1 year ago today- January 14

1 year ago... our life changes forever
1 year ago... we witnessed miracles
1 year ago... we were surrounded by our friends and family
1 year ago... Lillie introduced us to prayer, and to pray for miracles

Can you believe it has been 1 year since this journey started? I keep thinking that it really did not happen, but we all know it did.

Let me recap you on the events of January 14, 2008..

It was an ordinary day... I was getting ready to head back to work, so we were crunched with last minute dentist appointments for Emma, and a mommy-daughter lunch. This lunch was interrupted with a phone call from Lillie's new day care to come pick her up, something was not quite right. She had a fever. It was 103. I rushed her to the doctor and within minutes we were rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Within about 1 hour upon arrival, we were told Lillie had meningitis, and possibly a very contagious or deadly strand, so we were locked into our room in the emergency department, waiting on results. James arrived during this time, as I was alone with Lillie until now. The night was rough. People coming in and out, having to put on full protection- gown, gloves, face mask, but needing to be in there to check her levels, administer medication, etc.

The night went from bad to worse as Lillie was getting worse, not better. We were then transported via Kangaroo Crew ambulance to Texas Children's Hospital directly into the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). Lillie was stable the rest of this day, eating and sleeping. I left her at 10:30 to get some sleep (in the Ronald McDonald House). I had not slept longer than 30 minutes the night before. At 1:30 am- Jan. 15th- I got a phone call to return to Lillie's room, she had stopped breathing and needed to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. I was scared and alone. I walked into the room just as they gave Lillie medicine to relax her to place the tube. She was so lifeless, I was so scared and alone. I was then asked to wait in the waiting room until she was stable again. I crawled in a chair (and covered up with a blanket by the waiting room lady- so nice!!) and was able to fall asleep again... Within 1 hour, they woke me up to tell me she was stable and had moved to another room, to be closely monitored.

Fast forward... We spent 5 days in the PICU and Lillie improved more and more each passing minute and hour. Saturday she was moved to the 10th floor where we would stay for 10 more days. By Monday- the 21st you could see a total difference in our little Lillie. She was eating, and wanting to play. We were visited by many friends and family during our stay and were given gifts by many Lillie's angels. You know who you were!

Fast forward...
Lillie has met ALL milestones on time (or even early) At one time in the hospital it was unknown if Lillie would ever have a typical life. We knew better! She is walking, babbling, eating everything in sight, and best of all- sleeping!!!!!

We took a small family vacation to Galveston and watched Lillie experience sand and swimming and candy! Never too early to introduce sugar!

We survived, unharmed, Hurricane IKE. Our house was fine and we all were safe.

We celebrated Lillie's birthday on October 18th with a "Leap Frog Lily" party. She enjoyed the whole party and loved playing in the cake! We were blessed to have our special friends and family join us at the party. We also were blessed to have Nurse Jennifer- the nurse who took care of Lillie for 4 days in the PICU. She will always be a part of our family!

We celebrated Emma's 4th birthday with a special "Pinkalicious Tea Party" with her closest friends. Lillie was joining in with the girls! She was ready to be a big girl!

We celebrated Thanksgiving and had so much to be thankful for this year! We were thankful for doctors, medicine and most importantly God's Grace and blessing us with a MIRACLE!

We celebrated Christmas and the birth of our Savior grateful for the lessons we learned this year.

We have also learned many medical terms, symptoms, etc. We are working through news that Lillie has a milk allergy and any foods that even contain milk, are not good for her. Just ask Emma, she will look at the nutrition label for you to show you where to look for milk! :) What a good big sister.

Lillie is a TINY miracle (weighing only 18 pounds at her 1 year appt- putting her in the 15th percentile for weight for her age), but we like her this tiny!!!

On a side note, God works in mysterious ways. I entered Lillie's pediatrician office in January to get copies of payment info, and saw one of the Infectious Disease Doctors that took care of Lillie at TCH, she is now a full time pediatrician at our office! I was so happy to see her, and the best part, she remembered Lillie!!! She asked about her and was so happy to hear things were good! (we have already been to see her this week- to see if she needed stitches on her little head, but we got lucky no stitches!!!) So now we have another doctor who has been on this journey with us, to see us through Lillie's care.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. We could not have done this without all of you..