Surgery Update

So we ended up having to stay a second night at the hospital because Bindi wasn't eating enough to keep her hydrated, so she needed to stay on the IV a bit longer. But we were finally able to go home Thurs afternoon. But first we stopped by Shriner's hospital where Bindi had an appointment to get her pinkie fingers checked out. If you remember, her pinkies don't straighten all the way. The good news is that she won't need surgery on them, just some splints and occupational therapy. After that appointment we picked up her meds and headed home. She still had some trouble eating until Fri afternoon, but now she's doing great, almost back to her normal eating schedule and even eating baby food and yogurt. We'll probably take her off her pain meds tomorrow because she doesn't seem to be in any pain anymore. In the meantime, we're enjoying taking things easy in Gridley and getting ready for our next move to Sacramento in July.

Loads of Stuff

So, obviously it has been a few months since we last updated this thing. Over the past couple weeks, a bunch of stuff has been happening. It has been crazy busy. First of all, Derek graduated on Saturday with a degree in General Studies. The graduation ceremony was nice in the sense that it only lasted 2 hrs instead of the scheduled 4. Afterwards we had an awesome BBQ with our good friends Lucas and Merridy. Then it was a crazy packing time so that we could exit Reno on Monday. I forgot to mention our awesome yard sale which we created a huge hype about but ended up being more of a bust. We got a few dollars here and there though. Monday was a crazy day, although we did have the help of our awesome family members and friends. The day would have been a great accomplishment except that the van battery died before Derek had even left Reno. I ended up getting to Gridley in the Subaru half an hour after Derek left Reno. He didn't arrive until 1:30 am. And then on top of that, Bindi's surgery was scheduled for 7:15 am this morning. That meant of course a very short sleep and a drive to sacramento at 5:45 am. We're really lucky that Bindi was able to have her surgery today, however. We hit a few bumps in the road: the first being that she got sick last week. Of course the doctor asked if she had had a cough or cold within the past week and we said that she had had a small one. That was a real blessing from God: even though she was sick, it only lasted about 2 days instead of the customary 6 with the common cold. She did have a phlegmy cough this morning, but the doctor said it would be ok to proceed. Also, yesterday they were supposed to call with the time of Bindi's surgery (they always keep you in the dark until the day before). But when they did call, they said that she was only scheduled for an ear tube replacement, a much simpler and shorter surgery. Therefore she was not scheduled for enough time for a cleft palate repair, but we fought for it and they worked it out in the end. So here we are in the hospital with Bindi. She's doing really well, but I can't say that I wasn't traumatized a little with all the pain she went through. The procedure took about 2 hrs while Derek and I were in the waiting room. When we went in to get her, she was screaming and crying, which turned out to be just because of the confusion of waking up from anesthesia. She does have a lot of pain in her mouth because of all the stitches, so she's not able to eat normally yet, but the doctor said that by tomorrow she should be right as rain. And she's been sleeping pretty much all day, which is great for recovery. Derek and I weren't expecting to stay the night because they told us we wouldn't have to, but they sprung that on us after the surgery. We're not sure where Derek is going to sleep since they only allow 1 person to sleep with the baby, but worse comes to worst, he'll sleep in the car. So that's our life up to this point. A few other minor points to mention: I'm applying to the navy now instead of the Air Force since we found out they're still accepting applicants for the fall semester; we had a great time at Frenchman's Lake with our friends from University Village a few weekends ago, we had a great mother's day: Derek took me to the Grand Sierra Resort for the evening and we went to a drive-in movie and watched Iron Man II and ate ice cream; the next day we made Ethiopian food for Denise and the girls came over...I guess that's about it. Happy Mother's Day to al those mother's and grandmother's that we forget to say that to. We've included some pictures of Bindi's first attempts to feed herself. Enjoy.

