Sarai Update

Hello all, sorry I haven't updated lately, however I am not sure what i was thinking....that there would be lots of time to blog! LOL Between the hospital, entertaining our boys and grocery shopping...time...not enough in one day!Special time with Mommy before her big surgery

Waking up for Mom and Dad

Well as you all know our sweet baby girl has gone through surgery...3 in fact! And we are very blessed to report she is doing absolutely FABULOUS, Praise God. He blessed us with the best cardiac surgeons in North America if not the whole world! and the nurses have been great! We are so blessed to have been able to be here at this hospital.

A visit with Nana

A visit With Auntie

So during her first surgery they did the arterial switch and moved the coronary arteries as well, there was also a bit of tissue that needed to be removed and everything went great. Sarai did very well all night and in the early morning had a drop in blood pressure which was unexpected for everyone. So she was rushed back into surgery where they just wanted to see what was going on and they found that the swelling had caused one of the coronary arteries to kink. Therefore they put her on a heart machine (ECMO) to allow time for the swelling to go down. She did very well after this. On day four she was taken again into surgery to move the coronary artery that had been kinked. Man what an emotional roller coaster ride that week was for us!! But what a trooper Sarai was and is. What strength the Lord has given her! what grace He has for us! What great LOVE He has for us! He is so very GOOD ALL the time!

Here she is is just snoozing!!

Once the 3rd surgery was completed all has been going great. She had a dialysis machine added to her many wires and tubes, this to help bring the swelling down quicker! She stayed on the ECMO machine for about 6 days and was then weaned from it, she responded very well to that, however they then found that there was a bacteria growing in the ECMO machine which went into the plastic tubing in her IV lines. So she was then put on antibiotics to start killing the bacteria. After a few days all IV lines were removed from her body and new ones put in, in different places. Antibiotics are continued and she will most likely be on them until after she is released from the hospital.Awake and moving around, checking out the lights

We had one day where we hit a teeny bump in the road in dealing with the bacteria and that was the day they decided the best thing to do would be to remove the lines and replace them. I quickly realized how the enemy sneaks in and tries to cloud all our Joy and Praise with something so small! I realized that he was trying to steal this from us, and most of all trying to make us upset and doubt, but we were having none of it! We know the word of the Lord and we know the word He sent for her is LIFE!! And that is what she will have.

We all sometimes wonder why? or what the purpose for all this is. However at some point we all find out the answers to these questions. What a testimony this has all been for many people. Us, our boys and many many friends and family. We hear from people who did not trust the Lord before or even pray, tell us they are praying for us, for Sarai and know God is in control! We have been able to pray for families and children going through similar circumstances, been able to stand firm in our Faith and trust in our Father, and to show people how important it is to have Him first and foremost in our lives! I wouldn't have it any other way!

We have met a beautiful family there as well. They are believers and their Joy is not being lost through all their trials! you can see (literally) the joy of the Lord shining in and through them. There testimony of all they have been through has been very encouraging for us and ours for them! The people we meet in all circumstances are never a coincidence that's for sure.

As of now we are on the home stretch....She is almost completely weaned from all the meds, the bacteria is being taken care of, she is off the dialysis, she is being weaned from the breathing machine and should be off that in a couple more days. She is getting breastmilk though a feeding tube which is good because I don't want her having a bottle.
and the only tubes that need to be removed is one more chest tube (which may happen tomorrow) and the IVs which will probably stay in until we are almost ready to go.
The doctors are continuously telling us how amazed they are with her recovery and healing. How her heart is functioning so much better than they thought, but I knew she was going to be fully healed, not our way but His!

I think right now the hardest thing for us is not being able to hold her. But once she goes back to the NICU(in a few days) we will be able to hold her as much as we want.
I think when we take her home she will probably never be put down!

Another hard thing is taking time out for the boys and spending time with them. I always feel in a rush to get back to her and a few times have felt very overwhelmed with anxiety. I know the nurses sense this and reassure me that it is okay to take time out, it's just a mother thing! They make things so nice there though, and allow me to help with her as much as I am able to do without having a nursing degree. So I get to bath her myself and put her lotion on, wipe her eyes and mouth when needed and change her diaper sometimes. But after the other day when I came in and there were diapers, baby wipes and poop everywhere I have kind of stepped back from that duty...lol it was quite the site! She hadn't pooped for like 4 days and she definitely made up for it then.....3 diapers and 2 packages of baby wipes later she was all done...glad it was them and not me!

