Odds and Ends

Things are going well here...just truckin along in life. Esella and Everett keep me VERY busy and work is keeping Justin very busy as well. Last week Justin worked 59 hours!!!

Esella has been really into Play Dough...its her new obsession. But its great because it will keep her occupied for 30-60 minutes at a time. Which means I can get things done (like update the blog).

Fundraising is also keeping me busy. Though the cash flow has slowed, I have been focusing on getting donations for raffle prizes and ordering things for the Lemonade Stand and for the Walk itself. My friend Somer, who is throwing our Casino Night fund raiser has been running all over the East Bay getting raffle prizes for Casino Night! She is doing an awesome job. I wish I could "get out there" like her...I would prbably get even more prizes that way, but with two kids 2 and under??? Yeah not so much. I have been using the internet for most of my fundraising endeavors. Email is GREAT!!

And a friend of mine, Kristen, donated her time and made us a Team Esella Logo! Here it is....isn't it adorable??

We have definitely learned a few things in the process of fund raising. For one next year we shall begin getting prizes earlier as many companies want between 6 weeks to 3 MONTHS notice of a request for a donation! Despite this, Somer has still been able to rally up several awesome prizes. And most of the time she was met with kind faces even if they had to say no.

However...she did run into one not-so-kind face. Or should I say ignorant. Apparently after Somer was done explaining the donation was for Arthritis, the manager of the establishment said the word "Arthritis" in such a way to say it wasn't a big deal, not worthy, etc. She then said that they only have so much allotted for charities a year and they don't have any for our charity.

You know...its fine to say "No, we can't right now." But to act like our cause wasn't important enough...

I've "met" many parents of children with JIA the last few months and unfortunately, this outlook is not uncommon. People have no idea what this disease is. It is an autoimmune disease...the body attacks itself. You can't just take an Alieve and go about your way...I actually wish it wasn't called "Arthritis" because people immediately have some (wrong) preconceived notions when they hear it.

But it is what it is...so educate we will!

And Everett?? He is just the sweetest boy. SO happy! He smiles and flirts with everyone. He also is a pretty good sleeper (better than Esella!) and is rarely fussy for no reason. He is 12 weeks now an still loves his swaddle.

Not much else going on...just trying to find a moment here and there to relax.

Esella Started Physical Therapy Yesterday!

Yesterday was Esella's first physical therapy appointment. I was a little nervous about how she would do (since the PT is at a hospital and she is now officially terrified of doctors...more on that later....*sigh*). I REALLY talked up the whole thing and said it was a new "class" like Gymboree and that she would have an awesome new "teacher."

When we first walked in the building she immediately started saying "No Esella, No Esella" as she could sense we were in a medical facility. Poor thing. She continued to repeat this over and over the entire 15 minutes I was filling out paperwork and talking to the reception ladies. Finally our physical therapist was ready for us and we headed in the room. 

Once we got in the room and Esella saw the toys she relaxed quite a bit. And after about 20-30 minutes she seemed totally comfortable and would follow 95% of the directions her PT would give her. The PT, Elena, was able to get Esella to do EVERYTHING on her assessment except stand on one foot (she wouldn't try it)! Pretty good for a two year old. :)

Elena noted that Esella's right knee is stiff and she definitely favors her left leg. She recommends 45min a week of PT for at least 6 weeks to help regain range of motion in her right knee. We were already given homework! 

Esella LOVES Elena and I think PT will be fantastic. 

Now...why is Esella so terrified of doctors? Well given how much she has been poked and proded these past few months, one would expect some dislike of those in white coats...however what REALLY did it was last weekend....

On Saturday Esella woke from her nap with a fever..we ended up taking her to urgent care where the doctor suspected an ear infection but she had too much wax to for him to see her eardrum...so he said they needed to flush her ears out...

WORST. IDEA. EVER.

It was HORRIBLE. We had to hold her down while the 12 year old medical assistant shot blasts of water in our babies ears. She shrieked and screamed and fought every step. And then after like the 15th shot of water in her little canal Justin says "Is that blood?" The 12 year old medical assistant looked horrified and said "Let me get the doctor." Lovely. Like she hasn't been through enough with blood draws and pokes and prods and anesthesia (not to mention the pain and inflammation from the arthritis) but now her ear is bleeding. 