Easter +

Wow, I thought I hadn't been keeping up with the blog because nothing interesting has happened. But after reading the last post I realize that monumental things have happened that I haven't written about. I guess it was just laziness then. Anyway, found out that he will be able to graduate this semester with a degree in general studies. Although we were hoping that he would be able to get his degree in secondary education English teaching, that would have taken another semester's worth of work and might not have made a difference. To be a teacher in California you have to have a bachelor's degree (any bachelor's degree) and then take a year's worth of masters level courses. So regardless of what your degree is in, the process is the same. We felt like it was a good move for us. Especially since I was accepted into UC Davis medical school in Sacramento! I decided to go ahead and enter the 5 year program (instead of the 4 year program), which will include another masters degree. It is the Rural-PRIME program which has an emphasis on practicing medicine in rural, underserved areas. I could work in a place like Loyalton or Gridley where there are few specialists, and primary care doctors tend to do a lot more specialized work than they would in larger cities. I think it will be a great program. This was our first choice of medical schools since it is so close to Derek's family and Gridley. Also we just had a feeling that this was where we needed to end up. I was also accepted to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, but neither one of us is that keen on Utah. The bad news is that I was not accepted to the Air Force scholarship this year. I went for the Air Force physical back in January (that was the soonest I could do it since you have to wait for 6 months after giving birth) and was temporarily disqualified because I was underweight and because I had had gestational diabetes during pregnancy. (I hadn't realized I was underweight because we don't own a weighing scale, but apparently all that breast pumping had been depleting my calories without me knowing it). After to their standards they had to disqualify me, but I was told that all I needed was a waiver, which shouldn't be hard to get since I was so healthy. Unfortunately, they had to send my paperwork to the surgeon general to get a waiver - a two month process. By the time all my paperwork came back, it was too late. All the scholarships had been given out. Fortunately, I am in a five year program and the scholarship is only four years. In other words, I am reapplying for the scholarship for next year, and according to the recruiter I have a very good chance of getting it because I'll be one of the only ones to have my application in by October. So that's when I'll find out - October. In the meantime, we'll be surviving on financial aid and odd jobs. It won't be fun, but we've got to do what we've got to do. The good news is that I won't be spending five weeks away for Air Force training this summer. I was not looking forward to that. UC Davis starts on July 26, and we've got a busy summer planned in the meantime. Derek graduates May 15. Bindi has cleft palate surgery May 18. We need to find a job to earn some money for the summer, and then at the end of June we'll be going to visit my family in Texas. On July 6, there is a pre-matriculation program for UC Davis that lasts for 2 weeks. You have to apply to get into it, but if you get it, they'll pay you $500 for expenses and teach you all about how to be successful in medical school. A good deal no matter how you look at it. We may or may not be able to go to the coast this year for Derek's family reunion up in the red woods. But we've got a busy time ahead of us and a lot of worries before we get settled into med school. But we have faith that everything will turn out according to God's plan.

PS Bindi's the cutest baby in the world. Check out her Easter pictures.

Happy New Year!

Well it's 2010 now. The start of Bindi's second year of life and our third year as a married couple. A lot has happened since the last post. We went to Gridley for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom and brother came down from Texas to see us. Jesse had to return to Japan after spending Christmas with us. It was great to see him, it's been a year and a half since we have. My mom seemed to really love seeing Bindi, we're just sorry that her visits are so few and far between. For our second anniversary Derek surprised me with a trip to San Francisco. Unfortunately I got food poisoning the day before and ended up being too weak and sick to do all the activities Derek had planned. We even missed seeing 39 steps at the theater, which Derek paid quite a bit for and was nonrefundable. So we decided to try and celebrate our anniversary again at new year's. Unfortunately, Derek came down with some sort of flu, but we went through with our plans anyway. I guess we're just not meant to have time to ourselves this year. In other news Bindi had her ear surgery and came out just fine. In fact she seems to be able to hear better and be in less pain now than she was before her surgery. Not that she seemed to be in much pain before, but she has been less irritable since. She had a really great first Christmas. She's really going to be spoiled with all the toys everyone got for her. There are some cute pictures of her opening presents that we'll attach. Derek is already into a new semester - wintermester now and spring semester in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a busy time. That's about it for now, at least that's all I can think of. Hope everyone had a great holiday and happy new year!

