The Schmalle Show

Saturday, July 7, 2012

A day we'll never forget....

Logan, proud as can be to be holding his new baby sister.

Thursday, June 21st 2012 around 3pm, we received a phone call from our Pediatricians office. It was a nurse telling us that our sweet, perfect little girl most likely has a blood deficiency called MCADD. I was instructed to nurse her every 2-3 hours around the clock and that we needed to take her into a lab TONIGHT to get blood work done and urine sample. That was to confirm that she had MCADD. There was not even a moment that passed that we were given an ounce of hope that maybe, just maybe she really didn't have this and the pre-screening at the hospital was wrong. I felt as though my world was crashing down around me. So I woke Miss Livi up and made her nurse (she had been sleeping for nearly 4 hours- she was born a natural sleeper). We packed ourselves into the car and away we went to the nearest lab in Redmond. When we arrive it was 10 minutes before closing. I walk in with her in my arms and explain why we're there. They don't have my paperwork that was supposed to already be there!! When the lab tech finally gets it, she declares that she can NOT get a urine sample from Olivia because she doesn't have the equipment needed. I cry. Hard. Like ugly cry. I make my way back to the car and call the doctors office again to find out what the heck we're supposed to do. They wouldn't have made us come into Redmond on such short notice if this wasn't urgent. The nurse has us come into the doctors office so we can talk with Olivia's Pediatrician. There is when we learn what is going on with our sweet bundle of joy. Her body is unable to convert fats into energy. What does that mean for her? Well, if she gets a fever or the stomach flu and won't eat then she has to go straight to Children's Hospital for fluids. If she can't/won't eat then she will become hypoglycemic and if left alone could go into a coma, have brain damage and die. Great. We are 5 days postpartum and she's been sleeping like a champ: 4-5 hour stretches and still gaining weight. Now I have to force feed this baby or she'll die?

Our Ped. has never is his 15 years of practice had a patient with MCADD, neither have his co-workers. Oh great!! Now what? He assures us that this deficiency is super easy to control and is no big deal. Uh, did you hear the part where she could die??? No big freaking deal??!! Yeah right buddy! MCADD is a genetic disorder. Which means both parents have to have a mutated form of the MCAD gene. Oh Jim freaking dandy, we gave this to her, now I feel much better....NOT. Our Ped told us that within the next week to 2 weeks we would be hearing from the genetics team at UW to discuss Olivia and our game plan for her life with MCADD.

The next week was the longest. week. of. my. life. Nursing every 3 hours around the clock and stressing about what life with MCADD meant for our sweet baby was way too overwhelming. So many tears were shed. So many. I was sad. No, more like completely devastated.

On Wednesday of the nest week I received a phone call from the genetics counselor at UW. She gave me the run-down of the disorder and informed me that I can ease up on the feedings and nurse every 3-4 hours. The heavens opened and the angels sang!! There was sleep in my future and a whole lot less gas from over-feeding lil Miss. I still felt super overwhelmed and cried a lot that day. But I woke up the next morning feeling like there was life back in my body. Olivia had slept like a champ and so did I. And best of all, she wasn't going to die. We made our appt with our new genetics team and waited for the day to come. It came! July 5th we packed Olivia in the car and away we went to meet with our team of Doctors that would and do have her best interest at heart. The doctor explained the disorder again to us and assured us that she will be just fine. Apparently there is a spectrum that an MCADD patient can be on and she is on the low end!! I didn't even ask what life looks like for those on the high end or even in the middle. But what it looks like for us: Olivia gets to sleep and eat when she wants (no more 3-4 hour schedule at night, the girl can sleep 6-7 hours straight at night!! She's a miracle!) she is to be treated like any other child, there are no dietary restrictions (except for coconut milk) and if she gets a fever and/or the flu we take her to Children's with our emergency letter that they gave us explaining her rare condition and their instructions for caring for her. Thankfully we have about a 3-4 hour window when she does get sick to get her to the hospital before things get dangerous. She will have to stay in the hospital until she can keep food down. But other then that, life will be normal.

As of today, I feel much better about her condition and controlling it. I'm still nervous and probably will be until the first time we have to take her into the hospital. But that is to be expected. I'm so thankful that we were blessed with this sweet MCADD baby. I know that Heavenly Father gave her to us because we would take perfect care of her and her sensitive situation. I'm also thankful that Washington state tests for MCADD when babies are born so that there doesn't have to be any more deaths because of this disorder. I wish every state would make it a requirement.

