Happy Birthday Girls!!!!

April 29th, 2006 was the happiest day of our lives. 3 beautiful girls blessed us with their sweet spirits and we were finally a family after 4 years of roller coaster infertility treatments. We all know the tale from there. Kelly and I will NEVER forget our sweet Madelyne Rose and Emma Jayne and we look forward to the day we get to see them and raise them. As Kelly mentioned a while back, we have a unique situation in that we get to play mommy and daddy again in Heaven and that is exciting! Happy birthday girls. We miss you every day and we love you very much.
There is one thing I have to admit. During the midst of all that heartache last year, I had NO idea that we would be so happy 12 months later. Abby is everything to us. EVERYTHING. The sun rises and sets with that girl as far we're concerned and her fighting spirit is something I often comment on because it never ceases to amaze me. I am forever thankful that she is still with us. She is our "Little Miss Magic," our "Nugget", our "Burnin' Hunk o Love," our "Abby Girl" just to name a few. And based on her new found attitude that's coming to light, I think "Stinker" and "Wild One" will be names for the future. She's got some energy to say the least!
As far as the celebration of today went, we didn't do much. We are planning an actual party for her for this coming weekend so today we just kept it low key. Abby was in a great mood though, almost as if she knew. I have some pics below to prove it. But before I get to that, I have some updates.
Abby is finally over the vomiting thing and she is eating a lot better these days. She's feeling a bit heavier too. I thought it was just me, but Kelly said she noticed it too. I'm thinking she's pushing 15 lbs right now but we'll have to wait and see. I forget which appointment she gets weighed at, but I'm sure we can toss her on a scale some time this week. And ever since her surgery, there have been some definite improvements with her left arm. She engages it a lot more and is constantly bringing it in front of her to assist with whatever toy she has in her right hand. It's not perfect by any means and she still has trouble actually opening her hand and using her fingers to grab the toy, but the desire is there. And with Abby, desire is all we need! She began to make some new noises today as well. She was all about the "aaaahhhhhh" kind of sound but we were hoping she'd use her lips to make the "B" sound. And she did it a few times yesterday! We heard a lot of "bbbaaaahhhh" kind of sounds. She also has a new giggle which of course is adorable.
On to momma and Eddie. Unfortunately, momma is on bed rest now. Well, semi bed rest for the moment. Her doc wants her off her feet as much as possible She is already having contractions but as long as we can keep them to less than two an hour or so, we should be alright. Kelly is doing everything she can to make sure this happens. So am I actually. And so is Kelly's mom, Kelly's grandma, and pretty much everyone else. All the love and support is very much appreciated. So how far a long is she and how much longer does she need to go? It's breaks down like this:
Kelly is at 26 weeks right now. The first hurdle is 28 weeks so Eddie needs AT LEAST another 2 weeks. Again, that's just the first hurdle but it's not really where we want to be. Obviously the statics of having a healthy baby increase each week, and the stats get really promising around 32 to 34 weeks. 28 weeks is just the time frame when you'd say, "okay, there's an okay chance here." But what we want is, "okay we have a great chance here." And again, that's not for another 6 to 8 weeks from where we are now. We can do it though! Keep those prayers coming!

And finally, here are some GREAT 1st Birthday shots!!!!

We LOVE YOU ABBY!!!!!

A Slow Recovery

Hello From Abby Town,

So where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I promised pics and didn't post them. This is quite the norm for me isn't it? Well, at least you know who you're dealing with here. Just know that I have the best of intentions. Honest! But I get home and I have priorities. I have Abby first and when she gets to bed I have a ton of things to catch up on. For example, I have to be sure to stay up on American Idol. I'm a HUGE Senjaya fan and I was super bummed he got voted off. I think he's just great. I hope he comes out with an album soon. I will be the first in line to buy it. I'm growing my hair out so I can put it in that pony tail mohawk thing he did.

