The Glenn

Jethro has been in surgery for about 5 minutes now. I just received a call from one of the nurses, and getting him under sedation went well, and so far, everything is looking good. Please pray for his safety during surgery and for steadiness of hand for the surgeon, Dr. Worrall.

11:19 am ~ Nurse called from the OR, Dr. Worrall is done with the procedure, in a few minutes they will begin taking Jethro off the heart-lung bypass, once off the bypass, they will do an echo. If everything looks good on the echo, they will begin closing. So far, Jethro has done well.

11:54 am ~ Dr. Worrall is happy with how everything looks on the echo, so they will continue closing.

1:12 pm ~ He's done!! Dr. Worrall just came in and told us everything went well. My baby has sats in the *80s*!! He's pink! We should get to see him in about 1/2 hour. 

Please join us in praising our Heavenly Father in His goodness to our sweet Jethro. 

Once again, thank you so much for your prayers on our family's behalf.

5:40 pm ~ Jethro is doing well. They will likely take the vent tube out soon. He does have a slight fever of just over 100, prayers that it would not go higher would be appreciated.

Surgery in the Morning

Jethro's surgery is in the morning. He is scheduled for 7:15. Please be praying.

Tomorrow, I will have one post that I will edit throughout the day to update.

Silent Saturday ~ Summer's First Bounty

Getting Closer

Wow. It's Friday. Today I go and pick up the Lovenox shots for Jethro. Tonight will be his last dose of Coumadin before surgery, and then Sunday, we start the Lovenox shots. I really dislike giving my baby shots, but it is a teeny tiny little needle, and it's just a little bit of meds, so it's not too terribly bad. However, he always looks at me, like, "you're not supposed to be doing this to me, Mama!" :-( I am very thankful that so far, God has blessed me with the fortitude to do whatever I have needed to for this precious child. And make no mistake, lots of prayer goes in to each new skill!

Jethro's nutritionist was here yesterday, and she is thrilled with his growth. He is now in the 50th percentile in overall growth, and I think she said 90% in head growth. She said that his growth defies reason. Heart babies just don't grow like he's doing. We know that it's all God. His hand upon Jethro has been evident from the beginning.

Tuesday morning, we go in to the surgeon's office and then following that appointment, we'll go to the hospital and be admitted. I believe they are admitting him to the PINT unit, not PICU. All the pre-op "stuff" will be done ~ any blood tests, meeting with the cardiologist, etc. Then Wednesday morning at 7:15am, he goes in for surgery. I am thankful that they will admit him a day ahead of time. If they didn't we would still end up spending the entire day in town, and probably get a hotel room for the night before, but because of Jethro's overall fragility, they don't even hesitate to admit him ahead of time.

Jethro has become quite the happy baby. He is very engaged with his surroundings and loves to coo and chatter at anyone who will stop and talk to him. Daddy says that Jethro is addicting. You can't just walk away from him ~ he really holds your attention. One of his favorite things to do is blow raspberries. Sometimes, he gets so much foam going that he looks rabid! :-D

Please pray that he stays healthy over the next few days. Pray for wisdom for the surgeon and cardiologists, and a steadiness of hand.

Thank you so much ~ your prayers are invaluable to us!

Worship Wednesday ~ What Grace Is Mine

I first heard this song last year shortly before Resurrection Sunday. I totally fell in love with it. Keith and Kristyn Getty have a way with words that encourage a worshipful heart.

This song has a lovely, gentle rhythm to it, and the words are beautiful. It speaks of deep and wonderful truths. God calls through the dark night to find our distant soul, mercy from His scars that pleads for me, He gives us hope that never dies, my soul soars beneath His wings ~ My Savior lives and reigns FOREVERMORE!

I take bow my heart, take up my cross and follow Him.

Oh Lord, may this be the reality of our lives, and not just words we sing.

Jethro Update

Wednesday, Jethro had a brain and heart MRI. He had to be sedated and intubated for the procedure, so he was not allowed food after 6:30 in the morning. I was able to give him Pedialyte until about 10:30. Check-in was at 12:30. We went in early, because he also needed to have his INR (measures the coumadin level in his blood) checked. They were 2 1/2 hours late getting him in for the MRI, so it was a long day! He kept the nurse anesthetist on his toes, but they said he did well. He took 10mL of milk while in recovery, so I was very happy about that. Poor little kid must have been starving, and he was a little hoarse sounding from being intubated, but it was a milestone for his oral feeds! It was 7:30 before we got away from the hospital.

Yesterday, he had an appointment with feeding and growth and Karen was very happy with how well he's doing. He's taking between 4 and 5 ounces orally per day now. After watching him, she thinks it's mostly an endurance issue that's he's not taking more, so we are hopeful that after his surgery when he is better oxygenated, he will begin to take more by bottle.

