The Jones Girls

On Wednesday, September 13th, Amanda had an evaluation for Occupational Therapy at Woodcrest with a wonderful therapist named Michelle.   I took all of the triplets.     The evaluation went from 11am-1:00pm.     Amanda will be receiving Occupational Therapy after her thumb reconstruction surgery, probably at the end of October or early November.  She will be going once a week for 45 minutes.  The facility is located in Fullerton.   Our goals for Amanda will be to work on her fine motor skills, helping her find her center line since one arm is slight shorter than the other, helping her button, zip, etc. 

Amanda was receiving Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy from Regional Center of Orange County, a non-profit organization that offers in-home therapy for children 3 and under that are developmentally behind.    Amanda was evaluated in June by Kim, her physical therapist, and the report stated Amanda was no longer delayed and was developmentally at her age.    The occupational therapist, Deborah, will be evaluating Amanda this week and she will be report that Amanda is no longer delayed and is developmentally at the correct age now.   This is such a huge and wonderful goal that Amanda has met.   She was receiving therapy since she was just a few months old.   

Since the birth of the triplets, Maryssa has always had congestion, stuffy nose, snoring, and problems drinking her bottle when she was an infant.  When she began solids, she was and has been very apprehensive about taking bites, chewing and swalling.   When she was 4 months old we took her to the ENT and he thought it was normal and that it was coming from her esophagus.  That didn’t sound right to me.    When she was 8 months old I took her to see a different ENT for a 2nd opinion.  He ordered X-Rays of her facial plate andhe couldn’t findanything wrong with her.  He also did a follow up on her 6 months later and said she was fine andhe didn’t really see anything wrong with her.

My “mommy gut instinct” told me that this was unacceptable.  I knew something just wasn’t right with Maryssa.    She was the middle sized baby at birth, and in the past 2 years she has become the smalled baby of the trio.   Her weight is 24 1/2 lbs and height 32 inches, compared to Miranda 30 1/2 lbs and 34 inches and Amanda 29 1/2 lbs and 34 1/2.    I contribute her regression in growth to an ENT problem.   So I requested a 3rd opinion with a Pediatric ENT.   For over a year my Medical Group denied a Pediatric ENT.   I kept fighting and didn’t give up.  Finally, in July, I finally got an authorization for Maryssa to be seen by a Pediatric ENT at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.   I am so glad I was persistent and didn’t accept the denials and refusals that they kept giving us.  

I made Maryssa appt with Dr. Koempf the same day as Amanda’s appt. with Dr. Wright.   I took the triplets and we drove up to Children’s Hospital on Tuesday September 12th.   We were there form 10am-2:30pm.  Boy what a long day that was!!

Dr. Koempf ordered X-Ray’s of Maryssa’sface plate.   He diagnosed her with swollen adenoids and recommended an adenoidectomy.   Finally, we have an answer to all of this.    For 2 years I had been thinking her problems were caused by swollen adenoids, but the other ENT’s dismissed the idea.    So, Maryssa will be having surgery on Monday September 29th.  

Amanda will be having her thumb reconstructive surgery, called Pollicization, on Friday September 26th.   I have the surgeries planned so close together because my sister, Nadine, will be flying out to help me from September 25th – October 5th.  She said might as well get everything done and handled while she was here.

It is going to be a very busy and stressful end of the month.    I do believe that this is better to get this done for both girls while they are little.   The will recover much faster being so young and this will be all behind us.

This friend of mine has been on my mind for weeks now and today I received some news that fills me with so much sorrow.    A friend of mine who was pregnant with twins faced a very painful loss of her babies.     There was an out pour of support from many women that have become her friends through her journey of trying to conceive her babies.     Many prayers were spoken, candles lit, phone calls of support made between all of us.    

My dear friend, you have touched our lives so deeply and I think a silver lining that I would like to say is, I think this has brought an incredible group of the most loving and wonderful ladies, even closer together. It has also touched other women that have sought out to give you support.   The Lord brings good out of bad and I have to take comfort and have faith in that.

Every one of us care so much and want to do whatever we can for you. So please know you have true friends that genuinely love you, respect you, and thank God you are in our lives.

I came across this poem that just couldn’t leave my mind. It did make me cry but it really made a lot of sense to me. It exudes my true belief that these sweet and precious babies are in Heaven in The Lord’s gentle hands. God Bless these sweet, precious angels. My dear friend, even though I never got to meet these sweet babies, my heart feels full of emotions for both of your babies and you too. I want to make a dedication entry in my blog for you and your babies and I am including this dedication poem for them. Here it is:

I’m just a little baby
who didn’t quite make it there;
I went straight to be with Jesus
but I’m waiting for you here.

Don’t you fret about me mommy
I’m of all God’s most blessed
I’d have loved to stay there with you
but Heavenly Father knows what’s best.

Many who dwell here where I live
waited years to enter in,
they struggled through a world of sorrow
and their lives were marred with sin.

So sweet mommy don’t be sad,
wipe those tears and chase the gloom,
I went straight to be with Jesus,
from my lovely mothers womb.

Thank you for the life you gave me,
it was brief but don’t complain;
I have all of heaven’s glory
suffering none of the world’s pain.

Thank you for the name you gave me,
I’m thankful for all you’ve done.
I’ll be waiting here for you
in heaven up above.

I would have loved to stay with you,
And lived life by your side,
But the Lord has called me home,
I know it’s hard to understand why.

