Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We here at the Himel house hope you all have had a very merry day. I am so in awe at the love we have felt in our house today. We started out our day just the four of us and then family and friends arrived to exchange hugs, kisses and of course a few gifts for the girls. This year has been amazing for us and we wouldn't have made it through if it had not been for our family and friends. To be able to have able to have a few of that support group at our house tonight was great. Our holiday festivities will continue this weekend with a trip to visit my mom and then maybe in s few weeks we will make a trip to Ruston. 

After a day like today I wonder sometimes why we are so blessed when others have such hurdles? But I also know that I shouldn't question such things. I just be humble and thankful for the blessings bestowed on our family such as health, full bellies and beds to rest. Thank you dear lord for our blessings, we are forever grateful for your birth and sacrifice so that we may have the lives we live today. We do have hurdles of our own but with our strength and faith we will make them through continuously. Thank you again for the prayers, and kind words that we receive daily they mean the world to us! 

Happy Thanksgving from the Himels



Gabrielle @ Halloween. She dressed up like her doctors at Cincinnati Childrens.

Its been a little while since I have posted an update so I am going to catch up several things. First off Halloween! Halloween here was yucky, rainy like possible tornados bad. So instead of going trick or treating like normal we became innovative and ran to CVS and bought some candy and  had some family come over really quick. Next put a family member in each room of the house and have Gabrielle trick or treat down the hallway. I personally think it was very memorable and I hope that she remembers it for a long time.

Hallway trick or treat with Granny and Kris.

The next thing we have going on is a continuation of an issue that was brought up at our last Cincinnati trip. There was a bump that popped up on her incision line. At the time of her follow up appointment in October Dr. Alam thought it was a sutcher that had worked its way to the skin, he put her on antibiotics and said to watch it. Well since then it has gotten gradually larger currently it is about the size of a large blackberry. I texted him a picture of it a few weeks ago and he said that he would like her to been seen locally because he was concerned it was her bladder. Well we got her worked in to see Dr. Ortenberg in New Orleans. He really didn't have much opinion about it he just kept saying that he really needed the surgery notes from her bladder closure surgery... which of course I had left laying on my desk at work, go figure! He suggested that we do a scope or an x-ray. I told him to call Dr. Alam and ask what he thought should be done. Dr. Alam texted me and said that he thought a scope was jumping the gun because it is evasive and she would have to be put to sleep. X-ray it is then but Dr. Ortenberg said we couldn't have one that day in New Orleans that her case wasn't urgent and that it would have to be scheduled.... ARG so aggravating!! Anyway long story short Dr. Ortenbergs office dropped the ball and Magnolia Pediatrics and Woman's Hospital Imaging saved the day! Can I just say really quick what wonderful doctors and staff are at Gabby's peds office and I can't say enough about all the great people at Woman's Imaging Dept! The images and reports have been sent to Dr. Alam. We have yet to hear from him about them but the radiologist @ Woman's Dr. Ruiz told me that he thought it was scar tissue that had worked its way through her skin... phew! what a relief. That means that it most likely not her bladder, this is amazing news. But I would still like to hear it from Dr. Alam himself.

Next on the list is our trip to Ruston for Thanksgiving. We had a great time... Bart killed 3 deer so we are all stocked up for the year. I got a little shopping done but still not finished yet. Gabrielle is super excited about Santa this year and we have a Elf on the Shelf spending the holidays with us her name is Applecore or AC for short. Applecore? Strange right? Gabrielle picked it (it is also what she wanted to name Avery).

My lovely little lady... sniff, sniff she looks so grown up!

 I can't believe the year we have had and we have so much to grateful for. Our year started out with the birth of a healthy little sister for Gabby. Then just three weeks later we were off to Cincinnati to live for almost 2 months for the biggest surgery to date for Gabrielle. It was a rough recovery not only for Gabby but for mama, daddy, nana and granny too (they came to stay while we were in Cinci) but we survived. Terrible three's have been a learning experience for everyone but we are getting there. Gabrielle has been healthy for the most part aside from a virus here and there. This coming Monday Gabrielle will start daycare for the first time. We have been so blessed to have Bart's Granny Dolores stay with Gabrielle everyday for almost 4 years. I can't imagine not coming home and seeing her everyday it just won't feel like home without her here everyday! Thank you so much Granny for your commitment to our family these last few years we appreciate it so much! I will keep you posted as to how daycare goes everyone... but for now it is time for bed. Much love and please keep the prayers coming because starting daycare is going to be a huge adjustment for my little girl. Thank you!

Quick follow-up

Hey everyone! I know that it has been awhile since my last update. So we start from this weekend and work our way backwards. This past Thursday we left out for Cincinnati to go for a follow exam with Dr. Alam. Our trip started off interesting with me leaving my purse on the plane that we flew in on from New Orleans and then while I was getting my purse back we missed our connecting flight from Dallas to Cincinnati. What luck! But we got on standby for the next flight and only arrived one hour late, thank goodness. Gabrielle was amazing on the flights! I couldn't believe there was no crying, being nervous, nothing. We were able to get a room at Ronald McDonald house, which is as close to home as you can get especially being that some of the workers recognized us right off and we haven't been there since June. That is amazing to me... think about they amount of families that pass through their doors on a monthly basis. What an incredible facility they have, volunteers and employees. After that we had to enjoy all the things they offer there. Gabrielle had to go play in the play room, we ate a good home cooked meal, and played on the playground outside and then we "rented" a couple of movies and watched those. Whew what a day!

Gabrielle and her daddy putting tabs in the house @ RMH Cincinnati.

