Little Miss Thing...

Hey everyone...sorry it's been so long since we've updated, but we've just been feeding and growing here at the house. Yesterday morning little Miss decided to pull her own feeding tube out right before we went to see our cardiologist. It really worked out well for me because I was planning on discussing with Dr. Lemler if we could just pull her tube and see how she did without it anyway. So we left it out and went to the doctor. Lia checked out great. She's gaining weight - a big 7lbs 14oz. All her vital signs looked good, and they did another echocardiogram to visualize her heart. The echo looked really good...she has great heart function and her BT shunt (providing bloodflow to her lungs) is wide open and also looks good. We talked mostly about her feedings and decided to leave out her feeding tube for the weekend and see how she eats without it. I felt like it was really bothering her and making her uncomfortable. She wasn't too far off from taking her entire volume anyway so we felt like she deserved a shot to keep the tube out. So far so good...We have a scale here at the house and she gained a couple of ounces since we weighed her yesterday. We'll work hard to see if we can't round the corner here on her feedings.

I've added a few pics here to see how cute she is without her tube (she's cute with it, too). There are also some pictures here of her with her cousins Kade, Shelby, and Molly along with Colby and Jace.

I'll let you know how we do without the tube...keep praying.

Our Sweet Little Model...

Miss Lia had her first modeling session yesterday. Our sweet friend Geri came to our house and took some precious pics of this baby girl. Check them out...

Lia's postoperative doctor visit

We went back to Children's Medical Center today for Lia's postop visit with the surgeons. Lia looked awesome. We had to have another chest Xray, more labwork, weight, BP, and O2 sat reading. They said it all checked out great. She's gaining weight (back up to her birth weight of 7lbs). They were impressed with the volume she's now able to nipple feed. We still have in the feeding tube, but she's improving every day with her nippling. She threw a nice fit when they tried to get her blood pressure and O2 sat. We think it could be her attitude that's helped her do so well through this.

Yesterday Lia went on her first road trip to Mimi and Granddaddy's house in Sulphur Springs. We needed to get out of here while we had two wonderful ladies come and clean our house. We all did pretty well on the trip. It's always fun at Mimi and Granddaddy's...

Lia just continues to do so well. She's such a joy to all of us. We are starting to get down a routine here at the house. It's been a good transition from the hospital to home. We are so glad have our family together again.

Home Sweet Home

We've had the greatest day! We got to bring our sweet baby girl home. She already looks better being home without all her tubes and monitors. She only has her feeding tube in her nose left. This way we can give her the part of her bottles she doesn't eat. She is still getting a little tired about halfway through her bottles. The doctors say that the majority of the cardiac babies have this problem. Believe me, this is the problem to have...considering all she's been through in the last two weeks, we can deal with a feeding tube for a while.

We suprised Colby and Jace with the arrival of their baby sister at home. It was so sweet to see how excited they were to see her at our house. They both love her so much. Talk about protective...between the boys and her daddy, I'm not sure she'll ever be able to date.

Our little Lia has done so well. She had amazed and blown away all the experts. How wonderful to know that we have received exactly what we've been praying so hard for all these months. Our Lord never left our side throughout this...please continue to pray. He is listening...

Just Hangin Out...

Lia's done well in her room on the 8th floor. Mommy stayed with her last night and we worked on eating every three hours. She's making progress every day and is slowly turning the corner on the eating thing. They changed her to eating every four hours today so that she would be more hungry when it was time to eat. It seems to be working for now.

Miss Lia loves to grin in her sleep. It's sooo cute. I remember when my sister Laci was a newborn, watching her sleep one day on the couch at my grandmom's house. Grandmom told me that when a baby smiles in their sleep it meant that angels were talking to her. I believe that now more than ever. She's had angels around her from the moment she was born.

Graduation Day!!!

Today was a big day for Lia. She graduated out of the CVICU and up to the 8th floor. We were sad to leave the staff in the ICU. I can't say enough about the nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, and techs on that floor. They have been incredible to us as a family. We will miss them.

Our new room is much bigger with a real bed for us to sleep in. They will be watching her vitals, heart rhythm, and eating patterns to make sure they all look good before they let us go home. Lia did a little better today with her bottles. I think "slowly but surely" is her motto. Corey and I left the hospital for the evening to spend some time with the boys. Aunt Jen and Mim have it covered there with Lia.

Thank you again for the constant prayers and support you all have given on our behalf. We continue to feel so blessed. Please pray for the other kids and parents up there in the CVICU as well. There are so many families who don't have the resources and support that we have been so blessed with. We love you all....

Update - Friday

Our sweet baby girl had another great day. They were able to pull her cardiac and umbilical arterial lines today without any complications. That didn't happen until later in the day, so we are still in the CVICU...the doctors weren't comfortable sending her to the floor as late as this evening. We've started giving her bottles and she is a little slow about remembering how to eat. They told us from the beginning that might be an issue for her. We're hoping she'll remember she's from a family that likes to eat and she'll catch on again soon. Overall, she is doing fantastic and continues to amaze the doctors and nurses at Children's who see this every day. Keep praying...