2-month birthday

Yesterday was Moriah's 2-month birthday! Happy birthday to our little girl.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers this past week. My mom went into the hospital suddenly last week and ended up needing her gall bladder removed. She's home now, and recovering well. I'm really glad I live close enough to be able to run back and forth to see her--I'm back to Worcester again tomorrow to hang out with her at home while she rests (you ARE resting, right Mom?!) and recovers.

Moriah's doing about the same. She's on Lasix now, and continues to have episodes of quick breathing. She's eating less, and becoming more fatigued while she eats--yesterday, it took an hour for her to eat 2 ounces. I talked with her cardiologist again this morning and he asked me to take Moriah for an urgent care visit to her pediatrician today, to check her weight and to see if something else is going on (ie a flu) or if he believes that what we're seeing are signs of heart failure. If they are signs, we're going to need to see the cardiologist this week or next, and put the surgery on the calendar within the next couple weeks. He agreed with me that there's no sense in prolonging surgery if surgery is what she needs. We've waited for her to gain some age so that her brain can develop (this is helpful, he told me today, when they stop and restart her heart during surgery...gulp). She's old enough now, her brain developed enough now, for the surgery to proceed safely.

So we're waiting today...our pediatrician will weigh in this afternoon and we'll go from there.

Orilus and Jackson are doing great through all this. They have proved to be SUCH a blessing...after so much struggle in their own lives, it's so amazing to see them adjust back to school with little fanfare, to enjoy their classes, to have friends (they are now tying up our phone quite frequently, actually, talking with their friends). Orilus is playing soccer on the middle school team this year, and Jackson has signed up for drama club again--he's hoping to again do the lights for the show this year (he LOVES electronic/engineering-type stuff). Jackson's also wanting to resume piano lessons this year, too. They are absolutely adorable with Moriah--picking her up when she cries, carrying her around, feeding her, sitting with her, kissing her before they go to bed each night, running back into the house to say good-bye to her before they go somewhere...it's done my spirits good to think about what an amazing gift of healing and calm Moriah has been to them.

Thank you for your continued prayers for all of us. We feel so needy sometimes, and are so humbled by our own tears, doubts, and fears. We are grateful for love expressed through you.