Maia's Birthday!

We are so excited our little girl is here! She is perfect in every way and we would like to share her and our special day with you so you can see what the Lord has done!

Getting Ready for the Delivery Room at 6 a.m. in the morning.

Trina is feeling nothing! Absolutely Nothing!!!
It's bliss!

Maia is coming out in all her glory

Getting checked out by the doc while screaming her amazing strong lungs out!!!! We loved that!

Momma getting to say hello to Maia for the first time!

Resting in the CICU

Our Gideon look-alike! She could have been his twin four years later! Too cute! IF we do say so ourselves! :)

Tiny toes! Too precious!

Proud Momma and Very Content!

Proud Papa with his little girl!

Our little Ladybug, Maia Elisabeth!

Thank you to all of those who have prayed for our little Maia these past few months! God has done great things in her and in us this special day. She was born at 9:32 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. She came screaming loudly into this world, which was just what we were praying for. The docs confirmed ithe HRHS, but she will be scheduled for the balloon catheterization procedure (valvoplasty) tomorrow. We are very excited about this. This might be the only procedure she needs. We will keep you updated as we know more. But right now she is on prostoglandin to keep the ductus open between the two sides of her heart. Her oxygen levels have been great and she is as pink, as pink can be since her birth this morning. She will be taken off the prostoglandin after the procedure tomorrow and then it is wait and see. If, after the ductus closes, her oxygen levels remain 85 or above, she will get to come home with us in about 2 to 3 weeks! We are so amazed at the Lord's provision for our daugther. We do not deserve such blessings, but God is gracious! If this does not happen however, she will need to go through the 2nd procedure of the BT shunt, but again God is so gracious! WE will explain more about this tomorrow in another blog.

Trina is doing well. She is up and at em'! She was able to get around in a wheelchair to see Maia about 3 p.m. this afternoon and is already starting to eat solids for dinner. We will both go up and see Maia again after dinner. Trina is nice and dosed up with oxycotin and is feeling groovy!

We love you all and thank again for your support, prayers, and love that you have extended over and over to us through this process! Praise the Lord for the great things He has done! Amen!

Another Philly Day!

Well, Kenny and I headed up to CHOP at 9 a.m. on Friday. We had a very full day ahead of us. I had my OBGYN appointment first. I had an anatomy ultrasound first and we found out that Maia is approximately more than 5 and 1/2 lbs at this point. That was very encouraging news.

Then we decided to do a amniocentesis to rule out any other anomolies that might have caused Maia's heart condition. We will get those results a few days before she is born. This will give the doctors more knowledge of how they can be ready medically for Maia after the C-section. At this point I had been laying on my back (sciatic nerve) for about an hour, but it hadn 't been giving me to many problems...yet. Oh I have to share this...as I am laying still for the amnio procedure a friend of the family called and my cell phone went off with Gideon singing "Jesus Loves Me". As Kenny goes to get the phone, Dr. Bebbington, the OB doing the procedure, announces "I won't even ask." That made me giggle which of course makes my baby belly shake. Not good when you have a big old needle going into your uterus near your baby! Then Kenny jokingly says " You can tell your friend, they called right in the middle of your amnio!" Of course this makes me want to giggle more...but I controlled myself and told him I can't laugh. No more cute comments during this procedure! Uggh! What are the odds?

After the amnio, I met with a midwife who monitored Maia's heartrate and my uterus to make sure that there weren't any contractions. The amnio only caused less than 1/2 percent of women to go into premature labor, but they wanted to monitor it just in case. I was fine and so was Maia. Yay!

We had a few minutes before I had to meet with the Fetal Heart portion of my day, so Kenny and I toured the SDU (Special Delivery Unit) where I will be staying the first few days of Maia's life. It is such an impressive area. We will be well taken care during our stay.

