Thursday 2 April 2015

April 2015

Wow, its been how long?!


Okay, so I've been terrible these past few months for updating this blog! Apologies for the silence; classic scenario of busy mum and HI child! Life is crazy busy at the moment, I can't keep up. So, I think it's about time to update the CHI family, or just the general readers who like to keep up with us...

Orlaith is doing okay at the moment - unwell and the HI is playing up, but she's her usual happy, charismatic self. Medication wise, we are still on Sirolimus twice a day and the daily injection. We actively worked for so long to decrease the injections, from 4 a day to 1 a day but we may have to increase back to 2 a day, but I'll go more into that later on. The Sirolimus is still working well with Orlaith's BM levels and so far it is still in therapeutic range, but the downside of the suppressed immune system is still apparent as she's suffered with illnesses and infections continuously since around November time and various things have landed her in hospital. Orlaith's had chronic ear infection consistently in the same ear and has been on antibiotics for what seems like forever, but the infection is now in the middle ear and we've changed to ear drops which seem to be working great. The past few weeks she has suffered with a strange rash all over her body and up until last week, no medication had worked but now it's seems to be a possible fungal rash and this particular cream which we are now trying is doing good and it seems to be clearing up. 

The mucus on the chest hasn't eased and you may remember the sickness post a while back - I thought it was a phase, you know the classic 'lets throw a tantrum and make ourselves sick and embarrass mum in front of everyone' routine? I stuck to my gut instinct - I still can't stress how important it is to be the voice of your children! - and after 6 long, painful months of vomiting constantly, we are on the road of solution and diagnosis. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it can be promoted if she is worked up but its gunky and full of mucus/phlegm (just want you need to read whilst eating your lunch, right?) but usually it's unexpected; we could be walking to the park, she could sneeze, be eating, even roll over in her sleep... she is always throwing up gunk by the bucket load and of course, it causes the havoc and starts the vicious circle when it comes to blood sugar levels. This is why it has resulted in horrific lows (recently she was as low as 1.4-1.7 mmol/L, so horrible to watch - I was genuinely scared for her but thankfully all picked up fine with no organ damage!) and a rush to the hospital on numerous occasions and why we may need to start the second injection at her vulnerable times to keep her stable at home. After chasing it up, our GP has started her stomach/reflux medications again gradually to see what works and what doesn't, whatever doesn't work then we'll stop and try another. I feel like maybe we should have kept the medications going, but this is just what happens and I'll take it as a learning curve. We start the first one today so hopefully it will go well and my washing loads can decrease with the lack of sicky clothes!  The past few days she has been in the low 2's and no higher than 5 along with a fever, a major cause for concern but she's got her visit to GOSH on Saturday 4th so hopefully we can touch base on her medication and see what can be done. It seems to be never ending! 

Onto the good stuff...


April is upon us which means it will very soon be Orlaith's SECOND birthday; I can't get my mind around it, how is it even possible! I swear I was in theatre just yesterday having her and in the blink of an eye she is going to be 2! I count myself very lucky that we are where we are, the road was meant to be so different but she's gone against it all and has come out such a strong, clever, beautiful little girl. In terms of her development, she is still on par for others her age, or the 'average' as others like to say. I decided to apply for a placement at pre-school for her and Orlaith got her place - at the same pre-school that myself, my siblings and my family went to and the lady who ran it when I was was a little girl is still in charge which is really lovely; they have been so accommodating with Orlaith and have gone the extra mile for her needs, I'm so happy that she can go to a good school and thrive in an environment that she loves.


Mila Moo, I see you! 


...And then theres Emila, who is now 7 months! Again, can you believe it?  She is doing brilliantly - she has two teeth currently cutting 4 top ones (major ouch!), crawls, sits up, pulls herself up and cruises the furniture and now she is trying to walk away... this usually ends up in her falling or cruising back, its as if she doesn't realise just how small she is! I have no doubts she'll be walking before she's 1 in August. Being 10.2lbs born, they do say the bigger baby does more sooner, Orlaith wasn't far behind in the milestones but I can't believe Mila seems to be doing something new everyday. Mills also loves her food, I've never known a baby like it - greedy guys usually wants the food as well as milk feed! She's definitely taking this 10 pounder thing to a whole new level!!

We recently had their pictures done, when Mila was 6.5 months (just like we had Orlaith's done at 6 months) and I must say, they are so frickin' cute!! Despite it being a small struggle getting them both to smile/pose, they came out great and I've started looking at frames and all the other boring decor stuff that us mums like to look at and buy so I can put them up! I'll post them within this blog so you can have a ganders, more than happy to show them off... even with Mila's open mouth smiles beautifully dominating every pose and picture! 


I couldn't love them enough, who needs anything else when you have your children around? They literally make my life. 

 ♡ ♡ ♡

Emila Coco















Orlaith Rae





Emila & Orlaith