The next day we started off the day early with a renal ultrasound. Again, Gabrielle made me eat my words. No crying, no fussing, she justed laid there and watched her Tinkerbell movie they had in. Next was our appointment with Dr. Alam. While we were waiting we meet a really sweet lady that told us all about bowel management and what her daughter was going through. It was really interesting to talk to her about because we will probably be starting bowel management next year with Gabrielle. Bowel management is a process that you have to go through prior to getting your colostomy reversed. They try different diets and laxatives to see if Gabrielle can have a dry colostomy bag all day and then only go to the bathroom once a day. If she passes that test then we could possibly have her colostomy reversed. The lady we ran into said that her daughter had done excellent with it and that it was much easier than it sounded... hope so! Next we were off to Dr. Alam. While in the room Gabrielle seemed so excited to see him, she kept asking where he was and when he was getting there. Well when he finally got into the room she clammed up. She would hardly speak  to me or Bart much less Dr. Alam and his nurse Lisa. She did let hime pick her up for a minute... that is monumental. Earlier in the week a spot popped up on the incision line from Gabrielle's surgery. We had Dr. Alam look at it. He said that is was small absess caused by a stitch from the surgery. He put her on Keflex 3 times daily for 10 days. Dr. Alam said that it would have to surgically removed. He told me to text him a picture of it the next morning to make sure that it was ok for us to go home. He also said that it is a procedure that he would trust Dr. Ortenburg (head of Urology @ Children's New Orleans) to do. We have to contact him when she is done with her antibiotic and he will give us instructions from there. Next issue to address was a piece of tissue that appear and disappear in her urethral opening. After examining that he decided it was a bladder polyp, which will also have to be removed surgically. He wants us to follow up with him in about 6 months for a bladder scope, at that time he will remove the polyp. He also wanted to address Gabrielle's weight and size, that is always a huge concern. She has finally made it onto the chart @ 0.2 percentile... yay Gabby! It only took her 3 1/2 years. We are bumping her Pediasure up to twice a day. If she doesn't start putting on weight then we have to revisit the NG tube... NNNOOOOO! I don't want an NG tube and I know she sure as heck doesn't! Prayers that she starts adding weight!

Love this man! This is Gabrielle and me with Dr. Alam. He is awesome no matter what Gabby looks like :)

Going back a little bit in time, Gabrielle started physical therapy. It took a little time and proding but she is doing fabulous. A big shout out the all the ladies @ Woman's Center for Wellness in Baton Rouge. They have done a wonderful job there. Prior to leaving for Cincinnati we learned that Gabrielle is almost out of visits. Our insurance will only allow 20 visits per year. I called the insurance and found how to do an appeal. I am currently in the process of getting Dr. Alam, Dr. West (Gabby's pediatrician) and Caroline (Gabby's PT) to write appeal letters on why Gabby should continue. She is walking without a walker now. She is still weak but getting stronger everyday. I spoke with Gayla (head of PT) about writing the appeal letter and I asked her if there was anything that they would want me to address while in Cinci. She said that she and Caroline would like to have Gabby in knee splints, just at bedtime. She said the knee splints will help hold her legs straight at night to help stretch and lengthen they muscles in her legs. So while we were in our appointment in Cinci I brought this up to Dr. Alam, he said that he would address it with Dr. Mehlman (her orthopedist) but that he didn't see any problems with sending orders for it. So now I am just waiting for the letters to appeal to insurance and they have up to 30 days to decide whether or not to extend her PT. Prayers needed for that approval please!


On to the next subject... Dr. Alam is leaving Cincinnati! I first heard news of this about a month or two ago. I was devastated! We have become so attached to him over the last 2 years especially with the recent surgery and seeing him everyday for 15 days. I had heard that we has going to Texas Children's in Dallas, Boston Children's or John Hopkins in Baltimore. I was praying and hoping for Texas Children's alas sometimes things don't work out they way you want. I found out right before we left for Cincinnati that he was going to New York Presbyterian Hospital a.k.a Columbia a.k.a Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. This was they first thing on the agenda to talk about with him during our appointment. Thankfully he brought it up. He said that he had kept New York very hush hush, none of his staff even knew that he was in talks with them. He got them to agree to all kinds of amazing things in his contract. 1) That they would accept medicaid from any state, ANY state! That is amazing. 2) that they will accept all the insurance that he accepted at Cincinnati Children's. 3) that if an insurance refused to pay his doctors fee then the hospital would write off that expense and not pass it on to the patients family. Did I say he was amazing yet? After talking it about it with Bart, we have decided that Dr. Alam is too important to us to leave him now. So we will be following him to Columbia in Manhatten New York. We will have our first appointment with him there next spring for Gabrielle's scope and removal of her bladder polyp. I am nervous about learning yet another children's hospital and how they work but I am confident him and I know that he loves and cares for the kids he treats. You can see it in the way he interacts with them, smiles at them, interacts with us, and his passion for his job and Cloacal Exstrophy. All in all it was a great appointment.

After her we hiked the 4 blocks down to the Cincinnati Zoo and spent the afternoon. We had a great time until we had to hike the 4 blocks back to Ronald McDonald house. Then back up at 4am to fly home Saturday... we were and still are exhausted! As always thank you all for the prayers and continued support. It helps give us the confidence to take on life with beautifully unique and complicated child. I wouldn't trade her for a perfectly healthy child any day she has made me into the woman & momma I am today.

The tab house @ RMH. Built by an Eagle Scout and donated to the house.

Just a swingin' with her daddy.

Gabby sliding on the playground.

Our trip to the zoo. Hanging out with the elephants.

Finally... tube free!

The last few months have been filled with ups and downs for our family and the people that surround us. When the lord bless one there may be trials for another. We had several weeks of trials during our trip to Cincinnati for Gabrielle’s surgery. All in all I believe we came back home a much stronger and united family. I thank the lord every day for the blessings he has bestowed upon me. I have a wonderful husband that has blessed me with two beautiful little girls. Our little Gabrielle is a little more unique than most and teaches us something new about ourselves daily. When you think your patience has been pushed to the brink step back and think about the other things that are really important. My patience is waning right now because Gabrielle still isn’t walking yet. I worry that her muscles are weakening more and more every day. That her joints are stiffening more every day. She was always running, dancing, bouncing, moving in some way that it pains me to see her constantly just sitting on the couch and wanting to be carried everywhere. I know in His on time she will walk again, run again, dance again. I can not wait for that day, I pray it is just around the corner.

Gabrielle and Avery in their matching outfits... aren't they adorable!

We have a birthday party for a family friend this weekend and there will be swimming. I had asked if Gabrielle could swim with her  SP tube. Dr. Alam told me to bring Gabby to have a renal and bladder ultrasound and send him the images and report. So yesterday we brought her to have one… she did good for the most part just a lot of crying after it was over she was fine. Today Dr. Alam reviewed the report and images and said that I could cut and remove the Suprapubic tube. YAY GABBY!!!!  I can’t believe we are finally free of all tubes. After 3 months we are finally FREE of all tubes. Dr. Alam says the whole will be healed in a couple of days and that Gabby will be able to swim Saturday. I’m so excited for her and I believe it will help with the stiffness of her legs. I also believe part of her problem with walking is fear and hopefully with the removal of the SP tube part of that fear will go away. Just since I removed the tube about 30 minutes ago Bart has already gotten her to roll over on her stomach and slide off the couch onto the floor. She has only done that one other time since we have been home. We have a couple of test that Dr. Alam wants us to try with resistance and her legs. I am to report back to him tomorrow and we may see about putting her in physical therapy to help her get her mobility and confidence back.

