Post Surgery

Keatley's surgery went very well. The surgeon said that she had very little bleeding. He used a patch to repair her hernia, which he said is routine for large hernias. Her medical team has decided to make no more changes for today so her body can rest. Tomorrow they will begin to wean her from the ECMO. This will take a few days. Please pray that this goes smoothly. The longer she is on ECMO the greater the risk for blood clots and bleeding in her brain.
Jonathan seems to be doing a little better, he is a little more settled. My sister, brother-in-law, and mom have been spending a lot of time with him and I think he has seen almost all of Nashville. He also loves the playground and playroom at "Old MacDonald's House."
We are so thankful for the Lord's goodness and mercy. We are honored and humbled to be walking this path because we have seen His overwhelming goodness in His mercy for our daughter, as well as seeing His body work so well. We have been amazed by the number of people that have been going to the Lord on our behalf. We have not for a moment felt alone through this struggle. Thank you all so much for your love and encouragement. I know that He is pleased with the way His people have loved us.

On a lighter note: Yesterday one of the neonatologist mentioned to us that Keatley's gag reflex was not working. She was not overly concerned because of the amount of sedation that she was on, but it was something to note. Last night, one of the nurses was cleaning Keatley's mouth and putting some "chapstick" on her lips which was mint flavored. Kealtey started suckling her vent tube and then licked her lip to taste the chapstick. Obviously, she does have a gag reflex. The medical team was amused by our little diva that is already into lip gloss.

She is here!

Keatley arrived August 3, 2010 at 10:32am (central time.) She weighed 7lbs 12oz and measured 20 inches long. She did really well most of the day but started going downhill quickly during the night. Wednesday, early afternoon, she was put on ECMO. ECMO is a heart/lung bypass machine that is being used to help her lungs and heart rest. She has been stable since she was put on the ECMO. The doctors are tentatively planning on doing her surgery within the next few days.

Jay and I are definitely experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. This is not easy but we are praising the Lord because we know that we are walking through His plan. Please continue to pray for Keatley's healing, Jonathan's peace and that he would feel settled and secure, and peace and strength for Jay and me.

Thank you so much for your concern, encouragements, and prayers.

BTW- she is beautiful!

'nother update

I was discharged from the hospital this evening with orders to stay in Nashville, in case I go into labor again. The c-section is still scheduled for the 3rd.

We had another conversation with a specialist today. He gave us even more detailed information than we had before and even more statistics. He said treatment is pretty standard for babies with a diaphragmatic hernia and her survival is really dependent on her anatomy (which they cannot successfully predict in utero.)

We are weary. It is so draining to talk about the possibility of losing your baby. We trust God's will and are hopeful that our desires match His plan. This has been a hard day. I just want my baby to be ok.

Rolling with the punches

I am still stable and Keatley is still looking good too. This Thursday, my OB along with the pediatric surgeon, and neonatologist will be having a treatment team about Keatley and me. They are looking at the possibility of releasing me from the hospital if I can stay in Nashville and pushing back my c-section to the 1oth.

We have an excellent team of doctors and we plan to make work whatever they decide is best. This will (again) change everything logistically regarding money and places to stay. Jay would also be missing even more work before her birth, leaving less time to be here during her recovery. We are trusting the Lord to take care of the big stuff and the little stuff too. This is hard but we know that He is not surprised by any of this.

Thankful

I wanted to let you all know that Jay and I are so thankful for everyone's calls, emails, posts, monetary gifts, and gifts of service. We have been overwhelmed by the love of the Lord through the Body of Christ. I'm not responding to all of the messages now, mostly because I have an IV in my hand which makes it difficult to type, but know how thankful and appreciative we are, truly.

Vandy

We are already in Nashville. I started having contractions Thursday night and they continued through Friday morning. I spent Friday night at UT trying to stop the contractions. They continued through that night so they sent me to Vanderbilt Saturday. My contractions have finally stopped but we are staying here until Keatley is born to avoid complications. The plan is to keep her original due date as August 3, 2010 but she will be born sooner than that if I go into labor. There is an increased risk if she is born before 37 weeks which will be this Thursday. Right now we are stable and I am hoping it stays that way.

I will post updates when I can. Continue to pray...this sucks.

update...

We went to Vanderbilt today to meet with the neonatologist. It was emotionally exhausting. Forgive me if this doesn't make much sense. The neonatologist said that we would know within a couple of weeks of delivery if Keatley will survive. There is a 50/50 chance of her needing ECMO (bypass machine.) Recovery will be a minimum of 8 to 12 weeks. She will have developmental delays but at some point down the road be able to catch up with the help of various types of therapy.

It's hard to have no control. The only thing I can do is take my vitamins and be in Nashville when she is born. I don't want my 3-year-old to have to be displaced for months. I don't want him to have to be away from my husband and me more than usual.

I don't want my baby to be sick. I want her to come home. Today I am broken.

FYI c-section is August 3rd between 7:30 and 9:30 central time