Theres a Rainbow at the End of the Storm!!

Hello all,
Well since my last post a lot has happened. A lot of great stuff. The best being the fact that we have our precious little Princess at HOME!!!!!!!!!

Our last month in the hospital consisted of many meetings with doctors, nurses, dietitians, and many many more people that I can not even remember. I am sure our paths will cross again at later dates on trips for check ups.

Such a happy girl!!

On Jan 11th Sarai graduated from NICU to the "floors" and this time till the end of our stay, well I shouldn't say that we did go back to NICU for 4 days. The doctor decided that it would be best for her if they plicated (stitched down) her left diaphragm. So yes Sarai had yet another surgery before leaving to come home. This one was fairly straight forward and very quick. We did end up back in the NICU after the surgery for her recovery and a little visit with our favorite nurse! On the fourth day we were back up to the "Floors" and on the road to going home.

Going for a ride back up to the "floors"

Daddy and Sarai!

Daddy took four of the boys and went home and Mommy and big brother Danny stayed for the duration until discharge.

Danny got to do a lot of holding while we
were at the hospital

The biggest thing during January was getting Sarai to fully breastfeed. It was so frustrating when we were on the floors cause mommy knew Sarai could do it, however i was not able to breastfeed her until we met with the speech pathologist. She came once when Sarai was sleeping and then never showed up for our future appointments. As you could imagine this was more than frustrating cause all that was on my mind was, there is no way I was taking her home tube feeding and wanting to get her to the breast.

My Baby Burrito

So what did mommy do? When we went back to NICU for her last surgery I spoke with the head nurse and said "The only thing I want you to allow me to do while we are down here is to breastfeed Sarai." She was actually very surprised that she was not breastfeeding already. And so, they let me and lo and behold by the time we went back up to the "floors" Sarai was breastfeeding only, during the days!
I just love this picture!

YAY Sarai....and Praise the Lord that she never had a hard time with it! So for the last week and half in the hospital mommy breastfed during the days, in the evenings mommy and Danny bathed her and put her to bed before going back to the room. Throughout the nights she was tube fed, they tried giving her a bottle but she was having nothing to do with it. LOL

Curly Hair after her bath!

The other thing that mommy had to learn was how to give Sarai a NEEDLE! I really did not want to have to do this, however Sarai needed it to be done for awhile yet and if she was to go home it was something mommy would have to learn. Goodness by the time everything was over I think I was ready to be a nurse!

My Mommy is going to do what to me?

Giving my little girl a needle was definitely a scary experience but I learned quickly and we have it mastered now. She gets the shot twice a day for the blood clots in her leg and neck. She will get it until the end of March so we are halfway through now. And amazingly enough that was the only med she came home on besides her vitamins and iron. Another reason to Thank the Lord. We have so so so many things to be thankful for and blessed with.

All bundled up for her walk to the room!
Doesn't Danny look so HAPPY?
Pretty in Pink!!

For Sarai's last weekend in hospital I was given a daypass for the Saturday and then an overnight pass for Sunday. Her weekend consisted of a visit from:

Had to add this from her visit with Cousin Harmony
I think they are Super Diaper Changers..LOL

Auntie Candace, Uncle Jason, Harmony and Steph, followed by a visit from Auntie Rachael, Auntie Gwendy and Jenny, a lot of cuddles and a shopping trip to Walmart and Babies R us! Come on what weekend would be complete without a trip to Walmart...LOL

Of course mommy couldn't wait to dress her up and do a photo shoot!

It was great....to finally have my sweet baby girl in my bed all night long, I laid awake for the longest time just staring at her and Thanking the Lord for bring us through the Storm and now I could see the rainbow! Staring at her and thinking about what strength the Lord has given her to go through not 1 but 3 open heart surgeries, Heart failure and the diaphragm plication. What a MIRACLE she is, laying there beside me and the only thing left that would make one realize it all is the scar on her chest, which by the way is fading very well. WOW was all I could think. WOW is still what I think!
I love her little hands

On the Monday we went back to the hospital to check in and Sarai was officially discharged that morning.............YAHOO.....Danny was even doing the leprechaun jig and clicking his heels...LOL. To watch her feeding tube finally being taken out brought tears to my eyes as the thought "this is it the last tube is finally out" ran through my mind. After 2 months and 12 days we were finally FREE!!

Tube Free and Beautiful!!

