Post op day 7...

PRAISES for today...
-Grace has continued to polish off her bottles without much spit up.  Those of you that know Grace know first hand what an immense blessing that alone is (I have shed many tears over her eating).
-David said that the "welcoming committee" is back, which means that Grace is back to welcoming everyone into her room with a smile, a wave and maybe some "interpretive dance" (she does this thing where she stares at her hands and moves them around like she is doing some sort of interpretive dance...  We love to watch it because it is so precious and hilarious all at the same time)
-they didn't end up doing a sedated echo today because her lungs looked more "wet" than the previous day (most likely because they had reduced her lasiks), so they didn't want to sedate her with that amount of fluid on her lungs.  They did an unsedated echo instead and Grace was actually super still for it!  It took forever to get the results back, but we finally got the reader digest version from the Nurse Practitioner (our Cardiologist, whom we adore, is in Argentina giving a presentation and we are missing him in a big way).  The gradient across her mitral valve is the same that it was in the OR (which is certainly a praise) and the pressure in her right ventricle is a little elevated, but they don't seem to terribly concerned about that (I don't think).

"Daddy must have read the blog because he gave me a fresh hair doo :-)"

PRAYER REQUESTS...
-Grace would be able to continue to wean off of oxygen completely and maintain her O2 sats

This is what Grace thinks her oxygen is for... a teething toy.  David is always having to reposition her oxygen because she likes to pull it out and chew on it or sit it on top of her nose.

-they would be successful in getting the fluid off of her lungs over the weekend and that her chest x-ray on Sunday evening will look much improved, so that they can proceed with a sedated echo on Monday at 9:00 am
-beautiful echo results on Monday!!!

This is the prayer that the Lord put on my heart this morning...  It is only in His strength that this is even possible because it is all too easy to be consumed by our own circumstances that we don't have enough left in us to bless others.  

Village, your prayers, support (financially and otherwise), encouraging messages, texts, etc continue to draw us to our knees before the Lord with immense humility and gratitude for you.  Thank you for allowing Him to use you in our lives in such profound ways!

Post op day 6...

Answered prayers for today...  Gracie Doo (and subsequently David :-) pretty much slept through the night last night (that's huge for Miss. Grace).  She also started eating orally and is doing better than we expected in that department!!!

"Check me out, no more feeding tube!"

She has also perked up even more...  the little ham that we know and love is waving to people and winning them over with her sweet smile again.

"I have the worlds best Daddy EVER... even though he never really remembers to do my hair!"

BIG PRAYER REQUESTS...
-Grace is suppose to have her echo at 11:00 am EST tomorrow.  The results are super important because it will dictate how soon she can come home, whether she needs another surgery (before coming home), etc.
-Grace is needing a small amount of oxygen (.5 liters) to keep her oxygen levels where they would like them.  Will you please pray that she can come off of the oxygen quickly because that will most definitely keep her in the hospital for a while?

Thank you, sweet Village!!!

Post op day 5...

Grace had a good day today!  We are praising the Lord that she seems to be tolerating her feeds via the ng tube (tube in her nose that dumps the food into her belly) pretty well and she is getting her spunk back.  She is actually smiling some and back to her rascally ways...  The second David takes his eyes off of her, she rolls onto her tummy and then smiles about it (she's on sternal precaution, so she isn't suppose to be on her tummy).  Grace also got a visit from a therapy dog today.  She was interested in looking at him, but NOT touching him (or getting too close).

Her face says it all...

I miss David and Grace terribly, but fortunately Abigail and Andrew are world class snugglers and know how to make their Mamma smile through the heartache.

Village, will you please pray specifically that...
-Grace tolerates oral feeds exceptionally well (no dry heaving or throwing up), they are starting them back up tomorrow
-her chest x-ray improves and shows less fluid on her lungs
-Friday's echo results show a healthy heart and that God would get all of the glory!
-we would praise God for the blessings right in front of our eyes and not be concerned about tomorrow or the "what if's" ("what if" the wheels fall off tomorrow, putting Grace in danger and keeping us apart longer, but instead, trust that "even if" that happens, God's got it).

THANK YOU!!!  We love you Village!!!

Post op day 4...

This is David...  Praise God!  Grace's recovery has gone so well that she has already been moved out of the ICU and onto the recovery floor (nursing ratio is 4-to-1, instead of 1-to1).  Grace's cardiologist and her surgeon are both very pleased with how well she is doing.  To be honest, I am very pleased as well.  I feel like I am hesitantly happy with how great she is doing, since her recovery thus far has been so much better than either of her two past surgeries, I feel like I am just waiting for something to go wrong at some point.  However, when I catch myself thinking like that, I have to confess and ask God to forgive me for not rejoicing and praising Him for how great Grace is doing.  Kristi and I came into this surgery with the understanding that we would be here for two to three months.  When I spoke with Grace's surgeon this morning, he stated that, assuming she continues progressing like she has been, then we might be out of the hospital in 7-10 days (What?!?! we are having a hard time even wrapping our minds around that being a possibility).  Please praise God with us for how great Grace is recovering thus far, and also pray that she will continue to do great.  She needs to get more fluid off of her lungs, begin normal feeds (thus far she dry heaves or throws up when she eats, we are praying it is just a sign that her tummy needs to advance feeds at a slower pace, not a bigger issue of some sort) and have a sedated echo that looks good before discharge can ever become a reality.