I have a few additional prayer request this week…

1)      Faeynn and Carter both have the same birth defect that Gabrielle has and have had some complications after their bladder closure surgeries. Please pray for the these precious babies that they will be healed quickly and that the surgeries take this time.

2)      Samuel- has the same birth defect and just had surgery a couple of weeks ago. Prayers for him also to have minimal problems and heals well.

3)      We lost a great friend two weeks ago Friday. He was caught in the explosion at the Williams plant in Geismer. Please pray for the wonderful family he left behind that their hearts will heal with time, that understanding will eventually come to them and that they hold on to their memories of him forever!

Thanks & much love!

S

Home Sweet Home

Last Thursday afternoon we arrived back home to Louisiana. It was a great feeling to walk back into our house for the first time in almost 2 months. We are so happy to be home and what a homecoming it has been! We have had visitors almost every day since Thursday hence the reason I haven’t made a post. What a journey we have had over the last 3 months. We have had our newest addition to the family Avery and then just shy of 4 weeks later loaded up and took off to Cincinnati for Gabby’s surgery. It was 7 weeks of ups and downs but our little family pulled through.  Gabrielle has to be one of the strongest little people I have ever encountered. She continues to amaze me daily for the challenges that are put in front of her and she hurdles over them. I thank God each and every day for blessing Bart and I with such an amazing little girl. We also are so thankful for the community that we live in. Without their help this trip and surgery wouldn’t have been possible. We will be forever grateful to you all.

Today we removed Gabrielle’s foley catheter. Now her bladder should empty totally from her urethra. She does still have the supra pubic tube as a backup. The plan for now is to pray that her bladder empties on its own. Every 4 hours I have to uncap her supra pubic tube and see if it drains in additional urine. We are to keep measurements of what drains from there and keep Dr. Alam’s office posted on how her bladder is draining over the next few weeks. Hopefully after a few weeks we will get the all clear to remove the supra pubic tube. We will have an appointment in a few months for some testing. It should be a quick trip, just a few days.  Since being home we haven’t noticed Gabrielle having any bladder spasms so we haven’t had to give her any of the Ditropan, YAY!!! She is still nervous about moving herself very much. She has only taken a few steps while being supported and she wouldn’t completely straighten her legs. She and Bart went and played in her room before bed tonight, he had her scooting herself around to get toys herself so I think that it will only be a matter of time. Bart and I have both started back to work full time. So far so good just a little tired :0).  I will post again next week with another update of how things are going. Thank you all for following us during this leg of Gabby’s journey. Please continue to pray that her bladders empties completely so we can get rid of the supra pubic tube and that she will find the courage and strength to start walking soon! Enjoy a few pictures from our trip home...

Miss Avery

me and my girls hanging out in the backseat

Good ole bear, always there for a snuggle.

This is one of the reasons Cincinnati Children's is where Gabrielle goes. # 3 childrens hospital in the nation... AGAIN!
http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/cincinnati-childrens-hospital-ranks-no-3-in-nation-on-us-news--world-reports-rankings

Louisiana bound baby!!!

This has started out as a very busy day and continued that way. When we got up and going this morning we made a trip across to the hospital to say some final goodbyes. One of favorite nurses, Stacy, had requested that come say goodbye for hitting the road to go home. We had gone to the A3 North floor yesterday and caught some of our other favorites like Kayla and Beth. I just want to take a minute to say what a excellent staff they had A3 North. I don't think Bart and I had a nurse we didn't like, they all were incredible. But just like anything else you have some you get closer to than others especially when you have them multiple times over 15 days. Anyway on with our day after visiting Stacy and few other nurses we went back to RMH to pack the car up. I don't know how we managed to fit what we did in that car but it happened. The sad thing is that we shipped to massive 2 ft X 3 ft boxes home completely crammed with stuff home, LOL! It is amazing what you accumulate over a 7 weeks. Then we had a agreed to do an interview for RMH with Proctor and Gamble. Proctor and Gamble is based in Cincinnati, it is a massive company. If you don't know what P & G makes look on you diapers, shampoo or a cleaning supply and they probably are listed on the back as the manufacturer. They donate all the cleaning supplies and clothes detergent that is used by RMH. We had such a great experience staying a Ronald McDonald we couldn't help but take an hour our of day to help them out on this project, especially if it is going to help them get more funding from P & G. They asked all kinds of questions about Gabrielle, us, what brought us to Cincinnati, how clean was the RMH, etc. We also had to say goodbye to a few families that we had talked to during our stay in RMH. By 10 am we were on the road!! YAY!!!! I can't believe we are headed home.



This is the board at RMH that shows every family, what room, home town & state/country, and whether you are in the building or not. During our stay there were people from Arizona to Syria.



This is the our final time to move our heart from in to out.

 Ronald McDonald house is an amazing place to stay. Bart and I met so many families with children of all ages from newborns having heart surgery to 20 year olds having heart transplants. You become something to each other there. It is like an enlarged family that come home and share your day with, you vent and sometimes you might even cry. The Ronald McDonald house is funded completely on donations from large companies and small alike. Cincinnati RMH has 60 hired employees and 350 volunteers that come in and out through the day to make the day easier for the people that stay there. It is asked that you donate up to $25/day for your family to stay but no one is turned away for not being able to pay. All of their meals are prepared by volunteers and served by volunteers. Cincinnati RMH have all kinds of volunteers people come in to give haircuts, massages, activities for the kids, ice cream socials, snack times, whatever you can think of. I urge you if you are looking for a charity to help this is it. I know most of the people that follow our blog are in Louisiana there is an RMH in New Orleans and I believe there is one in Monroe also. If you don't have the time to voluteer simply donate. Different houses have different needs so make a call and see what they might be in need of at the time it may be diapers it may be toys to give to the children that stay there. Also they cash in the tabs off of aluminum cans so you could start collecting those and drop them off at your local RMH house. I'm sorry to run on about this but it was such an incredible help to us both finacially (40 days at RMH was cheaper than 7 days at a hotel) and mentally. Please think about donating to this wonderful organization.

Our family pic with Ronald himself :) we had been waiting until Gabby had her fixator off.

