Saturday, March 19, 2011

Sweet Little Emma :)

Well its time for another update on our precious little princess, Emma.  I have been reminded by many people, including our wonderful nurse Becky, that I had not updated the blog in a while! HEHE so here goes....  Our little Emma is doing SO good!  Notice the emphasis on SO!  She is still extubated and enjoying life.  In fact, I really don't think she spends any time in her bed during the day, and only a little while at night.  She loves being held!!!  What a wonderful blessing that is after as long as she was intubated and, at times, unable to be held!  We are able to now give her baths, yes we gave her baths even when she was intubated ;-), in her bath tub.  She, for the most part, does very well in her little tub!  :)  She is not really into her bath toys though, but I'm sure the more baths we give her, the more she will enjoy it!  She is slowly getting her voice back.  Being intubated for over 4 months will do quite a number on your voice.  But, she is getting her voice back and is even waking us up at nights with a very soft little cry!  What a blessing it is to hear your child's voice!!!  We were told the other day that we are going to start working with giving her a spoon instead of a bottle.  So we will start working on that here pretty soon.  We are still working on lowering her Vapotherm (which is her machine that gives her higher flow oxygen to help keep her lungs open and doing well) down to a point we can go on field trips around the hospital with her.  We have been able to successfully ween this down every 2 days since she was extubated.  All in all, she is doing SO good!  God is good!  A special thank you to all the people that continue to think and pray about Emma and those that have been able to come and visit us!  Also, just a reminder, that while she is extubated and doing good, infection is still a risk.  So if you are feeling sick, please understand that, while we want you to be able to come and see our sweet little girl, it is in her best interest that you do not.  Everyone has done such a good job with this and so we thank you!

Prayer Requests
1.  Pray for the right heart to come Emma's way, that she will do well with the transplant surgery, and that she will do amazing post-op!
2.  Pray for her to continue to keep getting better and being able to ween way down on her Vapotherm so that we can take her around the hospital!
3.  Pray for all the doctor, nurses, and medical staff that care for Emma.  Pray that they will continue to make the best decisions for her!

God is good, all the time!  And all the time, God is good!

Daddy Scott




Wednesday, March 9, 2011

New Poem by Nana Jana

 E  Every day, around the world,
M  My granddaughter's name is heard;
M  Many prayer warriors pray for her,
A  And I know GOD hears each word; yet

J  Just when hope had ebbed a bit,
A  And Baby Emma's breathing still was strained;
N  Nine o'clock came on March the 5th,
A  And blessings showered down like rain, for
E  Emma breathed on her own - without a vent or pain!

S  She was surrounded by so many prayers,
T  To God, whom we knew was there, and
E  Emma continued on her own, so
W  We knew God supplied the air;
A  As the good news raced around the world,
R  Rejoicing people smiled with ease; for
T  They saw, that with God's help, Emma breathes!



Thank you Nana for the BEAUTIFUL Poem!  

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Many Faces of Emma

I am SOOOO Innocent!
Aunt Stephanie LOVES me!
Pathetic Face!
Grampa, I don't believe that story for one minute!
Cousin Trevin put me to sleep!
Family Time!
MawMaw is Funny!
PaPa giving me some lovin'
Just Monkey'n Around!
Aunt Joni rocking me to sleep!
In my bouncy and I reached for/and got my ring for the FIRST time!  
Gramma Time!


Emma is still doing great post extubation!  Thank you all for your prayers!  Please keep them coming!  Now we need to stay infection free, off the vent, keep growing, and get a NEW HEART!  God is Good!  All the time!  God is Good!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Extubation Again

Emma was extubated at 8:45 this morning!  Emma is still extubated and is doing well! She needs to learn to cough up the stuff in her airway and lungs but other than that so far so good!!! I have got to hold her the majority of the day!!! :)


Getting Extubated!

Picked up my baby BY MYSELF for the first time EVER!



Happy Baby!  

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Our Sweet Princess

You know, they always say to cherish every moment that you have.  Some even say, "carpe diem," or "seize the day."  This journey has taught us many things.  And one of the greatest things that it has taught us is to cherish every moment that we have with our sweet princess, Emma.  We are reminded about how great it is to have our sweet girl here, and how blessed we are because of that.  I say this all to tell you that we recently found out that a nurse in our unit was killed in a motorcycle accident.  He was a great person, so kind and friendly.  It is amazing how we forget that this life is not something permanent.  Even though we are just a family here, its so sad to think about losing him as a nurse, as a friend to us.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends, all the nurses and staff in this unit, and to his family.  Those reading this blog right now, say a special prayer for his family, friends, and co-workers.  And always remember how precious life is!  Hug your love ones often, and tell them how much you love them.  We never know what tomorrow holds.

Now to an update on our sweet princess, Emma!  She got extubated last week (breathing tube got taken out), and she made it for 12 hours!!!  She could have easily kept going but her left lung collapsed.  Because of this, they reintubated her (put the breathing tube back in).  They have been sprinting her, which is just a short expression for making her work on her own while on the ventilator.  Which brings us to today, they are going to attempt to extubate her again!  Please pray that this time it will stick, and she can come off of that silly ventilator!!!

She is developing quite the little personality.  Case and point, the pictures below:
 It makes it so fun now that she is "showing off" a lot of the time.  We are getting to hold her, and hopefully, if we get this breathing tube out, we can take her around the unit.  Almost EVERY nurse here has said they are going to hold her.  So, we may wake up at night and wonder if one of them has taken her for a while, or if she has miraculously learned to walk!  Haha!

We are still waiting on the right heart to come our way.  Praying daily that it comes quickly, but they say it can take many more months.  So keep praying that it comes our way, and that it is the right heart for her!

As always, God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good!  Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers daily!

By the way, check out our new video to the right!

Daddy Scott

Prayer Requests:
1) That this time, when they take the breathing tube out (extubate), she will stay extubated!!!
2) That the perfect heart will come our way!
3) That we will stay infection free.
4) That we will keep growing.
5) Pray for the family, friends, and coworkers, of our nurse that passed-away in our unit.
6) And be sure to thank God for the blessings that we all have daily!