Ruby Hope McKee Starling

This past weekend was the Kite Festival.  We packed Ruby and enough supplies for the afternoon up and went.  It was very apparent that we have kept Ruby sheltered and that she LOVES people.    As were walking to the festival she tried to say "Hi" to  the hundreds of people and dogs walking with us.  It was so cute.  She is so vocal and out going.  Once at the festival Ruby got to try some funnel cake and chase Hector around the blanket. Tim and Rhonda came along to help us kept track of Ruby.  Ruby even had her first funnel cake experience.  It wouldn't be a festival without funnel cake and snow cones.

We had hoped Ruby would take her nap in the stroller while we walked around, but she was just too excited.   We forgot to take pictures of the kites.  We too busy trying to Ruby from eating things off the ground or chasing after all the dogs.

The past couple days Ruby has been really congested in her nose.  We've been to the pediatrician and it's not in her lungs and her ears look good.  We've got the humidifiers going and are spraying out her nose as best we can.  Our guess is that she might have some seasonal allergies coupled with teething.  Ruby now has SIX teeth.  Three on the top and three on the bottom.  Due to all the congestion she hasn't been sleeping or eating all that well.  Hopefully things will improve over the next couple days.

We also got our schedule for her CHOP check-up.  We've got two full days of testing.  She's going to have a sedated Pulmonary Function test.  Other CDH parents if you want to share what this test is like please do so.  We've never had one and I would like to know what to expect.  She will also have a hearing test, echo, and ekg.  Then she'll meet with pulmonology, cardiology, and her beloved surgeon and neonatologists.  I'm glad we'll be seeing the Cardiologist too.  Hopefully he'll be able to shed some light into the possible heart murmur.  We are also looking forward to seeing all the people who helped save her life.  We're trying to figure out how we get in to visit the night shift nurses.

We're a little nervous about the check-up.  On one hand it'll be nice to have confirmation of how good she's doing.  On the other hand if something isn't right they'll find it.  We've become accustomed to our "less stressful" hospital free life.  Unless you've lived in a NICU for three months it's hard to understand. The thought of having to walk back through the doors of CHOP is exciting and scary at the same time.  All those months in Philadelphia were scary and tiresome.  It's hard to believe it's been year.

One last picture of our little fighter.