Well today started earlier than usual for me, being I am NOT a morning person! My mom came over to watch Bruiser and Butch while Sherman, MeMe, Brody and I headed to Fargo for some appointments. First a little background information to catch everyone up. MeMe is my preemie baby. She was born in 2000 via emergency c-section due to a pregnancy complication called HELLP Syndrome and pre-eclampsia. I was 18 years old and only 28 weeks along when my little precious girl was born. She weighed in at 2pounds 5ounces and was a mere 15 inches long.  Before delivery I had been in extreme pain for quite some time and every time I would go to the clinic or ER they would brush it under the table and at one point even suggested I only needed physical therapy for pregnant women since I was so short and so small, I just needed to stretch. The minute they said that I knew it was ridiculous, what a joke! I stayed persistent and kept fighting. Nearly a month later I was finally taken seriously as everything had gotten out of control and my symptoms had raged out of control. I went to the hospitals birthing center where they finally helped me! After about 10 minutes on the unit I could tell this time was different and they were finally going to help! Suddenly I realized how scary this was becoming. The nurse was panicking, very short and blunt with me as she explained it doesn’t matter what your birth plan was and what is supposed to be happening you will be having this baby tonight! Then I got sick, my body and liver were shutting down and the rest is very foggy. It was almost 2 days later before I finally got to see my little princess in the NICU. I was still very ill and they had to wheel my bed in, I couldn’t even sit up. After a long stay filled with lots of ups and downs, occupational and physical therapy, even surgery my baby was finally coming home, monitor and all, but at least she was coming home! After being home she thrived like you wouldn’t believe. She was extremely healthy and we didn’t have any health scares until she was 4 and was in pre-school when she came down with pneumonia and the flu at the same time. We spent about 2 weeks in the hospital. Since then we only had an occasional cold or ear infection maybe a 24 hour stomach bug but nothing serious, until last year. Last winter she was one of the unfortunate ones to get h1n1. Butch had it as well but they were affected completely differently. Butch was better after 4 days and back in school. MeMe on the other hand was out for over a week. Her symptoms were more intense and took a lot more care. Then this fall she was ill again with stomach symptoms and was having digestive issues, bowel issues and pain. Then the symptoms got worse and I knew it was time to be seen. We were seen by our usual Dr.’s wife..who is also a Dr. she was very worried about MeMe and her symptoms and the fact that there is a history of Crohn’s disease in our family. Being that we live in a small town we were referred to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist in a larger town, luckily only 45 minutes away. Finally 2 months later after a lot of tests he came to the conclusion that she had a combination staph and strept infection that she had for a long time, She was prescribed a 20 day course of strong antibiotics, some more blood tests to rule out celiac and a follow up 3 months down the road….bringing us to today. Drum roll please…..She is doing just fine. Everything has cleared up, she feels much better. We found out she has an intolerance to apples. They did blood work today to check for an allergy but he thinks it is just an intolerance. So they appointment went great!
   After MeMe’s appointment we brought Brody over to the Graduate Studies Center at NDSU to help out with one of their studies. They were doing an infant cognitive study about infants and toddlers attention spans and recognizing differences. Brody did as expected and she said that was great and he was in line with the others his age. He was very well behaved and got an awesome little teether toy and certificate out of the deal. It was an interesting experience. It also conformed MeMe’s plan to attend NDSU when she is older.
   Finally, before leaving Fargo we went out to eat, which is a story all in itself! Since MeMe was the one going to the Dr. we let her pick where we  would eat lunch. She had seen a commercial on TV for IHOP and they’re endless pancakes. She was very excited! Then Sherman told her that at IHOP they have one legged waitresses that deliver your food, hence IHOP. As we were sitting in the Dr.’s office she was talking about how she was so excited to go to IHOP and see the waitresses and how she wanted to take a picture with them so she could show all the kids in her class. Laughing and asking her to explain herself she said “what?” I told her that Daddy was just teasing and thats not true at all, there probably won’t be any one legged waitresses there. BOY was she upset and embarrassed. She then told us she had told her whole class about it and that she would take pictures and how much fun it would be. Then she started saying “Daddy, you made me look dumb!!!!” Poor thing, but seriously..how funny is that? Too bad we didnt get that on camera! In the end we ended up eating at golden corral and as always it was delicious!
   Well this post has gotten a little long, so I am going to head out. Until next time…..
~Miranda~