Bindi at 4 months and other news

A lot of fun stuff has happened since the last post. We really should write more often. Derek got a job, although it was not with the Geek Squad. He's a receptionist/video media producer with the school of education at UNR. The good news is that he doesn't have to work weekends or holidays, the bad news is he only gets 20 hrs a week at $8.50 an hour. I'm pretty happy about that though, it still seems like he's gone all the time and the little bit of money really helps (although we're still awaiting his first pay check). I think Derek is enjoying it too because he is able to do something he's really good at - making videos. As far as med school interviews go, the interview with the Charles Drew Medical School in LA went well. I got lost on the way there and ended up in the middle of Inglewood, but I found my way in the end. I was late but I think I still made a good impression - there were two interviews, one with faculty and one with a student, as well as a writing sample and a group problem solving exercise. I wasn't expecting the extra stuff, I don't think many other med schools do that. Anyway, they only accept 24 students and they interviewed 120, so we'll see. I've got the UC Davis interview and a U of Utah interview coming up next week. I'm really not looking forward to it, mostly because I'll be away from Derek and Bindi for two days in a row. I also found out a little bit of bad news - if I get accepted to the 5 year program at UC Davis, the Air Force won't accept my application for their scholarship until after the 1st year. That would leave me with a hard decision to either decline the position or find a way to pay for the first year. That's enough on that subject. The most important part of our post is Derek's b'day and Halloween. I surprised Derek with a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park, which you can see pictures of down below. Denise watched Bindi over night and we stayed in a "resort" close to the park. Their "cabin" was actually a motor home decorated like a cabin, but that was our own complaint, the park was awesome. We really enjoyed the hiking and the weather was beautiful. After the park we went to Gridley for the Halloween party. We all dressed as teenage mutant ninja turtles. Bindi was adorable. You can see pictures below. Also, I might include pictures of Corine's wedding which I went to on Sept. 12. She was beautiful with her 5 month pregnant belly and little Ava in tow. She made a beautiful flower girl. I think that's about it for now. We'll at least write again after Thanksgiving.

Happy 3 Month Bindi!

Actually we're kind of late for her 3 month birthday, but we thought we would celebrate with a blog post anyway. She's doing great - since the last post she's started smiling and laughing, which she does frequently. In fact, we're going to try to post some video of her laughing. Nothing new to report health-wise except that she has started on an acid reflux medicine which has greatly reduced the reflux and improved her mood. Also, Bindi's ear surgery is scheduled for Dec. 22. In other exciting news, Derek is interviewing for a job with the Geek Squad through Best Buy. We're really hoping he gets the job because we're in dire financial straits (not to mention that Derek would be awesome at the Geek Squad). Also, I have two med school interviews coming up at UCLA (Oct. 24) and UC Davis - my top choice (Nov 18). We're really excited that about these interviews because it probably means that these schools are seriously considering me (because the interviews are so early). That's about it for now, we'll have some more pictures for Halloween because we have an awesome costume for Bindi, and I'll have news about my UCLA interview.

Baby Blessing

Tahoe and Robinson's Mine

so derek took me to lake tahoe for my bday. he surprised me and got his mom to watch bindi for a full 24 hrs, which is no joke considering how many times she gets up in the middle of the night. but we had a great time at a hotel with a hot tub and a private beach. we also played a rousing game of mini golf and went on a hike around tahoe rim trail. we also spent some time up at buck's lake giving the baby her first outing to robinson's mine. school's starting on monday so i won't see as much of derek as i'm used to. that will be an adjustment. in other news, we found out that the baby will need a minor surgery to implant some tubes in her ears. her eustachian tubes are too small, causing equilibrium problems and probably affecting her hearing. so before she gets to the point where she's trying to develop speech, we need to get those tubes in - probably around december. that's about all that's new and exciting.

Happy 1 Month Bindi!