We made it to just outside of  Birmingham, AL tonight. We would've like to driven the whole way today but the girls where starting to get fussy and it is very cramped in the car with all the stuff. But we are right around 1/2 way home and be back on the road in the morning hopefully by about 7 am.

Thank you everyone that has taken this journey with us through reading this blog. Your kind words, cards and prayers have been appreciated more than you will ever know. We love you all!

Nothing better!

Nothing is better than this moment after 6 weeks of not holding her close. 

It's all over but the ride home

Well today went pretty good, actually better than good it was great! We had a day of P's... pin removal, packing, and Popeye's, lol! The pin removal was quick and we got to keep the parts to her fixator. The scope went well also. The only thing was that the urethra is still healing. So he decided to put a Foley catheter in to let the urethra finish healing. We can remove the Foley catheter in 7 days. She also still has the supra pubic tube. Depending on how well her bladder drains over the next several weeks will depend on when and if we will take out the supra pubic tube. As far as what she can do now, pretty much anything. As long as she has the drain tubes she can't be submerged in water but anything else is fair game. We are doing an interview with P & G (Procter and Gamble) for Ronald McDonald House @ 9 am and then we are getting on the road to head home. To go HOME!!!! Yes that is what I said. Beyond excited at this point ready to get back and see all our friends and family. 

Today is the day!!

Well the day is finally here... Fixator removal day, YAY! We are currently waiting for Gabby to be taken back for anesthesia. The procedure should be simple. She will the pins removed an they will check for infection in the sites. Dr. Mehlman said it should go smoothly. Dr. Alam will be coming in to do a scope of her bladder to check for bladder function and see if it is draining or will drain. He will also be changing out her supra public tube and putting in a new one. The tube will be out safety net in case her bladder stops draining once we get back home. We did notice this morning when we were doing her pin care and cleaning her up that she had urine in her diaper. This is the first time we have had a wet diaper in 6 weeks. Great news!! Dr. Alam had told us not to be surprised if we didn't see any in the diaper. 

Please pray that everything looks good and goes well I will post again after we see her in recovery. 

2 more days!!!!

Well we have a had the normal ups and downs lately. Just Gabrielle acting like a three year old should, basically making Bart and I want to pull our hair out. The usual stuff like temper tantrums. Thankfully she is still healing well from the original surgery that was 5 weeks ago. I can't believe we have been living in Cincinnati for almost 6 weeks. We are so ready to be back home where Gabby can have some normalcy again. She still isn't resting well most nights, waking with fits of screaming for 10 to 20 minutes at a time. Bart, Granny and I still aren't sure what the cause is. We decreased her Ditropan which I do believe was the major part of the problem. Our only other guess is the fact that she is basically what I would describe as a metal cage around her waist. The external fixator sticks out about 6 inches in front of her and about 3 to 4 inches on either side and then add into the equation that she has a tube going up her nose and down her throat. I think I would be miserable too. For the most part she has handled it like a champ. We are nearing the end of this journey here and I know that she can't wait for it to be over. Through it all she still seems beyond excited about her new flat tummy and she tells everyone at RMH that her bladder was made into a ball and put inside. She constantly talks about when she gets the ex-fix off she is going to do...everything!! We spent this morning at mass, ate lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (a nice change from hot dogs and hamburgers) and now are at Barnes and Noble picking Gabby up some new books.

I want to take a moment and ask you to pray for a couple from Tennessee we met last night at RMH last night. They have 9 children between the 2 of them. The last two were just born last week, twin boys. One was born with imperforate anus (one of Gabby's birth defects) they didn't know he was going to have anything wrong with him. The other was born with what I believe they said was a heart defect called TTSD. The first has already had surgery and the second will be having the first of many surgeries coming up. They are here by themselves all of their other children are at home in Tennessee. Please pray that their sweet baby boys come through their surgeries fine and that they are able to head back home soon. 

Counting down the days until ex-fix removal.... ONLY 2 LEFT!!!! 

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support. I don't think we would have made it through our journey without you all!

The Final Countdown

We have GREAT news! Gabrielle will be getting her external fixator removed Tuesday, June 4^th. Bart and I are beyond excited!!! Gabby can’t stop talking about the things she is going to do after she gets the ex-fix off. That is only 5 days away… can I say it again, only 5 days away! What an amazing feeling to think we have made it this far into our journey that felt like it would never end. All in all in has not been a horrible experience. Yes the restless nights were bad and watching her be miserable has been really bad but God has pulled us through it all. Thank you, thank you all of for all of your prayers for our beautiful little girl during this time. No one should have to endure what she has been through especially at 3 years old but we do not choose our path. There is a reason, a purpose for her suffering and I personally believe one of the main reason  is to bring people closer to God through the power of prayer.  Her ex-fix  removal surgery will be at 1 pm on the 4^th. Please continue to prayer for her during that surgery. Dr. Alam is also going to do a scope of her bladder and urethra while she is under to check bladder function. Prayers please also that he likes what he sees or is able to fix what he doesn’t like.

Gabby had a great time this week with her nanny Kate. Kate is her godmother for those of you that don’t know. She is a recent graduate of SpringHill college nursing program (we are so proud of her!) and came to assist Granny so that Bart and I could get a night away. Gabrielle and Kate adore each other and are a great fit and I don’t think we could have picked anyone better to be her nanny. Thank you so much Kate for coming a spending the week with us, we all needed that boost! While Kate was here she and Gabby baked cupcakes and brought them around to all the other families staying at Ronald McDonald house. Gabby has been getting compliments on her cupcakes ever since. We have met several other families while staying here at Ronald McDonald house all of their stories have touched our hearts in some way or another. Some come here for a day and some have been here as long as 2 years. They come from all across the globe from Peoria, IL to Syria and Greece.  Please lift these families up in prayer tonight along with Gabby.

Hoping that you all have a good night and a good nights rest!