Anyway, enough banter. Down to the goods. Abby has actually been having a rough time. She was vomiting after almost every feed these past few days. This caused major concern because vomiting and irritability are two of the major signs the shunt isn't working. The relief was that she wasn't too irritable. In fact, for the most part, after she threw up, she was all smiles again. We also noticed that when we fed her with the pump at night, we did so very slowly and she was able to tolerate it. Today we decided to scale back on the amount of food we've been giving her and took it slow and steady. And it worked! Hallelujah. She can't afford to be throwing up so often. Abby is under 13 lbs again and we really need her to start gaining weight.
Abby was extremely fussy and high maintenance today and insisted on being held the ENTIRE day. I have no idea what we're going to do when Eddie is here and she's like that. It will be interesting for sure. I can see all the smiles on all the faces of those with 2 or more kids. I can actually hear you all say, "you have NO idea..." Yep. Got it. But toss in the whole G Tube feeding thing too. See, after we feed Abby, we can't just let her roll around on the floor with her toys. We've tried that. She puts pressure on her G Tube which for one thing, makes it red and sore and secondly, it upsets her stomach and guess what happens? That's right. El Vomito everywhere. No to mention all the therapy appointments Abby has to go to during the week. So... we REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE'RE IN FOR. Oh well. That's part of the adventure I suppose!

Enough rambling...

On to the show:

Here is Abby and Mommy at 5:45 AM. Mommy asked for a pink smock but to no avail.



Abby was out for a while after surgery.



Here we are after the surgery. Abby is still very groggy. The mask is giving her oxygen.



And here it is. Thank goodness her hair will cover these eventually. But for now... what ARE we going to do with this hairdo?



Mommy took matters into her own hands and gave Abby a hair cut.



Here is the finished product. Much better!



Abby and mommy taking a nap.

Abby is home!

After I sent my last blog, Abby continued to feel crummy. But after she got some pain medication she was able to sleep a bit. Her doctor came in and adjusted her shunt as well which helped. Without getting into it too much, let me just say that the shunt wasn't draining the fluid out of her head fast enough because the setting was set too low. If the fluid can't escape Abby's brain, it will get backed up and put pressure on her head which can also cause nausea and vomiting. So by changing the setting on the shunt, the fluid was able to drain out quicker.
Later on, Abby was still fussy but she was tolerating her feeding better so her doctor said she could come home. Thank Goodness too because momma was tired. She had been up all night after waking up at 4:30AM from a night of horrible sleep and had been taking care of Abby every single minute. Now that we're home, Abby is still quite a handful and very uncomfortable but she is slowly getting better.

I have some pics of this whole thing and I'll post them tomorrow.

Thanks everybody for your kind words, thoughts and prayers.

Love,

The Abby Management Group

Prayers Please!

I just spoke with Kelly and Abby isn't doing very well. She is very nauseated and keeps throwing up. As we all know, throwing up puts pressure on the brain which is why she screams so much after she throws up. Plus it's bad to put pressure on the stitches in her head. She is getting some morphine right now so she can sleep a little bit but coming home today is not looking good. It's horrible to see her in so much pain.

Pray for momma as well. She needs Abby to get well so we can go home and she can rest a bit. The last thing we need is another NICU stay with Eddie. (that's our boy's name by the way, after his Great Grandfather)

Remember though, this is Abby we're talking about here. She will pull through. That's what she does. But she needs some help. So get to it team!

Thanks,

Ryan

It's been a long day

After my last post, Abby started throwing up. We're told this is a common reaction to the anesthesia. After it wears off they may get nauseated and feel sick. Abby was no exception. All three times we gave her milk through the G Tube she threw it up. Ironically though, she didn't throw up until 2 or 3 hours after we fed her. Tonight we just gave her some pedialite (sp?) water which isn't as thick as the formula. Other than that, she is doing alright. Abby doesn't want to be sick and that much is clear. She was trying to play and smile in the middle of her fits from the pain she was in. She'd laugh, then cry, then giggle again and grab my hand, and then cry again. She is very confused with everything and I just want to get her home to a comfortable environemnt. If all goes well, that will be tomorrow.I came home and Kelly stayed at the hospital in one of those super comfy fold out chair beds. She's pretty excited about it. (yeah right!) be!

Sleep tight. Or good morning is probably more appropriate since I doubt too many of you will be checking this site much after 11:30PM which is the time now.

