Ayana Health Update-Part 2

Ayana recently finished her last round of antibiotics. The antibiotics that she was given at the orphanage and that was given to us for her to continue to take...she was completely immune to them from what we can tell. They had to put her on a stronger medicine which made her stomach upset which resulted in many of blow outs. It was hard to tell if she had Giardia or if the medicine was making her do that.

Her stool was tested for a hand full of things. All the tests came back negative. From the research I have done and the advice from other AP's, I have learned that Giardia doesn't always show up the first time and they are stubborn little suckers.

Now that she is off antibiotics for a few days she is no longer have blow outs and she smells a lot better if you know what I mean.

Her ear infections cleared up and her congestion is gone if she stays on her decongestion/allergy medicine. If I forget to give it to her, she quickly gets very congested again and runny or stuffy nose.

She is eating like crazy and is gaining a lot of wait. If you remember my last post, she wasn't even on the growth chart the last time I took her to the doctor but it looks like that will be changing fast! She is getting pleasantly plump!

So to sum things up, she is very healthy from what we can tell and she is amazing! Praise the Lord!

Ayana Dr Apt-Follow up

We went back to the doctor for a follow up on Wednesday. Her ear infections appear to be gone but her ears are still a a little red but the DR suspects that they are just healing after a severe ear infection. The doctor got a copy of her medical records from Ethiopia and looked over them before we saw him yesterday. Amazingly enough, she is up on all her vaccinations. The only one she was missing is not given in most foreign countries. I don't know the technical name but it is the pneumonia vaccination. He said this is a series of 3 and it will also help to decrease ear infections. She had her first of 3 and let me tell you, she did not like it and she let me know it. She still has some upper respiratory congestion. She also appears to have allergies. Her eyes water a lot and it may explain some of the congestion from drainage. She rarely is able to breath through her nose.

She is teething so bad. She is drooling all over the place. She loves to give me kisses with all the drool. I know it sounds gross, but I can't turn her down. Have you seen her? Today I just started carrying around a burp cloth on my shoulder to wipe her mouth all the time. She is so good, barley cries even when she hurts.

She now weighs 16 pounds, so YES, she gained a pound in a WEEK! Sweet Pea loves to eat! She has filled out so much. She is getting those cute chunky thighs. In two days it will be 3 weeks since the day we first held her in Ethiopia. Check out the difference. Her legs used to be so skinny:

and now...

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Ayana Health Update

We took Ayana to the doctor today. She is 9 1/2 months, she weighs 15 pounds and she is 25 inches long. When Savannah was born she was 22 inches long, dang. Ayana is so petite that she was not even on the percentile chart yet. She was pretty healthy considering. She has already had the chicken pox while at the orphanage and was tested for HIV at two different times and was negative. She has an ear infection in both ears and has a respiratory infection/bronchitis and a common cold. When I hold her I can feel the congestion and crackle in her chest and her breathing is very heavy. Her nose is constantly clogged with junk. She hates when I wipe it. She has some seriously nasty diapers and she can clear a room with her lethal farts! We had to treat her for scabies while in Ethiopia and she has some discoloration spots on her face from it but the doctor says it should return to normal color after some time. She is also teething with two new teeth breaking through her skin. Despite all that, she is so good even though she isn't feeling well. I am amazed at her every minute!.

Ayana loves her big sis. Ayana is eating well. We can't get food in her fast enough. She still is not sitting up on her own very well due to lack of stimulation or muscle strength so we feed her in the bumbo instead of the high chair. She leans toward it to get more.

She is letting big sis know how its going to be, Faster, faster!

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

She loves bath time! She loves to splash and lick everything.

Ahh...so cute!

Bed time...

We are still a little sleep deprived. Ayana was up at 3:00 AM last night. She is having a hard time breathing and it wakes her up. Poor baby.
I know that you all want to see videos and hear about the trip but I am too tired to get them loaded. My program for the camcorder is not user friendly and it takes a lot of time to download but I will try to get it done soon.