Piper's Cath lab~ Update #4

We are home! Piper was a real trooper today! We are so proud of our brave little princess! We did not get to see Piper's cardiologist because she is away on vacation. I will call and schedule an appointment next week! Erik and I were both surprised that Piper still had blood flowing into her lungs. We thought that the pulmonary banding that was done in August took care of that problem. We are anxious to speak to Dr. Thacker and see what the next steps are to fix Piper's heart! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for our precious Piper!!!!

Piper could not have her kidney x-ray today because the dye was still in her system from the heart cath. I have to schedule the x-ray for another day!

Piper's Cath lab~Update #3

Piper's cath lab is done! We are waiting to speak with Dr. Radke to hear the results!

The results:

Piper did well! Her pulmonary pressure was higher than expected, but it was not a surprise given the lose banding. Blood is still flowing into her lungs! Dr. Radke needs to do some more calculations to determine what the next steps for surgery will be for Piper. There is a chance they will have to fix the pulmonary banding before they can repair her heart. Dr. Radke mentioned two different ways her heart defect could be corrected. He mentioned doing a one venticle repair or a two ventricle repair. I am not sure what that all means, but I am guessing it means they may have to make one ventricle instead of the normal two ventricles in order for her heart work the most efficently. Dr. Thacker (Piper's cardiologist) had mentioned that as an option when we first met with her in July! We should get more information later this afternoon! I am not sure how acurate all the information I gave here is, but it is what both Erik and I think the doctor told us!!

Erik took Piper down for her kidney x-ray! Hopefully she will do well with that also!

Piper is a bit restless and moving around a lot. We have to keep her right leg straight for the next four or five hours to prevent any bleeding or swelling from the sight of the cath!!!

Piper's Cath lab~Update #2

We just got our first update on Piper. The lines have been put in and she is doing great!

Piper's Cath Lab~Update #1

Piper went back to the cath lab around 9:00 AM! We arrived at the hospital around 7:30 AM. We spoke with the anesthesiolgist and the cardiologist who is doing Piper's cath. Piper will need to be still for six hours after the cath is over! We will receive updates throughout the procedure! I forgot the camera, so you won't see any cute pictures of Oliver waiting or pictures of our little princess recovering!!!!!

Piper's Heart Catheterization

Tomorrow is Piper's big day! She has another catheterization on her heart to see how her heart is functioning since her surgery five months ago!

She will also be having an x-ray of her kidney tomorrow too! She had an ultrasound of her kidneys last week and one of her kidneys is swollen. The doctor will be checking Piper's kidney to see if she has any reflux!

I will be posting updates throughout the day tomorrow!

Kimberli's Birthday Party!

Today Sophia went to a birthday party for one of her friends at school. She had so much fun! Kimberli is such a sweet little girl and is such a great friend to Sophia! Kimberli's parents invited all of the siblings of the children in her class to the party too! We all had a fun afternoon at Pump It Up! It was a great day! Too bad the Ravens lost to the Patriots! UGH!!

Erik's ipod!

Piper was playing with Erik's ipod on Saturday. She some how managed to change the language setting on the ipod to Chinese. She is from China, so maybe she just wanted to "read" the words in her native language!!!

Parker's China Home!

Here is a link to a new video about Shepard's Field Children's Village! It changed our lives to visit Parker's China home! Our family was never the same after that visit! I held many of the special needs infants while we were there and we both would have loved to have brought all of the children home!!!!! If you want to help the oprhans in China at Parker's China home, the children can always use a sponsor to provide food, clothing, and medical care. I still get tears in my eyes every time I see pictures or videos of Parker's China home!!!!!! It is an amazing place that changes the world for the special needs orphans in China!!!!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppfnkc16mYw&feature=youtu.be

First Snowfall of 2012!

We awoke to a winter wonderland this morning. Well, not really, but the children sure were excited about the little bit of snow we recieved overnight. Sophia came running into our room this morning at 7:00 AM to tell me it had snowed. It was so priceless to see her so excited about the snow! We got about an inch and a half of snow with a nice coating of ice on top. Erik took Sophia, Graham, and Parker out in the snow this morning. I kept Piper and Oliver inside with me where it was nice and warm. Piper really wanted to go out to play with her big sister and big brothers, but we worry about her getting too cold and her heart having to work too hard! We watched everyone from the window in the study!! Graham loved going sledding down the small hill in our backyard! Sophia was the first one inside to drink her hot chocolate! Graham and Parker stayed out to play with their Daddy and eventually came inside for their hot chocolate too!!! There is nothing better than watching your children enjoy playing in the snow (from the warmth of the house) with the best Daddy in the world!!!

Delaware Children's Museum with Mom Mom!

Sophia and Graham were off of school on Friday. We decided to go back to the DCM (Delaware Children's Museum and this time we brought Mom Mom along too! We started off in the art studio. Sophia, Parker, and Piper loved painting at the easel. Graham was still waking up and decided he didn't want to paint. Then, we headed off to the train and car area. I think this is their favorite part of the museum. Next, we visited the water table area. Piper loves the water table! She was so wet when she was finished playing! We also went to the area called Structures. This is the area where you can build different things using different materials. We ended our day in the human body area! Parker loves loves loves dancing on the stage and seeing himself on the big T.V.!!! I love that he is such a silly little guy! We ate a snack and then headed home! It was a wonderful day with Mom Mom at the DCM!!! We can't wait to go back again!!!!

Let's Go RAVENS!

We had a wonderful time watching the RAVENS win last Sunday! We sure hope they can win against New England this Sunday! The children are excited for another Football Fun Day on Sunday! Erik would have never dreamed all five of his five children would be dressed in Raven's clothing! I took him he needs to buy them some Steeler's clothing!

Let's Go RAVENS!

Sophia's Snowman Story!

Sophia wrote this story about a snowman this week at school all by herself. We are so proud of our big girl! Way to go Sophia!!!!!

Her story says: My snowman has a pink hat and brown eyes. She has a purple scarf.

Piper and Let's Rock Elmo!

Piper loves her new Elmo that Santa brought her for Christmas! We had fun playing together! She is certainly beginning to show the fun loving side of Piper to us! She is really starting to blossom! We are seeing some of her fiestiness and those terrible two tantrums! It is so nice to see her feeling so at home! We love our Piper Olivia! We can't imagine our family without you!

My Little Man is Growing Up!

I can't believe Oliver is already four months old! It seems like just yesterday he was a newborn. He is looking so big to me now! Enjoy the pictures of our little man! He sure is a cutie!