The doctor came in and said this is not uncommon, blah blah blah. And said he didn't "think" it was the eardrum, but it was red and bulging so she does have an ear infection. And be sure to follow up with your pediatrician in a few days.

 So Esella is now even MORE freaked out by doctors. In fact on Monday she was watching Sesame Street and they had a segment on doctors and she FREAKED! She was crying for us to turn it off and Justin had to pick her up and hug and rock her to calm her down :(

Then I had to take her in on Tuesday as she had a rash covering her torso...yes it never ends. My poor bay who had never had an ear infection let alone a FEVER in her first two years of life now has had two of them in the last 3 months. 

Not to mention that silly chronic disease she now has...funny how she was rarely sick until it came along...

We will continue to be thankful that it is not cancer or some terminal illness...but Juvenile Arthritis Sucks!

Esella is now on the mend and finally starting to feel better. Looking forward to getting out of cold and flu season!  

And to end on a positive note...the other morning we were in bed and I was feeding Everett (this is every morning!) and Esella tells me she is "hungee". I tell her "a couple more minutes" but that did not fly...she promptly got off the bed and headed downstairs. I get down there about three minutes later and find THIS:

Can you tell she is proud of herself??

And Esella thought Everett might want to play with her "laptop"

Fund Raising for Dummies (i.e. myself)

I have had several people ask me lately...

"How on earth have you raised so much money?"

You have to understand that I have NEVER fund raised before. Some things were obvious (like emailing friends and family) but I also used the internet to look for ideas. 

So I thought I would share Team Esella's not so secret secrets ;)

1) Recruit team members. This was huge...I already have amazing friends and family! I started out just with direct friends and family but then I told people ANYONE can join....even if they can't walk with you that day. For example one of my best friends can't actually walk with us as she has a wedding that day...but she joined anyway and has already raised $100! So don't limit yourselves to people local...you can get friends and family out of the area to join and help you fund raise too...then you could just carry pictures of them with you the day of the walk ;)

2) I started a website (blogger) devoted to the walk. It was easy (It took me a few hours to set it up only because I was trying to get the wording right) and FREE. In today's internet age...I think a website is key. Ours is here:


Team Esella Site

3)We started with the email campaign...every team member send out an email to their friends and family explaining that they were walking in the 2011 Arthritis walk and why. The Arthritis site has some sample letters and I basically cut and pasted and put my own twist on it. INCLUDE your website so people can READ YOUR STORY. Make them WANT to donate.

4) Then I made a video. You want people to donate? Make a very powerful video. Post in on your site, your bog, on Facebook, and email the direct link out. You need to TELL YOUR STORY and a video is a great venue. Here is ours:


Juvenile Arthritis: Did You Know?

5) Use Facebook, Twitter or whatever social networking site you are on. Ask all your "friends" and "followers" to post your site on their pages. When someone donates, thank them on the site, and tag them (so it will be on their page) AND post the link to your site...then that persons friends will see it and may also donate.

6) Get local businesses on board. A friend got a business to match donations in her name up to $500..it was an easy $500!

7) Have some kind of fund raiser event. We are having a Casino Night...all proceeds going to the team.

8) Have a vendor party and have a certain percentage of the proceeds go to the cause. You can do one vendor or several...add a little wine tasting and you have a great girls night out! One our team members is hosting a Jewelery party!

9) Have a bagel sale at your work. My husband will be doing something like this at his work...basically you bring in bagels (or some type of food) with some fixings and people can donate to the cause. Easy and inexpensive!

10) Have your children get actively involved by having a lemonade stand. Another easy, inexpensive idea. To entice people to come out, get some local businesses to donate gift cards or goods and have a raffle. For example...each patron gets one raffle ticket for their lemonade purchase...and then each $5 donation past that gets them additional tickets. We are going to be trying this out in a few weeks!

11) Other ideas: bake sale, block party, cook off, raffles, make and sell hair bows or buttons....

12) And another idea...some restaurants have a fund raising night type of thing... Chevy's does....you hand out fliers and 15% of the proceeds go to your charity.  

13) Contact all your local news stations and news papers to see if they will do a story on your cause


There you have it! Fund raising for dummies! Good luck in your walks!! If you have other great ideas, please leave a comment!

An Esella Update

I keep forgetting to post about Esella's rheumatology appointment from the week before last. I know people have been wondering how she is doing. 

