CT Scan, take 2

Thank you all for praying for Lily this week, with special intercession from St. Jude.
We met with the neurologist on Friday and he said we can up her dose one more time, if she has another seizure (she had one on Wednesday). We're also looking into some alternative medications, since the other two prescription medications he suggested have pretty depressing potential side effects.
We did find out that Lily has gained about 11 ounces this past week, and is now over 15 pounds! Her head circumference has also grown about a half an inch. We are very happy about this!
She has had a renewed interest in food the past two weeks and her speech therapist said Lily is doing a very good job. Lily also rolled over again, though she was unhappy once she got to her tummy. Little inch-stones, making progress.

Tomorrow morning Lily will be having another CT Scan, to check on her skull bones. She will most likely have to be lightly sedated for this, which means no food 4 hours before hand. That could mean a grumpy Baby and frazzled Mom. Your prayers are appreciated (it's at 11 am).

Happy Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude tomorrow!

Seizures and St. Jude

This month Lily has started having two different kinds of seizures, along with the little jerky ones she has everyday. One of them has her leg muscles tighten and her feet turn into each other. It happens quickly and in a cluster of 4 or 5 times, usually after she wakes up. It has only seemed to bothered her once so far. The other type is a lot more disconcerting, as she goes blank and rigid, and either holds her breath or can't breath, for about 15-20 seconds. This has happened three times so far, again, not long after she wakes up from a nap. A trip to the ER and a call into her neurologist, and her anti-seizure medicine has been upped again. When we brought her home, she was on .51 mL, now she's up to 2.7 mL. There is going to be talk about adding/switching medicine when we meet with the neurologist next Friday.

So- today starts a novena to St. Jude, patron of Hopeless Causes and Desperate Situations. Would you join us in praying and asking for Lily's seizures to stop? All the prayers can be found here, and you can sign up for reminder emails.

Thank you!

Prayer Request

For the past couple of weeks, Lily has been having really intense gas that causes her to cry for anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half at a time. Often this occurs in the evening when we are already exhausted from the day. We've tried every kind of technique to relieve her discomfort, but all to no avail. Eventually she becomes so exhausted herself from crying for an hour straight that she falls asleep. Sometimes we are able to get her to burp and that will make her feel better, but again, it usually doesn't happen for a good amount of time.

Lily has also not been sleeping well on her own. She will sleep in Laura's lap sometimes for a half hour to forty-five minutes, but this means Laura is unable to do other things during that time. When Lily is laid down when she is sleeping, only five minutes later and she will wake up. To make matters worse, she is not yet able to sit up on her own or crawl around and doesn't like to lay on her back all the time, and only occasionally will she sit in a baby chair without getting upset. This means she has to be held constantly when she is awake--and she is always awake during the day.

As you can imagine, this is very stressful and overwhelming for Laura when I am not around to help due to work, class, or working on my dissertation.

So we are asking for you to please pray that Lily will sleep better and longer on her own, that her gas problems go away, and for strength and perseverance for Laura and that she does not feel overwhelmed every day.

Thank you.