Our love goes out to each of you.

all is well here at the hospital

Iam at the hospital now and our Abby is in recovery with momma. (Gotta love the blackberry) The surgery went well. The doc poked a hole in the cyst and drained out the fluid.we are told that she will be able to go home tomorrow. There is a nice big cut on her head and its shaved again. Good thing she's cute with no hair!
I will post some pics soon. Thanks for your prayers. They are working for sure.

A Big Week Ahead

Hey Gang,

It's going to be another one of "those" weeks. The anticipation of Tuesday is killing us. We know it's routine and Abby has had these before and blah blah blah. We have the utmost faith in her doctor and have come to know, respect and love him during this journey, but the anxiety still lingers overhead like a thick fog.
Here's how it will all go down. Mommy and daddy need to have Abby at CHOC in Orange at 5:30AM. That right there is reason enough to cry. Once Abby is sleeping from her anesthesia medication, she will get another MRI to confirm that the cyst or puddle of fluid in her brain has in fact been steadily increasing in size. If by some miracle it's not increasing, this would mean that the fluid is somehow escaping this little area and we wouldn't have to go through with the surgery. As you all say your prayers for our Little Miss Magic, you might as well toss in a request for this miracle as well. Assuming the cyst is in fact increasing, Abby's doctor explained that he would basically go into that cyst and create a hole to allow it to drain down out. By the way, if we didn't do anything about the cyst, it would just grow bigger and bigger and put pressure on Abby's brain, which in turn would cause serious brain damage.
Abby will have to stay at least one night in the PICU. We've been there before and it's no picnic. Lot's of memories as you can imagine. The nurses and doctors however are absolutely amazing and have a way to make it better. Plus Abby has made a friend or two from her stay at the NICU so she will likely get some visitors. Abby is and always will be our fighter. All we have to do is click on the early months of this blog site to be reminded of Abby's strength and fierce will to survive. She can handle this. That little girl is 10 times stronger than I could ever hope to be. She is her daddy's hero.

On a lighter note, we had a great week last week. Abby got to play with her cousins each day which was fantastic. We also took her out for her first pool experience! She liked being out and about but wasn't too into the water. I think she was just tired because she loves water. We'll try again soon.

The pics are of mommy and Abby hanging out pool side and then from today after church.

Please pray that the surgery goes well and that Abby's recovery is quick and she'll be able to come home on Wednesday. We love you all very much. There are only so many ways to say that with getting all "hallmark" sounding and overloaded with cheesiness. But it's true. We love knowing you all log on. We STILL love hearing about those we don't even know who check in on Abby. It warms my heart. And at times like this, it does more than I can express.

The Gaya Family

Happy Easter Everybody!

Well,

We had a great Easter Sunday and we hope you all did too. Abby was able to go to church for the first time today and it was a blast. I was especially grateful to have my little family there with me for the first time. Abby got to meet her cousins for the first time this weekend too. My sister Jocelyn and her husband Tyler and their two boys, Tristan and Caden are on spring break down our way from Nor Cal. The boys were very excited to meet her and it was fun to watch them with her.

Abby is doing great. I forgot to mention last time that this past Monday, momma took Abby to the mall for the first time and she loved it! She had so much fun just looking around and taking in all the action. And speaking of taking in all the action, she's up right now and giggling and playing as I type this and it's 9:15PM. She went to bed at around 8PM and she usually sleeps through the night. I guess she wasn't done with her Easter Sunday yet. As far as her health and everything goes, she is doing well. She is still at 13 lbs though and not even back to where she was before she got sick which is a bummer. We really need her to gain weight faster so she can get that G tube out of her. Other than that she is doing fine. Still going to therapy 3 times a week and still making slow and steady progress on all fronts...which are her eating therapy, her physical therapy and her occupational therapy.

Abby has another brain surgery a week from this Tuesday so please keep her in your prayers.

Momma is doing well with her pregnancy. This Friday begins week 24! Wow! She said she is feeling very "pregnant" these days.

And now, as promised, here are a ton of pics!

Abby and her friend Everly on a day trip to Everly's house in San Diego!