As most of you know, Esella was put under anesthesia 1-11-11 (good luck??) to have a cortisone injection in her knee to stop the arthritis from attacking that joint. They had wanted to see her 6 weeks later for a follow up. Her doctors were thrilled with the result! The inflammation was basically gone. However...her bad leg (right) is now 3/4 of a cm longer than the other. Aparently the increased blood flow caused by the arthritis causes bone overgrowth....which is what causes the serious deformities... like this:

They said they don't 'worry' unless its over a cm..and since the inflammation appears to have halted, she should "grow into" it. 

In addition to the overgrowth, Esella has not yet regained full range of motion in her knee and still bears most of her weight on the 'good' (left) leg when standing. So, she begins physical therapy on Thursday. 

Then there is the finger...her middle finger on her right hand was noted to be possibly affected at her first rheumy appt in December. It has since actually gotten WORSE, swelling quite a bit since then. I haven't been able to get a picture of it, but here is a picture that is similar to Esella's finger (hers is not quite as swollen, however):

It basically is not yet responding to her current drug therapy (naproxen, aka Alieve). The doctors told us fingers take longer to respond to the medications. They also told us it is very common to have to move to Methotrexate when fingers and other small joints (like toes) are affected. If you do not know what MTX is, it is actually a Chemotherapy agent. Want to hear something ironic? My dad was on this same drug for Chemo 21 years ago! You can read here about this medication: 

Methotrexate Info on WebMD 

They want Esella to continue on the current drug therapy until our next appt in May and then I guess we will discuss what the next step will be if her finger is still resisting treatment. 

In addition to her joints, Esella has to be followed closely by a pediatric Ophthalmologist. WHY, you ask? Well because apparently it is not enough that Arthritis is attacking her joints, but believe it or not arthritis can also attack the EYES!!!! It sounds crazy but Esella is at risk for a condition called Uveitis . Apparently 1/8 children with JIA will develop Uveitis. And girls diagnosed before age 2 are at the HIGHEST risk, which is basically Esella since her symptoms began just before her second birthday. Children who test ANA positive are the highest risk group, and Esella is ANA negative. However that really doesn't mean much. 

Here is an article about a recent study:
 Study Identifies New Risk Factors for Dangerous Eye Complication of Juvenile Arthritis


So Esella goes back to the Ophthalmologist in May the week after hew next Rheum appt. Let's HOPE/PRAY that the Arthritis does not attack her beautiful eyes! 

And so we continue with her Naproxen twice a day and hope it will do the trick!


So that is the update on Esella's arthritis battle. She is an amazing little girl!!

Happy St. Patty's! (a little early)

This weekend was the Dublin (CA) St. Patrick's Day Festival. We decided to partake in the festivities again this year since we enjoyed ourselves last year. The festival has over 200 booths, free goodies, food, rides, arts and crafts, and of course BEER. 

Once again it was crowded and let me tell you how much MORE fun crowds are with a double stroller! Ha! We walked from our home to the festival and back, we had to do the double. Other than that though, we had a great time. 

Esella immediately asked to go on one the carnival rides....one that is like a mini Drop Zone...it was like this one:

Yeah uuummmm....no. She begged "Esella go up" over and over. I just COULDN'T do it. She is only TWO! Justin was (of course) all for it. I said..."next year". 

So she did get to go on a couple carnival rides. I think she would have gone on everyone if we would have let her! However she was sick (cold) and was fading fast....so we only did two: A boat ride and a train ride. She actually went on the boat TWICE and cried when we said no more boat. Then she did the train ride.

Here is the boat ride:

And the train ride:

After that she made a quick craft and then we headed home.

She FOUGHT Justin when he was putting her back in the stroller..."No go home anymore!" ("anymore" is her new word...ha ha) she screamed. Then 5 minutes later...

As I type this she is STILL out and its been about 2 1/2 hours. She was TIRED. 

OH and of course Everett had a blast...he slept most of the time in the stroller, wearing his sister's "My First St. Patrick's Day" onsie. Then he rode home in the sling when he was sick of the stroller. 

Excited to take the kids next year!!!

Keep Dancing...

The Arthritis Walk Kick Off

As you are probably aware, we are participating in the 2011 Arthritis Walk in Livermore, CA on April 30th. We are doing this to raise awareness about JIA, as well as to raise funds for Arthritis research and education. In fact, Seventy-eight (78) cents of every dollar goes to research, community outreach, advocacy efforts, and life-improving programs. 