Family- medicine for the soul

WOW! What a busy week we have had, I promise that isn’t why haven’t been updating though. Our internet here at Ronald McDonald isn’t the best in the world and I have been having trouble getting my computer to stay connected; anyway getting back to our busy week. Monday Bart and I brought the girls to the Krohn Observatory to see the butterfly exhibit. It was truly beautiful to be surrounded by some of Gods most delicate and unique creations, kind of like Gabby herself. Tuesday Bart’s Granny Dolores and my Granny Inez and my dad Shane all came in to visit. That really seemed to lift everyone’s spirits including Gabrielle’s. My dad and Granny Inez only got to stay a few days but having them here really made me feel like this was almost home for a couple of days. Granny Dolores will be here the rest of our trip to be a tremendous help to Bart and I. I honestly don’t know what we would do without such an amazing lady in our lives, for those of you who might not know she watches Gabby everyday while Bart and I are at work. We are forever grateful to her and love her to the ends of the Earth! Wednesday we all met at the Cincinnati Museum Center which has 3 different museums inside the old Union train station. We toured the Cincinnati Museum and the Natural History Museum but decided to skip the Children’s Museum because Gabrielle is confined to the stroller because of her external fixator. Thursday we decided to just have a day to hang out and spend time with our family which is what Bart and I wanted to do more than anything. They have a grill here at Ronald McDonald so we grilled everything we could think of and made potato salad and baked beans, yummy! It was so nice just spend a little time in the kitchen and sit down to a family dinner together and fellowship. It was exactly the medicine that my little family needed to rejuvenate us a little bit. Friday Gabrielle had an appointment with Dr. Alam and we also got to meet one of our OEIS friends named Gracie and her parents. After getting to talk and share stories with Gracie and her family we decided to walk the few blocks to the zoo and spend our afternoon there, the weather was perfect. Gabrielle had a great time seeing all the animals and being outside for a bit. Saturday we decided to drive out to the outlet mall in Monroe, Oh and spent most of the day shopping around. This morning we ventured out to find a church to attend mass and then made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for Bart to cook a jambalaya, so that we can have another little piece of home.

Krohn Observatory

At Gabrielle’s appointment with Dr. Alam Friday we addressed a few concerns that Bart and I had. First being the Ditropan that she has been taking for bladder spasms. If it has a side effect listed she has had it, especially the nightmares and not resting well at night. When she was started on it a few weeks ago she was taking 2 mg three times a day well Bart and I dropped her down to 2 mg twice a day. Dr. Alam told us that there is two reasons he chooses to give Ditropan 1) to help the bladder grow and expand 2) for bladder spams. He assured us that Gabby’s bladder was plenty large and that he felt comfortable with us stepping down her dose to 1 mg twice daily and then down to just as needed when we notice spasms. We only gave her 1 dose of the 1 mg last night and she still woke up but rested for long periods throughout the night. One question we had was what all would be done in the next surgery in a couple of weeks when she gets her external fixator removed. Dr. Alam told us that he would go through the whole where her suprapubic tube opens into her bladder to perform a scope. He wants to do this to see how her bladder is healing and draining. If the urethra he created had closed then he will have to see if he can open it again and possibly add a small piece of plastic tubing to hold the urethra open so her bladder can drain that way. He is also planning on leaving the suprapubic tube in place. Another topic we talked about was the suprapubic tube which is connected to a urine bag by a long tube. It had been mentioned that she might have to go home with the tube. I kept wondering to myself how she is going to have any independence with the huge urine bag tagging along. Well he told us that it would only be the piece of tube that goes directly into her bladder that we would go home with. It is only about 6 inches long and would be hidden in her diaper and would stay clamped off. He is calling the suprapubic tube our safety net. If for some reason the urethra closes up again then we would have the SP tube as an option to drain the bladder when needed. We also met with Tina her nutritionist about the NG tube and her feeds. We had been keeping a diary of what Gabby was eating and drinking throughout the day and Tina seemed happy about what she saw. Gabrielle is still not up to the 1100 calories a day that they want her to take in but she had gained a couple of ounces she we were in the hospital a week ago. Tina said if we felt confident she would start eating well that we could pull the tube out. Bart and I decided that since the tube doesn’t seem to be bothering Gabby anymore that we would just leave it in until after the next surgery in a couple of weeks and remove it before we come home to Louisiana. I am going to put a call in Monday to find out the specific date of the next surgery so I will keep you posted on that. Tomorrow Gabby’s Nanny Kate will be coming to visit for the week… we are very excited to see her! While she is here Bart and I are going to take a night to ourselves and stay at a hotel downtown and go out on a date for some much needed mommy and daddy time. Please pray for Kate to have a safe flight. Also continue to pray for restful nights to come to our sweet Gabby. And that we can get her off of this Ditropan it isn’t a friendly medication to her little body. It steals away the light in our little girl and we want so badly to have our happy go lucky, dancing, singing, giggly Gabby back.

I would also like to report that Carter got his external fixator removed this week! YAY Carter! I know that his mom and dad are over the moon to have their little boy in their arms again. Please continue to pray for Carter as they start to take him off of all the sedation and pain medications they had him on, this can be a long and painful process. He has already been through so much in the last couple of months that I pray the withdrawl process is easier than they predict.

Sweet sleep

Gabrielle was only kept in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon. Everything from her renal ultrasound and x-ray checked out ok so there was no reason to keep her cooped up in the hospital. Bart and I both agreed that Tuesday night in the hospital was one of our worst nights with her not resting. They had given her Melatonin to help her sleep and Robaxin for a muscle relaxer but neither seemed to help. Thursday afternoon I spoke to my boss Angie at the pharmacy where I work so that could tell me about how Melatonin works. While talking about the Melatonin and whether it would help her or not we also talked about what she was doing in her sleep. I told her it is the most restless sleep I have ever watched. Gabrielle would constantly move around, thrash her arms, and cry out. We went over the list of medications she is currently on and Angie remembered another customers child having nightmares and restless sleep on Ditropan (Oxybutynin). Ditropan is the medication she is on for bladder spasms. They also had her on Oxytrol patches which is a topical application of Oxybutynin so really she was getting a double dose. Sometimes these children need that much because the spasms are so bad because their bladder muscle has never functioned before so it has to get used to holding urine. Thursday night Bart and I decided to take off her Oxytrol patch and skip her bedtime dose of Ditropan we also increased her dose of Melatonin because she wasn't getting a very large dose. And incredibly she only woke up twice all night long, whined for just a minute and then went right back to sleep. I almost got up to check and make sure she was breathing at one point. We put a call into the Urology department at the hospital to get their thoughts on what we had done and if they had any ideas. Katie, NP and Dr. VanderBrink said that we could continue trying just giving her 2 doses of Ditropan a day instead of the 3 we had been doing. They said if we noticed that she started having bladder spasms that we may want to switch her from  just the liquid to just the patches because the patches tend to have less side effects. We decided to stick with the liquid through the weekend and see how she does. Last night she slept pretty good still only waking a couple of times but it did take her longer to settle but all in all a pretty good night. Please pray that the medication side effects are what is causing her restlessness and that we can find the right dosing for her.