Although today was great, with Grace moving to the recovery floor, it was bitter sweet because Grace and I had to say goodbye to Kristi this morning and Kristi missed getting to hold Grace by a couple hours.  While it seems as though the past 9 days should have been a little wearisome, it has actually been a tremendous blessing for Kristi and I.  It seems like God blessed us with some much needed time together, so it turned out to be a sort of surgical honeymoon for us.  It is wonderful to experience God's hidden blessings in the midst of trials, and God certainly blessed Kristi and I (and Grace) these past 9 days.  Thank You, Lord!!!

Recovery :-/

Long, rough day so far....  Poor Gracie Doo is happy to have the breathing tube out, but now she's dealing with withdrawls from the pain meds and throwing up from getting air in her belly from the nasal canula that they put in to help her be more comfortable (not have to work so hard to breath)...  David and I are dealing with the heart ache of watching your baby go through withdrawls, throw up and not being able to hold her.  It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to hold her before I leave because she still has her arterial line and the line in her neck in, which they can't afford to lose (especially since she already kicked out the line they had in her foot).  

While I'm bummed I can't snuggle Grace yet, I can't wait to snuggle Abby and Andrew tomorrow!!!

Thank you for praying us through this ugly and hairy time of recovery.  (((hugs)))

Recovery :-/

Long, rough day so far....  Poor Gracie Doo is happy to have the breathing tube out, but now she's dealing with withdrawls from the pain meds and throwing up from getting air in her belly from the nasal canula that they put in to help her be more comfortable (not have to work so hard to breath)...  David and I are dealing with the heart ache of watching your baby go through withdrawls, throw up and not being able to hold her.  It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to hold her before I leave because she still has her arterial line and the line in her neck in, which they can't afford to lose (especially since she already kicked out the line they had in her foot).  

While I'm bummed I can't snuggle Grace yet, I can't wait to snuggle Abby and Andrew tomorrow!!!

Thank you for praying us through this ugly and hairy time of recovery.  (((hugs)))

Post op day 3...

AGH, again!!! and YAY!!!  The same attending was on rounds today (however, we had back the fellow that we really like) and in what I'm learning is his terrible sense of humor, he walked into the room and asked who put in her new bow (maybe we should give him credit for noticing that she had a new bow in)? I jokingly said that we put in a new bow to celebrate what we hope is extubation day!  He asked "are you superstitious?" I said "not a bit superstitious, we are trusting God all the way, the bow is just some added flare."  He proceeded to examine her, walked to the edge of the doorway and says "she squeaks..."  I said "so, what does that mean?"  He put his arms up and smirked (not the warm fuzzy smile, but more like "guess you will have to wait and see").  Rounds went on and our favorite fellow did a great job of highlighting all the the things that Grace has been doing and then said "I think that she's earned her extubation."  YAY!!!  Lord willing, Grace will be extubated some time in the next couple of hours!  It can't come fast enough because Grace has made sure that everyone knows how much she hates the breathing tube.  All of her nurses have been begging for her to be extubated because they are with her 24 hours a day and see how miserable she is.  Will you please pray for a seamless extubation (it can be a very hairy situation)?  

"Check out my extubation celebration bow"...

One down side of being in the hospital is that no exercise takes place and candy is a signature.  Hopefully, some new scientific data will show that a bag of Good n Plenty's will keep the Dr. away (apples are over rated :-).  It's 10:00am and I've already finished my daily bag of them :-/

Once she's extubated, it will officially signify the beginning of sleepless nights for us (mostly David, since I leave tomorrow).  One huge blessing of Grace remaining intubated yesterday is that David and I were able to go to church together last night.  The pastor did an amazing job of literally teaching through the whole bible in about an hour!  He especially focused on what communion signifies, why it is so special for us to participate in, and the type of heart condition that we should have when taking communion.  There wasn't necessarily anything new that he taught us, but it is so amazing how God can make His word so powerful to you that it's as if your hearing it for the first time.  I love that!  It was a great reminder that while we were disappointed that Grace wasn't extubated yesterday, there was a very good reason for that!  God used it for good in that He allowed us to sit under some great teaching and have sort of a date night.  

Well... I didn't even have time to publish this post because Grace made it clear that she was ready to be extubated now!  They extubated her about 30 minutes ago and she seems to be doing good, so far (praise The Lord).  Please, please, please pray that she continues to do well being extubated because this is the time that she is either going to sink or swim.  Thank you praying Village!!!  There are a number of you that I need to text, facebook message, or e-mail back to thank you so very much for your encouragement and prayers.  Until I have a chance to do that, please know that each word that you have taken the time to type has been imprinted on my heart forever!  There is something magical that happens when you are lifted up by the body of Christ, so thank you and please don't stop :-).

"Look, no breathing tube..."