Last weekend there was a little kick off event for the Walk. Unfortunately the weather was not great, AND it was during nap time...but we went anyway. We ended up having a great time wine tasting and dancing in the rain. We were able to meet some of the fantastic people to work for and volunteer for the Arthritis Foundation, Northern California Chapter as well as some other teams. Here are a few pictures from that day...

Getting some goodies with her Grand B and Yeh-Yeh

Having some grapes and cheese

Justin and Everett wine tasting

 

Everett sound asleep...

Esella with her Grand B

Dancing with her Yeh-Yeh

Dancing with Yeh-Yeh and Grams

 

 MMMmmmmm cookie

Chocolate face! :)

Dancing in the rain

 

 

We can't wait for the walk in April...so far we have raise $10,325 in 3 1/2 weeks! We are excited to see how much more we can raise in the next 7 weeks! If you are interested in donating or would like to help us by sharing our info, please visit our site below...and pass it along to all your friends and family. The number one goal is to educate people about this disease...people have NO IDEA what Juvenile Arthritis is. 


Thanks for visiting! Keep Dancing!
Katie


Here is our Arthritis Walk Info Site...
Click Here for Team Esella 2011

Everett's Birth Story

Well I thought I would post Everett's birth story with some pictures! So here it goes:

I checked into the hospital at 8pm on January 2^nd 2011 for an induction. I was 41 weeks 2 days along. I had been contracting on and off for a few days and had hoped that I would go into labor on my own. I really did not want to be induced. That day I had two breakdowns about it. I had decided to at least show up for the induction and then decide once I got there if I would really go through with it.

Despite my not wanting an induction, once I arrived at the hospital I was ready to just be done with it all. I had this feeling of peace about the whole thing. Justin commented on how my attitude was totally different. I said that I was just ready to meet my baby boy now and that I was at peace with the induction. 

Here is my labor and delivery room:

So anyway, when we checked in I got changed into a gown, peed in a cup, and waited for my nurse. Here I am looking HOT in my gown...ha ha

It took about a half hour for the nurse to arrive. We went over a bunch of paperwork and she explained how things would work. She hooked me up to the monitors after taking all my vitals and she ran off to get the Cervadel. At that point my doctor called me. She was at home watching me on the monitors! She said she saw that I was contracting and hopefully I wouldn’t need too much help to get going. She went over our plan and asked me if it was ok. She told me everything was up to me and that she didn’t want me to feel pressured to do anything. This made me feel much better about the induction. She told me I was in charge.

The nurse came back and inserted the Cervadel around 11pm. I was 2 cm and 50% effaced. At that point I was told I needed to lay down for about 2 hours and then she wanted me to get up and walk around. Justin and I watched some TV via Netflix on the laptop. Here is Justin sitting in our room:

After two hrs my nurse came in and had me walk around. Then I tried to get some rest. However, I suddenly felt horribly sick…like I was going to vomit and had to use the bathroom. DH got the nurse for me. I ended up using the restroom and felt a bit better…and had some ginger ale. Finally I got some rest.

I slept about 1 ½ hrs. Then the nurse came in at 5am to remove the Cervadel…only to find it had fallen out at some point! Anyway I was 3 cm and 60% effaced. My nurse suggested I take a shower (which was a great idea) and then we would begin the Pitocin. So after the shower I was officially hooked up to the IV lines and the Pit was started, around 6am.

The contractions for the first 3 hrs were not painful..they were the same as I had been having, just a bit more regular (every 5 minutes). Around 8:30 my doctor came. She said “Are you hungry?” I was like “Yes” She said “You want to eat?”

UUmmmm huh?? I can EAT?? She said “Sure…we can just turn off the pit for about an hour. I recommend you eat light.” I decided right then that she was amazing. The nurse looked at her like she had two heads! Ha ha ha. So they turned it off and I ordered a banana and a muffin.

At this point Justin went out to meet his parents…they were taking Esella to a doctors appt. The pit was started back on and BOOM! All of a sudden the contractions were a bit stronger. My parents came to visit and then the pain got bad…I called Justin to see where he was…thank God he was only 5 minutes away grabbing lunch.

Once Justin got there…things went fast. The contractions went from a 2-3 on the pain scale to a 8-9. I was checked and only a 3 ½-4. This was around 12:15. I asked that the pit get turned down…I was having a hard time. I also asked for an epidural.