Did you notice that we decided to spell her name without the 'h'? Bindi is eating very well and weighed in today at 8 lbs 9 oz. She gets cuter by the day. Check out the baby glamor shots.

Going home...

Sorry folks, we have been pretty bad at updating the blog over the last few days. There has been a whole lot going on, and without the endless hours of boredom at the hospital we have been having a hard time finding time to blog. So here is the most recent update. Bindi is home, we came home on sunday afternoon and we couldn't be happier. The primary issue has been her feeding. Her digestive problems have not been an issue what-so-ever, we thought because of the omphalocele that she would have problems with her bowels. But the surgery went so well the only real problem was one we didn't know would be factor, her cleft palate. She has a cleft in her soft palate, so it's not visible, but it makes it impossible for her to create suction. Long story short, she is not able to feed very naturally. It was a lot of work to try and figure out what we would do to get her to feed. The ENT lady had us try various specialty bottles, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, she suggested we go to babs-r-them and buy a "nuby" bottle. The entire bottle is silicon, so it allows you to basically squeeze the milk into her mouth, then all she has to do is swallow. A day after buying the bottle Bindi drank all of the milk with out the need for the feeding tube. This was such an improvement the ENT lady took the feeding tube out. The next several days were full of frantic attempts to learn how best to feed her. Once she started gaining weight and feeding well, it was only a matter of time before we could come home. Now, it's been exactly a week since coming home from the hospital. Rachel and I are both pretty wiped out, every night i get up to feed the baby and Rachel gets up to pump. Still I prefer this much more than being at the hospital still. Being home with Bindi has given us the chance to actually feel like parents, and we like it, so that's probably good. Bindi's scab from her surgery is healing nicely and should hopefully be gone around the same time an umbilical cord usually falls off. Other than that, all's well. We are so blessed to have our little one safe and sound, and we thank all of you for your prayers and support!

A few more things to say

Just to play catch up on what news has come our way lately - we've seen the genetic counselor, the pediatric surgeon, and the ear nose throat doctor since we last posted. The genetic counselor doesn't have anything new to report - a summary of her condition: no heart problems to speak of, not too many physical abnormalities except for her long fingers and toes, she does have a cleft in her soft palate (which is at the back of her throat rather than at the front of her mouth) that will cause some eating difficulties and would cause speech problems, but they're going to correct it at about 10-14 months of age. Possible problem with her pinky fingers not being able to straighten, which may or may not need to be corrected later in life. Although we have no idea what developmental problems could arise in the future, we are grateful that she has done so well so far. It's a good sign that her disorder is not severe. She has been able to eat very well considering her cleft palate, and even tried to breast feed today (although she didn't care for it). She lost a little weight (as most newborns do), but as soon as she's able to eat normally and starts to gain weight again, they'll send her home. Probably another week. I'm still recovering from my infection, not quite able to walk for more than a few steps yet, but since being discharged from the hospital last night I've been doing a lot of sitting, which hasn't been possible before. Having trouble with breastfeeding (or rather breast pumping), so I'm going to meet a lactation counselor tomorrow. We've moved to the Ronald McDonald House, which is not a bad place to stay. Also I've been busy eating at all the restaurants that were on my list to eat at once I was no longer diabetic. I have crossed off Pizza Hut and Diary Queen. Krispy Kreme coming soon. Don't worry, it's just a binge while I'm recovering from birth, then I'll be back on my healthy schedule. Being a mom is great!

Forgot to mention that Jack and Danielle got married on July 9 at the Sacramento Temple. Luckily we were able to attend and see their beautiful ceremony while the baby was in the hospital. They're going to be a very happy couple.

News!