Abby's first experience with wet grass on her bare feet... She wasn't a fan



The Family on Easter Morning...Abby's first Easter Basket



She had more fun playing with the paper than anything else





Abby with her new hat on that she got from the Easter Bunny



Abby, Mommy and Daddy After Church

A Stroll down Memory Lane

Hello everyone,

Abby is still doing great. She has come such a long way and Kelly and I are so proud and so amazed by her little spirit. And since I don't have any recent photo's at the moment, let's take a quick stroll down memory lane really quick.

Here she is, a mere 2 lbs or so. Note the bump on her head. That is the reservoir that was put in which is where the neurosurgeons would stick a needle to pull out the accumulating fluid. They did this until she was big enough to have the shunt put in.




For a while at the beginning Abby had her own room. This allowed daddy to stretch out a bit and catch a nap!



Already sticking out her tongue...I love it.



Here she is in her NICU crib.



AND HERE SHE IS NOW!!! OH MY GOODNESS....!!!!




Have a great Easter Weekend everyone! I'm sure we'll have some FANTASTIC Easter pics of our little angel..

We love you all. And again, thanks to those who take the time to write and say some kind words.

Momma and Daddy got sick!

Happy Monday Abby Fans,

We got a little sick this weekend and I didn't get a chance to update the blog. The short update is that Abby is doing great. She's not sick anymore herself and is still as cute as ever. I'll post some pics tonight!

Take care,

Ryan

One more week until Abbypoluza 2007!!!!

Yahooooo!!!!
Only one more week until "lock down" is over. Finally!
Abby is doing better these days. Thank goodness too because she lost over a pound when she was sick. And when you're only 13 and a half lbs to begin with, there isn't too much to spare. Abby is also doing better with her eating lately. As you know, she only eats half of her food and milk by mouth and the rest of the milk goes through the G Tube. The problem has always been that the rest of the milk would take over an hour to give her through an over sized syringe and plunger. If we pushed it in any faster, she would throw it all up. This past week though, we decided to try the old way again, which we stopped before because the old way made her throw up too. The old way is called 'bolus feeding", which is using a syringe and attaching it to the g tube like normal, but we don't use the plunger along with the syringe. Instead, we just hold the syringe up in the air like a funnel, and pour a little bit of milk in every few minutes and let gravity do the rest. The milk goes in MUCH quicker this way. When we tried this at the beginning months and months ago, that was actually the problem. It went in so quick that she threw up. She just couldn't handle it. But now she can! So feeding her takes about a half an hour or so. Don't ask me why Abby will accept the milk going in her tummy so fast this way, but not if we pushed it through the syringe with a plunger. That's a mystery to me too. Let's just be glad she's actually getting her milk in a normal time phrame. This is important because she finally gets that "I'm full" sensation, which in turn means that she is a lot more hungry when the next time to eat rolls around. We've also noticed that she gets a nice case of "food coma" after she eats and has been taking longer naps more frequently throughout the day. We're very excited about everything and we hope that with this new found hunger she'll be able to take more food on her own and obviously gain weight quicker.
Momma is still doing well with her pregnancy and daddy found himself a jobby job which is GREAT news, especially since one of momma's first places she's taking our little nugget is to the mall. I told her to pretend like she's in a museum... look but don't touch. I think my words fell on deaf ears though.

All in all It's been a good week. Thanks again for checking in!


Look at our little model!



Here's that food coma I was talking about



And here's my latest artsy fartsy one... Not too bad eh?




=

What a week!

Howdy,

So let's get to it. Abby was over 13 and a half pounds at the beginning of the week! But from there Abby start feeling crummy. She started teething which turned Abby from her usual happy self to the "I'm in pain and don't know why" Abby. This was not fun. We figured it was standard behavior until around Thursday. Abby was getting more and more cranky and eventually she started sneezing and had a runny nose. Uh oh. Her first official cold. This isn't a big deal for most babies, but Abby has Chronic Lung Disease since she was on a breathing machine for so long as a preemie which means she is very susceptible to getting RSV or Respiratory Synctial Virus. RSV can kill a baby if it gets too bad. So, in true Kelly fashion, she wasted no time and took Abby in to see her pediatrician on Friday. Luckily her lungs sounded good and she just had a head cold. But on Saturday Abby kept getting worse. By Saturday night she was miserable. It broke our hearts to see Abby so uncomfortable. She sneezed so much that it made her little nose red and raw. She wanted her binki but since she couldn't breathe through her nose, she couldn't suck on it. Her eyes were puffy and she was wouldn't stop crying.
Finally, at 3:30AM we decided to take her to the Emergency Room. We feared that her cold had turned into RSV. But again, we got confirmation that it wasn't RSV. She did have some sort of viral infection though and the x - ray from her lungs looked a bit cloudy. We were told to keep Abby on the Tylenol and Ibuprofen as well as an inhaler to fight off any possible infection in the lungs.
At the end of it all, Abby weighed in at just over 13 lbs so she lost some weight from the ordeal. Kelly went to see her pediatrician again today who gave her a decongestant which has helped her sleep. She is almost back to her regular happy Abby and mommy and daddy are finally getting some sleep again. And, she officially has her two little front bottom teeth poking through! Yay...two down, and a whole mouthful left to go. Can't wait.