When we got back from our small tour it was time for the echocardiogram. More time on my back. The technician we had last time was there again. She was so encouraging, sensitive, and talkative last time, but this day was different. She was all business. It was very hard to read what was going on. I was trying to stay as still as possible for her, but that sciatic nerve started to really revolt on me. The last twenty to thirty minutes of the procedure I was silently crying, and I never cry about pain! Last time she gave me breaks to help with the nerve pain, but this time...she didn't seem to care and I wasn't about ready to say anything if she was getting what she needed for the doctors. Kenny told me later that if it had lasted one more second he was going to tell the tech that the procedure was over. I love my husband! My knight!

We then waited in a consultation room. We talked with Dr. Natarajan and the head nurse as before. She said that not much had changed. Things were still small, but the tricuspid valve appeared to be more open!

Remember the prayer we asked everyone to be praying for!?!? Yes, The Lord Answered Prayer with a big fat, YES! Dr. Natarajan says there is still hope for the catheter procedure! That was such a huge relief to hear! Continue your prayers and intercession our sisters and brothers! God is at work in Maia!

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier that our OB, Dr. Bebbington, and we decided that October 29th will be Maia's birthday. Only three more Wednesdays to go! Wow! It is so hard to believe that the day is almost here.

After our talk with Dr. Natarajan we met with the Social Worker, Lucia, and she gave us some great information about Ronald McDonald House and Social Security Disability Insurance for Maia. We also met with Rachelle, the lactation consultant. I am glad we did this. I really hadn't thought about how my puny little Avent hand breastpump would be a joke when trying to pump milk for Maia 24/7. She gave me some great insight of what we need to do.

Then we met with Jill again and toured the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) at the Children's Hospital. It was good to see where Maia and our family would be spending so much time in a few short weeks. There were so many families there. It is amazing facility. We didn't take any pictures. I felt it would be an invasion of privacy at this point. Once we are there with our little girl, it will be different.

After the tour we were done for the day. We were done a bit before 5 that evening. It was hard to believe that we were there that long with really no down time. We were thoroughly and completely exhausted. With the happy news of Maia's heart you think we would be in a joyful spirit, but we felt fully drained instead. It had definitely been a long day and a long week.

The next two Friday's we will be going to CHOP in the afternoon for OB appointments, then that final Monday I will go in for a pre-op appt. and then that following Wednesday will be the Big Day! So little time left! I only have about 8 more teaching days left at Calvary and I want to make sure that I leave well. I pray that I have good organization and efficiency these next couple of weeks, while being able to maintain rest and peace. A fine balancing act!

We learned that my mom, Judy, found out through her lumpectomy procedure on Thursday that there is spreading to the nodes. She is at home now and is awaiting news from the doctor on this Monday or Tuesday about what this will mean as far as treatment goes. She is doing okay, but it is all settling in that this is going to be a new lifestyle for her. Thank you for your ongoing prayers!

We also learned that Ken's mom, Paula, has severely depleted kidney function. Her doctor just gave her a call this past week about it and he is concerned. He is not sure if it is due to her diabetes or other meds that she has been on so many years. The word "dialysis" was mentioned. Please lift her up in prayer at this time.

We are definitely at a high pressure point right now. We need your prayers more than ever that God's peace will prevail in our hearts each and every day. We need his strength. Thank you, Lord for all that you have given us! We are so grateful.

Crayola Factory in Easton, PA

We decided that we wanted to make sure that we had one more fun, special day with Gideon before the birth of Maia. We know that he might not get a lot of attention of from us, in the way he is used to at least, in a few more weeks. We left the house at 9:30 a.m. this morning and drove to Easton, PA. It is such a cute, eclectic, and historic looking town right on the Delaware River Gap that is the border river of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Our purpose in going to this town was to visit the Crayola Factory. We were not disappointed! We had 3 1/2 hours of wonderful fun with our son! Then...to boot, the town was having a Garlic Fest right in the square where the factory was located. It was a wonderful time had by all and wish we could live in such a cute little town. We will definitely put it on the list to visit again.

We found a Big Checker Board on the Main Floor and we played this first before going on to the rest of the factory.