We left the hospital, went back to the room and waited for Nana to come. That night we packed up the room and the next day we went to spend a night with Nana, Papa and uncle Joey. I think it was an amazing moment for;

Nana to be driving her little "Angel" to their home...

and amazing moment for Papa to see his little "Angel" in his home

...and an amazing moment for Uncle Joey to see his little niece for the first time and see her smiling and looking so very healthy! I think everyone was able to sit back and take a deep deep breath.


Sarai even got to take in a hockey game and not any hockey game, her uncle's hockey game!

Yes I let him hold her in his stinky gear..lol

Had to get a pic of her with Nana and the players
in the background!

I wish we could have spent a few more days with Nana and Papa but at least we got to spend one and we will go back for visits! And I will take this moment to say "Dad, Mom thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the days you dropped what you were doing to come and support us, mom for the many many days you took to be with us, you will never know just how grateful and blessed we are to have had you there for us! We love you guys so much.
A visit from Oma!

We also went and had a little visit with Sarai's Great Grandmother. I think it was a great moment for Oma to see Sarai smiling and healthy in her home and to be able to show off this little miracle of a girl to all her friends

On February 10th, 2010 Sarai went on her first plane ride....back home! Sarai did great.

I think it was a great moment for Daddy and her big brothers to see Sarai coming through those gates, finally on her way home! The best moment for Daddy and Mommy to finally have their little Princess laying right in between them on the bed! How we talked about that day for so long. However the Greatest moment was on he evening of February 12, 2010, walking into our home and looking at us altogether, our big HAPPY FAMILY!!! We are complete!
Josh enjoying holding his lil sis at home!

I sit here now, in our home, looking at her and it feels like I just woke up. Like we just went through the roughest storm we have gone through and I am so glad that our hearts were changed, that we were somewhat prepared and that our foundation was moved from the sand to be established on the ROCK!!! Without God I have no idea what the outcome of this all would have been. We can not deny nor can many who have been supporting and praying with us, that GOD IS GOOD!!! That He listens to our cries, that He is in control, that He wants us to rely on Him and Him alone, That He will provide for us everything we need including doctors with great talents as the doctor who operated on Sarai's heart, That He is real, that He still performs Miracles, for Sarai is a MIRACLE. God is the SAME Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. The things we read about in the Bible, the things the Lord did in the Bible, He will still do them now and forever and why? Because He does not change!!

One of our many many cuddle moments!

Thank you to you all who have supported us in any way, in Prayer, financially, by calling with encouraging words and Believing with us and never doubting! Thank you So very much and may you all be greatly blessed!

I think the most memorable thing said about her was when Sarai was laying on the floor at Nana and Papa's and they were sitting there watching her and Papa says "You know you should have named her Miracle!"

Now we are relaxing and taking in the Rainbow at the end of our Storm.

How Great is Our GOD?

January 12, 2010 what a day! A day that will be forever marked in our hearts!

Sarai has been doing great. She has been weaned off the morphine and has taken it pretty good. A few symptoms of withdrawl but that was to be expected. She is feeding with breastmilk and they have been putting it up by 1ml every 12 hours. She had a few spells of regurgitation which were shocking to see as each time she did that she would bring up the feeding tube with it, however most of it was caused by a build up of mucous in the stomach. We seem to be over that now and she is currently getting 10ml and hour so we are 1/4 th of the way to a full feed!! Yay God.


She went through a few days of not sleeping well, or at all really! 20 minutes here 20 minutes there. My poor girl. I believe it was a combination of different things contributing to her restlessness....the weaning off the morphine, the constant ringing of alarms, and pumps, and my caffeine consumption! Naughty Mommy, should have thought things through a bit more.....however when you have a baby beside you all the time I think you are more conscious of what you are taking into your body. So I made a decision for the both of us to slow down on the caffeine intake.....2 large timmies and a large french vanilla cappuccino everyday was a little too much. So now I am down to 1 large coffee and decaf tea! And it is not an easy thing to do either, especially when Tim Horton's is around the corner of the hotel and they seem to always get it just right! I may have to start taking the long way over to the hospital for a week or so..ha ha ha

Anyway enough about that, So over the weekend they discovered that since Sarai's left diaphragm is not moving as it should and is stuck in the upper position it caused some partial collapse in the left lung. Then yesterday morning they did a chest x-ray to check on the lungs and discovered an accumulation of fluid around the outside of both lungs...it was a bit upsetting as you can imagine. hey talked about how if it got any worse and she was laboring with the breathing they would have to look at putting her back on cpap or reintubating (breathing tube) her! However she was breathing fine and not showing any signs of distress at all and her SATS (oxygen) were staying up between 97-99%!! I had a brief moment of anxiety, then I said "No, I refuse to get upset again, she will be alright" I chose to give it to the Lord, after all He is our #1 Physician right! I prayed for her, and soon after that left for the afternoon to take our boys out to play.


