Spring is in the air!

Today I woke up rejoicing. Another day, another chance to be all I can be for God. He has blessed us so much and we are grateful. Mia's heart cath is tentatively scheduled for March 21st and we pray everything goes well. I hope that by ballooning her arteries again she will make better progress. Her doctor called again and stressed how much they want to get her to the third surgery (Fontan) and will try anything. She is a bit of an anomaly, most of the time these arteries grow after the 2nd surgery. She continues to shock and amaze the doctors. Mia is growing and very active! She will eat anything and climb anything! In March before her cath a special doctor will check her development-milestone progress. I told her doctor what all she is doing and she said she sounds advanced for these heart babies. The theory is that all the time in the hospital would make a baby not reach some of their milestones on time....Mia is not letting anything hold her back! The doctor said they need to throw statisticsw out the window because often the babies are advanced~We know it is because of your prayers. Mia's doctor again told me it was because of all the great care we are giving her and that she is here because we are such great parents. So touching and so humbling. I can't thank her OR YOU for all the thoughts and prayers and encouragement. God Bless this season of our life!

Mia 2011

This month is going well so far for Mia. She is strong, happy and teething! At the moment she has just fallen asleep leaning on her boppy pillow. So sweet...
On Jan. 20th she will have an echo and hopefully they get better pics than last month. Then she will have a heart cath in Denver in early March. I talked to her doctor and she told me Mia is making history...It is unknown what will happen with her but we are grateful for each day and love her so much! She has made it through Christmas and already is in 2011! Praise God! Last Christmas we were praying for a CHANCE of survival and here she is!!! Thank you all for your prayers.

12\06\2010 (6 photos), by Catie Rathe

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Pray for Mia

I titled this blog pray for Mia in hopes that whoever comes across this will PRAY for our daughter. She had a heart cath on Nov. 29th. The doctor was able to balloon her right and left pulmonary branch arteries, her aortic arch, and coil off some collateral vessels. Her pulmonary arteries are very small and if they don't grow then she can't have her Fontan around age 3. The doctor said to pray that they will grow! Again I am amazed at the doctors God has blessed us with. They are like family after all we have been through. The other night I spoke with Dr. K for an hour about Mia. We discussed the probability of her arteries not growing and having too many collateral vessels and possibly a heart transplant. When she asked if Clark and I would be okay with a transplant I was swallowing a lump that wouldn't go down!!! I had asked the cath doctor in Denver if we need to prepare our children for the worst and he said not yet, let's see what the next cath shows. But he did say "we are not in a good place right now" I have heard bad news before, as you can read in my first few blogs, but everytime I knew God was ultimately the one who would choose her path. So far He has blessed us beyond what we imagined. We are thankful for each day with Mia and so glad she has been such a strong fighter.

She is 7 months now and still very sweet! She has the calmest disposition! So happy and smiles at everyone! Thank you for your prayers!!!!!

November 2010

We traveled to Denver for Mia to have a heart cath only to return because she had a cold. Her cold is worse today and we are just trying to keep her comfortable. We are planning to return for the heart cath as soon as she is better. Her echo showed significant small pulmonary arteries that branch into the lungs. That is very concerning and the doctor said she is "praying" the heart cath yields better results than the echo. We are amazed at the doctors faith and love for our family. We have been so blessed by her and the team of doctors in Denver. On our drive home last night I spoke to the doctor and she filled me with encouragement and said we are doing the best for Mia and that our family is why Mia has been doing so well. She brought me to tears with her kind words! She told me of other mothers that just give up or say they can't handle a baby as sick as Mia and they terminate the pregnancy even at 20 weeks. When we found out about Mia there was no choice for us except to press on and do everything we could for our daughter. By the grace of God she is with us today. The doctor said for us to have 4 other kids, make constant trips to Denver, and to have stayed there for 2 months straight is amazing. We don't think of ourselves as heros or anything other than parents doing what we have to do, but the doctor sees so many sides of people that we don't think about. I was almost speechless because she was so compassionate and "real" and it just made me dumbfounded that she thinks so highly of me....when she has been saving my daughters life!!! I was humbled and even more aware of God's hand in our situation. She told me of marraiges that suffer and many times end in divorce during times like ours and she is glad that Clark and I are in this together and that we are best friends, etc. I am telling you, I was deeply touched by her words. I just had to share this, not to show the world my doctor thinks I'm great, ha, But to share with you just how wonderful our doctor is and all of the care from the childrens hospital in denver.
We have been blessed by Dr. Karrie, and we have been given the gift of Mia and we are so undeserving of such a special gift. Truly Mia is the joy of our life. She is amazing and beautiful and our lives have been changed forever by our little Mia.

Life lately

Mia is 5 months old and just as sweet as ever. She got a nasty virus and is on oxygen for the time being. Her stats are too low with this respiratory cold. She hadn't been on oxygen for at least 2 months before this. The doctors warned us that this might happen. When her stats dropped before her Glenn surgery the first thing the docs checked was if she had a cold or something! So we are experiencing that now. But she is doing okay with it. She rubs her nose A LOT and of course the tubing comes right off...She is getting better so that's all we can ask for:)
She has had a couple echos that show no change in the narrowing of her aorta and pulmonary arteries. We are traveling to Denver after the cold gets better and possibly having a heart cath to see what to do about it. Doesn't seem to be affecting her, she must be compensating the docs say. But she will need something done before the Fontan.
We are still in awe of our little Mia..and our other kids, through this. They are doing very well considering all the upheaval in their lives this spring and summer.
I am very thankful for the structure of our life right now. We have been home since August 24th! Woo hoo! We have only been to Albuquerque once and that was only a 3 hour jaunt.
So....life is stable and God is good. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Sorry it has been so long between posts.

I sit holding Mia in my arms...the sweeteness of a sleeping baby! I am doing a room air challenge. She has been on oxygen since her Glenn surgery a couple weeks ago. So far her stats are in the 80's where we like them to be. But we have tried this before and after 3 hours her stats drop too low so back goes on the oxygen! But.....Mia is doing very well for being so small for her 2nd surgery. Thanks for all the prayers! Will update more later. So glad to be back home!!!!