Gideon gets Kinged!

Daddy wins! Oh well!

Walk Like an Egyptian!

I am soooo scary!!! Right?

Mommy and Gideon Making a Placemat

Over, Under, Over, Under! I am getting the hang of this!!!

Daddy giving Gideon some suggestion!

Stamping a Fall Card for someone Special!

The Puppet Wall!

Gideon's Own Creation! His name is Bert.

Hello, My Name is Bert! How are you?

I like being this spooky sea creature the most!

Dripping Hot Crayon Over My Paper Moon. Of course Green is my Favorite Color!

Final Touches!

Our Family's Clay Creations

I think there is some kind of reptile on my head!

My Little Lady. She got totally smushed on the way home. Very marshmallowing type of clay!

Daddy's Cheery Creations!

They had a simple machine exhibition on the third floor. Gideon is testing out the different types of pulleys and realizes which ones are the easiest.

Easton's Beautiful Town Square at Fall

Gideon is craving his favorite fruit in exponential amounts!
Mmmm! Beautiful Fresh Apples!

Gorgeous Produce!

Nicely Decorated Pumpkins and Gourds

Gideon is Gettin' Down In Front of
a Fun Screen!

This video shows Daddy and Gideon making
a "huh-mewn-gus" sandwich (Gideon's word!)

Waiting Till October 10th!

Two big things happen the 2nd week of October...next week!

On Thursday, October 9th, my mother goes into surgery. She will be having a lumpectomy. Before the procedure they will be performing some other tests to see if the cancer has affected her nodes. If they have been affected, she will have some of her nodes taken out during the lumpectomy procedure for further testing. We hope that, of course, the nodes are NOT affected. This will ensure that she only needs radiation and not the full gammet of chemotherapy for 12 weeks and then radiation to boot. It would also mean that she is able to come up to New Jersey to see Maia before she starts her radiation treatments.

On Friday, October 10th, I will be going in for my next visit at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). We won't really know any further details of Maia's progress and the date of the C-section won't be scheduled until then. We will have the full work up...meeting the OBGYN team and then have our time with the Fetal Heart team and do another work up on Maia's heart via the echocardiogram. We will even visit the CICU in order get idea of what to expect.

As far as personal mommy update, Maia is moving up a storm! She is kicking and rolling around, except when her daddy, Kenny, wants to feel her...she stops immediately. It is the funniest thing. Well, at least to me...not to Kenny. My stomach is growing exponentially lately and so I assume that Maia is growing pretty well in there. I have been experiencing nice swollen ankles and feet the past couple of days and hope it goes away. I never had this with Gideon, so it is definitely weird to me.

Gideon has been doing well. He has a parent pancake breakfast scheduled this Friday at his preschool and fortunately I have my planning period during that time and I can attend! I am excited since this is the first function I have been able to attend since he has been in preschool for over a year. I have been jealous of the mommies that get to go to the little plays and functions during the school day. Now it is my turn! Yippee! Gideon is also going on his first official field trip. He is going to an orchard to pick apples and pumpkins! It is on the same day as CHOP next week and we gave him the choice to come with us or the field trip, but the bus ride and pumpkins were just too tempting! LOL

Again we covet your prayers for my mother, Judy, as well as for our little one Maia! You all have been such wonderful prayer warriors for our family! Praise the Lord for all the blessings in our lives!

Little Did She Know

Well, I was thinking about the Promise Bracelet that my mother has bought and advertised to literally hundreds of friends and family around the world on behalf of our little Maia today and a wonderful thought occurred to me! Little did she know that this small little reminder would also serve a dual purpose in such a short time. Now this bracelet is a reminder to all these friends and family to pray for my mother who now faces breast cancer once again. One side "Promise" the other side of the little charm... the breast cancer ribbon symbol. The Lord is so amazing that way! Thank you for the little miracles, Lord. They give us such hope! You are taking care of us in such awesome ways before we even realize it! Thanks for the small messages, Father! May we always have open eyes to see and attuned ears to listen!