Daddy and Mommy take turns going over to be with her, it would be nice if we could go sometimes go together but we have 5 boys to hang out with too. When we are there we sing to her, read to her and pray with and for her. Daddy also made her some CDs and the nurses have provided her with a CD player and keep her music playing for her all the time! They are so nice and take such great care of her.

When I am there I often can picture these beautiful angels dancing all around her continuously and the Lord standing at her bedside holding her when we are not there.
I was sure hoping that she would be able to come out before Christmas, however I do not think it will be, but now we can hope to be able to start the New Year with her in our arms and out of the hospital!!

Well now that things are going smoother I will hopefully have a bit more time to update!
Thank you and many blessing to you all who are in prayer for her and us!!

The Princess Has Arrived!!!

Introducing Sarai Faith Michelle Ladue

Born At 8:14 am Weighing in at 8lbs 4 oz with a ton of curly Black hair!!

Her First "Ride"


No one could hold this Mommy down!! I was gone from one hospital to the other one to be with her within 3 hours!! I had to be with her


Isn't she absolutely Precious!!!

Here is Daddy holding his little

"Princess" for the first time

Mommy holding Sarai
It was a whole day before we finally got to hold her
so these moments were so very precious for us!

So content is Daddy's arms!!! She already has stolen
his heart!!

Everytime I hold her now I just don't want to let her go
Leaving at nights is so hard for me.....I want to take
her with me everytime we go to eat or to go to bed
However we know she is in the Lord's hands and He holds
her when we are not!! The best place she can be, and I must
mention the awesome nurses the Lord has put in place to take care of
her and all the other precious babies there!!


Oh my the hair!! She has so much of it and it poofed
up like a little chickie...lol she is ust to cute!!


Well this is our little Princess. The Lord has given her great health and
strength. The doctors are very surprised at how well she is doing and
how healthy she is!! We all need to keep praying for her and that
she will continue to get stronger and healthier.
She will have surgery sometime soon, but we are not sure of a date
yet. Once surgery is complete she will have another two weeks in
hospital or until she is ready to go home. We will be so very happy
for that day to come. She is such a precious little gem.
She knows when her Mommy and Daddy are with her and gets very
upset when we are leaving.
She got to meet her brothers very briefly but we are hoping they will get to spend
a bit more time with her, however it is hard since we have to take them in
one at a time. The boys are such troopers though, keeping up with their
schoolwork and dealing as well as they can with all that is going on.
They were all so happy to meet her, and I think it they are quite
excited to bring her home. Noah was very concerned about us
leaving her there. Well there you have it in a nutshell, Sarai is here and
she is doing Great!! Thank you for your prayers and your continued prayers
stay tuned for more updates on our precious little Princess!!

Our trip to the zoo!!

Storey Land Valley Zoo!!!







Well the day was beautiful so how better to spend it but at the Zoo. It was so much fun and to be able to see the kids faces seeing all the different animals was absolutely priceless!
This is the first animal we seen on our way in and would you know it is one of Noah's favorites so he was very excited!! What is it you ask? The Snow Leopard.







Here are the boys with the monkeys, can you tell which are which? LOL

We were just in time to see the sea lions being
trained and fed!

In the den of Nocturnal Animal

Can you find the Sloth?
How about the Armadillo

Well went to see the elephant in the elephant pen only to find out she was out on a walk, however we did manage to bump into her on her walk, up close and personal!! I love the pic of Noah with the elephant in the background!


And here is Mom, trying to keep up with the rest of the crew...they were way to fast for me, but I was enjoying the excersise and watching the kid's expressions on their faces and how excited they were running from pen to pen
















Here is Josh giving us a tutorial on
Lemurs and Endangered Animals


This is the castle front at the zoo entrance and all my princes!





Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, met the Ladue Boys
and had a great fall...whoops I told you all the secret
of what really happened to the poor old egg!!








Engineer Noah and Passenger David






Mick being eaten whole by a Hippo, poor poor hippo
doesn't know what's good for him...lol







Getting eaten by a Shark...AWWWWWWW







And to end the day with a roll down the hill!