As far as mommy goes with her pregnancy, everything is A okay at the moment.
And daddy is back to work! Woohoo!

Here are some pics of Abby in her cute dress plus one of her sleeping on Daddy's shoulder.

Have a good week.

On a serious note...

Hi Abby Fans,

You'd think that because I'm between jobs that I would have all this time right? Nope! I am now tackling that never ending "honey do" list and man is it long. I am happy to be able to tag along to a few of Abby's appointments though. In a few minutes we're off to her feeding and occupational therapy appointments. Last week I was able to go with Kelly and Abby to see Abby's neurosurgeon.
I am afraid that we're going to have another surgery. Abby has another cyst in her head. Remember that at birth she had a grade IV brain bleed and as a result has hydrocephalus which is when the fluid from the brain can't escape. The shunt is in place to drain that fluid but sometimes these other puddles, or cysts show up during the first few years of life. So our doctor has to literally go into that puddle and poke a hole in the floor of it so it drains out to where to the shunt it so it can drain out. Sounds easy, but this is in fact brain surgery. Another brain surgery. And... it's right before her birthday.
Luckily the cyst hasn't caused her any discomfort as of now and she is still the same happy Abby. She weighs over 13 lbs now! She is eating very well and really likes all the stage 2 foods. She loves prunes and applesauce, she loves the apples and chicken combo (weird), and of course she's a huge fan of the macaroni and cheese.
Please keep Abby in your prayers and I'll keep you all posted regarding the surgery which is in mid April. And we were just getting through RSV Season too and were getting so excited to parade our Little Miss Magic all around town. Abby will come through shining like always though.
Mommy is doing well with the pregnancy...all is well....

I have to go! We're late!

Enjoy the pics...

Uh Oh! Abby loves the red vines!


Abby and Daddy on the family walk this past Sunday. RSV Season is almost over!!!


Here are some from about a month ago that I think are worth posting again!

FINALLY!

Sorry to take so long friends,

On Monday, my company closed its doors so needless to say, it's been a bit rough. But I think you can take one guess what my remedy is for all this craziness. Indeed, it's our Little Miss Magic. That little nugget and her mommy make everything else seem insignificant. So without further adieu, here we go...

Abby and Mommy on a walk



Abby in her stroller



And look at this little face...!!!



Have a great week everyone.

A little more time!

Good Morning and Happy Monday Friends,

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry that I don't have more!
Some family came over to visit last night and since I got terrible sleep on Saturday night I was pooped.

Abby is doing great. She is teething now and she gets really fussy at night. But other than that she just keeps getting cuter and cuter. She is really starting to scoot around on the floor now as well. I think there's a way to post a video on this thing so that is my goal for this week. In the mean time though I will post some pics tonight.

Take care. We love you all!

The Gaya's

And Now...Here they are!

Oh man, Daddy's going to be in trouble in about 16 years...(probably sooner!) Look at this face...




This pic kind of shows Abby's left hand. Note how doesn't rest it on her knee but rather has the outside of the wrist turned inward. Her therapy consists largly of getting her to turn her hand around and relaxed the other way.




Abby and Luke have known each other since birth. For those of you just checking in, Luke was born the same time Abby was. They became fast friends in the NICU and quickly stole the hearts of all the nurses and doctors in the joint. And since Luke is on lock down like Abby, we got the green light from the docs to let them hang out together. Take a look here at them checking each other out as if to say, "don't I know you from somewhere?"