We are planning on bringing her to the movies this afternoon. We have a few visitors coming next week. My dad, my granny and Bart's granny will all be making trips in this Tuesday. Please pray that they all have safe travels. We appreciate them all coming to visit. Not that Bart and I don't enjoy the time together with our girls but having some other adults to talk to will be nice! Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Please continue to pray for our friend Carter. He gets his external fixator off this coming Wednesday. I am so excited for his mom and dad!!!
http://www.littlegiftcarter.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-arms-will-soon-be-full-again.html

Faith reassured

Even when you allow yourself to question your faith God always finds a way to reassure you. 

First of all thank you all for the kind words that were sent after yesterdays post it was a rough day and I think it helps me to get everything out with this blog. Last night Gabrielle still did not rest well so this morning we got up and put a call in to urology. They scheduled a renal ultrasound and decided to have Gabrielle admitted to start IV fluids. After arriving and talking to Dr. VanderBrink he decided to also order an xray just to make sure that he covered everything. We had both the ultrasound and the xray done this afternoon both Tammie, NP and Dr. VanderBrink stopped by afterward to talk about the results. The xray and ultrasound both came back clear... what a BLESSING! This means that nothing is wrong with Gabby's bladder, kidneys or intestines from the images seen. I can not express to you all enough my excitement about this news. That means that even with the pressure of having her body cavity completely closed with all the organs inside that her kidneys, bladder, and intestines have continued to work properly. We have determined that Gabby is simply suffering from 3 year old-itis. It is very possible that she also having some mild bladder spasms so they added the patch back to help with that. Also we think that her back may be stiff from lying around and not being able to move well so we gave her some ibuprofen. Lastly to help with restlessness they gave her some Melatonin. Lord willing tonight she will get some much needed rest. We will stay in the hospital tonight with her. We also talked to Tammie about the NG feeds. They placed the NG tube back in and have started the feeds back slowly and for shorter periods of time. Bart and I have come to terms with the fact that getting her appetite back may take longer than hoped. Tammie said that she thought the nutritionist had set a goal too high for Gabrielle to obtain being she was already starting with a disadvantage. Hopefully she will be done with the NG feeds by the time we are ready to leave her next month. Continued prayers of Gabrielle's appetite returning are appreciated and that rest finds us all again soon. Much love to you all! A great family member posted this last night and I thought I would share it, it really helped me when I needed it. Thank you again Aunt Gwen.

Keep your faith... if God brings you to it... he will bring you through it... Faith does not make things easy... it makes them possible... Luke 1:37

Ahh... A3 North home sweet home. We walked in and it was like Cheers, everyone knows
our name. We even got our old room back, lol!

Also we have had several friends and family from St. Amant call to check on us tonight because their has their has been some commotion on our road. The neighbors across the street had their mobile home and another outbuilding catch fire. Foul play is suspected. Our house and property are fine and remain unharmed. Another blessing!! Thank you to our friends and family that have been to our house today to check on everything we know that we have nothing to worry about with people like you in our lives. We love and cherish you all!

The devil is negativity

I have been thinking all day that I needed to post an update but didn't know what to right about. I know that you probably are all thinking that is crazy. We have had so much going on lately that there should be a ton to write about. I usually try to right about the positive things going on and we have had plenty of that to write about lately but today I don't have a very sunny outlook. I am trying to stay positive... negativity is my devil.

For the last 2 weeks we have asked and prayed to the Lord asking him to protect our little girl through the surgery, asked him to control her pain, asked him to help her heal quickly, etc. I am truly thankful to Him because he delivered on every request. I believe that we are all given a path to walk with hills maybe even mountains along the way. Our little Gabby has been selected to have more mountains than hills and we as her parents have been chosen to take this journey with her. Bart and I have said all along that we were chosen for a reason, God had something to teach us. That lesson is on going all the time and never ending. I believe that one thing is trying to teach me that my faith should NOT waiver that no matter the outcome it is His plan. But I also believe that sometimes the devil tries to reroute our path. I learned yesterday of a conversation that happened this weekend about our circumstances. As I said before we have asked and God delivered and the devil is angry. This is what the before mentioned conversation was about the devil being angry. I do believe this to be true. And I believe him to be trying to weasel his way into our family with negativity. I refuse to allow this to happen but it is incredibly hard. My family unit is strong, Bart and I work hard to keep it that way. I will not let the devil step in. Please pray for our strength, our faith.

Yesterday never seemed to end. Because again last night Gabrielle complained again all night long that she was uncomfortable and didn't like her NG tube. We ran her feeding overnight as usual. When did wake from a short nap this morning between 7 and 8 she promptly threw up. After spending some time cleaning that up we decided to walk across the street to the hospital and see if we could see urology. But before we went important business was conducted and we removed her NG tube. We wanted answers. They want us to fill her full of Pediasure at night and then expect her to eat during the day... how? She is full. Plus on top of that you try to eat and drink with a tube in your nose and throat. She asks for food but then gages when she tries to swallow it. So when we went to Urology we got to see Nan the nurse practitioner. She talked to nutrition and they decided to give Gabby's stomach and us a few days to rest, she said she could tell by looking at us that we were exhausted. Hopefully tonight Gabby will rest better. Now we need to figure out how to stress the importance of this to Gabrielle. The tube is out and you need to take this opportunity to eat and drink but yet she will not (lurking in the background is the devil with his negativity). We also had general questions to ask about her suprapubic drain bag from her bladder and were told to start flushing it out with normal saline nightly to prevent build up. I asked if she would continue to be on the Gentamicin bladder flush and the oral Bactrim (both antibiotics for her bladder). We were told that once the suprapubic tube is gone she would be taken off of them. Another question we had was about cleaning her incision site and were told to do so with soap and water. All in all a good meeting with Nan. We are scheduled to meet with Nutrition Thursday @ 11am. We will meet with Dr. Alam next Friday the 24th.

We are truly grateful for all of the positive energy and the prayers that have been delivered our way. Bart and I will never be able to express the gratitude we have toward each and everyone of you. Thank you and as always please continue to pray for good eating and positivity!

Old McDonald...

