2 Months, 8 Days, and Counting.....YAHOOOOOO!

How excited we are that Isaiah made it to his 2 month birthday, and then some! God sure is good, "and His mercies endure forever," I Chronicles 16:34. Isaiah is doing well, except for reflux. He's now on Zantac three times a day to help with the reflux, which is very painful for him. We need alot of prayer in this area. He sometimes cries alot, and it can be really trying. I spend a good part of the day holding him while he cries. By the time Chris gets home, I am exhausted. I try to keep reminding myself that it all could be worse, and that this too shall pass. The hardest part of all of this is that Isaiah gets himself so worked up from the pain that he has been refusing to nurse. Most of you know how much I love nursing, so this has been extremely difficult on me. I often have to make a bottle to get him to eat anything.



This past Wed., April 15th, we were at CHOP for a visit with Dr. Haber, a GI specialist that specializes in biliary atresia (liver problem related to the missing gallbladder). She was very happy with the way Isaiah looks and said if he does not develop any symptoms in the next 2 weeks, he will probably never develop biliary atresia. Praise the Lord for that! Only 1 more week, and he's in the clear. I was also able to deliver the 5 thank you baskets to everyone that helped us out at CHOP and the PRMH, thanks to the help of our wonderful friend Stacy.

On Fri., April 24th, we were back down at CHOP to see Isaiah's cardiologist, urologist, ortho/plastics doctor, and have an echocardiogram done. He now weighs 9 lbs. 2 oz. and is 22 1/2 inches long. All of the doctors were happy with Isaiah's progress. The cardiologist will see him again at 8 months of age to continue monitoring the hole in his heart (the patent foramen ovale/PFO). The doctor is not concerned with Isaiah's heart, and feels the PFO will eventually close on its own. The urologist will still have to perform surgery to bring down his testes, but otherwise everything is functioning ok. The ortho/plastics doctor was very happy with the progress of his left arm. He was actually surprised how effective the splinting was working. We will continue splinting his left arm until surgery at 6 months. The urologist and plastics doctors will coordinate surgeries to cut down on how many times Isaiah has to undergo anesthesia. At 1 year of age, Isaiah's right hand will be operated on. Hopefully, that will be the extent of his surgeries. Thanks to my wonderful friend Rochelle S. for keeping me company on a very busy day.

We continue to be amazed by the outpouring of generosity from our friends, family, neighbors and church family. We could not go through this without all of you behind us. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, "Two are better than one...for if they fall, the other will pick him up." Many times it was your faith and trust in God that gave us the strength to go on. God gave us our miracle son because of many of you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

By the way, you are all welcome to call, email, or visit our little miracle man. We are still requesting that if you are sick or if someone in your home is sick to hold off until you are all better. Also, we are still not accepting stuffed animals because of all the dust and microbes they carry. Sorry about the delay in inviting you to come. It's just been a little crazy around here. We look forward to having you meet our amazing little boy. Thanks for your patience! God bless!

Some more pictures

Hope everyone had a great Easter. 1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... Thank you to everyone that offered to help Joy with her trips to CHOP in Philadelphia. We received many offers and appreciate each and every one. Thank you to our friends Stacy and Rochelle for taking time out of their day to go with Joy for these two visits. And now for some pics.... (Left to right, top to bottom) 1. The thinker... 2. Josiah playing with stickers 3. Josiah sharing his stickers. 4. Brothers playing. 5. He wasn't happy but he sure was cute! 6. Our attempt at Easter pics. 7. There's that smile 8. Check out my Easter outfit. 9. Our Family

We're back online...

Sorry for not getting out an update sooner. Our power cord to our laptop died and the new one just came in the mail. Chris has been extremely busy at work and he didn't have the chance to send one out from there either.

FYI...If you recieved an ealier email stating "Eeyore is cute..." we were not the ones that sent that out. That email had a number in the subject instead of a title. Our updates will always have a title. This is one thing you can look out for when reading our updates. Please do not reply to those emails. Sorry about this. We're not entirely sure how this happened yet or if it will happen again.

So where to begin....

On Wednesday, Isaiah went to his local pediatrician. He now weighs 8 lbs. and is 21 inches long. He's gaining weight very well and the doctor said we don't have to go back until his 2 month checkup. It's only 2 weeks away but at least we get a 1 week break from this office visit.

On Thursday, Joy went down to CHOP by herself to see Dr. Joy Collins, general surgeon. She was the doctor who performed Isaiah's intestinal bypass. She was so pleased with his progress that she signed off on his case (1 doctor down, 6 to go). After this visit, Joy had to go to the CHOP office in Chalfont so that Isaiah could have his splint adjusted for his left arm. Surgery for either arm is not yet scheuled, and probably won't be till at least 6 months to a year from now.

Isaiah's next appointment is April 15th for a visit with the GI doctor, Dr. Haber. She is following him to make sure he does not develop biliary atresia. Then, on the 24th, Isaiah sees his cardiologist, urologist, ortho/plastics, and will have an echocardiogram done. Joy is looking for someone to accompany her on both of these visits. On the 15th, she has 3 thank you baskets to deliver and needs help carrying them.

When all of this started and we thought Isaiah had Trisomy 18, we were only hoping for 2 months with him. Well, God has been good and not only gave us the health of our precious miracle, but He has been giving us more than 2 months with Isaiah. ("Isaiah 58:8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.") We could not be more grateful. Every day is a gift. We all love being with him. Every day Josiah asks to hold Isaiah and loves to give kisses to him or play with his hair. It is wonderful to watch. We look forward to the day when the 2 of them are running around and playing together.

We want to continue to thank you all for your continued support and prayers. We honestly do not know where we'd be if we didn't have God in our lives. We remember talking with some families at the Ronald McDonald house and to hear their stories and know that they didn't know God and have that personal relationship with Him was saddening. We ask that you also continue to pray for the children we listed on one of the previous blog entries. We know that two of them, Tehila and MacKynlee, have left the hospital and are now home with their parents.

Here is a small video of Josiah playing with Isaiah. Enjoy.