Does Our Hearts Good!

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my HEART trusts in him, and I am helped.

My HEART leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song."

Psalm 28:7

Miss Maia Elisabeth "Ladybug" Sutherland had her first cardiologist appointment in 2 1/2 months yesterday and WOW is God amazing! He has done more in her little life than we could have ever dreamed! If God saw fit 6 months ago to take Maia from us so she could live with Him in heaven we were prepared and ready for whatever came and to give Him praise for He is good, but that was not His plans.

Dr. R reported to us yesterday that Maia is doing so well she MAY not even have to have the second valvuloplasty!

What?!? Did we read that right?!?

Yep! You did!

Here is the low-down.

1. Maia still has her VSD "hole" and it is measuring exactly the same as it did 2 1/2 months ago and pretty much the same as it did the day CHOP released her from the Cardiac Unit when she was two weeks old, but at the same time Maia's heart has grown and the hole has not grown with it! It is much smaller in relation to the size her heart was 2 1/2 months ago. Does this makes sense? I hope so. Anyway this is great! We will just have to see as time goes by if we need to do anything with that stubborn VSD or not. Hmmm.

Anyhoo!

2. The pressure in Maia's heart has gone down quit a bit! This is wonderful news. Babies with HRHS have a lot of pressure in their heart because of the narrow pathways and tight valves. In other words, it is really hard going, but Maia's pressures have calmed down.

3. So let me reiterate this from earlier in this post. Since Maia has such little pressure, her heart is growing well, and her VSD does not seem to be hindering her in anway...she might not need to have another procedure! Boo-yah! We are more than ecstatic! We are beyond thrilled! God you just blow us away!

4. Maia is doing wonderfully with her weight! She is now officially 15 lbs and 3 oz. Again...another wow! At the last appointment, Dr. R was very concerned with Maia's weight gain and was afraid she was trending down, but now Little Ladybug has made up for that it such a nice way!

5. She is strong. Anyone who has met Maia knows this! She has always been a bit of a she-ra, holding her head up when she was only about two weeks old, grabbing on to people's fingers with a death grip. Ladybug kept grabbing the ultrasound instrument from Dr. R yesterday, literally.
Everytime Dr. R was busy keying things into her computer and not actively working with the instrument, Maia was knocking or grabbing it out of the doctor's hands each and every time. i am not sure if the Dr. saw the humor in this. :)

Kenny and I are so very glad to hear this news. 2 1/2 months is a long time to wait to see how your daughter's heart has grown and changed. Everything was looking good from the outside, but we wanted definitive answers about what was going on the inside.

It was only suppose to be a 2 month wait and we aren't sure if everything is totally worked out with the insurance company and Dr. R's office. I think each side thinks they are in the right so I don't know what exactly is going on. All I do know is that I don't want a phone call the day before her appointment in August stating that we can't come in because of insurance issues once more.

Continue to pray for wisdom in how to deal with this. Should we stay with Dr. R who is very reknown in the field of pediatric cardiology and was a godsend to us as we prepared for Maia's entrance into this world, but has an office manager whom we prefer never to deal with again OR should we start the process of switching over to another highly recommended pediatric cardiologist, Dr. A? We really want to have the best for Maia. We want God's best. May the Lord direct to the best decision.

Three months now until the next appointment. She is doing that well! Thank you, Lord! Nice belated half-year present!

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end!
They are new every morning! New every morning!
Great is thy faithfulness, Oh Lord! Great is thy faithulness!