Luke is already bored but Abby is still working on him.




This one is great. Check out Luke. "Hey girlie, what are you doin'?"




And finally, here she is, exhausted from eating some sweet potatoes. Note the orange tint around her face!

New Pics Are Coming!

New pics are on their way. Check back in on Tuesday and I will have some for you all.

This week has been another good week for Abby. Everything is still holding steady on all fronts. The feeding therapy is going well and she is still into the gerber baby food from the spoon and yes, she still hates anything that's in a bottle. Her physical therapist is happy to see that she's begining to gain her balance to sit up. The left arm and leg are constantly getting stretched and worked on by mommy and the therapists. Some days are better than others on this issue but for the most part she is still progressing forward.
Have I talked about Abby's sleeping pattern yet? I don't think I have. Since we can feed Abby through the G Tube at night by way of a pump and a bag of milk that hangs from a pole she sleeps straight through, which is great. But the day time is a different story. She only sleeps about 20 to 30 minutes each time she goes down. So momma gets NO rest. Abby doesn't usually last too long in a bouncy chair or the swing or lying down either. If Kelly get's 15 minutes out of one of those items, it's a miracle. Little Abby wants to be up where the action is! She wants to watch whatever momma is doing. The baby bjorn works for a while, then she might put Abby in that pink round bumbo chair on the counter. After that gets boring I have found that she'll tolerate the high chair as long as we roll the chair to where we are and she feels like she's in the mix with us. And each of these options only give Kelly about 15 minutes or so as well.
Why bring all this up now? Well, at first it was cute and momma could (and still does) handle it. But our new baby boy is coming and Kelly will be able to spend less and less time on her feet taking care of Abby. Even though there's only one baby this time, Kelly is and always will be considered high risk regarding her pregnancies. Apparently, since she had pre term labor before, she's prone to go into pre term labor agian. So! It's time to bring in the prayers again team. I need some prayers that Abby will take longer naps and get better and entertaining herself. Yes, I know....I know. "We told you so! This wouldn't have happened if you guys weren't holding her 24/7" I can hear it a million times over. But c'mon! What did you expect after all that happened? You think we were going to put the Abbygirl down for a milisecond? No way! "Well now you're paying for it..." Right. Got it. But honestly, after 4 years of infertility treatments, getting pregnant was the LAST thing we thought would happen. That's actually why we started so soon. We figured shoot, it took us four years to get the girls, so we better get on this right away.
Anyway, now I'm just rambling. Back to the point at hand. Prayers my friends. Please pray for a successful pregnancy for Kelly and that Abby will be able to give momma the rest she needs.

Again, the new pics will be coming Monday night.

Take care....

Happy Tuesday Friends

I hope we're all well rested from a nice long 3 day weekend. I know I am.
Last night was another great bath night for Abby. She's is really getting comfortable in the water and it's fun to watch her explore with it more. And speaking of water, Abby LOVES to drink cold water. Or should I say, she loves to feel it hit her lips and then drool down her face and only on occasion will she actually take a sip. Each time I take a sip of water from a water bottle now, she gets excited and starts throwing her arms up toward the bottle.
Abby is getting better at rolling over on her tummy now as well. She is quite the little wiggler. She hasn't quite gotten to the scooting point yet, but you can see her little body shift to one side to allow her oposite knee to come up. She's getting it and that's what counts!

Little Miss Magic is now up to 12 and a half pounds. We're starting to put a sock on her right hand every so often to encourage her to use her left. She isn't a big fan of her occupational therapy which really focuses on her left arm and leg but it's important that we push her at this stage. Besides, Abby's a tough cookie. There isn't much this little munchkin can't handle.

Abby is and continues to be the light of our life. We absolutely adore her. Thanks to all of you for checking in on her. It means a lot to us. Have you guys noticed the blogger site counter below? We're over 40,000 hits! Atta girl Abby.


HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!




Abby isn't too sure what to make of this rose.




Abby and her roses




Momma and Abby laughing




Momma and Abby reading her first book




Here she is again with her new favorite toy, her binkie!




Fashion show time



Abby on the cat walk