So there it is, go google MCAD Deficiency (or MCADD) and found out what's happening (or not happening) inside Olivia's body.

June 16th 2012

7:30 am headed to Evergreen to have a baby!!

Logan is so excited to meet his sissy.

Meet our sweet Olivia Grace Schmalle!! 9lbs 3oz & 21inches long. Born at 10:27am.

The team players that made it all happen.

Monday, April 16, 2012

House Pics- {some} before & after

This post is a little overdue, but I haven't really been in the mood to post pics since the house isn't in its final stage. I decided not to post all the before pictures since most of you know that we bought the house from my Mom and I don't really want to air her "dirty laundry". But some of them are kinda necessary to see the change we made. Anywho, I'll post a caption under each picture indicating if it's a before or after. They are also not in the order I uploaded them, I'm still mad at blogger for that. If anyone can tell me how to fix that I would be ever so grateful.

Before: Bathroom

Before: Front door & 30 something year old brown carpet.

Before: Front of house, west end.

Before: Front of house, East end.

Before: Back side yard (blackberry bushes galore!)

Before: Living Room. Notice the fireplace and green lower paint and stark white upper paint. You'll see our change later :)

*Disclaimer: all the after pictures were taken today, I was not in the mood to "spruce" my house up. So don't judge the clutterness, mmmKay?
After: Kitchen. The only change that was made is a new (to us, thank you CL) fridge and a new to us (thank you Auntie Julie) oven. Oh yeah, and we had to replace the kitchen faucet before we moved in because it had been leaking for who knows how long and the cabinet under the sink was completely saturated. We still have to replace the wood under the sink. We want to paint the cabinets white and resurface the counters. Rob installed cabinet knobs, but still has to install the drawer pulls.

After: Playroom. Every family needs a playroom. Serious. This room also had nasty old carpet. We ripped that up first thing when we moved in. (We found out before moving in that there were rats. So we got them taken care of but the carpet smelled like you know what.) The floor in concrete, it used to be a garage back in the day, but was converted. So we painted the floor with Kilz (because of said rats) and we're just waiting to find some super cheap carpet to put out there.

After: Laundry......closet. I wish it was a room, maybe someday. Our plan for this space (because seriously, look at it. It's horrid) is to replace the raw wood paneling with sheet rock and paint it. Add cupboards instead of shelves above the W/D and have the shelves to the right be way more functional, with a door too. I hate looking at all that crap. It doesn't matter how clean/organized I try and make the house, I see a crappy area like this and my blood boils.

After: Another picture of the shelves, these are to the left of the W/D.

After: Dining Room. Throughout the living spaces of the house (dining, living, hallway) we painted the green my Mom had with a warm beige. We originally chose grey, I painted it, then Rob (we) decided it wasn't the right color. So we chose beige. The upper white is just a softer white instead of the glowing white that makes your eyes hurt just looking at it :) We bought a new to us (CL!) dining room table and chairs that seats 8 comfortably. The table with the table cloth doesn't really belong there, it's just waiting for the office to get put together so there is room for it.

After: Dining Room. We replaced the ceiling fan. Thankfully we don't (and won't have to) replace the windows. My parents did that when they remodeled the kitchen. They are really nice on my power bill :)

After: Playroom, again. The entertainment center was built by my dad. It has a ton of shelved on each side of the TV that stores Logan's games and such. We want to sheet rock the paneling and paint the entertainment center, just haven't got there.

After: Walls in the living room/hallway. I was standing with my back to the front door. We painted. A lot.

After: Living Room. We painted, replaced the poop brown carpet for a light-beige-no-shoe-wearing-carpet. We replaced the front door. We hung curtains, my Mom always had that huge front window wide open. We like to walk around in our underwear too much for that. I love the curtains!

After: Hallway. We painted it red and spray painted the light fixture matte black (it was shiny gold- barf).

After: Living Room. This one is to show the fireplace and mantel. We painted it beige and the mantel red. Oh and we bought a new couch! We have two new recliners coming too! They will sit facing the fireplace. We are trying to decide whether or not to mount the TV above the fireplace or not. Clearly we haven't made our choice.

After-ish: Bathroom. We haven't done anything in there except replace the shower (see below). Our plan is to paint the bathroom with the same white at the rest of the house, replace the faucet and medicine cabinet. Both we already purchased just need to start painting. We were talking about it last night and I think that's going to start happening this week! We also want to spray paint the light fixture matte black. And eventually use a counter resurfacing product on the counters instead of replacing them.

After: Shower! We had to replace the shower and all the walls and sub-floor because the previous shower had a huge crack in it for a few years and was not replaced and had leaked like crazy.

