Blessings, Praises and Many Thanks

As all our friends and family have known, we have been dealing with a lot since Victoria was born. The doctors found a very large heart murmur 2wks after she was born on November 7. We didn't get in to the cardiologist till January and the news they gave us was not what we had prepared for at all. Until they were able to really look at her heart everyone had thought it was something completely different. I am not good with all the medical stuff and Gene could tell you in a lot of detail exactly what she had but I will give you the non-medical summary. :)

She had what they called a PDA. A valve in her heart that was supposed to close after she was born did not and it was causing extra blood to flow to things that it wasn't supposed to. We were told that this is actually very common and that they would try to fix it when she was a year old that way we could see if it would close on its own. Well, she has not been growing like she should and when we went to her 6month check up she dropped to the 10% in weight. They did another Eco on her heart and saw that the hole was causing her heart to enlarge. So instead of waiting till she was around 1 they decided that something needed to be done a lot sooner. We were facing a very high risk of open heart surgery. The doctor was really worried that the hole was too big to be able to close with just a cath and we would have to do the surgery.

That all seems like a lifetime ago and it was only a few weeks. Fast forward to today and as I type this my little squirt is happily playing in her jumperoo laughing as Addison makes faces at her. Because of the power of prayer and God's amazing grace we avoided surgery! We checked into Lebonheur this past Thursday May 31st at 6am. We had no way of knowing how things would turn out until after they started everything. The plan was to go in and check the exact size and shape through a cath in her groin and see if they could repair without surgery. If it looked like it was too big or not the right shape then they had a surgeon in the room ready to open her up. They did their measuring and the hole was a lot bigger than they had thought. It was 7mm long, 6mm wide at the small end and then 10mm at the large end. But, the valve was shaped just right to be able to try to put a device in to plug the hole up. The first device they tried didn't work at all and they switched to a completely different one. That one they tried a size 8 in and it didn't stay. They then tried the next size up and it stayed put. The size they had to use is almost the size of one they would use for an adult! It is a true miracle that they were able to avoid surgery! I know it was God's hand all the way!

We are so blessed and are praising God in all of this!! I was able to hand over my sweet little girl to the nurses and not cry one bit! That is huge for me! I know that I couldn't have done that without God and all our friends and family blanketing us in prayer. I was just at peace the whole time and it was wonderful. I was able to give up all control and let God take care of things. That is something I have been struggling with and I am sure that was what God wanted to teach me with all of this.

This photo was of her that night when Gene brought Jack and Addison to visit her. We were able to leave the hospital the next day and everything looks good! We had a follow up yesterday and the doctor said her heart has already started to get smaller!! There is still a slight murmur and they saw a small leak in another part of her heart but the doctor said that right now it is nothing to worry about and they will just keep watching it.

Thank you doesn't say enough for how grateful we are to have such an amazing group of support and prayer warriors! We love you all so much and are so happy to put this behind us and see what other adventures God has in store for us! :)

Philippians 4:6-7

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.