Tuesday, Dec. 18

Today was a frustrating day as we started, but we've made some good progress, and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. The doctor called to inform us that the preliminary reading of the chromosome tests show a confirmation of Down Syndrome. We pretty much already knew that, so it wasn't a big shock. The final reading will show us the type, but won't tell us anything about the severity, so we'll just have to see how it pans out. From what we understand, the severity will become more clear as she reaches certain milestones. One day at a time though folks.

Addison has started to turn into an active baby today. She has started eating so much that Rachel is having a tough time keeping up. Up to this point, we've had some troubles not only with her getting the nutrition she needs, but the way we are providing that nutrition. Addison has had a great number of doctors and "consultants" see her, and they all have a different idea of how we should go about feeding her properly. So, Rach and I decided it was time to get all of these folks together and come up with a plan. There is one man who's going to make the decision to release Addison or keep her in the hospital on the 20th. Our goal is to get her home. So, we want every doctor and medical consultant who is meeting with us and working with Addison to know what we need to do in order to make that happen. Sometime after lunch on Wednesday, we are going to have that meeting, so please pray that the meeting goes well and everyone gets on the same page. The frustrating part has been the lack of communication between everyone. The encouraging part is that we have been able to set up this little pow wow. I think Rach is bringing the hammer to the meeting. I think it's awesome when she does that.

Rach and I are doing well. We are struggling to get the rest we need. I think I fell asleep standing up this morning, which I've never done before now, and I couldn't remember the term "sleep deprivation", which probably means that I have a case of it. Neither of us has had a meltdown yet, so we have that going for us. I guess this is all part of what we signed up for when we decided to have kids. And to think that we will have three more after Addison. YIKES!!! Keep praying for us. We need it.

Several people today have said that they love Addison's cheeks and they want to just chew them up. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. So I've posted a couple of pics for your chewing pleasure. Enjoy!