Cardi Dog

We had to put our dog, Cardi to sleep today. She has progressively gone down hill over the past several months. She start having seizures every hour and we just felt it was best for her. I know she is not in pain anymore and is up in Heaven with Pappy playing.

I got Cardi 12 years ago. She has been the best dog ever! Carter loved Cardi and she was amazing with him. I think some days Cardi did not care so much for Carter, but they had an understanding...Carter climbed all over Cardi and in return, Carter gave Cardi cheerios and goldfish. We will miss her...

Walk By Faith

I was sitting in bed last night listening to the Jeremy Camp song, "Walk By Faith." Wow! I feel like he stepped into my life and thought about us and others who have been in tough situations where you have to have total faith in God, because you have no idea what to expect from day to day.

Just think a week ago Natalie had heart surgery. I remember when our doctor game out and told us the surgery did not work and they were going to remove the BT Shunt, because if they left it in she would probably not make it through the night. God was totally with Larry and I at that moment, because in our minds Natalie was alive and going to be okay. Who cares if we have to move to Dallas for a while, our daughter is alive and whatever comes our way we can handle it with God, our family and our friends.

I wish I had taken a picture, but at the time it did not cross my mind for obvious reasons. They brought us to a hallway after surgery where we could see her as the surgical team brought her into the ICU. I remember looking down the empty hallway waiting for my baby girl. Then, it was like a team of Angels that turned the corner with her bed bringing her down the hallway. I can't tell you how overwhelming of an experience that is, to see this surgical team (Angels) walking on either side of your baby girl bringing her back to you. God is amazing!

Natalie is doing better every day. She just took 4oz! She also got her arterial line out and her feeding tube. She is like a new women! She is currently sitting in her Gigi's lap, happy as she can be. We are still waiting on a bed on the 8th floor, but that is okay. We love our nurses in ICU and do not mind waiting.

The Sweetest Big Brother Ever

Natalie is finally starting to eat better. She is now back up to around 3oz! They were going to move her to the 8th floor today, however there are no open beds, so we will be in ICU for another day at least...no worries.

Carter was so cute last night...he wanted me to lay down with him for bedtime, but I told him I had to go back to the hospital to be with Natalie. He gave me a big kiss and told me to give it Baby Natalie. What an awesome Big Brother!

Cuddling My Baby Girl

I got to hold Natalie today! She looked up at me with a big smile and I got to hug my little man as well...life is good.

Natalie got her central lines out today, so we are now able to hold her again. She is still not eating great. She is taking only about an ounce and half by bottle. We then give her another half ounce through the feeding tube.

Larry's parents brought Carter back to Dallas today. He was so cute and excited to see mommy and daddy. He asked where Natalie was...he was a cute big brother.

Feeding Tube

Natalie got a feeding tube this afternoon. She just wasn't able to eat the way they want her to. I use to think the feeding tube would be a bad deal, however I have a new light on it. Yes, the feeding tube means she is not eating very well, but with the tube, she is getting what she needs. We start trying to feed her by mouth first and what she doesn't take by mouth, then we put it in her feeding tube. Tomorrow we are going to start adding calories to her bottles by adding powder formula in with the breast milk. The goal is to put on the baby fat so she will be ready for the next surgery.

She also is going to get her central lines out tomorrow morning, so I can hold her again! I think she will start doing much better once she can cuddle with mommy again.

She will also be able to wear clothes again. The nurses up here are so funny about making sure the babies are all dressed up or have cute blankets they lay on. Natalie currently is sporting a blue bow. I could care less if she has a bow on, but the nurses do, so I let them have their fun with her. The staff here is incredible!

Hiccups Stink

Natalie got to eat last night. She did okay, but I think it will be a slow process. We tried again early this morning and she did not take it so well. The problem with heart babies, is they get tired very easily so they fall asleep during feedings. Personally I think when we can hold her to give her a bottle she will do much better...not sure when that will be though. If she ends up not eating very good again (which is common), then they will put a feeding tube in to help.

I did get to hold her for a few seconds yesterday when they moved her to a small bed. I am so ready to cuddle with my baby girl again.