Well we were checked out of the hospital yesterday as some of you may already know. We are staying at Ronald McDonald house across the street from the hospital. We will be here another 4 weeks or so until it is time to remove her ex-fix from her hips and suprapubic tube from her bladder. The RMH is a really nice place it holds up to 78 families and there is always something going on from food being cooked to massage and spa days. We met this really nice family last night from New Jersey, The Burgesses, their daughter has a birth defect really similar to Gabby's and has had some of the same surgeries. Bart and I had a really good time talking to someone that we actually had similar medical issues with Gabrielle. Home health stopped by last night to make sure that we knew how to work the feeding tube machine that connects to the NG tube. We are supposed to be meeting with urology sometime tomorrow to address some questions we have about the NG tube and the suprapubic drain tube. We thought getting out of the hospital would help Gabby rest better but she still cried and moaned most of the night. Poor thing, she has lots of things going on between not being able to sleep on her stomach like normal and having the NG tube hooked up at night. She is miserable and tired and in turn so are we. When you ask her what is wrong she just stares at you. And then the BIGGEST part of it is that she is 3 years old with a new sibling. I keep telling myself "this too shall pass" but when?  

Ronald greets you as you walk up the front steps.

Blessings I am happy for is that we are in fact out of the hospital. Gabrielle is starting to talk to us again. We are at Ronald McDonald house instead of a hotel. We are able to take her places the hospital gave us a car seat that she is able to fit in with the ex-fix on so we can get out and go places.

A really pretty water fountain that is outside on one of the patios.

Well I need to get going, time for pin care and bladder flushes, oh joy! Please pray for peace for Gabrielle. Also she is still not eating much by mouth only a bite or two here and there. The sooner her appetite picks up the sooner we can get rid of the NG tube, thus hopefully getting back to our little girl sooner!

A view walking from the hospital to RMH.

A day of learning for Mama and Daddy

Well we started out this morning thinking we would be out of the hospital Monday but now they have changed their minds and it looks like it will be tomorrow. Bart and I have been getting crash courses in NG tube feedings and bladder flushes. I think we should be able to handle it, nothing too bad. Nan, NP came and pulled Gabrielle's left kidney stent this morning. Gabby and I took a wheelchair ride this afternoon to radiology for her to get a renal ultrasound. Nan came back to the room later on and said Dr. Alam was pleased with what he saw and everything looked good. We know that he is cautiously worried. He has repeatedly told us that Gabrielle is one of the most difficult cloacal exstrophy cases he has worked on. The opening in her pelvis and abdominal wall was so large it took a lot of work to close it. Also in each case you never know where a child's organs may be. Gabby's stomach is out of place a little bit because her right kidney is around her pelvis instead of up high like it should be. He says everything is really tight in there right now but that with time things will loosen back up a little bit and she will become more comfortable. I asked him yesterday about her risk for bladder infection because in some of these children they keep chronic bladder infections. He said that in the cases that he takes care of that he has yet to have one with a bladder infections, knock on wood :)!  The only reason we might be at risk is because we might have to cath her. Dr. Alam explained to us that during the surgery he discovered that she didn't have much to work with as far as urethra coming from the bladder. He made do with what he had so it is a little narrow and a little shorter that he had liked. If it is to narrow for the urine to drain on its own then we may have to cath. The urethra just has to last her a few years anyway until she has her next bladder surgery to put in a Mitrofanoff. A mitrofanoff will be a permanent cath place that she will use for the rest of her life.

As for her tube feeds things are going well with her tolerating the amount that they want her to get each day. We are tube feeding her through the NG for 12 hours each night and then resting her during the day so she has time to eat by mouth. As her eating by mouth increases then the amount we feed her at night through the tube will decrease. Home health came by today and explained how to use the feeding machine that we will be sent home with. Bart and  I can't wait to get out of this place and I now Gabby will perk up a lot when she gets out of this room. Please continue to pray for Gabby's nutrition, that her appetite will increase so that she can get rid of the NG tube soon. Also please pray that once we leave the hospital that she stays infection free and healthy until time to have her ex-fix removed.

This was from the first day she got out of the bed... family snuggle and nap time :)

Could that be?

We arrived today back from Gabrielle's daily wagon ride to have Dr. Alam, Tammy and Katie (his nurse practitioners) waiting to see us. Bart had requested to see them because we had some questions about bladder spasms. Yesterday we noticed that Gabby would cry out in pain for a about 15-30 seconds and then would be perfectly fine. We could only assume that this was the so called bladder spasms we had been warned about. When you ask Gabby if she is in pain she continually says no so all we had to go on was her actions. We gave her a couple of doses of Valium to try to help relieve them last night but never could tell if they helped or not. The class of drug that Valium is in tends to cause patients, usually adolescent and elderly, to act strangely especially at nighttime. She would constantly move in the bed all night and whine and cry out constantly and then take about 30 minute naps. While the doctor and nurse practitioners were in the room they got to see Gabrielle take a dose of medication and decided that she may have reflux, so tonight she will be starting Zantac. We are praying that it will bring her some relief to get a little more rest. We do realize the majority of the problem is the fact that she has been couped up in the bed at least 20 hours a day for the last week and half.

Could that be... the light at the hospital exit door? They started Gabrielle's NG tube feeds yesterday. I incorrectly posted how they were doing that in yesterdays post. They started her out at 20 ml/hour after 8 hours they increase her by 5 ml (one teaspoonful). They hope this will help stretch out her stomach a little more and also make her body crave more calories. Today Dr. Alam told us that they plan to take the right kidney stent and drain tube out tomorrow and that they plan to take the left kidney stent and drain tube out Thursday. Friday they plan on doing a renal ultrasound to check her bladder and kidney function. Just a neat tidbit of information, this will be the first time that Gabrielle's bladder has ever been able to have an ultrasound because it has always been outside her body. After she reaches her specified volume on tube feeding, gets both stents out, and has the renal ultrasound we may actually get to move her to outpatient. It is incredible to think that just 2 weeks ago this coming Thursday she was having a major surgery and will have recovered well enough to get out of the hospital. God is great!!!! So basically they are planning on having us at the Ronald McDonald house by sometime this weekend. Prayers that all plans go as scheduled and hoped and that Dr. Alam likes what he sees on the renal ultrasound. Bart's mom will be coming in Thursday to spend a  few days with us and to help out when possible... prayers for a safe trip for her.

Thank you so much to everyone that has prayed for Gabrielle. Bart and I are trully humbled at the support we have recieved.

Gabby and Avery having a little playtime in the hospital bed to pass time.

They love each other so much already!