After: Master Bed. All we've done is paint the walls. We're always on the lookout for that perfect bedding that will inspire us to decorate this space.

After: Master Bed. View from the door. This space needs a real over-haul. I plan on putting a tension rod up and using a curtain instead of doors, I don't like closet doors.

After: Kid's Room. Ha, I can't say Logan's room anymore :) We've painted and put cube shelves in the closet for both chitlins. They have a leftover flat red sheet as their closet curtain.

After: Kid's Room. The dresser will be out and the crib will go where the dresser is and the changing table (not pictured) will go where the crib is, but more under the window. I want to make roman shades for the window and get rid of the blinds.

After: Kid's Room. Logan's bunk bed! He's super excited to share it with his sissy....for now.

After: Kid's Room. The closet and mess of clothes and such for baby girl.

After: The Office. This space didn't get touched until just before Easter. Usually Rob has the office unpacked and set up first thing. But not this time. We just moved the stuff in and shut the door. We want to paint the walls, probably with the grey paint we ended up not using for the lower part of the living room walls. My Dad built the shelved high on the wall, we'll paint them too. My sewing space will be in here with the table that was pictured in the dining room photo.

After: Office. I will hang curtains to hide the closet, someday.

After: Lined Closet. The kid's room is to the right of the closet and the office is to the left. The bathroom is next to the kid's room and our room is next to the office. Just to give you an idea of where things are. This closet is rad! The shelves are pretty deep and they are floor to ceiling. This is after me reorganizing it once. The top shelf needs to be gone through, but I don't care right now :)

After: Office again. This is from the doorway. We also need to paint the light fixture in there too.

We still need to paint all the doors and trim, buy and install molding on the floor, paint the hardware on the doors, paint the outside of the house, design flower beds and garden, decorate the freaking walls inside the whole house. I think Logan's room is the only room that is mostly done. Buying a house is a never ending to-do list.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Something Sweet

There is something sweet about finding out that there is a sweet baby girl growing inside you!!
I can't tell you how many times I've prayed for a little girl. I just can't believe she's coming to our family! Logan is going to be such a great brother and protector.

She was so ornery when the ultrasound tech was trying to find everything she needed to document. The last thing she needed was a profile pic of baby girl. She had me come with a full bladder, not fun. She was moving so much that she had be empty my bladder to see if that helped...nope, made it worse. Then I had to roll on my side and boom we got her, then she was gone again. She is such a performer!

We just feel so blessed to be welcoming a little girl to our family. Logan has been such a joy and having at least one of each right out of the gate is pretty awesome!
Next, bedding and names!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

FYI

Did you know I would be the worst blogger in the whole world when you decided to follow me? Ha! Well, I am. Maybe because half the time I don't feel like what I have to say is worth typing out and posting on the web. Maybe becuase I don't have "time". Working full time and being a wife & mom is like having 3 jobs. Good grief! Oh plus being pregnant, don't even me started.

Anyway, I have 2 days left at Zetron! Come Friday at 4:30pm, I will be right where my little heart belongs, at home with my boy. I can't handle this waiting game, if there is ever a "next time" I'm not giving a 3 month notice. It has killed me! I have so many things that I want to plan with friends and Logan for the new year. I'm just so excited to not be working. We're all going to miss the extra money, but I'd rather be poor and happy then rich and not. We've done it before and we can do it again. We've been blessed to be able to get our debt paid off and buy a house (not counting that as bad debt- but it is our only debt!) Plus Rob's working really hard at trying to find a new job, one that makes him happy for pete sake!

Our baby is progressing nicely, we're 14 weeks 4 days today- the size of a lemon according to the baby center website. I've already felt little Schmalle #2 and can't wait to find out the gender on February 6th. I was lucky enough to not have any morning sickness in the first trimester. But as the days go by I get a little more "yucky" feeling during the day. I hope it doesn't continue to get worse, I can deal with it now, I just hated the constant puking with Logan {quiver}. I have switched OB's and I really love my new doc. He says my odds of having a vbac (vaginal delivery after cesarian) is about 50%. Not great, he prefers to fully support women that have at least a 70% chance of success. First things first, I have to go into labor on my own. So we'll see how that goes. I won't be mad if I end up with another c-section, but this pregnancy is the only one I have to test my body one last time. If this one comes via c-section then I know all other future babies will have to be c-section also. So I'm going to try and do everything in my power to make this baby stay in longer. Not really sure how that's going to happen, but I'm already trying :)