Elves on Earth....

With all the blessings this year has brought to our family... it has also swamped us with medical bills, traveling expenses, etc. .. .. .. with all the being said we were not able to purchase any Christmas presents for the girls this year..

As a mother and father, Kory and I could not imagine being four years old and Santa forgetting you after going through the worst year of Maddie's life. She became a big sister and then had to understand that Emma may have to go to Heaven when she is little not when she is old...

Maddie has been such an amazing big sister this year and all she wanted for Christmas was "A Barbie Wonderland" (lots of barbies to play with), board games, and sissy to be home for Christmas :)

I know it doesn't sound like much but with our situation.... it seemed impossible... Did you know barbies range from $16.99-$55.00+ .... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! WOW~! Hello World!

Once again, I had no other option.... but I knew God would comfort me... and you will not believe how he comforted our family...........

The Springfield Olive Garden put up a "Olive Garden Angel Tree" for Emma and Maddie's Christmas... we had an entire Expedition full of presents from the Olive Garden for the girls.....
HOW AMAZING IS THAT?

Then,.. (ya that's not it..)

St. John's Children Hospital a group of employees that like to adopt families that have spent a large amount of time in the hospital and really need the help around the holidays. We were so blessed to be one of those families,...

So here we are no money what so ever... and we knew what money we did have needed to be saved for the necessities... It couldn't be used on the petty things...

I hope you are sitting down when you are reading this ... because what I am about to tell you will absolutely blow your mind ,.. if not, make you burst into joyful tears......

Just when you think society has went to crap.... know that their are people out there who have big hearts and who are just so amazingly unbelievable......

This was our tree this year (well, a majority of our front room) on Christmas Morning......

 We definitely believe in miracles!! :)

 Soooooooooo many presents... 117!

 Emma's First Christmas 2012

 Emma waiting for Maddie on Christmas Morning 2012..

 

A grand total of 117 presents for our two girls! TEARS.....Right?

Every single one of these presents were from people who we have met over the last year and some who didn't even know us but knew our story.. Emma has inspired so many people! Her story is an act of God and he is changing lives through Emma daily. We need to be sure to praise him for all his amazing work! :)

 

Thanks to all of the "Elves on Earth" that made the McGovern girls' Christmas the most amazing Christmas any 4 year old & 10 month old could EVER IMAGINE! :)

 

GOD BLESS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for being our Christmas Hero's! Maddie will forever remember the Christmas that she was still unwrapping presents 5 hours after waking up and starting in on the presents!

 

As much time as we spend cooped up in our house it has helped both girls so much! :)

 

Thanks for always being there for our family and most importantly our girls! :)

Holiday in a Hospital? ............

As Christmas grew closer, we continued to stick to 'the plan'. Having spent every single holiday in 2012 in the hospital...... We refused to get our hopes up.. only to be let down again..

Don't get me wrong, we have an amazing Children's Hospital but have you ever spent a holiday in a hospital? Well, let me tell ya, the food is nowhere close to the homemade deliciousness we are used to with family. The memories ... of the toddler next door screaming in pain and seeing the staff run around like crazy trying to figure out how to comfort them... that is not a memory you want to see on a holiday let alone on a regular day. Kids should be trick or treating on Halloween, opening presents on Christmas, hunting Easter eggs on Easter, Fireworks on the fourth of July and most of all making precious memories with family on all these holidays. A hopsital is the most depressing place in the world on Holidays.

Maddie was so excited for Emma's first Christmas.. I was so overwhelmed.. All I could do was pray and pray and pray! I knew God would hear me. . . Sometimes I just have to spend entire days in continuous prayer.. somehow it all works out. (Thanks be to "the big man upstairs" !)

Maddie spent 90% of December at home with us. Every child in her class was sick and the parents NEVER keep the children home... I guess if they send them to school they don't have to deal with them.. I mean who cares if they feel horrible and just want to rest?.. or who cares about the other children in the class?.... (This is a topic I could rant forever about but instead I was the RESPONSIBLE parent and took my child away from the situation and hopefully they can all re-coop over break)... If parents continue to send there children to school 'contagious' we will have no other choice but to take Maddie out of school and home school her. It is very UNFAIR that because other children's parents are irresponsible she will suffer. (Although, I will have you know, she completed a 1st grade workbook throughout December while she was at home with Momma... she's 4 for those that don't know.. PROUD MOMMA right here)

Emma started getting a cold a few days before she was due for IVIG and I just knew it was all downhill from there.. again, all I could do was pray.. So that is what I did. The day before Emma was due for IVIG we had a nasty snow storm... then we had to get Maddie out into the snow and travel an hour and twenty minutes and hope that she didn't get any more sick this close to Christmas...

