Ruth's Fourth Month

Four months home! It's been a whirlwind of a month with some emotional ups and downs. Once again, Ruth Veronica has proved herself to be brave, resilient, strong, and cheeky. 

She enjoyed a trip to the Strasburg Railroad. 

Told stories while riding the tire swing. 

Helped (as in ate) do corn to freeze at Grandpa and Grandma Hess's. 

Took a tremendously bubbly bath. 

Played peek-a-boo in the hammock. 

Picked raspberries in just a diaper. 

Exercised with daddy. 

Went to church. 

Pushed a toad in a doll stroller, much to the delight of these two older sisters. 

Took more tire swing rides. 

Enjoyed a trip to Hershey Gardens. 

It was about halfway through the month when we learned that the blood condition Ruth has is more serious than we originally thought. We had learned last month that she has Hemoglobin H Disease. We didn't know that there were several variations of this, with some being much more severe. After doing research and then calling her hematologist, we learned that Ruthie had Hemoglobin H Disease, Constant Spring. Currently this does not change anything. However, she will need to be followed by a specialist at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) about every 6 months. It can be a tricky condition as it affects people differently, with about 50% of people needing a splenectomy, some blood transfusions, and growth delays. At this point Ruth really does look well and we are just thankful that we have fantastic hospitals with specialists in Thalassemia so close by. 

This was how Ruthie felt about school one day. We all had a good laugh because I kept telling her to get down to play, but she insisted on staying in her seat as long as the bigger girls were at the table for lessons. 

Ruthie has been really into catching toads with Abbey and Maggie. This was her face when the toad they brought into the house to freak me out with started peeing on her. (Yuck!)

She loved licking the chocolate beaters. 

And was so happy when all her big sisters came to get her from her nap. 

She always loves laughing with Carrie. 

Ruth loves to help. Whatever I'm working on, she wants to be right in there with me. She is so eager to learn. 

We are enjoying the last dregs of warm weather for campfires and s'mores. 

It's soccer season for Abbey and Maggie so Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons have us heading out to games. She is usually a little trooper, even with some unseasonably hot days. 

She got to meet another China adoptee, Faith! We will be praying for Faith as she has heart surgery scheduled for October. 

The big thing for Ruth this month was her cleft palate repair surgery and having tubes in her ears. This picture was at our last appointment of the day after seeing multiple medical professionals for a long, long day. She was so exhausted. 

Tuesday, September 19, on the way to Abbey's soccer practice I was praying for Ruth and her surgery the next day. As I was driving a rainbow appeared in the sky. It had not been raining so was completely unexpected. I felt like it was God's way of telling me that everything will be okay. Some of you may remember last year when we did our fundraiser to help raise money to bring Ruth home, we had a quick downpour followed by a rainbow over the cornfield behind our church. And here we are, just over a year later with another rainbow over a cornfield. 

We were so glad that Ruthie could meet her Uncle Todd and Aunt Sarah who have been living in St. Thomas for the past two years. Unfortunately the recent hurricanes have really demolished the island. We are glad they were able to make it safely back to the states. 

Surgery day! September 20. She surprised the nurse by choosing a Hot Wheels sticker. Thanks to Pastor Robert for making all the kids love hot wheels. 

Ruth had the kindest doctors and nurses. Her anesthesiologist put these stickers all over her. While she acted shy of him, as soon as he walked out of the room she was all smiles. 

This was after her "happy juice", basically and anti-anxiety medication so she wouldn't cry when they took her away from me. She was so funny! Huge smiles, she took about 150 selfies of her forehead and hand. When the anesthesiologist came back she was showing him her hand on the picture. 

She was definitely a little loopy by the time they took her back. 

Surgery lasted about three hours. She had more bleeding from her nose and mouth than I anticipated. Ruth was blessed with amazing nurses who really took care of both of us during our time in the hospital. She was pretty miserable, but could usually be calmed by me holding her against my chest/shoulder. 

While it may sound strange, in many ways I'm glad she had this surgery. I wasn't there when Ruth was born. I missed so much of her life so far. I wasn't there for her first surgery. But I was there for this one. I was the one she clung to when she was hurting. I was the one who calmed her throughout the night when she woke up in pain. It was such an important time of bonding for her. She can be fiercely independent, but for that little while, she got to be a baby again, this time with a mama to hold her as long as she needed it. 

I believe this verse so completely. She is fearfully and wonderfully made. And how beautiful to sleep covered in the word of the Lord. She had so many people praying for her, we couldn't be more grateful. 

She woke up at midnight and ate two spoonfuls of chocolate pudding. Unfortunately the water she drank made her nose and mouth bleed and it really upset her. 

The next day we tried everything to tempt her to drink so we could go home. 

She had a very clever nurse who suggested Ruthie feed the giraffe with the syringe, then I feed Ruth with the syringe. This worked really really well. We needed Ruth to drink 4 oz of clear liquid in 2 hours. We were so close but really I think Ruth was full after eating a pudding, drinking some milk and then having about 3 ounces of apple juice. But she HAD to get that last ounce in or we couldn't go home. 

We switched to Gatorade in hopes that a new taste would go down easier. Our nurse gave us an extra 15 minutes and we forced it down. 

But we got to go home!!!

We were both so very tired but thrilled to be home. Big sisters and daddy were all glad to be together again. 

Well done, warrior princess!

These best friends were so glad to be together again. 

Ruth was pretty quiet for about three days post surgery. She was using her sign language but without any sounds accompanying it. 

By Saturday (3 days post-op) she was back to stealing my iced coffee. 

And today (6 days post-op) she is very much back to her silly, cheeky, noisy self. 

These two are my side kicks. I love having these little ones nearby all day long. 

During their tea party today Carrie said, "I love Ruthie with all my heart!" To which Ruth nodded in agreement. And Caroline said, "And Ruthie loves me with all her heart! I love having a little sister!" 

Don't you love those big brown eyes? This is her "I'm going to see how much I can climb onto the counter before you get me down" cheeky look.

These past four months had flown right by. We love watching Ruth learn and grow. We are excited to watch her speech develop further now that her palate is repaired. We still have at least 2 more weeks on the soft food diet. We have all taken that on as a family so we don't upset Ruth with what she cannot have. This includes using only spoons since she cannot use a fork until after seeing the surgeon. Who knew you could eat everything with a spoon?

We love you Ruthie V. We are so glad to see you cheerful again!