Happy Kids + Lots of fun = Happy Parents!!!

Keep watching for more fun and more updates on baby Sarai...yes we are still waiting, but I feel it will be any day now!!

Blessings all

Week 38

Well Hello from the Big City!!

My two boys and I have been alone here for most of the time dealing with teething, flu colds and what not. However we are through it now and are so very excited because Daddy and the other boys are on their way here!! YAY!

Pulling out all the seeds!! Could you believe there were 359 in there

So what have we been up to? Well we have accomplished a lot with schoolwork for Daniel. We are currently working on a unit about fall, pumpkins and harvest! It's been fun and we are so close to being done. We bought a pumpkin and were able to carve it and explore the different textures and talk about the different uses for pumpkins. Our theme for our carving was "Let Your Light Shine for Jesus" Daniel really enjoyed this activity, David however was having nothing to do with touching it...lol.

Here is David doing some of his own work!! Daniel being silly while pulling out

the "Yuckie Stuff"


I hope to complete this unit by Saturday and put the lapbook together so we can post about it.

"Let your light Shine for Jesus"
Jesus takes the Yuckie stuff away so
our light can shine all night and day!

Danny and David with the finished pumpkin

We are working through our Hooked on Phonics and practicing various things in math. Next week we will be starting a Science unit on animals which I think Daniel looks very forward too. We will also be starting on our around the world tour in Social Studies which will fall in place well with animals and habitats. In Math we are going to be starting on Calendars, days, months etc, then moving into time and place value. We are really focusing on phonics and reading as well to get him up to par as well as with writing and spelling and altogether those three will fall into place!

Well i am 38 weeks today...two more weeks to go but I am hoping for 1. I had an ultrasound yesterday and she is doing well. They say she is about 6lbs 9oz now and she has a lot of hair! When they showed me her face she was sucking with her lips and it was so cute. I never seen that with the boys so this was new. Medical imagery has come so far it's crazy. I was up a lot last night with cramping and a great pain (ok not so great pain) in my upper left leg! I went to see my Doc today and I am 3cm dialated and the cervix is getting shorter.....this is encouraging. It won't be long now until we get to fianlly meet this little sweetheart.

For adventure today we are heading out to the mall later on with a good friend to meet up with another friend from back home. I am so happy to see her, it has been awhile!



Well look for another update coming your way soon!!
Blessings to you all

Just thought I'd add a few extra pics!

Here is Danny acting crazy after being cooped up in the room sick for a few days...don't worry we went for a walk after this..lol

Here is David with his Banana...funny story, everytime we go to the corner store all he wants for his treat is a banana, this momma won't say not to that!!

Family and Baby Sarai Update

Noah and David made the first Snowman!!

Well here we are, winter is peeking at us around the corner, and so is our little princess!

We had our first snow at home a few weeks ago and much fun was had by all. From snowmen to snow tigers and not to mention snow balls! The kids even tried to go sledding in the mere 1 inch of wet snow we got. Lol

We also hosted not one but 2 birthday parties within 2 weeks! Talk about crazy.......one consisted of 17 kids between the ages of 1-14 the second was not so wild...only little kids and few older kids, much more toned down from the teenage party. Oh my I can't even believe I just said the "T" word! Well it will definitely is going to be a knew chapter for us but it will be fun....he is such a good boy and he is a child of the Almighty so he is in His hands and we will continue to raise all our boys with the Lord's guidance!

Noah's 4th Birthday Party....will add pics of Josh's party too
As for me, well I am here 1500 miles away from my husband and 3 boys. Thankfully I brought 2 of them with me to keep me sane and not too lonely. We are now playing the waiting game! Not a game I like too much but the anticipation of finally getting to meet our little princess is so great! In just a few short weeks we will be holding her in our arms delivered unto us by our Father. She will go through obstacles but will conquer and overcome! We have many many people praying for her and her health and we are very confident in our Lord, he can do ALL things!!