12:45 the anesthesiologist showed up to do the epi. It was being tricky….he had to give me two extra doses of drugs and I had to lay on my right side as for some reason most of the drugs had gone to my left side and I was feeling pain on the right. It took a while to fully work.

At 1:15 my doc came and broke my water. I was 5cm. YAY for progress! My doctor left and said “See you in a few hours to have a baby!”

When she left Justin's parents got there. I was still feeling pain with the contractions on the right and needed my Justin to help me get through them. My mother in law, Barbara, (who was a labor and delivery nurse in her former life) was with me and all of a sudden I said “I feel him coming out!”  Barbara told Justin to get the nurse. I was at 8cm! It was about 1:45ish. Justin started making some phone calls to get my parents back at the hospital (they were watching Esella and my friend Somer was going to come relieve them). While he was on the phone I started freaking out again…I told Barbara he was coming…the nurse came and I was at a 10! It was like 1:55ish. She got the phone out and called my doctor at about 2pm. She rushed over from her office and got there at 2:06.

Once my doctor had been called, all kinds of people came in the room. They changed the bed into the delivery bed and got the table of items for the doctor out and ready. My doctor got there and got into her gear. Two nurses came in and introduced themselves. Then I was asked if it was ok if two student nurses observed. At this point I was like SURE! Come on in! It’s a party! Ha ha ha. 

At this point I started pushing...but I was worried that my mom wasn't going to make it...my parents were on their way over. For Esella's birth...I didn't want anyone in the room but Justin and I...but this time I decided that both the grandmothers could be there. So anyway..I start pushing and at some point my mom gets there! I was so relieved! Because just a few pushed later and Mr. Everett's head is delivered...and I hear Barbara say in a nervous tone..

"You've got a cord!"

Of COURSE this little guy had to cause drama by having his cord around his neck. It was too tight for the doctor to remove...so I had to get him out. The doctor said something about possibly needing to "help me out" (aka...episiotomy) and I said "I can do it!" and I pushed and I pushed and I pushed (that little guy had an 83rd %ile head and big shoulders!!) and FINALLY just minutes after my mom arrived Everett Girouard Hou Yun was born!!!

He was born with his eyes WIDE open and immediately started looking around. he hadn't cried yet and was a little blue...but then he let out a HUGE cry...and he was placed on my chest. It was a beautiful moment!

 Then he was cleaned up and swaddled. He also got weighed, measured, checked out by the pediatrician, got his first bath and all that fun stuff all in my room so I could be present. It was so awesome! With Esella (born at a different hospital) she was taken away for an hour to have all this done (Justin went with her but I missed it). Anyway..all this was done as I got cleaned and stitched up. Here are some pictures...

First Bath...NOT thrilled! Ha!

And then....Justin's parents brought Esella to meet her new baby brother! She was a little freaked out at first...mommy in a hospital bed and all...but she eventually warmed up to him. 

Yeh-Yeh with his son and his granchildren. So proud!

Esella finally warming up to Everett

 After this we were moved into our post postpartum room and Justin ran out to get us dinner. Then Everett decided to give mama a HUGE scare. He was laying on me and had just finshed eating and I was on the computer. I looked down and Everett was BLUE. I picked him up and went limp. After hitting the nurse call button mothers instinct kicked in and I gave him a little swat on his side and BOOM he let out a LOUD cry. I was so relieved!  At this point about 5 nurses came in and took Everett away. Luckily he was fine, but they wanted to keep him in the NICU for a while to monitor him. He spent about 14 hours in there (Justin and I were with him almost the entire time) and they released him. 

Once he was out I was READY to go! We asked to be released early...but we had to wait for the pediatrician to release him. SO while we were waiting for him to arrive we had our celebratory meal for lunch:

With our sparkling cider...

 Esella came to visit and helped me eat my cake...

 That evening, just 30 hours he was born, Everett was released from the hospital!! So we got him all ready and at about 9pm we took our baby boy home.

SO Esella went home in the same outfit..but in white :) We also have similar pictures of mommy and baby as we were waiting to leave...here they are:

Mommy with Everett:

 Mommy with Esella:

 Then we got Everett in the car seat and headed home. 

 But first....a quick picture with Mommy and Daddy...and then below the picture taking Esella home two years and one month earlier...

With Everett:

With Esella:

So that was Everett's birth story. Hope you enjoyed it!