Bela Girl

It's been awhile since I've updated on how Bela is doing. It's so nice for me as a heart mommy to read up on the progress of other little ones to realize 1)I'm not alone and 2)she's doing some 'normal' things (for a heart baby). I can say (with a huge smile on my face) that Bela is doing BETTER THAN EVER, and life is getting so much easier . Things that have changed since last update: --Her entire life, I had to feed her every hour..it was the only way she'd keep down more of her food. It's all I did, finish one feed, start another. Over the last couple of months I have slowly increased her amount and have gotten her up to 5 ounces at one time!! It's changed my life! So now I just feed her 5 or 6 times a day over a half an hour and it's amazing.. I have so much time back! --She still dosn't want anything to do with drinking her liquids, no bottle or sippy cup can get near her lips. I'm coming to grips that she will have the NG ...

Pray for Baby Jersey!!

Under my 'heart' list I've added Baby Jersey. She is only a few days old and today will have her first open heart surgery.. sooner than anyone anticipated. A lot of you may know her parents Chris and Heidi Anderson. Chris is one of Tanner's friends from highschool, and this weekend when we were at St. Joe's we were right next door to them. A lot was going on with Jersey while we were there and it was finally determined that she just needs to have her surgery. If you know them, (or don't know them), please pray for them today and visit their site.. It is so helpful to have the support on the scariest day of your life..

All is well again around here... our sweetheart is sleeping peacefully in her own crib tonight. She woke up feeling so much better today and nothing had still grown from the cultures they took, so they sent us packing. Tanner had her home before 12...he must have been very persuasive, I never seem to get out of there that early. But it was the quickest stay and easiest discharge we've had yet. We still have no idea what made her so sick that day or so darn sleepy, but whatever it was, we are sure glad it is gone. We were planning our first little trip to CA on Friday (my parents are coming for a visit from Brazil!) but after Friday I was sure we weren't goign to be able to go, but by the way she is acting now, it still might be an option.. I sure hope so!

We've found ourselves here once again..yes, here meaning at St. Joe's. All seems to be well as of now... Bela went to sleep Thanksgiving night around 8 acting as normal as could be. During the night she woke up moaning a little and i got a temp of 99.9. By morning I took it at 100.6 and she just did not want to wake up. She slept until 10, woke up for a total of 5 minutes then fell back asleep until almost 2. She couldn't even stay awake, and her little hands and feet were cold and fairly blue. So needless to say we were worried. She was acting eerily similar to the ways she acted when she was in heart failure so of course we didn't wait around too long. We called our NP, and were on our way to Banner Gateway because we were thinking she was dehydrated. I had changed a very dark urine diaper that morning, so we were going in for some IV nutrition just to get her fluid levels up. when we got there though she seemed worse and her temp was up to 102.6, so our doct...

Bela Milne graduates! This was a celebration at St. Joe's honoring the babies who graduated from the CHIEF program this year (babies in the CHIEF program are those with the most severe CHD's who needed an intense home follow up program). We used to be seen once a week, sometimes more, and I would talk to Beth, our amazing nurse practitioner practically everyday before her surgery and for about a month after it. But Bela has now 'graduated', meaning she is much more stable and doesn't require being watched sooo closely! It is such a WONDERFUL feeling!! We even just moved to a MONTHLY schedule and we have clearance to travel! (not far and not by plane, but we'll take it.) So, Bela and all her miracle heart friends got their diplomas and graduated.. This is the famous Beth.. She has been as much a part of our life this last year as our mothers have been. She has put in countless hours (at all hours of the day and night) into Bela.. We couldn't have done ...

Halloween with my little tink eating her wings Bens and Drew trick or treating Playing at the park with Drew Random shots of the Smella (her affectionate nickname...not because she smells, just because it rhymes with Bella.. she smells really good.) You can see how she is growing (14 pounds 7 ounces!!!) and how well her incision is healing up.. and what a little beauty she is.