We're Going HOME!

The nurses are working on our discharge papers and we are headed home!!!! Yay!! We are so thankful and rejoicing in the continued healing for Laura this week. She is as smiley and happy as ever and doing fairly well with her bottle feeds. We might be able to get rid of the NG tube! Our stay has been minimal compared to so many here, and yet we are ready for it to be over and for life to get back to a semblance of normal.

Thank you all for your many prayers and encouragements in the last two weeks. It is impossible to really be able to express fully to each of you our gratefulness for your many ways of help: meals, letters, gifts, prayers, babysitting, emails, etc.

Clothed and in Her Right Mind

Yesterday afternoon we got to leave ICU and go upstairs to the Heart Center!!!! Laura is getting back to her old personality with lots of smiles. She had to have a PIC line inserted into her arm yesterday to replace the central line in her neck. That was very traumatizing for her (she was awake) but hopefully she'll get over that soon.

Up here at the Heart Center things are much more relaxed. We have a nice room with our own bathroom, plenty of room for sitting and cabinets for keeping our things. We are not getting any "time" out of anyone as to when we can think about heading home. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Laura is taking a bottle now!!! She has previously refused them. She's working on endurance to take her entire feeds, but we are glad she is doing so well. Thanks for your continued prayers for us.

The Kids Visit

The kids came to visit this evening and look what they were rewarded with:

Smiles!!! It sure is good to see Laura cracking a few of her smiles. We have missed them so much over the past 8 days. Maybe tomorrow she'll smile for us........

Knitting With Gloves and Other Random Thoughts

What a relief to have 2 days and 2 nights of progress under our belt! I am feeling so much more relaxed. We are hoping we are well on the way to recovery and might even be able to leave ICU as early as tomorrow!!!

Don't worry, Laura doesn't have to wear a hat in the hospital. I just decided to try it on her while she was awake. She hasn't smiled yet, which is sad since she is such a happy baby who normally can't stop smiling. At least she is not moaning anymore and only complaining part of the time she is awake. She's starting to play with toys and interact some.

Over the weekend we were put in "isolation" which meant we had to put on gowns, masks, and gloves when sitting in Laura's room. Not the easiest, but we are glad that is over. I did manage to knit with gloves on. I'm getting so much knitting done here. It is good stress relief. I've made that hat Laura has on, fingerless gloves, baby socks, squares for a baby blanket, and am also working on a shawl as well as a headband for Laura.

I was able to go home for church with the children yesterday as well as Sunday lunch and a few hours in the afternoon. One of us goes home each day to see the children for a few hours. It is nice to get out and good to be reunited with the others. Michael hopes to bring them all in this evening to see Laura. Maybe that will make her smile!!!

Emily took me out this afternoon and we visited the Mass. Avenue Knit Shop, the Best Chocolate Shop in Town, and the Earth House. We each bought one truffle to try: Caramel Apple and Pumpkin. Yum. Yum. Yum. And a good cup of coffee at the Earth House made for a nice afternoon visit.

We have become friends with a lovely family from German-speaking northern Indiana They have 5 children as well, about the very same ages as ours. Their daughter had a very complicated heart surgery and is doing well. It has been very fun to get to know them. We plan to stay in touch.

It is also heart-wrenching to learn the stories of others here. The second day of our stay a family lost their baby after a 9 week battle. Last night I met a mother from our floor in the Ronald McDonald House kitchen whose 10 week old baby is on life support. My heart just breaks for them. I wish there was something to do to encourage them. It's scary to have your child sick and watch them fight for life. It is something no parent ever wants to face.

We are so thankful for such a wonderful hospital and have been so impressed with all the staff here -- doctors, nurses, surgeons. Everyone is so kind, caring, and skilled.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for us. We are grateful that Laura is doing well and that we can anticipate going home perhaps by the end of the week!!

Into the Weekend

Well, there is not much new to report. It sounds like we are waiting for Laura's body to adjust to the anti-siezure medicines and then maybe she will be awake more, start to feel better, and maybe breathe better. There are still some ups and downs, and of course it is very scary for parents.

Michael and I have been taking turns going home each day for a few hours with the children. They are having a lot of fun with Grandma and a few others who take turns watching them.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for us at this very difficult time. I'll let you know if there is any change.

Thursday

We were able to hold Laura through much of the afternoon, today! That was a huge treat for us. And for Laura too. After three days of Laura lying in bed, it was so nice to finally be able to take her (and all her tangle of cords!) in arms and sit and rock her.

All in all, this was a good day, albeit with a few minor hurdles.

Laura slept most of the day and maintained good numbers most of the way around. She has had a fair bit of congestion, though, so they've added some water vapor into her oxygen. The good news is that this vaporizor is helping keep her breathing clear. The bad news is, this is another "ICU only" procedure. So, we have to remain in ICU for as long as she is on the vaporizor, and then for a full 24 hours after she gets off it. In other words, we won't be leaving ICU tomorrow as we were hoping, after all. But maybe soon.

The other little hiccup today: Laura's right lung has partially collapsed. As I type, she is getting a special PT therapy designed to help recover full inflation and breathing in that lung. She'll get this therapy every few hours, until things resolve. The doctors and nurses are quite optimistic that this is not a huge problem, but it's just one more thing we have to get resolved.

It seems that Laura's heart has been doing great since the surgery, but it is the respiratory team that we keep drawing upon.

So, we continue to have a complicated recovery. But things are moving in the right direction, over all.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Good News Tonight

Although it was a stressful day, we are happy that Laura is resting well and her heart signals, etc. are all very good. Her CT scan and EEG came back fine and tonight we were able to meet with the neurosurgeon to discuss her MRI from 2 weeks ago. Dr. Smith was able to relieve a lot of worries we had about the initial report we had been given. Laura will need another surgery to remove some cysts behind her nose, but Dr. Smith is confident that will take care of this problem with no lasting effects. This is such good news. We'll probably have this surgery in December, but it will be a shorter recovery time.

Thank you all for your prayers for us. It's a very trying time physically and emotionally and we are grateful for the myriad of prayers offered on our behalf.