Saturday, November 29, 2008

Gettin ready for round two...




Okay...we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving here at the house with both sides of our family. We are now looking ahead to this coming week. Lia's next heart surgery is scheduled for this coming Thursday, Dec. the 4th. We will spend the day at Children's on Wednesday to do alot of preop testing and then back on Thursday for the surgery. We are expected to spend one or two nights in the CVICU and then hopefully only around a week in all at CMC. Obviously, this is what we have known would be in our future now for months, but it is with definite mixed feelings that we move forward with this. It's really something to send your baby through those surgery doors and into the hands of others. We know the staff at Children's will do a fantastic job of taking care of her, and we know God will guide the hands of Dr. Forbess. Hopefully the anticipation of the day of surgery will be worse than the actual day. Please continue all the powerful prayers for Lia. Please continue to pray for our entire family...it is stressful to all of us. We have so much to be thankful for this Holiday season. Thank you all for remembering us. We will keep you posted as we can this Thursday. Love to you all....




One of the pictures I've posted this time are of Lia and our pediatrician, Dr Smart at her 4 month check up. She checked out perfectly. The other is just a precious pic of a precious girl...

Friday, November 14, 2008

Feelin Better!


Well, here's a picture of a kid who finally feels better! We've had a long week of getting over a sore throat and stuffy nose, but we finally have our appetite back and have started eating well again. She's back to all grins...she has a smile that steals your heart. We can't wait for everyone to be able to see it in person. Please keep praying...surgery is in about 3 weeks and we want it to go as perfectly as the first one did. Love to you all...

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Back to Children's




We had Lia's cath on Tuesday morning as planned. I was a little concerned about doing it because she had some minor congestion going into it, but they gave us the green light anyway. I thought that I was in the back of my head trying to come up with a reason to put it off because I dreaded it so much. It turns out she did end up having some complications probably related to the cold that was brewing before the cath.




The cardiac cath procedure in itself was fine. They did find a minor narrowing in her aortic arch (one of the things repaired in the first surgery). They went in with a balloon and widened the arch. They said it was an extremely slight narrowing, but because of having to intervene they decided to keep Lia overnight for observation. While in recovery after the procedure we had a hard time getting her off her oxygen. She ended up being on oxygen for the majority of her hospital stay...probably because of the viral respiratory infection she had prior to the procedure. Anyway, long story short, we were able to finally come home late last night. She's doing okay, just trying to get over this cold. With most babies, a common cold is nothing. To Lia though, it's a huge deal. If she gets too congested to eat, she gets dehydrated and her tiny shunt can clot off. If she can't breathe well, it lowers her already compromised oxygenation. To say the least, the last few days have been stressful for us.

She went in early this morning to see her pediatrition, mostly so she could get her eyes on her before the weekend. She said she looked fine. Her lungs sounded clear and her oxygen sats are mid 70's which is normal for her. We'll just keep up the humidifier and saline drops until she works this out. Please pray that she gets over this quickly without getting any worse. Also, please pray that she keeps eating well. That's been such a struggle for the first 3 months of her life, she needs to keep it up now even if she feels lousy. The doctors keep telling us that after her next surgery, things like this are alot easier. I hope and trust that they are right.



As usual, I've posted some recent pics of Lia. The first one is of her "playing" with a cute little toy from the recovery room. She looks like a big girl in that one. The next one is of her right after her heart cath as she was waking up. She honestly looked like a little angel.

Thanks for the calls, texts, and emails checking on us. Lia's a little toughie...we'll get through this. My college roommate wanted to change up our blog layout for us...it looks adorable. Thanks, Nikki. Most of all, once again, we are grateful for your prayers. Prayer has become the centerpoint of our lives now. We depend on it. Shouldn't we have always been living our life this way? Thank you Lia. We love you so much.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Our little pumpkin


Even though Lia didn't get to get out and trick or treat, she still dressed up. I think she looks pretty cute if I must say so myself.

We have a surgery date. Lia's second surgery is scheduled for December 4th. We dread it, but it's coming anyway. It will be here and over with before we know it. Lia has her heart cath on Tuesday. Hopefully things will look as great as they seem and we can move forward with this. Our little pumpkin is doing great. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.