Update on Miss Emma and Some Recent Pics

  Emma is doing really well today.  As many of you know, she had surgery yesterday that placed bands on her pulmonary arteries which decreased the amount of blood flow that was going to her lungs and increased the amount of blood flow going to her body.  The surgery was a success and she has been benefiting from it.  All the doctors today have remarked on how good she is doing.  She is a little swollen from all the fluids that she has been getting, and so they gave her some Lasix which is a diuretic that will help take off some of the excess fluid.  She has already lost some of the fluid.
  They did a ultrasound of her head yesterday and found that she had agenesis of the corpus callosum.  This means that the corpus callosum did not completely form or did not form at all.  The neurology fellow told me that they would be coming by this afternoon to talk to us about what all that means for Emma.  She said, however, that they would not be able to tell us much of anything at this point in time until they are able to do a full MRI of her brain and see if she has any other abnormalities.  As of now though, she stated that that is all they found.  If you remember before she was born, they thought that she had some enlargement of the ventricles in her brain.  Upon the recent ultrasound, they did not see any enlargement in those ventricles which is good!  She also told me that although this is very scary that some people do not have one and would never know they didn't have one.  She said though that some people have problems with not having one.  This is very scary and we are indeed wanting answers but understand that right now, her heart takes precedence.
  The doctors came in today and said that they will probably be doing her next surgery, the Norwood procedure, on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  So now we have a more definitive time frame for what is coming up next.
  All in all, it has been an eventful couple of days but Emma is doing really really well!  God is truly blessing us!

Some specific things to pray for:
1) Pray for her lung function to continue to improve and make her even more ready for the next surgery.
2) Pray for her brain as we await to find out more.
3) Pray for her heart and that it will continue to do well as we approach next Monday or Tuesday.
4) Pray for the nurses that are taking care of her each and everyday.
5) Pray for the doctors as they take care of her.
6) Pray for Sarah and I to have strength and peace in these coming weeks.

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

-Daddy Scott

Getting Some Much Needed Rest

Miss Emma on October 6th in her Princess Bow!

Miss Emma on October 5th with her little flower bow!

Gramma with Emma!

Emma's heart bear with her special bead necklace.  The necklace symbolizes all of the procedures and milestones she has had thus far!

Mommy loving on her precious girl!

Mommy and Daddy with their precious princess!

Quick Update

Emma came through her surgery great.  She is resting back in the CICU now!  Please pray that she will continue to remain stable!  They are looking at doing the Norwood on Friday or Monday!  We will also be meeting with a neurologist later today to discuss a few findings.  Days like today and the unknowns that are sure to follow can be scary.  We know we serve a God who is bigger than all of this!  We very much appreciate your prayers!

Sarah (Emma's Mommy)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you

~1 Peter 5:7

Mommy Time

Last night at about nine, I got to really meet my precious little girl for the first time.  I walked into the room and just cried tears of joy at the beautiful little blessing God gave me.  She is hooked up to many monitors and medications, but they are all working together along with the wonderful doctors and nurses, to take care of Emma.  The nurse on duty last night asked if I wanted to help give Emma a bath.  Of course, I was more than happy to oblige.  I got to help bathe Emma, put on baby lotion, and comb her head full of hair.  It was so good to see her all clean and peaceful.  She opened her eyes a few times which just melted my heart.  I spent about two precious hours with her last night.  It made this Mommy's day!  Up until that point, I had just seen her in pictures/video/and in person for 5 seconds post birth.


Today is a big day for Emma!  She will be having a 4 hour surgery to reduce some of the blood flow to the lungs.  This is very ironic since they did a surgical procedure yesterday to make more blood flow to the lungs.  The blood flow amount is crucial in any baby, but especially in an HLHS baby.  This procedure should be very helpful in the next big surgery (the Norwood).  Please keep Emma in your prayers today as well as the doctors performing the surgery.

Specific Prayer Requests:
1. The surgeon will be able to put the bands on successfully.
2. Her lungs will be nice and strong
3. The rest of her testing, including her brain look good or at least manageable
4. Emma will easily stabilize post surgery and will be ready to conquer the next step.

Thank you for the continued prayers and support!
Emma's Mommy (Sarah)

Controlling the flow

We have an update on Emma. She is about to have a surgery that will involve putting bands around her pulmonary arteries to control how much blood flow is going to her lungs and increase the amount of blood going to her body.

The doctors are very positive about this procedure as this is one that is often times needed with HLHS patients. Even though this is a smaller surgery, your prayers are coveted, as always. They will be doing the surgery this morning. We'll update as soon as we can.

Update with pics

Sarah got moved to a different private room away from the labor and delivery. All of the family has been down to visit. She is doing well but really needing an icee! :) She'll be allowed to eat something after 12 hours, and will definitely be ready for it! 

Emma's is stabilized and her heart is doing well. Family will soon be able to go to Childrens and see her through the glass. Sarah is hoping to see her as soon as possible, although it is looking more like tomorrow.

Scott has been taking pictures and sending them to Sarah via text message, so she's been updated on a regular basis. God is so good! Thank you for all of the prayers! Please continue to pray for Emma health and the long road ahead as well as for Sarah's quick recovery.

Emma with her life lines

Emma with her grumpy face :)

Update on Mom and Emma, after 1st surgery

They successfully did the cath and the balloon stint surgery. Emma did well. They are waiting to see how the blood flow is and make sure that the lungs aren't over-saturated with the blood flow from the stint. The doctors at Childrens are going to monitor Emma over the next day or so to see how she does.

Sarah is doing great. There was a nurse in the operating room taking picture and not even an hour later the awesome nurses here at Parkland/Childrens have already put the pictures in a picture album for Sarah to look at since she was only able to get a peek at little Emma. She's been able to see all of the family that made the trip and is now resting.

Scott is over with Emma taking lots of pictures. He even got to touch her for a moment! :)  They expect to move her to her nursery room later today.