Just for everyone following faithfully, here is the newest news. First off, thanks for all your prayers and support. Rachel isn't feeling too hot, the nurse is going to put in a new IV, and they are afraid she might have a small infection. Bhindi, on the other hand, is doing much better. I got to talk to the head surgeon and he showed me Bhindi's new belly button! She is doing super well, and the doctor said she should start eating food immediately! That was really great news considering we were told a few days ago that she could be here for a month, but now it looks like it might only be a week! I am attaching some photos of the repair itself, the black stuf is just pen marks the surgeon used to make sure the repair was symmetrical. They also took the stomach tube out of her nose so i took a few pictures of her face without any funky tubes sticking to it. I have to admit, we are pretty good at this baby making thing, although it might be hard to convince Rachel to do it again anytime too soon. Rachel just got her IV and is feeling a bit better, hopefully we will be out tomorrow, but for now we love you all! Love, Derek and Rachel

Bhindi's OK!

A short update to say that Bhindi just got out of surgery and is doing fine. In fact, her omphalocele was so small that they said it was more like a herniated umbilical cord than a real omphalocele. The great news is that she might be able to come home with us within the week. That's such great news, as were expecting to be in the hospital for around a month. She's just a trooper I guess. She's recovering in the NICU now and might be able to take food soon instead of just IV fluids. In fact, she's already produced some poop, which is a great sign that everything is in working order. I've been practicing with the breast pump, although I haven't produced milk yet. We've got at least another day in the hospital before they kick us out, which is great because I'm still in a lot of pain from all the ripping and stitching. That's about it for now, now it's just a waiting game to see when Bhindi will come home with us. We'll keep you updated.

Our Experience in the Hospital

I thought, now that I'm feeling relatively ok and have nothing better to do that it would be a good time to summarize our actual experience for posterity's sake. So we started our drive to the hospital at 8 am June 26. We called as soon as we were on our way, as per instructions, and were surprised to hear that they were swamped and may not be able to take us. They told us to call back in ten minutes, at which point they said they would be able to take us if we didn't mind waiting in the lobby awhile. So we continued on. Upon arrival, we stopped to ask for directions to labor and delivery at the transplant clinic. You would think they would have just pointed us in the right direction, but they checked their records, didn't find us there, and called my OB clinic (at a different hospital) to confirm that we weren't lying to them and trying to get a free induction. 20 min later, they finally pointed us in the direction of labor and delivery, where we ended up waiting in the lobby for about 2 hrs for another patient to vacate the room. They finally took us back around 10 am but did not start our pitocin drip until around 1:30 pm. A few hours later I felt like I was going into active labor, but the pain amazingly wore off without the aid of drugs. finally around 6 pm, a not so people friendly doctor came in for a check up and then proceeded to break my water bag. When I asked what she was doing, she said we're breaking your water bag. When I mentioned that we hadn't been informed that that was going to happen right then, she very condescendingly told me that I was here for an induction and that the water bag had to be broken because I wasn't progressing. Fine with me if they had just informed me that that's what they were going to do. Especially since immediately after I went into strong, regular contractions. It was all they could do to get the anesthesiologist there in time to give me an epidural. The nurse (who was fabulous) was my biggest advocate in making things as painless as possible for me. She informed me that the doctor I had had the bad experience with was not the most sympathetic - most of them would make sure you got the epidural first and then break your bag. Those 30-45 min or so between the bag breaking and the epidural were the most painful of my life. Derek was the best support person, helping me to remember my breathing and letting me break his hand during the contractions. Unfortunately the epidural was not completely effective because of the positioning of the baby and reduced my pain level from a 10+ to a 7. As I progressed, however, it went back up to an 8-9. It wasn't long before I had transitioned and started getting bearing down pains. Once again nurse Lisa came to my rescue and delivered the baby almost single-handedly. She did a fantastic job. I still ended up pushing for 1.5 hrs, but it wasn't as painful as the contractions were. I did end up tearing quite a bit which led to an hour and a half long stitch up session after baby was born. What a special moment when her head finally popped out, followed shortly by the rest of her body and then the placenta. She was beautiful in her newborn alien way and I couldn't help but smile and laugh in spite of the pain. They took her almost immediately to the NICU and Derek and the grandmas followed her up. I wasn't able to see her again until the next day, but they actually allowed us to hold her for awhile before she went in to surgery. Actually she might not have gone into surgery yet, as they haven't notified us, but we were told she would go in today or tomorrow. The good news is that they said her omphalocele was very tiny and so prospects were good. She looks like a beautiful baby and has very long fingers and toes (typical of 9p-), but other than that, no physical manifestations of her genetic disorder that we know of. We'll know more soon, I think we're going to see a genetic counselor. So there will be a lot more news coming soon, but that about summarizes our experience so far. I definitely am less inclined to have another baby soon, but I'm sure that goes away with the pain. I still have a great deal of pain in my crotch and rear(scientifically speaking) because of the many, many stitches I have in them. We'll be here for at least another day or two for me to recover and then we'll hopefully move to the Ronald McDonald house. We'll keep everybody updated!

