today i got a bow.

I was also able to meet with the Dr who will be performing the surgery on monday. Dr. Philip Burch. He talked to me about the procedure as well as lots of other information. And although I could not discribe most of it to you I know that I feel good about it and know that through the faith and prayers of hundreds of people his hands will be guided as he performs her operation.

a picture to make you smile.

well, it made me smile anyways. Darla Jane is spending a little bit more time awake now. We may get two 45 minute periods of time a day where she is awake. I got this picture of her yesterday during one of her awake periods... Darla Jane is still keeping her stats stable and doing great.

and...she is one week old now!

"Easiest patient in the ICU"

At rounds today the doctors said Darla Jane is still doing amazing. All her numbers and labs are still spot on. They said their secretary downstairs was going to write Darla on something and had about 5 people correct her at once that "her name is Darla Jane not just Darla". They all really like her name. They said she makes their job unusually easy and that she is "the easiest patient in the ICU". They are trying to coordinate a time with the surgeon, Philip Burch, to meet with us in the next couple of days...

Surgery Update

So the surgery will be on monday and everything is a go!!! She also tested out of another test. Now she only has to get blood drawn once a day. She is really excited about that! They keep asking her what book she read to be the perfict HLHS baby.

love at home

the girls have been really cute to want to sent pictures and cards to the hospital for little darla jane. we take pictures to let katelyn and elli know she got them this note made me cry. "i hope you get well soon. i hope you were home. love, katelyn" and I am completely kicking myself. the kids actually got to go visit her today. just for a few minutes and they just got to look at her, not hold her or anything. but i TOTALLY spaced on taking a picture of it. ahh...

but i really think it helped them to get to see her. we talked before going up to prep them... they didn't seem apprehensive at all while they were up there. just happy to see her and say hi and tell her they loved her. it was the sweetest thing.

i did get a picture of them eating in the hospital cafeteria after they saw her though. and yes, wesley was eating his cheetos with a fork.

the first five days of life.

Darla Jane has spent this time being the perfect little thing. They have had to run tests and scans and connect her to 10 different machines but she is handling it like a champ. She continues to keep herself stable and healthy so that she can have her first of a series of 3 surgeries. We are not sure when it will be, but most likely it will be at the beginning of next week. Here are some pictures from the first five days of Darla Jane's life.we spend a lot of time loving on this little girl...cute little toes"oh mom" the pacifier has been a great thing to help soothe her.getting an echo done.and peaceful slumber.

one day old.

Darla Jane's first day of life started off the same as most newborns, after going 5 hours straight of sleep in her first night. She was taken in the morning to be given the routine check up from the pediatrician. She looked healthy with just one concern. A slight murmur in her heart. While she was being examined by the pediatrician she just also happened to be next to the cardio specialist who just suggested they run an ultra sound just to check. But she was brought back to me and told it was most likely nothing, that lots of babies have little murmurs that just clear up on their own. So little miss got to spend the first part of the afternoon back in our room. Spending more good time with her sisters, brother, parents and Geeg. The kids then left to get lunch and I got a fun chance to do a little photo shoot. Which I am so thankful for now. Because not long after that they took her down to do the ultra sound and she was not brought back to the room after that. That is when our world started spinning. Nathan had gone down to be with her during the procedure and following the cardiologist wanted to talk to him. He was told that the left side of Darla Jane's heart wasn't functioning that the she needed to be stabilized and taken up as soon as possible to Primary Children's Medical Center up in Salt Lake City. Thankfully they were able to get the ok from my doctor and less than 24 hours after giving birth I was able to leave the hospital and ride up with her to Primarys. After a little time in the nicu at Utah Valley we were ready and on our way to Primarys.

Once we got to Primarys they got her settled and ran xrays, ultra sounds and an echo to find out exactly what was going on.

After the tests were done the information started. Little Darla Jane was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). What it means is that the left side of her heart was not developed and was completely non-functional. Here is a link that might help you understand what she has.