Thank you mommy for making me,
You made me out of love,
I can’t wait for the day I see you again
So you can see what I’ve become.

I’m an angel here in heaven,
The Lord’s here by my side,
He wants me to let you know
He’s sorry he made you cry.

He has a plan for me up here,
And a plan for you here too,
Someday we’ll be together again,
And this I know is true.

After 24 hours being in the hosptial, Savannah is now stable and oxygen level is 97%. The hospital discharged her and she got to come home. Yay!! They were very cautious and told Cliff that she is to be watched very closely and if she turns blue or if her cough gets so bad that she is struggling to breathe. She needs breathing treatments round the clock every 3-4 hours and is on Steroids and Strong antibiodics. I am hoping in the next few days she can overcome this, my poor baby girl. She starts school next Tuesday and she has been looking forward to seeing her friends and being back at preschool. We will see how she does, it is a whole week away so maybe she can kick this thing in the butt.  Her rash from the Roseola is beginning to slightly diminish and the fever is just about gone now.

Savvy has been dealing with back to back cold and flu stuff since we were in VT in early July. She has asthma and when she gets a respiratory illness, it takes her 5 times longer than the normal person to get through the coughing stage of a respiratory virus or infection. I have been giving her breathing treatments regularly but the cough was not getting any better for almost 2 weeks.

Then she came down with a fever a few days ago followed by a rash on her torso, back of her neck, behind her ears and on her face. I treated her with Tylenol and Benadryl. The rash got worse.

So today I took her to the Ped. The Ped. gave her a couple of breathing treatments and her oxygen level was at 90 AFTER the breathing treatments. Good oxygen levels are 98-100. So the Ped. diagonsed her with Rosella  and pnemonia. The Ped. admitted her to the hospital this afternoon. Cliff is with her and I am home with the triplets. We have no family to help us so this is what we have to do. My poor little baby. My heart just crushed as I had to kiss her goodbye and she whimpered through tears saying, Mommy I am going to the hospital to get better and see the doctors. It took everything I had to hold back the tears. As they drove away, that is when the tears flowed.

I have a very, very sick little girl. Please, please pray for my sweet Savannah. I feel lost without my baby,,,,my first born. I am so worried about her. She can barely breath.

She is on Extra Strength Augmentin  and Prednisone.

We celebrated The Triplets’ 2nd birthday and Cliff’s 50th birthday at our house with our close friends.   There was a really cool water slide (Little Tikes Crashing Waves), a Sesame Street Bouncy House, a Jumpolene which is similar to a trampoline, and a couple of baby/toddler pools.   It was so fun to see all 4 of my girls and all of their little friends have so much fun that day.  I was just amazed to see my 4 little girls running and playing – they are little people now.   Wow, I carried these precious babes in my belly and I have so many wonderful memories watching them all grow.

It was equally amazing to see my darling husband enjoy celebrating his huge accomplishment and what a triumph it is indeed to celebrate half a century!!   

I made my famous Kimberladas, lasagna, a Mediterranean dish and some other yummy dishes for all of our friends to enjoy.  It meant so much to us that they came to the party and celebrated with us.  

Blues Clues dropped of special goodie bags for all of the kiddos.   Cliff got a delectable chocolate cake that proudly displayed “50” and Happy Birthday Cliff.  The triplets got their favorite character, Elmo on their cake.    There were lots of candles to be blown out and it was so much fun.

Happy Birthday to the loves of my life.   And my dear Savannah, I am looking forward to celebrating your birthday in March.  I can’t believe she will be turning 5.

I want to thank God for blessing me over and over.  I am so grateful to Him for everything in my life and for showing me the way to Salvation.

Wow, I just can’t believe I typed TWO.   I have to say looking back a year ago, we have made so many wonderful memories and accomplishments this past year.

Today I have been reminiscing about the day I went into labor and all of the wonderful memories the day my precious trio was born.  The day they were born was so scary and concerning for Cliff and I.   To be honest, I don’t think that ever truly goes away if you have a preemie baby or a full term baby or a single baby or triplets.   You just worry all the time for your kids.   Also, the day they were born I was exhilarated and relieved that my girls in the world making history in their lives and ours.  Everyday doesn’t go by that I am in awe of them in what they do and the love I have for them as well as for my precious little Savannah. I just LOVE having 4 girls. Daddy loves having 4 little Daddy’s Girls too!!

I am so happy to see my 3 little girls turning 2 today. I can’t believe how fast time has gone by!! Just remembering 2 years ago I went into labor and told Cliff I was really sorry that I couldn’t hold them in any longer. It took him all day that day to sink in that he was going to share his birthday with his daughters that day and forever to come. For years to come his best and biggest birthday present was the birth of his 3 baby girls.  Speaking of Daddy, we can’t forget that today is Daddy’s birthday too.  Cliff has been on cloud 9 all day. He is thrilled to be turning 50 today. He feels like he is a lucky guy to get this far as a lot of his friends have passed away in the past 10 years and never made it to 50.

I am so grateful to The Lord for Blessing me with my precious girls.   They define me, and I define them.    I can’t imagine life without my girls now.

Happy birthday my darling little trio and Happy Birthday to the love of my life- my husband who has helped make this all possible for all of us. I have to say my dear husband Cliff, has given me the most precious gift I could ever ask for – CELEBRAING MY DAUGHTERS BIRTHDAYS.

Lots of cake and candles glowing in our house tonight!!