She got the hiccups early this morning; it was the first time I heard a cry. I know it had to be painful with that incision. The look in her eyes was horrible. I hate not being able to do anything or even explain what happened to her. Bless her!

The plan for today is to get her to eat better or put the feeding tube in. Tomorrow she should get more of her lines and ivs out. Then either tomorrow or maybe the next day, we can move up to the 8th floor (this is the cardiac floor where we learn to take care of her wound, give her medicine and feed her if she has a feeding tube).

I have had several people ask about the heart transplant patient. She is doing good as far as I know. The nurses can't really tell you anything about our patients. However, she did get moved to the 8th floor, which is great news! Now, they said with most heart transplant patients move quickly from ICU to the 8th floor, but are on the 8th floor for a while.

We did get a place to live down here until her next surgery. Thank you to everyone who has been helping us figure that out.

Wide Awake

Natalie is wide awake today! She looks a bit mad, but who wouldn't be with all she has gone through. She did get her breathing tube out a few minutes ago. She looks so much better today, the swelling has gone down even more. She got her draining tube out and another line that was in her stomach.

The nurses are going to move her to a smaller bed here in a little while. Her room is freezing, so she is having a hard time staying warm. They will move her to a smaller bed with a heat warmer on it to help her stay warm.

We are on our way to getting better and out of ICU.

Sleepy Girl

They stopped her pain medicine today. She is not in pain, but if she starts to show discomfort they will give her something. The goal is to try and make her more alert today and to get the swelling to go down some. She did squeeze my finger a mintue ago and is starting to think about opening her eyes some. I do not think they will remove the breathing tube today, but hopefully tomorrow. She likes to suck on the breathing tube like it is her pacifier...pretty cute under the circumstances.

Natalie's neighbor in the ICU is a 12 year old girl who had a heart transplant last night. The little girl had been waiting a while. Children's Medical Center currently has 18 on their heart transplant list; this is the most they have ever had. I just wanted to ask for everyone to say a little pray for this girl; that she remains stable and is able to have a long and healthy life with her new heart. I would also like to ask you to pray for the family who donated the heart. What a hard decision to make in a time of grief.

Carter is in Texarkana with Larry's parents. Larry's mom got him in Mother's Day Out at their church. He loved it! He is having a wonderful time with his Gran and Papa.

Better Day

Natalie had a pretty good night last night after about 1am. Her labs came back all good this morning, they will repeat those every 4 hours throughout the day to monitor her better. They will not be removing any of the lines or breathing tube today. Basically, they will just keep her comfortable and stable for today.

In Our Room and Settled

Natalie is in her ICU room and settled. As a parent it is so difficult to see your child hooked up to numerous machines and have cords coming out of her from everywhere.

She is doing good, but the next several hours after surgery are a concern so the nurses will be watching her closely.

I will update everyone tomorrow morning on how she is doing. Thank you again for the prayers and support throughout today.

Slight Set Back

Well, we had a slight set back. Natalie was not tolerating the shunt; her stats were dropping. We have decided the best option for now is to remove the shunt altogether. She will be given medicine to help keep the VSD open to hold her off until the next surgery. She will be able leave the hospital after she recovers; with all of that being said, I will be permanently living in Dallas for the next several months until her next surgery. The deal now is holding her off until the next surgery. She has to be a certain weight.

Thank you all for the prayers. Natalie should be out of surgery in the next couple of minutes. I will update everyone later tonight when she in her ICU room stabilized and settled.

Another Update

Natalie is doing great. The doctor has put in the shunt. They have not had to put her on a bypass machine so far, so that is wonderful news!

Update on Natalie

We just got our first call to update us on Natalie. It took the doctors a while, but they finally got an iv in her. Dr. Forbess is doing the incision right now.

In Surgery

Natalie is in surgery now. The first hour and half of the surgery is preparing for surgery. She will be getting her iv, other lines and getting put to sleep.

I never thought it could be so hard to watch your child go through the big double doors with the nurses for surgery. I know she will be okay and is in good hands...her Guardian Angel, Pappy (my father) is in there with her. He and his team of Angels are watching over her and the doctors right now.

The nurse calls us every hour to hour and half to update us, so I will update after that. Thank you all for your prayers, we appreciate it.