In our most recent appointments she looks to be doing well. She is very active and responds to voices with her kicking. Oh and did I mention she likes to wake up when mommy wants to sleep?? I am sure she is wondering where that soothing voice she will call Daddy went, soon enough she will hear it again. There are few new things they are observing in the echo cardioultrasound but will not be certain of everything until she is born and they can see better. She does have a small hole in her heart as well which will work to their advantage with her and what they do. As of now plans are still the same for her delivery; she will be born naturally and after birth will be taken to the Children's hospital with Daddy in tow!! Just like a little girl now isn't it....with Daddy in tow!!

(Front of Sarai's Prayer Blanket)
Our family along with many wonderful friends have helped us to make this wonderful prayer blanket for Sarai. Each square or piece of material has been held and had a prayer over it by the person/people who have sent it to be included in her blanket. Once the blanket was completed, mommy and daddy said a special prayer over the whole blanket and it is now put away and ready for her to have with her from the time she is born. My plan for this blanket is to keep adding to it as the years go by and she will always have it. So many thank yous to all of you who helped with this special project!!! Blessing on all who are in prayer for us, may you all in return be blessed by the Lord.

Well just another 9 sleeps and the rest of my family will be here with us to await her arrival. I have to have routine ultrasounds and visits with the OBGYN once a week until Sarai is born. Oh yea her name is Sarai (princess) Faith Michelle. I love the name. It was funny cause I was thinking it and then Daddy said it and so it is! For the next few days I think my boys and I are just going to lay low, do some school work and get a lot of rest!! Yay I am actually excited about it, it seems that we have been going and going non stop so it will be nice to just relax.




Well I have been up since 6:30 am and really need some sleep. Goodnight and God Bless you all!!

Baby Update

Yea Yea I know I know, in my last post I said I would update more frequently! I have got to get on the ball here. However our life has kinda hit a few obstacles and we are getting through the course, all the while having the Lord hold us up!

At the present time I am 31 6/7 weeks pregnant, yes tomorrow I will be 32 weeks!! We have found out that our little girl has a heart defect which will require surgery soon after birth. Having all this news and information loaded on us sure has been trying, but we are getting through and only focusing on the positives each day! We have been blessed with a great team of doctors, nurses and case workers and of course most of all with the love and support of family and friends!! We will have the blog up and running quite frequently to update and have photos of our little Princess when she is born and during the time she is in hospital.

There is so much to do and to get prepared before we are gone to wait and yesterday I was informed that I may be sent out earlier than we thought. I will fly out with 2 of the boys and Brian and the other 3 will come a few weeks later. We will move from the comforts of our home to a hotel suite for a period of about 2 months! We will try our best to create a home atmosphere for our boys and us, but I am sure we will have our challenges.

School is back in full swing for the 3 oldest boys and we are doing some preschool things with Noah, but it is just not going as I planned with all the preparing that is going on here. Who would have thought that the boys would be growing and I would need to sort through clothes to pull out bigger clothes and put away smaller ones! And the fact that winter (yes i said the "W" word) is peeking around the corner, which means we need to get the summer stuff put away and the winter gear out! Well I have almost accomplished those two items on my list, I am so very close!! However I did hear my husband ask me what in the world I was doing when he walked into the garage...LOL

Now the weekend is here, Dad is gone and I am here with the 5 boys!! I was feeling a bit anxious earlier about what kind of stress I may be under with fighting, screaming and the phone that rings 100 times from after school until bedtime, and usually not even once is it for an adult in our home! However I must re look at my outlook on this time with them and enjoy it, for in a few short weeks everything will be in a complete upheaval with our time being mostly spent in the hospital! I love my boys so much. I was sitting here earlier trying to figure out what we can do tonight to keep things at a minimal, so I think I have chosen pizza and movies! The boys can bring out their sleeping bags, stretch out on the floor and we will all watch some great family movies together.

Tomorrow we may have company, which will be nice. I think I will finish up with getting the summer clothes put away, and with the help of my boys, bring some organization to the garage that has somehow EXPLODED!! That will give me two more things checked off my list and only 16 more to go.....awwww time must slow down.

I am often comforted by the thought of the Lord Holding our precious little girl and comforting her in this time. A friend of ours told us of a vision she had where she seen the Lord's heart beating in time with hers......He loves her so very much and we are confident that He will continue to strengthen her each day. It makes me remember that He is so much a part of us, the life in us!

Well until next time, Blessings to you all