Today, we had our first in-home physical therapy session. He's had PT up at Sacred Heart, but we haven't been able to connect with the gal that is supposed to come here. We've had appts set up, but every time he's ended up in the hospital. So, today's appt was only about a month and a half or two months in coming. We visited some, she observed him, and then did an evaluation. Mostly, physically, he's at about the level of a 3 month old. He does have some things he does that are spot on age wise, but he is definitely behind. However, when you figure in the amount of time that he's spent in the hospital, then it puts him right at 3 months. Overall, it was an encouraging visit. He'll have one more appt with her before he's admitted to the hospital for surgery.

Right now the plan is to go in the morning of the 17th, and he'll have an appt with the surgeon, and then we will head across the street to the hospital to be admitted. On the morning of the 18th, at 7:15, he'll be in surgery. Here is a post I wrote not too long ago that has a link that explains what this next surgery will be.

He's also having some mucous issues. As best we can tell, just from observation, he is not swallowing his spit. It would seem that it is draining down his throat, but not getting past the esophagus. After about so much collects there, it gags him and he throws up. Poor little punkin. He strains and strains to get it out. I have never seen a baby that struggles so hard to throw up. And he's not necessarily throwing up the contents of his tummy. So, I'm hoping that the next time we see the Dr. he might have some suggestions for ways we can help him.

So, that's been our week. Just a little busy. :-) Please pray that Jethro would stay healthy and this next surgery can go forward as planned. His O2 sats are all over the place, it doesn't really even matter how much oxygen he's on. And, he's getting tired of the cannula. He manages to get it out of his nose, and when we place it back, he really hollers about it.  

Blessings upon blessings (Edited!)

This week was the beginning of work on our house. We have decided to rebuild. My dear friend, Julianne , and I sat down and worked up a floor plan that would work better for our family than the old house, but still fits on our existing basement. We ended up with a story and a half design, utilizing the basement as living space too. I have been spending a good part of this week reworking the kitchen floor plan (so far, I have 5 different plans! Decisions, decisions, decisions...)

Our original plan was that we would buy used cabinets from someone who was remodeling. But, Monday we stopped in at Lowe's and they have some lovely stock cabinets...which now I am hoping to get for the kitchen. However, we do still need to go to Ziggy's and see what they have.

God has been providing things for the house that are over and above anything I could have hoped for! So far, He has provided:

• A full size fridge and freezer unit. It consists of a full size fridge and a full size freezer. They sit side by side and look like one unit. I am so excited to have a full size freezer *in* my kitchen!
• A commercial stove. This is something that Mike and I had talked about, but I needed to find a screamin' deal on one for it to be doable. The stove that God provided, has a 24" griddle, 4 burners, a 30" oven and pan storage! It was a *great* deal, and the guy even lowered the price a bit when we went to look at it!
• Three tall windows (don't know where they are going quite yet!), that are gridded, and perfect for someplace in my house. :-)
• A vanity for the kids bathroom. The original plan was to have 2 vanities, one on either side of the bathroom, but now it will be one long vanity on one side and a closet on the other. It's a 5' vanity. It's oak (it does need to be refinished, but good quality!), and it was well under $100! If you have recently looked at bathroom vanities, you know what a blessing that is!
• I found 2 matching light bars for the kids bathroom for the exorbitant price of $1.17 ea!! 
• God provided me with a lovely new Kohler kitchen sink. We found it at the Habitat for Humanity store for $25. It's about a $200 sink. I don't believe it's ever been installed ~ there were no tell-tale signs of it. 
• I shamefully forgot my two new lights this morning! We had decided that we would get nice, but inexpensive lighting for now...changing them out for nicer lights as we could afford to. The exceptions were: I wanted a nice ceiling fan/light fixture in my living room ~ because it will be the room you enter the house in, the pendants over the breakfast bar, and the dining room chandelier. I *love* Craftsman styling, and although we couldn't afford to build a "Craftsman" house, I am trying to incorporate Craftsman details where I can. I also love stained glass. Last night on Craig's List, I found a Craftsman style stained glass chandelier AND a ceiling fan with a stained glass Craftsman light! Both much cheaper than the "splurges" I was looking at at Lowes. Thank you, Lord! Mike picked them up this morning.

I really did not want to rebuild, everyone we know who has built a house, has ended up with lots of stress. And I really don't need 'house' stress right now! However, we do believe that is the direction God is leading us. So, I trust that He will be in the midst of the process, and I won't get *too* stressed about it. :-) He also provided a friend, who is a contractor/builder who is going to be our general contractor on the job...so that will relieve some of the stress.

As I was reflecting on the blessings He has given us so far, I decided that I needed to share them and give praise and thanks to my Heavenly Father. He provides above and beyond our needs. Thank you, Lord!

It's looking like Jethro's surgery won't be until the week of the 16th of August. I don't have a set date yet, but most likely Wed, Thurs, or Friday of that week. Please pray that he will be healthy, and that everything moves forward as planned. Thanks!