The baby has landed!

At 12:55 am last night Bhindi Mitchell was born at a good 7 pounds 4 ounces. Mom is doing well, although we are both bummed about not being able to hold the baby yet. Bhindi will be going in to surgery sometime today, so we are anxious to see how that goes. We all didn't get into bed until 4 am last night, so excuse us for not being as in touch as we had intended to be. Rachel is recovering, slowly but surely, but will still be in the hospital for a day or two more. Anywho, thanks to all of you for your prayer, and we will try and keep you all updated. Here are the only two photos of Bhindi we have at this point:

hey again

rachel is pushing like crazy, the baby should be coming sooner than later!

hey!

in transition, nurse says about 30 minutes to an hour and we should be having a baby!

Dear Family in the Lobby

Rachel is in active labor! Rachel was feeling wonderful with no pain, when the doctor came into check her, the doctor didn't feel like she was progressing fast enough so the doctor broke rachel's water without even asking! it was crazy, and rachel was in immediate pain, each contraction was really bad. After aot of pain they finally got the epidural in due to the quick thinking of our nurse, who is awesome and advocated for us. About 30 minutes after the epidural was put in rachel is starting to feel much better and each contraction is almost bearable. Right now she is in regular active labor and at 6cm dilation. It looks like this baby might be coming out tonight after all! Love you guys!

Hurray.

Dear Family and loved ones,
I am writing this from the "birthing suite" that rachel and i are going to birth in. Yesterday we went to the OB and they said that Rachel was already 4cm dilated. Needless to say they advised us to not wait until the 30th to be induced as was the plan. They wanted us to go straight to the hospital last night, but we held off until this morning so that our moms could be here and we could get our clothes and what not. So now here we sit, rachel is just about to be put on pitocin. It has been a bit nerve racking sitting in the hospital waiting and waiting. But hopefully, it will go quick and we will get to meet our daughter. Rachel is doing really well and is an awesome super trooper. We will update the blog at some point, but no promises from here on out. Anyway we love you, Keep us in your prayers!

Love, Derek and Rachel

Short and Sweet

Great news! We went to the doctor last Friday, and the cardiologist could not find the hole in her heart that the OBGYN had found. What does this mean? Most likely, it's not there! We have to go back to the cardiologist in a month to make sure, but this is great news. Although she still has 9p- syndrome and she will need surgery for her omphalocele, the scariest thing was the heart problem. Also, she's been very active even now in the 8th month. We were worried that her movement would slow down as she got bigger as this is common in 9p- babies. They just don't have the musculature needed to continue moving around in a cramped space. So most likely she is going to be strong for a 9p- baby (or maybe that's just the talk of a hopeful mother-to-be). We are strongly leaning towards the name Bhindi now, as opposed to Jaya, which was our first thought (my grandmother's name). Also, this post was an excuse to add more pictures. Derek and I recently bought a slide/negative converter to scan all our old negatives. I dug up pictures from the trip to Tanzania in 2003 and wanted to post them on our blog. I've also been scanning Derek's mission pictures and some family pictures, which will be coming soon. Other than that, we are getting to move down to Gridley, CA in the Sacramento valley on May 18 and are excited for some relaxing cabin time before the baby is born.