Mama Mia

Brother Joel and Mom (Judy) at her birthday celebration on the river two years ago.

Hello All! Well, if we weren't already facing what we thought was the maximum, we now have found out that my mom has a growth in her right breast. She will have a biopsy sometime this week, at the latest on Thursday.

For those of you who don't know this, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, had a lumpectomy, and radiation treatments that year. She has been cancer-free since those procedures 11 years ago. A little over a year ago the she had a mammogram that revealed some more calcification deposits than normal and so she has been having screenings every six months just to be on the safe-side. Well, this last one had something on it that had not been there at the prior screening and it was large enough that my mom could see it on pictures being taken from across the room and she knew it was different too, before the doctor told her.

Please be praying for my mom, Judy. Pray for a peace during this process. Pray for the tumor/growth to be benign. Pray for her oncologist and that he can get exactly the sample that needs to be taken for an accurate reading. Pray for my Dad and the others in our family that we will be an encouragement and strength to her.

This has rattled her a bit more this time than last. She wants to be there so badly for Maia and for our family in a few weeks. She knows the routine from last time and is afraid that she won't be able to come up to New Jersey / Pennsylvania due to any procedures that need to take place immediately. I know God knows exactly how this is all going to work together for His Good, but I pray that He will help us to trust in Him during this time even more.

He is Sufficient

It has been a good week thus far. The Lord is meeting my needs in all the weak areas of my life.

1. Days that I should be running low on energy because of restless nights, I have all the energy I need and then some.

2. When I need a pick-me-up, my brother Joel calls and tells me that his son, my nephew, Ethan, throws up when he laughs just like Joel and I did when we were kids. Love it!

3. I read my friend's (SaraAnne's) photo blog and she mentions a song (His Strength is Perfect) that I haven't thought of in years and it ministers deeply to my soul.

4. I have sciatic nerve pain that is just ridiculous and our resident teacher / doctor, Doctor D, at our school today shows me just the right stretch to alleviate some those frustrating aches and spasms. He keeps his eye on the sparrow and how much more will he watch after his sons and daughters.

5. My school is has been so very supportive in prayers as well as in an understanding attitude in how much time I am having to take off for Maia.

6. I have a wonderful husband and son who give me tons of love and kisses from the moment I walk in the door and a husband who is so patient and giving when it comes to household chores as his preggo wife has a hard time dragging herself off the couch at night. He has been doing so much for me!

7. Then I have the blessed opportunity to feel all those kicks and jabs throughout the day that remind me I have a growing and wonderful little girl coming in a matter of less than 6 weeks! Amazing!

God you are so very Good! You do not have to bless me with any of this and yet you do! How thankful I am for all the little things that up to ONE BIG wonderful act of LOVE. I cannot express how wondrous you are!

Pics from Thursday's Trip to CHOP

The bracelet that reminds so many of us to pray for Maia's healing and protection each and every day! Thank you MOM!

Gideon is Mini-Me Daddy on Thursday Morning Before I Leave For CHOP

The Ultrasound Room that I spent about an hour and a half laying on that wonderful sciatic nerve.

They even provided me with a wonderful box lunch (Turkey sandwich, tex-mex coleslaw, pear, chips, cookies, and a water). They are so considerate!

This is the entry into the special delivery unit right at the Children's Hospital. It is twenty feet away from the Children's ICU and the Fetal Heart Program Office that I have been going to the past week. I'll have to see if I can get some more pics of the rooms in the SDU it is pretty snazzy and made to order for families that will be dealing with quite a lot of stress after their little one is born.

This shot is pretty self-explanatory. This is the sign for the offices of the Fetal Heart Program.

This is the beautiful mosaic wall right across from the aformentioned sign. It has an adult hand reaching out for an infant's hand in the center of the artwork.

This is a beautiful mobile type sculpture that hangs in the atrium of the entry way of CHOP.

