Please Pray Today

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to put out two prayer requests today. Our little "heart family" bubble has been expanding. In some ways I feel (and I hope and I pray) that we are at the end of our heart journey. In some senses anyway. We will never escape medications, to some degree, or regular cardiology appointments, but I think that should be it for heart surgeries. Now we are being connected with families who are just starting their journey. Its almost come full circle in some senses.

Through friend's here in Edmonton we have been connected with another heart family. I just find connections like these incredible. The couple here from Edmonton, used to work with the Dad. They re-connected awhile ago, and he told them they found out they were having a baby with a heart defect. Our friend said, "We know someone here with a little girl with a heart defect." E-mail addresses and phone numbers exchanged, and here we are, a few months later.

We were able to meet the family on Friday. They stopped by to pick up my electric breast pump. Now I need to say a bit about this breast pump. Before Abbi was born, a dear friend from Nanaimo, who just happens to be a lactation consultant, rounded up some money from people at my first church I attended (the church I got saved into), and bought us the breast pump. I believe that pump made it so much easier, and even possible, for Abbi to be breast fed. The hospital provides pumps to the nursing Moms, but obviously once you leave, you need something. So you either have to rent one (which can be quite costly) or return to the hospital to pump the much needed milk every three or so hours.

That breast pump will soon be nourishing it's third heart baby! I used it for Abbi. Then I was able to lend it to another dear heart family who lives in Calgary (another connection through our old church, unbelievable!). And now, its being lent to this family we just met face to face on Friday. Our connections are incredible. They are from the lower mainland in BC, and happen to live 5 minutes from my Uncle! Another cool thing we discovered was that they used to attend a small church in a school gym in that same neighborhood. Well, when my dear friend was hospitalized in Vancouver in 2001, I stayed with my Uncle, and attended a small church in a school gym! We are pretty positive its the same church! Unbelievable! The other crazy coincidence? Their twin daughter's were born July 6th, 2006. Abbi...born July 11th, 2006! Wow, 5 days apart!

So they came by the house to pick up the pump, and we had a brief visit, but later in the day, once Rob was home, we decided to get together again at a local play gym. A chance for the girls to play (who are so alike, its uncanny!) and us to chat some more. We had chatted once on the phone prior to this meeting, as well as numerous e-mails exchanged. It was truly like meeting old friends.

She is having a C-section sometime today. It is going to be a little boy. He has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. That is one of Abbi's many diagnoses. They now have the option to go down the three surgery route (as we did, although thankfully it only turned out to be two surgeries), or they have also been given the option to consider a heart transplant. That is a very big decision to make, and of course, it doesn't guarantee a heart will come available. The Mom was saying that most Mom's are deciding what color to paint the nursery at this point, and she is deciding whether or not her son will have a heart transplant or three open heart surgeries. So, so hard! Please remember this dear family as you go throughout your day, and in the days and weeks to come.

Also, the niece of one of our pastor's is scheduled to go in for heart surgery today. Although it is likely her surgery will get bumped. She is still considered so healthy that she would be the first case to go if an emergency came in or a child who was sicker needed surgery. Regardless, it will be within the upcoming weeks. She has been able to make it to 5 or 6 months, without needing surgery. The older they are, the stronger they get, and the recovery is generally faster. So not sure if that one will really happen today, but I will keep you posted if it does.

Thank you!