The day we have been dreading

This morning was the day that Bart and I had not been looking forward to. Today they placed Gabrielle's NG tube. We knew this was coming even as hard as we fought it. Gabby just wasn't able to eat the calories that were required to not get the tube. We are trying to remain upbeat and remind ourselves constantly that this is a temporary solution. A temporary solution to get out little girl out of that hospital bed and to our "temporary" home at Ronald McDonald house. I personally am struggling with this thought but I just keep repeating to myself that it is just temporary. The NG tube feeds are being started out a very slow rate of 20 ml (just over a tablespoonful) over an 8 hour period. Sounds like an incredibly small amount, right? Her stomach just can't handle much right now. This amount will be increased by 5 ml (1 teaspoonful) every 8 hours until we get to the final amount of 47 ml. At the same time as long as she will try we can still give her things to eat and drink by mouth. Another benefit to the NG tube is that she did have around 6 different lines coming from her PICC line to various pumps. Today it dropped down to just 1 for fluids and as her Pediasure through the NG tube increases she will be able to get off of fluids also. Bart also requested today that we have her taken off all the monitors. Thankfully urology said that would be fine. They also said they could decrease their night vital checks to 8 pm and 4 am instead of every 4 hours so hopefully now we can get a little more rest at night. She is still on an antibiotic Cefotoxin until her kidney stents are removed (maybe the end of the week). Ditropan orally and a patch for bladder cramps, this will probably be the only medication that she will actually go home with. Tylenol for what little pain she is having. This is amazing to me to be on such little medications compared to what she was on a week ago. So even though we received the dreaded NG tube it brought with it many blessings. Below are a couple of pictures from our trip to the New Orleans aquarium.





Gabby at the New Orleans aquarium.

Bart and Gabby feeding a parakeet.

Me and Gabrielle at the aquarium. She had a great time that day.

I am continuing to learn that my plan is usually not His plan for things. We did not want this tube and we fought it will all our being. Through asking questions and getting answers we were delivered acceptance.

 

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

Seeing a little bit of the old her

We brought Gabby to the New Orleans aquarium the weekend prior to leaving for Cincinnati.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for the most part. We have been seeing the "old" Gabrielle more and more each day. She is starting to talk and smile a little more each day. We don't have much to report, which is a good thing! According to all the doctors she is healing up nicely. Her incision on her belly is really looking good. Bart and and the nurses have been cleaning her ex-fix pin sites twice a day everyday. This is of course to prevent infection and to make sure the drainage doesn't sit on her skin and cause irritation. Gabby has gone from having 4 drains to 3. The plastic surgeons pulled their drainage tube on the 7 day mark and the whole that remained behind is already starting to heal. The other 3 drains are from her 2 kidneys and from her bladder. Hopefully in the week coming ahead we will get rid of the two coming from her kidneys. Dr. Alam has decided to leave her on TPN and lipids over the weekend and the NG tube will be placed Monday. We have not given up on feeding her but we have resigned to the fact that this may be the best option. Praying it will only be for a very short while. She did have another incident of throwing up yesterday. We talked to Dr. Alam about the fact that maybe her stomach is being compressed by the new pressure in her body and he said that could definitely have an affect on things. He also said that it could be an intestinal issue. As these children have surgeries over and over again and their intestines are constantly moved and manipulated they sometimes become lax and distended, not working as well as they once did. When she has her ex-fix removed they will perform a test on her body to see how well food moves through her system from her mouth all the way to exiting the bowel. This will tell us if we should start doing irrigations on her bowel once we are home. So currently we are still trying to give her food and liquids until the NG is placed and then go from there. We have started bringing her on wagon rides each day and yesterday she spent the afternoon on the coach that Bart and I sleep on. Last night was another restless night filled with a little pain and nurses in and out of the room all night. For now we are happy to hang out with our two little ones and get some bonding time until we get out of this tiny room and big hospital. I personally see better days ahead already!

Thank you all for your continued prayers. Bart and I know that is why Gabby is healing so well because we all have prayed for the ultimate healer to lay his hands on her.

Up, up and away!

Well we have had a really busy day. You would think while we were in the hospital that the days would drag and be uneventful but I feel like we are constantly running out of time each day. Gabrielle rested pretty well last night so that started our day off good. The air conditioning in our room wasn't working so we moved rooms, so know we are nice and cool. After changing rooms we ordered breakfast and she ate 1 egg and drank about 4 oz of pediasure. We learned that she has met the limit of days that Ativan will help her. She was extremely irritated after this mornings dose so that is one more drug off her list. Then we had rounds from pain mgmt, urology and nutrition. Dr. Alam with urology said we have till Monday morning to get her up to 1100 calories a day before he will resort to a NG tube. So at least he is giving us the chance to get there, he also reassured us the NG tube would not be a permanent thing. Pain management has released her and now all of her medications are being changed to oral... YAY!! Our goal now is to start stepping back on all her medicines except the Ditropan for bladder spasms. The plastic surgeons fellow stopped by and removed their drain tube... one less tube! So then came lunch, it was going well but after we gave her oral Ditropan and Tylenol she threw everything she ate up :( thankfully our only setback of the day. After cleaning up that mess we got to get out of bed... HALLELUJAH!!! What an amazing event!! It took Bart and 3 nurses but we got it accomplished and then we were off. We went downstairs to meet Gabrielle's friend Natalie and her mom Kim. Natalie and Gabby are the same age and born with the same birth defect. It is a great feeling to meet people like Kim & Natalie and Jill & Isaac, whom we met earlier this week, because it gives Bart, Gabby, Avery and I are not alone. Natalie was completely adorable and she and her mom brought Gabby a present. After meeting them we came back up to the room and Bart and I each had a turn in holding Gabrielle for the first time since last Tuesday... AHHMAZING!!!! I couldn't help myself I started crying and Gabby told me not to be sad. I explained to her that I was so overcome with happiness that I cried. What an incredible day of ups we have a had and I know that our Lord and all of your prayers are the reason it happened. Bart and I are on cloud nine right now.

 She was a little nervous about the first wagon ride.

Gabby and Natalie meeting... doesn't that smile just say it all!

Bart holding Gabrielle for the first since surgery.

My turn to hold Gabrielle today.



Today I do ask you to continue your prayers for Gabby's appetite to increase but more importantly I want to lift another child up in prayer tonight, Carter Cline. Gabby's friend Carter had the same surgery but his hurdles to get past have been greater than hers. He has many days in the PICU at John Hopkins Hospital and his pain has been immense. His intestines are not responding well to the medications he has been on and his vomiting a lot. God gives us all a journey and Carter's is filled with mountains that he and his family much climb. Please lift this incredible family up in prayer.

www.littlegiftcarter.blogspot.com