If you can't read this window, it reads..."CAncer is no match for Super Baby Little Lila Kay. Born with leukemia in April getting better since April. Many of the rooms windows that face this large lighted area of the hospital had similar encouraging signs for the kids and little ones.

This is the lighted entry way that Little Lila Kay's window faced. Many of the windows aligning this area have beautiful pictures and sayings drawn on the windows. What a great thing to allow the families to do!

Great to See Maia Today

Well, I had a full anatomy scan for my ultrasound today. It was so nice to see pictures of her entire body and not just to focus on her heart. One fun comment the ultrasound tech said when she got to her Maia's legs and measured them and went..."Whoa! Who is the tall person in the family?!?" "Are you ready to be the shortest person in your family?" I thought that was really cute.

There was another mother in the lounge that was in obvious emotional pain. I don't know what the diagnosis of her little one was, but she was so devastated! Please pray for her and her husband. I wasn't able to get her name before I left for my next appointment with the OB doctor. I pray that our paths will cross again so that I may have an opportunity to encourage her in the Lord.

Dr. Bevington, my OB, and I had a small meeting. There was no physical examination other than the ultrasound from earlier before. We just talked about some different delivery options.
It looks like my C-section will be scheduled sometime in week 38 of the pregnancy. That is anywhere from October 27th through the 31st. I am hoping we can push it to November 3rd so that Kenny can have that full week with me. He has one week of vacation left ( 5 days) and then that way he will definitely be available if and/or when Maia's has to have any heart procedures that week.

Also, I don't think I explained this at all in my last major posting, but we asked about the protocol immediately after Maia is born. They told us that most likely we will be able to hold her for a few minutes and have time with her then they will take her on the children's ICU for the diagnostics to be run on her. They will watch for 2 to 3 days and then decide what procedure will be done performed, valvoplasty or shunt.

We are specifically praying that the tricuspid valve will grow and be healed. This would give her more of chance of not having the more invasive operation of the shunt.

My mom sent me the following email about a week ago about the Promise Bracelets she has purchased that have the word "promise" written on them (The meaning of Maia Elisabeth's name). She is asking people to wear these as a reminder to pray for Maia daily.

"Well, the bracelets are going world-wide! I sent out an email telling people about the "promise" bracelets at Coldwater Creek and people are going to purchase them. I've given out 20 here and I'm sending some through the mail to people who don't have stores in their area. Everyone will be wearing the bracelets in honor of Maia and will use them as reminders to continually bring her before the Lord, asking for healing. So far I have people wearing the bracelets throughout Louisville, Shelbyville, Frankfort, New Orleans, Dallas, Missouri, Florida, Connecticut, Alaska, Texas, Alabama, England, Wales, Kenya, China, Belgium, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Oregon."

Thank you to everyone who is wearing a bracelet and praying for our little one day by day from around the world! I am thoroughly in awe of our Lord Jesus Christ and his children! It is very humbling. We are living each day on the grace of the Lord as we put our hope in Him for his healing power!

My batteries are dead in my camera or I would put some pics of the bracelet and the shots I got from the hospital today. Oh well!

At CHOP This Morning

Hey All! This is a quick note to you all. I am at CHOP again this morning. I am now seeing the fetal therapy program that takes care of the OB portion of the speciality. I arrived in Philly at about 8:40 and I have various appointments throughout the day. What is really nice is that they have two computers in the waiting lounge for patients to work on while you wait. What a great thing! Thanks again for your prayers!

Trina

We Love CHOP!

It was a long day, but a good one. A bit bittersweet, but the sweetness was ALL from GOD. The drive over to Philly was a good one. Kenny and I talked about so many different things. It was good to just be with my husband. We laughed quite a bit. We talked about how strange it is to be as joyful as we are in the midst of what is happening with Maia, but we chock it up to the fact only the Lord is giving us this joy. Are we sad about the prospect of our daughter's future? Yes. We would definitely prefer to go a different route, but at the same time God has girded our hearts.

