Eight Months Old

~Sweet, 8 Month Old Girl~

Noelle turned 8 months old today, and the days seem to be over before they have even begun sometimes.  What a delight this tiny treasure is to us, and we thank God for each and every day with her.  The past few weeks have been very busy with follow up doctor appointments and various other life happenings; but amidst it all, this little girl continues to make good progress in her growth and weighed 7lbs. 11oz. at her appointment on Monday.  Again, I was hoping to reach the 8lb. mark by the time we came to this day; but she is very close, and I believe she will pass the 9lb. mark before her 9 month birthday and finally obtain {and then exceed} the average of 1lb./month.

~First Sunday at church as a family~

This past weekend was very special to us as Noelle's pulmonologist allowed us to venture out a bit more in the form of attending church on Sunday morning.  What an incredible joy it was for me to be able to participate in the service and hear the preaching of the Word along with the rest of the body of believers.  Months have passed since I have been able to attend due to our circumstances; and while online services and messages help tremendously, they do not quite compare with taking part in the service for yourself.  Tom was always willing to trade off with me, but with his commitments and the things I personally had to do to care for Noelle, we just could not make it work before now.  My heart was full; and the music, preaching, and fellowship were an incredible encouragement to my heart.  It was not without strict rules for us as parents {including, but not limited to: no nursery and absolutely no touching from others}; but while I was a little nervous about it, we were more excited than anything else to be able to attend for the first time as a family.  It means even more to us since we will be put on "lockdown" again in October and not allowed to take Noelle into public places again as we tread through the winter and spring months, attempting to avoid colds, pertussis, RSV, and flu viruses that could land us back in the hospital with potentially serious issues and major setbacks in her health and growth, since most anything she might catch would probably elevate her to a critical condition very quickly.  If we can make it through this upcoming season, the pulmonologist is very optimistic for our activities next summer.  However, we still must also clear some other major things with our cardiologist and are looking forward to our first follow up visit with him next week and hope to gain a care plan for how her pulmonary hypertension {PPHN} will be managed long term, now that we are home.  It takes quite the effort to coordinate a plan of attack for this little girl, and we continue to be amazed and thankful at the communication among all of the physicians, therapists, and other medical personnel that follow her.   Specifically, we ask prayer for her lungs as they continue to grow and heal.  This is not just a concern through the winter; but even now we have been unable to wean her any further on her oxygen, demonstrating that there is still much damage to overcome with both the chronic lung disease and the pulmonary hypertension combined.  Otherwise, she is clinically doing very well, and we praise God for her progress.  To celebrate her 8 month birthday, I am posting a few pictures from an album I created {which some of you have already seen} entitled, "A Series of Smiles."  This little girl smiles all the time and consequently generates many extra smiles from her mommy and daddy throughout the day.  Thank you for your continued prayers for our little miracle!!

~My Favorite!  I LOVE this smile!!~

~Happy Girl~

~Bright Eyes~

~"Huh?"~

~Squeals of delight!~

~LOVES to talk!!!~

NICU Day 118 ~ (April 15th)

Yes, you read the title correctly, and we are counting NICU days again as Noelle had emergency surgery last night and was readmitted into the NICU at Baptist for recovery.  She is doing well overall, but the last 30+ hours have been quite the ride, and this post will be a little lengthy in catching up the details.  I have debated many times in my mind as to how much I should share, but ultimately we desire for people to pray specifically for Noelle and hope that these details will fade in people's minds as she grows old enough to understand herself all that has happened these first several months in her life. 

~The sweet baby cupcakes that Travis & Tawn made for our baby shower~

 Yesterday began with the joyous occasion of a baby shower for Noelle at the generosity of sweet friends from our church family, and I enjoyed a wonderful time with many of the women in our church while Tom stayed home with Noelle.

~Four Generations~

We then said "see you later" to my mom who had been able to visit while  out here for an event in Greenville, SC.  My grandparents had also come over for the morning so my grandma could attend the baby shower, so we were able to get some special pictures before everyone left.

~My grandparents & Noelle's great grandparents~

~Our little family~

Soon after that, we headed up to the NICU at Forsyth to deliver leftover cupcakes, to visit, and to also have Noelle's nurses check out her inguinal hernias.  Before we had been discharged on April 2nd, they had taught me how to reduce her hernias and what to watch in regards to them.  Last Thursday we saw a surgeon who was unable to reduce her hernia for the first time.  I had not had any issues prior but we left with the instructions to let her know if it still was not reducing in a few days.  I knew what else to watch from the Forsyth nurses, so when it started turning pink on Friday night and even more red on Saturday, it was time to get it seen.  We received confirmation on Saturday afternoon when her nurses took one look at it and told us to go get it checked out, thus beginning our "bump in the road" of the last 30+ hours.

~Waiting in our triage room in the ER~

We arrived at the children's hospital ER around 6:00p.m. and while we spent some time waiting through the next six hours, the majority of the period was involved with evaluations and many attempts to reduce the hernia.  Finally, after a combined effort on the part of several doctors and the pediatric surgeon, they determined that they had no recourse but to proceed with emergency surgery.  The concern was that something was caught {often intestine}, and when it reaches the point which Noelle's had, it usually means something has been compromised.  She went into surgery at approximately midnight and was out of surgery and into recovery in the NICU within 2 1/2 hours.  The surgery went well overall, but they did discover that one of her ovaries and fallopian tubes had been caught and twisted in the hernia and had died, requiring removal.  While the results saddened us, it honestly was good news in light of the entire picture and all the possibilities that had been present.  Had it involved compromised intestine, the surgery would have been much more difficult and the recovery much longer.  Her body should adapt and operate very well with only the one ovary, and we are very thankful for God's guidance and protection through the process.

~Noelle recovering after surgery~

We were able to see her shortly after she was admitted into the NICU, and it was heartbreaking to see her tiny body after so many hours of trauma.  She was extremely pale and still under the influence of the anesthesia, but she did hold onto our fingers and showed faint signs of her normal self. 

~Holding onto Daddy's finger~

~Holding onto Mommy's finger~

We went home and slept for a few hours before heading back up to the hospital and were encouraged to see more signs of improvement as the afternoon progressed.  They expect her to be extubated sometime tonight or early tomorrow, and we hope to be home by Wednesday at the latest.  Ultimately, we know that God had this timing already planned and had everything in place for her to receive the care He desired on this specific day.  We knew she would eventually need this surgery, we had just planned for it several months down the road and were not expecting this to happen in the manner that it did.  Still, we are very grateful that we can "check this off the list" of things to be accomplished in Noelle's tiny life and pray that she will recover quickly and be back to her normal self.

Tonight, she looked much better than she did nearly 24 hours previously, and we cannot thank you enough for your continued prayers.  Our biggest concern right now is her breathing and the need to come off of the ventilator as soon as possible.  She already has CLD {chronic lung disease}, and each day on the ventilator only adds to the issues with her lungs.  We will continue with daily updates while she is in the NICU and look forward to the day we can again bring her home.  Thank you so much for you continued love and support and your faithful prayers before the throne of grace.  God has been faithful to see us to this day and will not leave us for one moment of this process.  We are ever grateful that He holds our days in His loving hands.