After supper I returned to the hospital to bathe Sarai. I gave her her bath and then got myself situated on a rocking chair to have a cuddle with her before bedtime. While sitting there with her I asked the nurse if they had repeated her chest x-ray that afternoon (they spoke about doing that just to check if there was anymore accumulation of fluid). She said no and that they would probably do it in a day or two. Shortly after the Head charge nurse came over and said "I just had to let you know that we repeated her chest x-ray at 5 o'clock today (January 12, 2010) and it was like looking at a totally different x-ray! the fluid was gone from both sides and it seems as though she just opened up that left lung, I just don't know! But it is like Night and Day!" All I could say was "Thank you Jesus"
I sat there looking at her, and was so overcome by His presence at that moment and I began to weep. It wasn't at all like crying, just tears but I was so full of joy, overcome by joy, I was looking into her eyes and she was starring into mine! It was such a beautiful moment. It is really hard to explain more than that, the feelings I felt and the joy that was with in me at that moment the feeling all around me, it is just way to Awesome, It is God.....something we all have to experience ourselves to really know!!!


People God is so GOOD ALL the TIME!!!! He has shown so much of Himself to us through this all. I know people wonder if we are really doing as well as we sound. The answer is Yes we are. However if we did not have the Lord in our lives I am sure we would be total wrecks! He is sustaining us emotionally, physically and spiritually! He is our all in all.
Yes we have our moments when we feel weak but the Lord brings us back very quickly. Lean on Him, He will sustain you. His love for us is so profound something we can not even begin to comprehend!! Seek Him with all your heart. We must not Lean on our own understanding. We must Seek Him and all these things will be added unto us!

Yesterday had such a great ending! and I pray that all who read this will be touched by this great miracle He has done. Our prayers are being answered everyday, they are not unheard!! Keep praying for us, for Sarai for God's continued healing hand, for all the other babies in the Stollery NICU and their parents. Thank you so much for your support and your prayers!! We love you all and so does our Father!!

Baby Sarai Update

The Christmas Princess

Well here we are 2010! It seems as though time has just flown by! It seems like only the other day when we were blessed with the news of pregnancy....and like yesterday when she was born. As of yesterday she had her 6 week birthday. That was special for her and her big brother Danny as it was his 8th birthday as well!

Sarai is doing very well. She was moved from the PICU back to the NICU on December 19th. Each day that goes by we see more and more of our Father and His great Love for us all. Each day brings another step towards going home, her healing and recovery.

About 2 days after returning to the NICU she had her catheter taken out, her dialysis tube taken out and was taken off the ventilator! So close to being tubeless. On Christmas morning her last tube was taken out...the chest tube...Hooray it was such a great gift to her and us. She was left with one IV running her nutrients and the morphine which was slowly being weaned down. She was getting breastmilk through a feeding tube and all was going so well that they decided she could be moved up to the wards or floors as they say. This is just a normal hospital word, however when we got there I had a very uneasy feeling. Like "were we ready for this?" She was in a shared room with another child and the child's dad. We were not ready or even really knew that we could room in with her. So leaving her that night was very hard, maybe even harder than her first week of life leaving her in the NICU. The reason being our little princess was in this room and the nurses were in the hall! We have been so used to her having 24 hour care with a nurse at her bedside! So I am sure you can imagine to some extent how we were feeling.

Way too Cute! Little Cutie

Of course the next morning we were up pretty early so one of us could go be with her. When I arrived in the room she was awake and seemed sad and lonely, Poor girl. The nurse informed me that her heart rate had gone up a little and also her breathing, so she was being taken for an Echo Ultrasound. It was quite the production getting her there. I packed her while one nurse pushed her med pole and another with the monitor! I just had this feeling that she wasn't really ready to be on the "floors" yet. A decision was made later in the morning that Sarai should go back to the NICU. The doctor and nurses were so sympathetic about it, however I felt much peace about it. And not to mention when I told Sarai she was going back to be with her friends in the NICU she brightened up!

This has got to be my Favorite Picture so far!!