The staff at CHOP were sooo hospitable and encouraging throughout the entire process. Through the paperwork, hour and 20 minutes on the Ultrasound table (ouch for my sciatic nerve!), and the hour long consultation.

So here is the nitty-gritty.

The praises first! Maia's great vessels that lead out of the heart do not seem to be affected by the disease and also there is no VSD! Two things we were worried about and now those have been eliminated.

Now the sobering part. She does have hypoplastic right ventricle, triscuspid valve stenosis, and severe pulmonary valve stenosis. The staff is hoping the triscuspid stenosis is mild and not moderate to severe. If the tricuspid valve is not compromised then there is the possibility that Maia may only need a balloon procedure for her pulmonary valve conditioning it to open up more for blood flow! The balloon would only need to be inserted via catheter in her femoral artery and up into her heart. The heart might over time repair itself. See diagram below.



NOW....if the tricuspid valve is poor then surgery will have to be performed to place a BT shunt into the heart to open flow in a different spot. This would involve opening her chest and putting the shunt in the right location. What is very encouraging is that what use to be a 50% survival rate for these little ones is now a 90% survival rate after the BT shunt is in place.



It was an informative and overall encouraging time. We are relying on the Lord each day to provide us the the wisdom in the decision we make for Maia and for His glorious peace and of course for His miraculous works!


On a lighter note...after the specialists it was time to head home to New Jersey and we were a bit hungry. I mentioned on a earlier blog this year that we missed an opportunity to eat at a Bobby Flay showcased restaurant from his Throw-down show called The Pop Shop in Philly. Well, we entered Pop Shop into our TomTom GPS system and low and behold it showed up! It actually took us to a secondary location in Collingswood, NJ near Camden (right across the Delaware). It was fun! So below are some pics from our time there!

Outside of the Shop in a cute electic area of town.

Kenny deciding what he wants from the menu.

50's style Soda Stand and Paper Hats with the Staffs' Names

The Frazer...Kenny's Choice it had chipoltle, chicken, jalepeno cheese, and carmelized onions.

The Calvert (Featured on the show) Bacon, Avocado, Turkey, and Homemade Sauce.

Some of the Best Onion Rings I have had in a long time....better be for $8!!!!

Yum!

Some Memorabilia you could leave with after your dinner here!

Summer Vacation is Officially Over!

Well, today was the last official day of summer vacation in New Jersey. All the public schools and private schools go back this Wednesday the 3rd. It has been really NICE to have such a long vacation, but I must say that Gideon is rearing to get back. He has been begging me for quite a while to return to school. As I was driving back home from prepping all day in my classroom, I let Gideon know that after dinner, and after bed tonight he would wake up and it would be a school day! He expressively, almost over-dramatically said, "This is what I have ALLLWAAYS been waiting for!!!". Too cute! I am definitely glad that my son has that bent! I pretty much had the same attitude growing up, but what do you expect from a professional teacher???? :)

My mom called tonight and she wanted to let me know that Elisabeth means "God's promise or His Oath". I looked it up when we first picked the name but had forgotten what the meaning was since then. Gotta love that. Basically Maia Elisabeth means MY (mine) Promise! God is definitely soooo Good! She is sending me a bracelet that she got for me and her to wear that says...promise, as a reminder of His promise...her name!

Well, school starts tomorrow. Fortunately it is only an introductory half day, but please be praying for me. I have an appt. with my OB on Thursday after school and then my appt. with the specialists on Friday. I will have to miss the last part of the school day to attend this, so I want to make sure that I carefully planned for the sub who will be assuming the responsibility of my classes on the third school day of the year! Yikes.


Below are some posts of the pictures that will catch you up with all that we have been doing since Gideon's birthday. I haven't been using my camera as much as I usually do because it is causing me problems. I will try to be better. I didn't get as many pics of the family in Louisville as I thought I would, because I thought we would have more time there and have more photo ops, but God had different plans! :)