She had a lot of secretions and was desatting to 84 and 85 the night before the snow storm (Thursday the 20th) ..  and I was so nervous that she was going to need transported in the middle of this awful snow storm... I was just a nervous wreck.... what for?

Well......... turns out I was a nervous wreck for NOTHING---------------------------

December 24th came and we all rested peacefully in our beds while Miss Tonie watched over Emma...

Finally, a HOLIDAY at HOME :)

Now that is a MERRY CHRISTMAS :)

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas from The McGoverns'

Kory, Mickayla,

Maddison & Emma

We hope you have a blessed Christmas and most of all celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ :) 

Busy with Blessings...

Wow! Shame on me ... I have an entire month worth of updates...
 
We have been so busy living life I think the laptop had a little dust on it. Excuses, Excuses! :) I have so much to share with you all..
 
So, let's see the last I posted was about our trip to the Audiologist to receive Emma's hearing aids and sneak into a sound booth to hear how Emma hears...
 
Well... that didn't go as planned, but with Emma we are pretty used to things not going as planned :)
 
Emma did well until we turned the hearing aid on that was in her right ear... and she FREAKED OUT! She screamed for at least ten minutes and that is very unusual for her. The screaming wasn't going on for ten seconds and I ripped the aid out of her ear and said "That hurts her!" and sat it on the table. The Audiologist looked at me and agreed. She said, "Oh my,.. I have a feeling her ABR results are fairly inaccurate (at least for the right ear)." We didn't get a chance to try left ear because she was way to upset and we weren't going to overload her anymore.
 
So pretty much what happened and she ordered hearing aids for Emma's profound hearing loss only to get them and find out she probably didn't need to have that much amplification because she more than likely doesn't have as bad of a hearing loss in the right ear as we thought.
 
Since that happened, we started talking directly in her right ear.. and she smiles when we talk to her. (sometimes) ... HOW AMAZING IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
 
Her left ear there is still no response, HOWEVER, some hearing is definitely better than none. Since we have actually been acknowledging that she can hear in that right ear without an aid... even if it is distorted she is hearing something ... we can tell by her reaction...
 
Her Audiologist seems to think that from all the time she spent laying down in the hospital bed and being sick all the time... she possibly was having problems with fluid build up and not knowing it... so that could very easily have thrown off her test results.
 
So, the conclusion to this super exciting post is :
 

 

EMMA IS HEARING :) PRAISE GOD

 
We go back to the Audiologist the 16th of January to try and complete a Sleep ABR... to get some new results and set new hearing aids for her left ear and for her right hear (if needed) ...

Please keep Emma in your prayers that her she cooperates during her Sleep ABR because Emma is not a child who tolerates being sedated.. that will be the only other way that they could get the results they need. :) That being said, Momma Bear won't be letting that happen because we are doing way to good to have a set back like that.

Thanks for hanging in there.. just waiting to see another post.... I will be overflowing the blog over the next hour if Emma and Maddie both keep behaving themselves.. Daddy just got home so I have a little help while I can, I'm going to continue to share how AMAZING December was for our unique family! :)

Sound Check? ....

This Friday, December 7th is something Kory and I are really looking forward too!
Emma will be getting her new set of hearing aids and according to her new Audiologist.. she thinks Emma's hearing may be better than they were initially thinking.. .. .. so her settings may be a little different..

That's not all... She is going to set Kory and I up in a sound booth and let us hear how Emma hears with and without hearing aids... Pretty excited. The more we know about her and how she functions the more success we will have in helping her meet her developmental milestones..

We are so pleased with our new Audiologist at SIU and how willing she is to take the time to help us help Emma.

Last but not least.. Emma's new aids will be giraffe print and this set of ear molds will be hot pink! :) .. Won't be losing those when they fall out in her car seat, swing, bedding, etc. :)

I cannot wait to get her ear molds that fit and keep them fitting well so that we can get working on her speech :)

I will be sure to share a picture this weekend when I get the chance too. .. Pray that Emma eases back into the transition of hearing aids well. . . It is a huge sensory adjustment for her.

Our Journey over the last 9 months..

This is the latest video that Aunt Sami has put together... This is amazing and I had to share! :)

CMN Radiothon: Emma's Story

Here is a preview of Emma's Story from the radiothon if you missed it... Enjoy!