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!!