Rough Night

We had a bit of a rough night or at least a sleepless night. They tried to get an iv in Natalie 9 different times and was unsuccessful; that is common to have difficulty with cardiac patients. The nurses were also coming in every couple of hours for something. We are now just waiting for the Dr. to come in and then she will be off to pre-op. She is a little unhappy now, because she is hungry and has not been able to eat since 1:30am...thank goodness for pacifiers.

Morning Surgery

Just a quick update: Natalie's surgery just got moved up to 7:30am

Carter and Natalie

Besides the stress of finding out Natalie is having surgery tomorrow, we had a great week/weekend with Carter. I had not seen him in almost three weeks. He came down to Dallas on Tuesday and spend the week with me. I can't believe how big he has gotten!

After the initial jealous factor, Carter has been great with Natalie. He is so sweet with her and gives her kisses on the forehead. I am still not certain he realizes she is coming back to Amarillo with us, but he will figure out when it happens.

We took him to the Dallas Aquarium on Saturday morning. If you have not been there, I recommend going. We had a great time!

Natalie and I have checked into the hospital. She is just sleeping away not realizing what is about to happen tomorrow. She is having a BT (Blalock Taussig) Shunt put in, which is a small tube that connects the aorta to the branch pulmonary artery. The shunt allows blood flow to the lungs. The surgery is open chest, but not open heart. The doctors are telling us, the surgery will last a couple of hours. We are second on the list tomorrow, so they are thinking sometime around noon depending on how long Dr. Forbess's first surgery lasts.

I will keep everyone posted tomorrow and throughout this week.

Natalie is going to have surgery

Natalie is now almost 8lbs! Her oxygen levels are lowering a bit, but she is still doing okay for the most part. Dr. Zellers (Pediatric Cardiologist) feels that over the course of the next few weeks her levels would continue to drop, causing us to have surgery. We had talked about trying to hold her off until she was 3 months old and then just going ahead with the second surgery. However, she will more than likely not allow us to wait that long before needing surgery and Dr. Forbess (Surgeon) does not feel she is big enough to handle the second surgery.

On that note, Natalie will be having a shunt put in on Monday. I will check into the hospital with her Sunday night and some time Monday mid-morning to early afternoon, she will have surgery. She will be in CVICU for a day or two and then be moved to another floor for several days before being released. We will then be down here for another week or two for follow up.

I will continue to update everyone on Natalie condition before and after the surgery.

Joys and Hardships

Natalie had a weight check today and is now over 7lbs! Her oxygen levels are perfect and are exactly where they need to be. We have another check up and meet with the pediatric cardiologist next week. We will hopefully find out when we can come home.

Carter was suppose to come down to Dallas today and spend the week down here with Natalie and I, however the little guy caught a virus and can not be around a newborn. It has been two weeks since I have seen Carter and was looking forward to hugging on little boy.

I would like to ask for prayers of encouragement for myself personally. I am starting to feel the hardship of being away from my husband and son. I know God wants Natalie and I here, because she can get the best treatment she needs. However, it is really starting to wear on me lately; being away from my family. I know God has a plan and that is what I have to hold on to.

6lbs 11oz and 19.5 inches long

We had our big day of doctors appointments.

We first went to Scottish Rite to check on her feet. Yes, I have not actually mentioned this before, because we wanted to make sure what we were dealing with first. The doctors at Children's thought she might have club feet, which is where your feet turn in and really can't turn out. We found out today that Natalie does not have club feet, it is just the way she was tucked up in my tummy. I have some stretches to do with her to help her feet, but overall she is fine.

This afternoon we went to Children's for clinic and to see her cardiologist, Dr. Zellers. Natalie is growing wonderfully and her oxygen levels are great. They did an echo on her as well. We are about 80 percent sure she will not require the first surgery, which is where they would put a band in her heart to restrict some of the blood flow to her right ventricle. She will still need surgery in the future, but we could wait until she is 4 to 6 months old. We have another weight check next week and the following week have another clinic and doctors appointment. If everything stays the same, then we might be able to head home!

God is good! Thank you all again for the prayers and support...we feel them all working

Happy Days

Natalie is doing great!

She has her first big doctors appointment this week.

Carter is well and got his first bicycle the other day...Spider Man!