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! 

Ruthie V. : the third month

The third month! Our best month yet! 

Ruth enjoys books! I love her expression here, reading along with me. 

She learned the difference between a nice, red, ripe tomato and a green one. Well... almost. She still picks some greens, but so many are ripe now that it's rarely an issue. 

These two have honestly become the sweetest of friends. While during month 2 Ruth bit Carrie several times, that has not happened at all in month 3. It's as if they had to establish their "pecking order". And Ruth came out on top. 

While Ruth still follows what Caroline does (here they are gathering sticks for a campfire), it's not uncommon to see Ruthie grab Carrie's hand and lead the way. 

We enjoyed the last days of summer, eating as much ice cream as we could while the days are warm. 

We picked countless flower bouquets. 

She thinks she is a big girl and can ride the tire swing without me holding on to her. It makes me extremely nervous as she gets braver each day, wanting to go higher, and wave to passing Amish as she rides one-handed. 

There were lovely moments with these sweeties playing nicely. 

And moments like this where she is angry that I tell her the way she is sitting is unsafe. 

She is afraid of loud noises but wants so much to do what the other girls are doing that she conquered her fear of the mower this month to go for a little ride with Trent and Caroline. 

She loves bath time. Some evenings she throws huge fits if we say "no bath tonight". 

These two are the sweetest snugglers. 

She is often underfoot while I'm making dinner. Here she is eating an uncooked spaghetti noodle and finding it quite hilarious. 

Daddy making salsa was too funny for these girls to watch. 

We love living in a community where large families are pretty common. Our local grocery store has these double seater carts available for families like ours. 

Ruthie's current favorite cereal (other than Honey Nut Cheerios) is Strawberry mini wheats. 

Ruthie's hair has been growing rapidly. I have trimmed her bangs every month. 

A friend of Anne's has a couple of goats, a mini donkey and mini pony. Ruth liked them until one of the goats was too playful and knocked her down. (Thanks Jen & Molly for the fun morning!)

We are working to catch Ruthie up on her vaccinations. This is a behind the scenes of waiting in a doctor's office with five kids. 

We took Ruth to the family cabin in Wellsboro, PA. We haven't taken a trip since coming home from China so we weren't sure how things would go. We have learned that as long as her sisters are around she is quite content. We attempted to leave her in the nursery two times this month at church during the sermon. Leaving her with a stranger and no sisters does not go over well. She cries the entire 25 minutes of the sermon. I hate to leave her knowing she will cry, but I want her to build the trust that I will always come back for her. As you can imagine, this is a difficult thing for a little one who has gone through as much change in their short life as she has. 

It's safe to say the cabin trip was a hit. We look forward to the next time we can go. 

Our whole gang on the front porch of the cabin. I look forward to taking many more photos like this over the years. 

We were all ready to go home after a fun weekend with Trent's family. I am very grateful to my in-laws and brother-in-law who took care of all five girls while Trent and I did a Finger Lakes, NY wine tour that Saturday with Trent's coworkers. Ruthie was well cared for. Anne is a tremendous help and fills in as a little mama quite well. 

We started back to school which was another big adjustment for Ruthie. Gone were the lazy mornings of summer. Having my attention focused elsewhere and in a different way was a big challenge for Ruth, especially the first couple of days. 

Learning to share is pretty high on Ruth's preschool agenda this year. Forced sharing is one thing, but we are hoping to see more spontaneous sharing. And we are! She picked a berry just today and gave it to Caroline instead of instantly popping it in her own mouth. 

Ruthie "helped" me can peaches. Helped as in took bites of the peaches I peeled then put them in the container with the lemon water. 

Ruthie has also been using the potty. Those of you who know me well know that none of my first four daughters were easy to potty train. It is the bane of my mothering. They (whoever "they" are) always say girls are easier to train. That has not been my experience. But then. Ruth. She's been a dream. She goes on her own, with no help to the little potty. She does insist on taking off all her clothes every time she uses the potty, but I'll put her clothes back on all day long without complaining. She isn't fully trained but is really wonderful. So clever. 

Sometimes we don't know what she wants. Hence, the crying in this photo. 

But it feels so good when we figure out what she wanted. Here she just wanted to stand next to Caroline for the photo for daddy's 35th birthday. 

She enjoyed another hike. This time to the Susquehanna River.

Helped celebrate Maggie's 7th birthday.

Went to the Land of Little Horses in Gettysburg, Pa. 

Ate pizza at Mema's house after church. 

Tried out daddy's new hammock. 

Picked raspberries that daddy planted. 

Enjoyed a raging fire. Ruth has become much more affectionate this month. While she was certainly capable of giving hugs and kisses, she did not do so very freely. And who can blame her? I wouldn't want to kiss people I just met. The other evening we were watching a movie and she climbed up onto the bed, leaned over Caroline and gave her a kiss on the forehead. It was one of the gentlest gestures of sisterly love and brought a tear to my eye. 

Ruth went to Hershey Medical Center this month to check in with their Hematology department about her blood condition. We didn't really learn anything new other than that her hemoglobin is 7.9. A healthy child has a HgB of 11-13. They are undecided whether they will give her a blood transfusion before her palate surgery on September 20 or not. As she is functioning very well at a 7.9 the anesthesiologist will make the decision at her pre-op. The doctor assured me that if they don't transfuse her before surgery that they will have blood available to her during surgery if she needs it. 

The only thing that was really new for us is that her blood work showed that she has Hemoglobin H Disease, which is really just further defining her Alpha Thalassemia and won't really affect her day to day life. She will always be anemic but her iron studies showed she actually has excellent iron. 

Ruthie is an amazing, strong, brilliant girl. I'm a better person for having her in my life. She is truly a gift from God. Happy 3 months home, our little deer.