So we moved back to the NICU. We feel so much better now and we also know what exactly to expect when she does go back up to the "floors." We will be more prepared. After we moved back to NICU Sarai hit a little bump in the road, however it is not a bump we are going to be stuck on, we continued praying and praising and God continues to answer. Tests showed a bit of left diaphragm stunning, which the doctors think will come back on its own, and this is what we are praying for. She had quite a large accumulation of fluid around her chest cavity which was drained twice on the right and once on the left. Since then there has not been any problems with that Praise the Lord!! That being said she was having a harder time with breathing and was put back on the ventilator. Yes it was emotional having to see her getting tubes put back in however we are happy that they are dealing with all these issues. We want her to be healthy healthy before she goes home. Sarai was taken that next morning to the Cardiac Cath lab where they go into a vessel in the leg up into the heart to get good images of how everything is functioning. There was a lot of praying happening and the Lord answered yet again!! They couldn't find anything and things are functioning better than they expected...man God is GOOD.

She is so very sweet!!

She was getting x-rays each day to check for fluid but they have not found any more. The fluid they were finding has something to do with the fats from the feeds, it is called Chylothorax. To deal with this issue and get it resolved they have stopped her feeds and will resume in a week and a half. Until then she is on nutritional supplements so she won't starve, no worries. She also had a short surgical procedure yesterday (Jan 4) to insert a central IV line which was put into her leg. This will insure she is getting optimal nutrition and the meds she needs. She is still on antibiotics for a bacteria she got when on ECMO and will finish that on Jan 17. All tests for the bacteria are negative, Thank you Lord. She did however end up with a couple clots and is on a blood thinner to resolve those which we will have to administer once we go home, the total time for her to be on that is 3 months.....I just have to get the guts to do it, as we will have to give her 2 shots each day. But there is something called and encephlon that can be put in place so we can just inject into that instead of poking her all the time, that will make it easier.

They did go up on her morphine again and added another med to help with blood pressure while they give her time to strengthen. They began to wean the morphine again yesterday and will take it slow with weaning over the next week. Today she is to be extubated (be taken off the ventilator) again. YAY, this is exciting for us cause when she is on the vent we don't want to hold her...as I can see this tube being pulled or something and the fact that it takes a nurse and a respiratory to get her on and off our lap!

They're making her a soother girl!

Dad just called and says that she is extubated and on c-pap, which is just the little breathing tubes that sit just inside the nostril. YAY Thank you Father for all you are doing in this little girl!!

So we hit a bump, but we are over that bump and refuse to dwell on it and get stuck. We must keep looking forward with our heads held high, continue praying and praising!!

She is so content and makes such great eye contact. She communicates with us using her eyes and has shown us ta few smiles here and there. She is such a trooper. One thing she has made known to us all is her temper!! I told her brothers they better not make her mad....lol When she is mad there is no working up to it, she instantly turns bright red and sometimes purple, we try to console her quickly with prayer, singing and stroking her hair. The quicker we can get her to calm down the better cause they like to pull out the sedatives, so if we can get her to calm down then she doesn't get them. The one morning she got so mad at the nurse and she pulled her feeding tube out!! The nurses comment on how calm she is when we are around so we take turns going over to be with her so she doesn't have many long stretches without one of us during the day. One of us usually stays until late evening to get her to sleep and she is then quite settled throughout the night.

She was just chilling out lastnight after her bath

I am able to give her sponge baths and change her diapers, it's not much but it makes me happy as well as Sarai, she enjoys our time together with her.

We look forward and go forth towards our goal of going home soon. It is our hope and prayer to be able to take her home by the end of this month. But we will not rush her, she needs a the rest she can get for that is when the most healing takes place. It is so amazing how God has created these little tiny ones' bodies, cells and tissues to regenerate and fix themselves so quickly!! His creation is so amazing!

Thank you Father for our sweet baby girl, thank you for her continued recovery and healing. Lord thank you for the surgeons and the wisdom you have shown and given them, thank you Father for the nurses and doctors who look after all these children and thank you for the compassion, love, wisdom and grace you instill in them. Lord bless each one of these doctors, nurses and surgeons, bless each parent that is going through the same things as we are, bless each child and bring great healing to them all! Lord Bless each person who is standing with us in prayer and agreement Father for our little girl and Lord we thank you for each one of them. Thank Lord for the awesomeness of all you do all you show us and all ways in which you bless us Lord. Send forth your angels and let us here the ROAR!!!! In the loving name of Jesus
AMEN

Thank you to you all for your continued support and prayers be blessed!!

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!!