab the green triangle.

Ps:  still in the feeding slump… but I’m being good, and attempting to be less stressed about it.  As Patty says, it’s not good for me or K.  J  And I know I do a lot of video’s buttttttttttttttttt I love them! J

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are still in the slump- stupid eating slump!!  She even added to the mix when she vomited a bunch (one time) on Wednesday!  That totally freaked me out.  But she never had a fever, nor acted sick, wasn't crying, so I'm assuming it was reflux.. went down the wrong tube..? She even ate a jar and a quarter of banana's after!

So we are guessing how much she'll take each time.  Sometimes she'll want to stop at 1 oz.. other times she'll take 5 oz.  Most of the time she'll take 3 or 4 oz.  So we just feed her more times through out the day now.  She has not taken 6 oz in a week and a half.  And she seems to do better in her chair or other device.  Weird.......But we are wasting a lot of formula bc we never know how much she'll eat.  It's frustrating!  When does this slump thing end?  When will she just eat.. and continue to do well with it?

Other than the whole eating issues- she is still learning how to do new things.  She is almost 7 months old (Oct. 4). She is getting better and better with sitting up.  She only needs one pillow behind her- she often likes to bring things to her mouth and tends to lay back at the same time.  And if she decides she is done, it's rather quick, and she throws herself back in one of her hissy fits!! Other than that, and a few side falls.... she sits up nicely for  a long time.  She must have a toy IN FRONT of her.. if it's on the side.. she is too! haha  On Wednesday she rolled over from back to belly for the first time.  I missed it, but thank goodness my mother-in-law is amazing! :) She taped it for me!! And in the pictures with the phone- she was talking to NINA who just returned from China .. her and papa went to China for a vacation- and K was excited to hear her!:)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please pray for the newest addition to our CDH Family- Baby Andrew!! And for baby Jaime to get healthy so he and his mom can leave the hospital!!